Idli Dosa Batter | Using wet grinder | Homemade Idli Dosa Batter, which makes soft and spongy idlis and crisp dosa! Serve the idli and dosa with sambar and chutney of your choice. Idli & Dosa are two of the healthiest and most popular South Indian breakfast foods.
Indian food is very versatile & what people eat in south India is completely different from the north & eastern parts. Here in South India, we prefer idlis & dosas mainly on our breakfast course. Though they originated in South India, idlis and dosas have gained nation-wide recognition now.
What is Idli & Dosa?
For those who does not know, idli is a steamed cake made with a rice and lentil fermented batter. The same batter is also used to make a crepe called dosa. Based on the fillings we keep on dosas we can make a variety of dosas.
How Idli-Dosa batter is made?
First things you have to keep in mind is :
- The ingredients and proportions for idli/dosa batter
- Consistency of batter and fermentation time
- Variations of dosa and idli batter consistency
Let us see the ingredients needed to make batter:
What kind of rice to use?
When you go to the Indian grocery store, you will find “Idli Rice” which is specifically meant for idli/dosa batter. It is a kind of fat, short-grained, parboiled rice. You can even use parboiled rices too.
What kind of urad dal to use?
De-husked black gram, either whole or split, are to be used.
In addition to these main ingredients, I prefer adding fenugreek seeds & poha/rice flakes. This makes a difference in your idlis & dosas for sure. Adding fenugreek helps in fermentation and it also helps in giving the dosa a nice brown color.
When to add salt?
My personal experience is to add the salt before fermentation.
Traditionally, rice and dal are soaked and ground separately, then mixed together, and allowed to ferment. A wet stone grinder is the best tool for this job. But you can use mixies or blenders too for this grinding process.
How to ferment the batter?
The batter needs a warm place in order to ferment. If you live in a warm place, you can leave the batter on a table / preferred area and it will ferment. However, if you live in a cold place you can place the batter in the oven with the oven lights on.
Idli Dosa Batter
Course: BreakfastCuisine: IndianDifficulty: Medium4
hours12
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hoursIdli Dosa Batter | How to make idly dosa batter in wet grinder/mixie?
Ingredients
1 cup whole/split urad dal
31/2cups of idly rice
1/2 cup of poha/rice flakes
1/2tsp fenugreek seeds
water as needed
salt as required
Directions
- Preparations for Batter
- Wash 3.5 cups of rice & 1 cup of dal separately in the water.
- Add 1/2 teaspoon methi seeds to the rice/dal while it’s soaking.
- Soak them in a generous amount of water in a large bowl for at least 4-5 hours.
- When you are ready to grind the batter, wash and soak the aval/poha in water for 5 minutes, just enough to soften it. Skip this step if you are using cooked rice. You only need either of these ingredients, not both.
- Grinding
- I am using a wet grinder for grinding. First of all, wash the grinder & stones properly.
- Now add in the soaked urad dal into the grinder. Always remember do not pour the water at a time while grinding urad dal.
- The amount of water will depend on the type of rice/dal you use. So, start with a lesser amount, and add more water as needed. Add in the water at intervals.
- Grind to smooth consistency (a fine sand-line gritty texture is also fine).
- May be around 15-20min to grind the urad dal to a smooth texture.
- Once done add in the soaked rice, fenugreek seeds & poha to the grinder. (This is how I do. I grind both dal & rice together & till now I had never seen any failproof in this method.)
- Add water in between & grind it to a smooth paste.
- Fermentation
- Pour the batter into a large container. Make sure to fill the container only halfway, to allow room for the batter to rise during fermentation. I am using 2 containers.
- The batter needs a warm place in order to ferment. If you live in a warm place, you can leave the batter on a table / preferred area and it will ferment. (maybe around 8 to 14hrs)
- However, if you live in a cold place you can place the batter in the oven with the oven lights on.
- Once the batter has risen (it will also smell fermented), add salt and mix gently to combine.
- Idly Batter Consistency & making idlis
- Scoop out the required batter needed to make idlis and store the rest batter in an airtight container in the refrigerator for a week.
- If the batter becomes thick add water & mix it to a free-flowing consistency but it shouldn’t be runny. Otherwise, idlis will become hard.
- Lightly grease the idli molds with a few drops of oil/ghee. Pour the batter to fill the molds. Slightly under-fill the molds so that the idlis have room to rise.
- Place the molds in the steamer vessel, cover with the lid, and cook for 8-9 minutes. If you overcook, the idlis can become dense and hard.
- Remove the hot idli molds from the vessel, let cool for a few minutes, then gently remove the idlis with the help of a spoon.
- Making dosas
- Scoop out the required batter needed to make idlis and store the rest batter in airtight container in refrigerator for a week.
- If the batter becomes thick add water & mix it to a free-flowing consistency but it shouldn’t be runny.
- Heat a seasoned pan. Sprinkle a few drops of water, if it sizzles, the pan is ready.
- Pour a ladle-full (around ¼ cup) of batter in the center of the dosa pan. Starting at the center, quickly make concentric circles of increasing diameter with the rounded cup of the ladle. This will form the dosa shape.
- Pour a few drops of ghee or oil on the dosa and around the edges. Cook for a couple of minutes till the bottom is golden brown & crisp.
- Remove the dosa to a plate and serve immediately
Recipe Video
Notes
- The amount of water to grind the ingredients will depend on the type of rice/dal you use. So, start with a lesser amount, and add more water as needed.
