Idli/ Dosa Batter

Idli or Dosa is a traditional and staple breakfast dish of South India. Served with varieties of chutneys and sambar.
To prepare idli/ dosa batter, a proper proportion of rice and urad dal is soaked separately for 6-8 hours. Fenugreek seeds are soaked along with rice for additional flavour. After soaking, rice and dal are separately grounded to a fine paste and then combined with salt to taste. The batter is left to ferment overnight or atleast 8 hours till the batter almost doubles in volume. Now the batter is ready to make soft idlis or crispy dosas.
Here is the step-by-step process of preparing the batter. Using this batter you can prepare idli, varities of dosa such as Plain Dosa, Masala Dosa, Uttapam, Set/ Kal Dosa, Onion Dosa.

Ingredients :

• Idli Rice/ Parboiled Rice - 2 3/4 cup
• Short-grained Raw Rice - 1/4 cup
• Skinless Urad dal - 1 cup
• Fenugreek Seeds - 1 tsp
• Cooked Rice/ Flattened Rice - Handful
• Salt to taste
• Water as required

Method :

• In a bowl take idli rice, raw rice and fenugreek seeds. In another bowl take urad dal. Wash them thoroughly and fill with water and keep it aside for 6-8 hours.

• If using flattened rice, wash them and soak it in water. In a grinder jar take soaked and drained urad dal. Add  required amount of water and grind to a fine paste. Transfer it to a wide bowl. 

• Now take soaked and drained rice in grinder jar. Take Rice in two batches as quantity is more. Add water little by little and grind to a fine paste. When almost done, add half of cooked rice or soaked flattened rice and grind till smooth. Transfer it to bowl which has urad dal paste. Repeat for another batch of rice.

• Add salt to taste and required amount of water to adjust to dropping consistency. Mix well. Cover and set it aside undisturbed in warm place overnight or for 8 hours to ferment. 

• After 8 hours, batter would have doubled in volume. 

• Give a light stir with a ladle. Now the batter is ready to use to make idli/dosa. Extra batter can be stored in a air tight container and left in the fridge for 5-6 days and used when required. For beginners, soon I would b posting steps to prepare idli and varieties of dosa.