Making soft and fluffy idli dosa batter using a grinder in traditional South Indian way with the perfect ratio of parboiled idli rice and urad dal must be the dream for many. After making soft idli and crispy dosa batter for almost a decade, I have shared this post to help beginners in cooking. As Idli is a staple breakfast in my home, I make it in different ways using idli rava, easy idli batter in mixie, instant sooji idli etc and posted nearly 30 idli varieties.
This is my latest recipe for making idli batter in a wet grinder even if the quality of rice and urad dal is bad. One of my readers asked me to post my idli batter recipe for low quality urad dal. This recipe fixes the issue.
In this post I have shared all possible tips and tricks for beginners in making idli dosa batter. As per my reader’s request, I hope these tips would be useful for new cooks and newly wedded girls. This batter yields soft idlis, thick uttappam, paniyaram as well as super crispy dosas. Without further delay, let me move on to the idli recipe with video.
If you are in Abroad/Cold countries and looking for Idli batter fermentation tips in winter, Check out this post .
Check out the full cooking video below ( It includes grinding and draining the batter in a grinder)
Idli dosa batter Recipe using a wet grinder
Ingredients
1 cup = 240ml
- 3 cup Idli rice/ Parboiled rice /Puzhunghal arisi ( the ratio of rice & dal is 6:1)
- ½ cup Urad dal
- ½ tsp Fenugreek seeds
- 1 Crystal Salt / Kallu uppu handful (to taste)
- Water as needed
Instructions
- Wash and soak the rice. Wash and soak urad dal & methi seeds together. Soak for 4 hrs .
- Grind urad dal with fenugreek seeds first by adding enough water in between. Make sure you add water every now & then so that the urad dal rises well and u’ll get a light , fluffy batter. Please do not add all the water in the beginning.For grinding urad dal, you need 1.5 – 2 cups of water in total .
- Grind till it comes out like a ball(should be a paste) (It takes nearly 15-20 mins in table-top wet grinder). Now remove it. Keep it in a big vessel such that it can hold double the quantity of batter.
- Now add the rice & crystal salt with 1/2 cup of water while the grinder is running.
- Add water in the middle (Whenever necessary).It should become a smooth paste (May take 20-25 mins in table-top). The water it consumes will be around 2- 2.5 cups.Adjust the water quantity. Now remove the rice and put it in the same vessel.
- Mix it thoroughly with your hand.(This helps for fermentation) .Let the batter ferments overnight or at least for 12 hrs.
- The next morning , don’t mix the batter again. You can mix till half way through the batter if its too light. Suppose if the batter is over flown, take the extra batter in a separate vessel. Use a ladle, mix the batter till half the way. Quantity of batter reduces. Now add the overflown batter, mix well and keep it aside. Start taking the batter from one corner and pour it into the idli mould. Even the next day,take the batter from the same side.IDLI remains very soft up to 3 days.
- Steam it in the idli pot for 10-15mins and serve hot with sambar!!
I have given these tips learning from my mom, mil and from my own experience.
FAQ – Tips and tricks for perfect idli batter
The reasons might be due to improper washing of rice and dal. Rinse the rice well while washing. Discard the water and use fresh water for soaking. Adding more methi seeds may also give yellow idlis. Normally my mom doesn’t add methi seeds for idli, dosa batter. My mom’s idli always look super white.
If the grinder or mixie you used to grind is too hot, batter may become slightly yellow. To avoid this, switch off the grinder for sometime or add ice cold water to grind the rice.
Always use ur hands for mixing urad dal and rice batter. Spread your fingers and beat the batter well. For more tips, please refer my mixie idli post. If you are in Abroad/Cold countries and looking for Idli batter fermentation tips, Check out this post .
The most important reason for hard idlis is the due to insufficient amount of urad dal and inadequate water used for grinding. If you find your idlis are hard, add more the next time and use more water while grinding the batter. Even if you add water while mixing the batter after fermentation, it won’t work. So add enough water while grinding itself.
The second reason might be, batter needs more fermentation. Sometimes if you make idlis in the morning, it may come out hard. With the same batter, if you make idlis for dinner, it will come out soft. If it happens so, give more time for fermentation.
I faced this problem for the past few months and rectified it. So I can give you some tips based on my own experience. Usually I make idli for first two days and for the third day, I use the same batter for making dosa by diluting it slightly. In that case, use few tbsps of water at a time. Batter should not be too thick or too thin. Consistency of batter is very important to avoid dry dosas.
Insufficient amount of urad dal may also result in dry dosa. So use 4:1 rice and dal ratio to get a golden brown colored crispy dosas.
If the dosa pan is not in correct temperature, dosas may turn dry. Also drizzle a tsp of oil all over the dosas especially in the concentric circles not only in corners.
The last possible reason might be the quality of rice. Add 1/2 cup – 1 cup more water while grinding if the quality of rice is bad. Even then if you feel, it is not good, its better change the rice.
