Idli

Idli , the most common breakfast in South India. In some homes, it is made almost everyday.
Since it is a steamed food and has no spices, kids love it. It sure is healthy.
If you have the batter ready, it doesn't take much time for preparation. However, it takes long to prepare the batter as it requires fermentation.
You can make enough batter on a weekend and store it in the fridge for upto a week. That would save you a lot of time during the busy weekdays.



Ingredients:

• Idli Rava - 4 cups
• Urad Dal (washed) - 1 3/4 cup
• Fenugreek Seeds - 1tsp
• Salt -to taste
• Water - as needed
• Ghee - to grease the plates

Directions:

• Soak idli rava in water for around 1-2 hours.
• In a separate vessel, soak urad dal and fenugreek seeds for 4-5 hours.
• Drain water from urad dal , grind urad dal mixed with little fenugreek seeds into a fine smooth paste adding little water at a time. Do not add too much water. The consistecy should be like that of pancake batter.
• Drain the water from the idli rava. Take handful of rava and tightly squeeze the water out of it and add it to the urad dal paste. Continue this process for the rest of the rava as well.
• Add salt and mix and pat the batter with your hands.
• Cover and leave overnight in a warm place for fermentation.
• Take the idli stand, grease the idli holder with a drop of ghee and fill each one 3/4 full with the batter. Do not fill it, because they need some space to swell.
• Heat around 2 cups of water in the pressure cooker and place the idli stand in it.
• Close the lid and cook it without the weight on high heat for 10 minutes and simmer it for 5 minutes, then turn off the heat and let it cool down for 5 mintes before you open the cooker.
• Take out the idlis very gently with the help of a butter knife.
• Sprinkle a few drops of ghee on top of idlis and server them hot with chutney or sambar.

Enjoy !!! :)