Battle With Batter

Amica · Dec 15, 2018

Lakshmi, I loved the write-up about batter battles!

I've tried just about everything. Wrapped the bowl in a sweater, placed it on a heating pad, placed it in the proofing drawer ... it's always hit-or-miss for me. The only guaranteed stuff is store-bought.

DH ruins it for me by saying this about store-bought batter: If it's properly fermented, somebody's un-gloved, probably unwashed, hand stirred the batter at some point.

periamma · Dec 16, 2018

@jskls Lakshmi i am wondering how i missed this post.Battle with Batter well written.correct proportion of Rice and Urad dhal and adding rightly needed salt and mixing well with hands give soft idlies.In the villages they say Kaimanam is essential for fermentation.you have received a lot of respinses giving tips and so mine may be a repetition of others.
Congrats for the nomination for Finest post

jskls · Dec 17, 2018

Thanks for your informative feedback Dear Periamma

periamma said: ↑

mixing well with hands give soft idlies.In the villages they say Kaimanam is essential for fermentation
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This is what I lack. Kaimanam ... anyway found a solution now Thanks for the wishes Periamma

Viswamitra · Dec 28, 2018

Dear Lakshmi,

I had a chance to discuss your thread with my MIL. She gave me a suggestion for my misery of cleaning up overflowing fermented Batter after I hand mix Rice and Urad Dhal batter nicely. She suggested that I should add a little Aval (battered rice) and ice cubes while grinding Urad Dhal which not only increases softness of idlis but also reduce batter fermenting without overflowing and spilling over. I tested it last night and it worked. Please let me know if it works at your end. But I am yet to test the softness of Idlis and I will let you know once I taste it.

Viswa

virtualkv2020 · Dec 29, 2018

jskls said: ↑

Battle with Batter

Most of us love idlies. It’s just simply white and pure like a jasmine flower. It requires no skill in making it (or so I thought) After reading Sambar’s story I thought this will go well with Sambar. It’s my story of getting perfect idlies that took me at least a decade to master. (feel free to stop here)

In many families in the southern part of India idlies are a daily staple. I remember my mom making it frequently. It was the last meal of hers we had. I wanted to try making batter at home while in middle school. I myself ground the idli batter using the stone grinder. My grandmother had only stone grinder. After the pain I was left with I didn’t try that again. There used to be a store where they would grind the batter and give. I tried that too. Somehow I was not comfortable with the way it was done and so I stopped that. After that we never thought about idlies for a while. Ratna cafe Idli vada sambar became our Sunday breakfast ritual later.

Now when my marriage was fixed, first question I was asked was do you know to make idlies. Why would someone even ask that I thought! How hard can it be? and I said no big deal. I will learn. They laughed and said you are marrying into a family where not a single day will go without idlies here. I did not bother much then. When someone asked me what to buy as a wedding gift I happily asked for a grinder.

Now in the foreign land I set my experimentation with idli batter. Initially we used to use only uncle ben’s parboiled rice and jasmine rice. Imagine how sticky it would have been. No Indian stores in the town. So no luxury of indian raw materials. I soaked parboiled rice/jasmine rice urad dal and ground the batter too. I was told to warm it in the oven for fermentation as we lived in one of the coldest place.. It was my first time using the oven. The person who gave me the recipe forgot to mention that I need to switch the oven off before I put the batter in. So I let the batter in the oven to warm at 300 F for few hours and when I checked for fermentation, I had a big baked idli cake that I didn’t know how to even dispose. What a waste of effort and materials.

I did not give up on my failed experiment. I kept experimenting over and over with different proportions and different types of rice until one day I saw a video of spiritual Guru. He mentioned ” what is in idli. just 4:1 and you measure with your hand and grind”. The video was about some spiritual talk but it gave me a clue. It’s the hand. It’s all in the hand. I have seen that when my mother-in-law grinds, the batter ferments well within hours and those idlies are very soft and fluffy.

