Idly Maavu - Batter for Idly

#IdliMaavu  #IdliBatter : I have been shifting home very often from one state to another and the first thing I do after having settled down at a place is finding out a shop to buy boiled rice ( Idly rice ) and urad dhal for idly.

{Nowadays many people don't know that boiled rice is used for making idly since its called IDLI Rice in shops.}

Its not an easy task. There are many varieties of boiled rice and not all will be good for making idly.

Some will be too sticky and the grinder will be stalled while grinding. 

I have to find out a right combination only through Trial and Error.

If the rice is too sticky the measurement of rice should be boiled rice 3 1/2 cup and raw rice 1/2 cup.

If the rice is little sticky then 3 3/4 cup boiled rice and 1/4 cup raw rice.

The trial goes on for nearly two months to find out the rice and proper ratio!! 

Three important things to be remembered to make soft idlis. They are

• Ratio of rice to urad dhal
• the method of grinding 
• fermentation

The following measurement is good if you are going to grind #batter [ #maavu ] using wet grinder.

Ingredients :

Idli rice [ Boiled Rice ]     : 4 cups ( heaped )
Urad dhal                          : 1 cup ( within the brim of the cup )

Fenugreek ( venthayam )   : 1 tsp
Salt                                    : 4 Tsp

Soak rice for a minimum of 3 hours after washing thoroughly.
Soak fenugreek also in a small container.
After 3 hours, Wash the grinder and add the soaked rice with enough water.
Switch ON and run the grinder.

Now in a separate container wash the urad dhal and soak.

Periodically check the grinder and sprinkle water for smooth running.
It takes around half an hour to grind the rice.
It shouldn't be watery and shouldn't ground into smooth batter.
Rice should be ground slightly coarse ( like rawa ) and thick.
Finally add salt and transfer the rice batter into a large vessel.

Now add urad dhal and fenugreek into the grinder with little water.
Sprinkle water at regular intervals to get fluffy urad batter.

After 15 minutes of grinding

It takes around 1/2 hour to grind urad dhal. When it has been ground well bubbles start forming, the batter becomes fluffy and whitish in color. When you put a small amount of urad batter in a vessel containing water, it floats. Now transfer fluffy urad batter into the same vessel containing rice batter.
When the urad dhal batter is transferred in to the container it stands over the rice batter since its light and  fluffy.

bubbles coming out of the batter

Wash the grinder with very little water and add that water also to the batter.
Both the batters should be mixed well with hand or ladle.
The container should have enough space for the batter to raise.
Keep it closed in a warm place for 8 hours or the whole night to ferment.
After it has doubled in volume its ready for making idly.

rice & urad batter mixed well in a big container

Note : If the mixer grinder is used instead of wet grinder then the measurement will be

Boiled rice ( Idly rice )                : 3 cups

Urad dhal                                  : 1 cup

Venthayam ( fenugreek )            : 1/2 tsp





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