soft idlis even in winter

Hello friends,
I thought of sharing my experience with finally getting idli batter right even in European winter.
I have not browsed any previous posts on this subject so pls. pardon me if i've repeated anything.
I too had difficulties with fermentation and my dream of having soft idlis was always once a year on our vacation back home. Now this combo works very well.
1. 3 cups idli rice (not idli rawa)/parboiled rice (puzhungal arisi) - leveled cups: 1 cup urad dal (heaped).
Please note that here I'm using broken urad dal (without skin) because we don't get whole urad where we live.
2. Wash the rice thrice (or until the washed water is clear) and soak along with a handful (about 2.5 tablespoons) aval (poha).
3. Similarly wash the urad also and soak separately with 1.5 tsps methi seeds (vendayam).
4. Soak over-night!
I use a prestige ultra-grind, for your info.
When ready to grind the next day morning, first grind the rice along with poha ( I use the water used to soak for grinding)
Grind until coarse consistency... like rawa. So pay attention that it doesn't get smooth and also be careful with the water quantity.
Since the rice has soaked over-night you'll not need much water!
Remove the ground rice and then grind the urad. I grind for 45 mts-1hr (it depends on the quality of the dal) adding water every 5 minutes... a tablespoon or so.
Please remember to scrape the sides every now n then else you'll not have a uniform dough. Again here the quantity of water to be added depends on the urad.
Add enough to get a fluffy batter (it'll fall like ribbons if ground very well and when you feel it's like afghan snow).
Mix both the batters together, add 1.5-2 tsps of salt and mix thoroughly using YOUR HANDS!!
Fill in suitable vessel(s) just 1/2 of the volume,leaving enough space to rise. Leave the batter uncovered for about an hour.
Cover and then let to ferment. I have a hot plate cooking range with the oven built below the hot plates.
I leave the batter inside the oven (no pilot light on nothing). It takes a little more than 24 hours to ferment.
The hotplates themselves generate enough heat while i do regular cooking.
Sorry for the long post... just wanted to make sure i cover all those teeny-weeny points (if you sorely miss good idlis then you'll understand the need for details!)
Do let me know if this method works for you as well. And do note that this is for winter season. May be in summer we can do the normal 'indian' way)

 

Thank you Supriya! I forgot to add that my cousin tried the steps with 4 rice: 1 urad dal ratio and said it worked too. So if you need more batter try this combo as well. My fridge is small and also somehow in my mind it's stuck that for idli it's always 3:1 shakehead