On one fine day, As a final experiment I asked my husband to rinse the rice and dal for me . After I ground the batter again I requested him to use his hands to mix salt. He refused. Obviously right! Then I offered another suggestion. Use your hand to put salt but wipe the spatula with your hands before mixing. (of course clean washed hands). Voila! the next day my fermented batter was overflowing in the oven. My happiness knew no bounds at last finding a trick for fermentation. Cleaning the oven was not a big deal. I had found the perfect recipe for soft fluffy idlies. From then on no more idli failures at home. My hands were not up for fermentation and it took me decades to figure it out. Oh there ends my battle with the batter.
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Well written post! I enjoyed reading it.My version of sponge idli is included in this post,try it for a change.
Sago / Sabbakki Idli

jskls · Dec 29, 2018

Amica said: ↑

Lakshmi, I loved the write-up about batter battles!

I've tried just about everything. Wrapped the bowl in a sweater, placed it on a heating pad, placed it in the proofing drawer ... it's always hit-or-miss for me. The only guaranteed stuff is store-bought.

DH ruins it for me by saying this about store-bought batter: If it's properly fermented, somebody's un-gloved, probably unwashed, hand stirred the batter at some point.
Click to expand...

Oops... sorry I had missed fb to your post Amica. Thanks for the fb Amica. I really haven’t used store bought batter. Too skeptic about that. As your DH says I’m not comfy. Try in Instapot yogurt setting. It might work

Mistt · Dec 29, 2018

Nice write up Lakshmi and I had read some of tips for Idli batter, too.
Oh! Omg! I had forgotten to soak rice and Urad dal for dosa. Loll!
Thank you for your thread reminds my dosa batter!

Thyagarajan · Dec 29, 2018

@jskls
With so many FBs , it would Make it in Guinness record Book.
2. OMG- there are so many experts to make idli in different latitudes and altitudes with odd methods and attitudes!?
3. I as a school going up in lad often used to go and order for one plate idli one Anna and will never touch idli until I had several helpings - mugs of onion (small) Sambhar at triplicane Rathna cafe.
3. I used help my mom to grind the batter and some time with my sister too.
4. Some men palms are great and now i understand how they can also turn into an asset to spouse to be proud of.

BETTY BOUGHT bit of BATTER TO MAKE BITTER BATTER BETTER

5. My daily grind includes pouring the idli ready batter into pans and stuff it gently into pressure cooker and reckon time exactly 18 minutes during warm weather and scoop out carefully the idlis dipping the spatula in cold water as often as possible!
Here in CHENNAI in our area there are as many as seven different brands of ready batter available. I tried all of them singly and several and jointly either mixing batter of different brands or pour into the pan a spoon of thisbrand and that. Invariably it is soft and palatable. Once my timer failed and the idli gave off burnt smell and the cooker became angry showed up its bottom turned from flat to inverted dome shape!
Hats off to you for fermenting idli for the IL'ites of all nation in different latitudes and latitudes including Jammu Kashmir where temp now reported minus 7 degrees C.
Congrats for being nominated for this post. All the best 4 idli and rewards and awards from eve of the day of New year and onwards.
REGARDS.
GOD BLESS .

Viswamitra · Dec 29, 2018

Dear Lakshmi,

Adding ice cubes and battered rice delayed fermentation but it happened finally. We were able to get to it before it overflowed this time and I didn't have to wake up early or check several times in the night. Let me taste the Idlis and let you know.

jskls · Jan 3, 2019

Viswamitra said: ↑

add a little Aval (battered rice) and ice cubes while grinding Urad Dhal which not only increases softness of idlis but also reduce batter fermenting without overflowing and spilling over.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this tip. Will try it in summer. As in winter I have hard time with fermentation.

kveena said: ↑

Well written post! I enjoyed reading it.My version of sponge idli is included in this post,try it for a change.
Sago / Sabbakki Idli
Click to expand...

Thanks for taking time to read and for the recipe. Will check it out