IDLLY

INGREDIENTS:

IDLI RICE	4 CUPS
URAD DAL	1 CUP
RICE FLAKE |POHA|  AVAL	A FISTFUL
WATER	AS NEEDED
SALT	AS NEEDED

METHOD:

• Wash and rice , urad dal and poha several times and soak them in enough water for 4 hours. Even soaking overnight is also ok, but 4 hours is more than enough.

• After 4 hours drain the water and add the soaked rice, urad dal and poha into the wet grinder. Do not discard the water. You can use it for grinding.
• Grind this into a smooth batter adding water in regular intervals.
• Adding water is so important as this will help in bringing out soft idlis .
• It took approximately 2 to 3 cups of water to grind this batter.
• The entire of process of grinding took 30 minutes.

• The consistency after grinding should not be so thick. Add salt and mix it nicely with your hands or a spatula.

• Keep it in a container and allow it to ferment for 8 to 10 hours.
• The fermentation time depends on the outside temperature as if it is very hot you get it fermented soon, whereas in rainy season this will take extra 2 hours.
• My usually says it depends on the body heat of the person who grinds the batter and mix salt using hands.
• Normally i soak for idli in the evening around 5 0 clock and grind at 9 pm.
• I allow it to sit overnight and make idlis for next day breakfast.Before making the idlis in the morning mix the batter nicely using a ladle.

• If you are not going to make idlis after fermentation just keep it refrigerated to avoid over fermentation ,resulting in sour idlis.
• For making idlis, grease the Idli plate  with oil(preferably sesame oil) . Heat the Idli pan with 1 cup of water and allow the water to boil.
• Pour 3/4 the ladle of idli batter to the idli plates and steam it for 8-9 minutes.

• If you want to check out whether it is done, just wet your finger and insert it in a idli and it is not sticky just switch off the flame and take the idli plate out .
• After a few seconds dip a spoon in water and carefully take out the idlis and transfer them to the serving plate. Do not take out when the idlis are hot as it will not come out properly.

• These idlis will stay soft for many hours and never get dried. Just cover it properly if you going to eat it later.
• We had with red chutney, coconut chutney and Sambar.