IDLIS

[Oldposts]

Hemant, are you serious?

[Oldposts]

Sushmitha,
I am more than serious.Please don't be alarmed by presence of Bacteria and yeast in the dough.Without that, there is no fermentation possible.
Whatever microbes that are there , get destroyed when you steam cook the Idlies or make Dosais.
You will be surprised to know that we and most of the Mammals have a permenent colony of Bacterias staying in our Gut , they help you to digest food by breaking down certain foods to fecilitate easier digestion.

[Oldposts]

Sush-

and, the whole yeast, fermentation, rising process of bread began with mixtures being kept outside and capturing "natural" bacteria in the air. That is how the american "sourdough starter" was born.

[Oldposts]

Wow!
Thanks for the explanation, Hemant!

[Oldposts]

Kia ora, everyone.
Ggrrrreat!! Just asked about idlis in another thread. Had a very full rely, (thanks Sundar!) and then came across this thread accidentally, while looking for something else. Now I can really experiment a lot, with all this good advice. (Must stop washing my hands!)

[Oldposts]

This is just a recipe for making idlis.

Long Grain Rice - 4 cups or 2 cups
Urad Dal - 1 cup or 1/2 cup
meaning the ratioo 4:1

Soak rice and urad dal for 3-4 hours.
Grind the soaked urad dal nicely.
Do not add more water; just add only little for smooth grinding.
Grind the soaked rice somewhat coarsely but not to coarsely.
Mix both well adding salt to taste (1-11/2 tbsp)
Leave it for fermentation overnight. (Normally you should grind the stuff in the evening if you live in a hot country; If you are living in a country where the weather is usually cold, then you warm up the oven @ 200 degree F for five minutes and allow to cool for a minute then place your dough-container in the oven)

Note the ground batter should be well mixed with had when you add salt before you keep in the oven.

Next morning you will observe the level of the dough has increased due to fermentation.

Now you take an Idli Thattu and pour the batter a big spoonful to fill the idly mould and place it in the cooker with two glasses of water. Do not place ven weight. let the staem go out. After 5-7 minutes soft idlies are ready.

Idlies go with cocnut chuttneys, sambars, onion chuttneys, chillie chuttny, Tomato chuttneys and with Idli Podi.
Try this recipe, you will be astonished to have softest idlies.

Doss

[Oldposts]

hai,

I tried the idillies here.. in this proportion..

ponni puzhungal rice- 2 cups
sonamasuri rice(comes in orange colored bags) not parboiled - 1 cup

urad dal - 1/2 cup

baking soda - a pinch

salt - 1 tbs

soak rice and urad dal seperately.....for 5 hrs.
gring urad dal first and then grind rice seperately... mix all the things together with hand... after 12 hr.. U will get good batter to make soft idllis.

if u wish u can try all these..

if anybody knows how to make good naan please tell me..

[Oldposts]

can any one please tell how to make a soft rava idli

[Oldposts]

hai nages,

For rava idli...

Fry 2 cups of rava with a little ghee..for 2 mins and add 1/2 cup of fresh curd to it and keep it for 3 mins.
Fry mustard,jeera,urad dal,curry leaves,ginder,chillies and some chashews seperately in some ghee.
Mix everything together before u make idillies .
Add a little water to it..

pour it in the idlli mould and heat it for sometime. Now u will get soft rava idillies.. have it with onion chutney or idli milagai podi.. its wonderful. try it.

[Oldposts]

Can anyone help with suggestions , I live in Ireland where it is cold 10C/50F and damp. When i made my batter it took 3 days to ferment! plus I have an electric oven. The market has a mix but I haven't tried it.
I would appreciate any ideas as I so love iddlys!