For me, the problem was with the rice. I made all the above changes and still I found the dosas were dry. Finally I changed the rice. Though it is the same boiled rice/salem rice, there are different qualities which I couldn’t guess. My MIL told me to change the rice and go for a trial.
Now my dosas come out very well. So if you are buying a rice for the first time, buy 1 kg , go for a trial and then buy in large quantities.
For roast dosa, take the required idli batter in a bowl. Add few tbsp of water, mix well. Heat the dosa pan, sprinkle few drops of water to check the temperature of the pan. Take a ladleful of batter and spread it as thin as possible. Keep the flame high. Add a tsp of oil/ghee all over the dosa. The oil will sizzle. After a minute, dosa turns golden brown, cooked and corners will rise. The upper portion should be cooked by this time if you spread the batter very thinly. Else flip the dosa, reduce the flame to low, keep it for few seconds and remove the dosa.
My mom makes roast dosa very well. She makes it by spreading the batter very thin, add a tsp of ghee and cover the pan with a lid. After few seconds, she removes the dosa, fold and serve it. She doesn’t flip and cook the dosa.
Use more dal based on trail and error. U can also use 1/4 cup of aval/ poha/ pressed rice for more softness. Skip methi seeds if you don’t like that flavor.
With one batter, we can make so many yummy breakfast recipes. Its cool right !!
In the above picture, you can see soft idlis, crispy dosa, Paniyaram using idli, dosa batter, Idli upma and mini idli with coconut chutney, tiffin sambar, idli podi.
Please check these links for my alternate methods of idli batter recipes if you are interested
Very useful post. Adding a handful of aval while soaking rice also gives soft idlies and crispy dosas
thats an useful post dear :) very tempting platter !!
very useful post dear
Nice useful post !!
Very nicely explained appreciate ur patience
Very nicely explained and useful post, thanks for sharing. The platter looks delicious and tempting.
well explained! lovely tips!
wonderful spread n useful post as well!!!
Is there any substitute for methi seeds
Here methi seeds are optional.U still get soft idlies without adding methi seeds :)
Hi chitra..i have been trying to make good idli batter for the past 4 years now. When searching for recipe of idli all websites,blogs mention tips m tricks gpr idli bit not how much water to add. Thanks for mentioning the amount of water needed ..thanks to you
Thanks for your sweet words :)
Hi mam,
My ground batter has raised only a little after keeping outside for 12 hrs. But I made Idlis using a part of it, and it came out very soft. What is the problem and how can I rectify it?
Hi Ramaa,Generally idli batter need minimum 12 hours of fermentation based on the country u live.If u live in very hot place,it may ferment within 8 hours and batter will raise.Otherwise during winter season,batter may take even 15 hours to ferment.There is no problem in your part.Just leave the batter till it ferments properly and it should taste mildly sour.If u make idlis for dinner,it will come out perfect.Idli becomes flat and very soft due to improper fermentation or your urad dal should be of very good quality.So next time add less urad dal ie rice and dal in 6:1 or 7:1.It should be fine.Hope this helps :)
While making idli for dinner tonite,mix the batter well till the bottom and make idli.It will come out well ):
K mam :). Thank you so much for your quick reply
liked
Rice batter draining is diificult. Can you suggest some way. I use idly rice and good quality urad dal in the ratio 3:1. sometimes idly becomes flat.
Pl explain
I usually grind urad dal batter first.And i remove urad batter while the grinder is running.But i remove rice batter by taking the grinding stone and its body and just slide it by keeping it over a wide bowl in which i collected urad dal batter.Most of the batter comes out easily and i wipe the remaining batter using my hands or a spatula.Mix them together with my hands and keep it closed for fermentation.Many people remove the rice batter while the grinder runs but i feel this as easy n quick.Hope this helps u too.Regarding flat idlis : Idli becomes very soft n flat because of too much of urad dal or too much of water.As u said,u have good quality urad dal,u don't have to use 3:1 ratio.U can go for 6:1 or 5:1.Idlis will come out well.U can also mix the batter very well till the bottom just before pouring the batter.By doing this way,the light weighted urad dal batter gets mixed up with heavy rice batter and u can get good shaped idlis.Hope these tips help u.Next time,try adding less urad dal :) Thanks
Healthy choice for breakfast. Thanks for sharing the recipe !!
You must have tried the traditional south indian idlis. Here is my little innovation with idlis…try them in chinese style
Explore the recipe at
http://recipe-chinese-idli.blogspot.in
I tried dosa with this batter a couple of weeks back and they were excellent! Thanks for the recipe. Going to try the same recipe for idli today :)
Thank u so much.Do share your feedback if you try idli :)
yummy and tasty!!
Hi wat is Salem rice how it looks like? Pls share with me
It is parboiled rice. I will try to include a picture in this post.