Hey Folks,
Idli is one of the most popular breakfast food in South India. There are different varieties of idli, but the authentic idli recipe is made out of rice and black gram. Today, I will be sharing The Perfect Cook Book recipe for soft and fluffy Idli.
INGREDIENTS:
- Black Gram (Uzhunnu) - 1/2 cup
- Raw Rice (Pachari) - 2 cups
- Cooked Rice (Choru) - 3/4 cup
- Fenugreek Seeds - 1/4 tsp
- Salt - to taste
- Water - as needed
PREPARATION:
The first step is to rinse the rice, and black gram until the water turns clear. Then soak the rice in water with some fenugreek seeds for about 4 hours. Soak the rice first, then after an hour soak the black gram in water for a maximum of 3 hours. The next step is grinding the soaked rice and black gram.
Pour the soaked black gram into a mixer. I always prefer to use the same water used for soaking it, to grind them. The softness of idli comes from the grinding of the black gram. It has to be ground till it is fluffy and airy. The batter should be thick. Use about 1/2 cup of water. Pour this batter into a large bowl, because this will rise on fermenting.
Make sure the mixer doesn't get overheated while grinding, this will affect the texture of the batter. If it gets hot, take intervals in between grinding or you can keep the black gram in the refrigerator for the last 30 minutes before grinding.
Now into the same mixer, add half of the soaked rice and fenugreek seeds. Add water to the same level of rice and grind well. Here the batter should be grainy, not as smooth as the black gram batter. Pour the mixture on top of the black gram batter.
Add the remaining soaked rice, fenugreek seeds, and cooked rice to the mixer. If we use white cooked rice, it will give that white color to our idli. Add water to the same level of rice and grind well. Pour this into the same bowl of batter. To this batter add 1 tsp of salt.
Now aerate the batter by mixing roughly with your hand for about 5 minutes to get fluffy idli. Let bubbles form on top of the batter, until then mix well. Now close the bowl with a small gap for air circulation. Leave for a minimum of 8 hours for the batter to ferment. Best if rested overnight.
After 8 hours, or the next day the batter will be fermented well and will be frothy on top. Now for steaming the idli, boil water in a steamer. The mould or idli thatt should be greased with some oil. Or you can use a thin cloth spread on top of idli thattu.
Do not over-mix the batter, mix very gently. Make sure you pour the frothy batter on top of the idli thattu for fluffy and soft idli. Let it steam for about 12 - 15 minutes. Open and check the idlis. Insert a knife into the idli, if it comes out clean then it is cooked well.
Take the idli thattu out of the steamer and let it cool well. If we try to transfer immediately, the idli's will not regain the perfect shape. Once the thattu is cool, pour one or two drops of water onto the side of each idli with a spoon and scoop them out.
Enjoy the soft and airy Idli from The Perfect Cook Book with some hot sambhar, chutney and, a filter coffee.
See you all in my next cooking blog!
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| IDLI - The Perfect Cook Book |
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