Idli is a typical South Indian recipe. This vegetarian item is essentially a rice pancake of approximate diameter of three inches. Idlis are savored with ‘sambar’ and ‘chutneys’ usually in breakfast or as a snack.
Ingredients
The constituents of making idli are simple:
- 2 parts long grained rice,
- 1 part split black lentil (urad dal)
Preparing idlis
- Idlis from fermented batter can be made instantaneously. The batter however is to be fermented overnight.
- Soak long grained rice for at least six hours and split black lentil for a couple of hours separately;
- Grind the rice to a coarse paste and the urad dal to a fine paste;
- Mix the rice and lentil pastes thoroughly;
- This paste is left overnight to ferment;
- Proper fermentation will increase the volume of the batter to almost 2 ½ times its original volume;
- The batter is then placed in greased moulds; (these moulds are arranged in a row of circular trays which have perforations);
- These trays are then placed in a pot partially filled with water (care must be taken that there is sufficient gap between the water level and the trays);
- Cover the pot and allow the water to boil for 15 to 25 minutes depending on the size of the idlis;
- Take the trays out from the pot and serve fluffy hot idlis
- Idlis are enjoyed as snacks by most Indians and also served in Indian restaurants across the globe.
