Idli (Steamed Rice and Black Gram Bread)

Instructions

Wash the rice and the urad dal thoroughly. Soak them in separate bowls for no more than 2 hours, adding the fenugreek seeds to the dal bowl. Use about twice as much water as dal, since the dal swells as it soaks.

Drain both, keeping the dal soaking water and discarding the rice soaking water. Grind the dal to a fine paste in a blender, adding a little of the reserved soaking water only if it is needed.

Grind the rice with about 1 cup of chlorine-free water, or less if you can. Keep it coarse if the batter is only for idli, and grind it finely if you plan to use it for dosa later.

Combine the rice and dal pastes and mix very thoroughly, by hand if possible, because uneven mixing is the most common cause of failure. Season with salt, and stir in the fermentation starter if you are using one.

Set the batter aside in a warm place to ferment for 8 hours. Around 25 to 28 °C is ideal. In a cold kitchen, stand the vessel in a bowl of warm water, or keep it in an oven with only the light switched on.

Grease the idli pans well with ghee or vegetable oil. Spoon the batter gently into the round indentations without stirring it, so the trapped bubbles stay in and the idli turn out fluffy.

Steam for 12 minutes, or 16 minutes if you used brown rice. Loosen each idli from its pan with a sharp knife or a thin spatula and lift it out.