Idly PlatePhoto Courtesy:Priya (my friend)
(contents re-posted for Dosa corner event)
1. When you grind the idly batter, the rice should be ground to a fine sooji rava consistency and not to a fine paste- gives a grainy texture hence prevents the idli from hardening. Urad dal batter should be really smooth and fluffy- it helps the idlis puff up.
2. Fermentation is an important factor. A perfectly fermented batter yields softer the idlis and tastier the dosas.
3. Use a well seasoned griddle for dosas to prevent sticking.
4. If you are going to eat dosas hot and fresh, make thin crisp dosas. Be liberal with oil.If you are going to take it in your lunch box, make soft white dosas. Do not allow it to be crisp. Use less oil. Remember, for soft dosas, it is best to use only raw rice. Add parboiled rice or idly rice spoils the texture.
5. Always remember, idly batter is thick, dosa batter is a little thin and oothapam batter is thinner. If you dilute your idly batter too much, you have hard idlis which are not fluffy. Even if you use a common batter, change the consistency accordingly by adding water and mixing it well.
6. To aid fermentation in cold countries, preheat your oven to 200F and put it off. Place the vessel containing the batter on a plate (to collect the overflown batter in case it pours out) and keep oven closed overnight.
7. You can add a ladleful of old dosa/idli batter to the fresh batter to aid quick fermentation- thnx Falvi
8. In countries/states where you don't get idli rice or boiled rice, here is a useful tip to convert your raw rice (any variety) into idli rice
Tranfer the required amount of raw rice to a container and steam it in a pressure cooker (without adding water to the rice vessel) for 5 minutes. You will see the raw rice convert to parboiled rice/idli rice. Then proceed with making the batter-thnx Subha
9. You can use idli rava instead of grinding rice. Just grind the urad batter and mix with idli rava! However, the idlis will be like the udupi style ones, not like the smooth chettinadu style idlis.
10. Well, if you think all this is too much of an effort and really time consuming, you should try Gitz idli mix.. it works!- thnx Priya
This post goes to Padma's Dosa corner event
19 comments:
How about adding yeast?I have just tried that today...doubt how it will be
how did it come out? it is like aiding the natural yeast fermentation... it should work actually!
Much useful a post dear. Love that tip on making a parboiled rice. Thanks for sharing. Ur Idlies are cute.
Nice tips and idli plate looks yum with sambar and podi.
Thank u Viki and Kalaivani!
useful tips all of these.
but adding yeast to the batter did not come out well with me...as it smelled like bread...the idli or dosa has a different aroma.....i want to know how it turned out with you Rathi.
very informative post...enjoyed reading it! idli, sambar and podi look inviting... :)
Informative post dear...idli looks soo soft and fluffy...
Thank u Lissie and Preeti!
Nice tips and variations Priya/Preethi ... loved to read them and also very useful to all idli/dosa lovers ... thanks for sending it to my event dear :)
Great tips Preethi. We always teased one of our dosa outlet owner that he has constantly mixes left over dosa batter to the new batter so the dosa taste never changed from 70s' todate. After reading here I came to know that is a tip!!!
Forget yeast. Add a couple of tablespoons of beer.
And thank Ajay when you enjoy your idlies.
do the idlis turn hard if the batter is left in the fridge? i had the batter in the fridge but brought it out in the afternoon to make idlis for night but still my idlis were hard? is there a reason for this ? can we make idlis after keeping batter in fridge?
Batter should be perfectly fine for about 2 weeks in the fridge.
When we make a common batter for idli and dosa, the thumb rule is to use up the batter for making idlis in the first few days.
With time, the batter results in harder idlis, however the dosas come out well. It depends on how long u have stored them. Refrigeration is not the reason.
Also make sure that the batter is well fermented and not too watery. Thicker batter for idlis and a looser batter for dosas. If the batter is very loose, the idlis turn out hard.
hii, ur tips are very useful for beginners like me.
im not getting raw rice here.(what do you mean by raw rice,what can i use instead of raw rice?(hws it available.is there any other names for it.pls reply
Try this:
Take 1 tablespoon of cooked rice. Leave it outside overnight. Do not cover the rice airtight.
Used this cooked rice when grinding other ingredients.
Using more cooked rice will increase the rate of fermentation but might change the texture of the batter.
Add salt after Fermentation
Thank you for sharing and I want to share information about Madras Bistro which offers a wide range of delicious North and South Indian vegetarian dishes. Situated in the heart of Bergen County, Madras Bistro is located in Hackensack, NJ.
I searched a lot in google to find a way to use rawrice instead of parboiled..Came across your site which had these 2 great tips..
1)Convert Raw rice to par boiled in pressure cooker.
2)Turned on the oven to 200 F and kept the batter after the oven cooled down a bit..batter was fermented really well.
It worked perfectly for me..Many thanks KittyMatti
I searched a lot in google to find a way to use rawrice instead of parboiled..Came across your site which had these 2 great tips..
1)Convert Raw rice to par boiled in pressure cooker.
2)Turned on the oven to 200 F and kept the batter after the oven cooled down a bit..batter was fermented really well.
It worked perfectly for me..Many thanks KittyMatti..:)
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