Millet Idli Batter

Dish type: South Indian Breakfast/Supper Dish

Preparation time: 5 min

Soaking time:  5 hours

Grinding time: 45 min

Fermenting time: 12 hrs

Ingredients

Salem Idli Rice           ¾ cup

Proso Millet                ¾ cup

Black gram dhal         ½ cup (whole gram and not the split dal)

Methi seeds                1 tsp

Poha (Avalakki)          ½ cup (medium variety)

Salt to taste                 2 tsps approx.

Directions

Soak rice and millet together in a vessel and other ingredients in a separate vessel for 6 hours.

Grind urad dal, avalakki and methi together to a fine batter. Then grind rice and millets thoroughly to a fine batter.

While grinding, keep adding very little quantities of water and stir the batter at intervals. The batter keeps sticking to the sides of the grinder. Keep clearing the sides off the batter by pushing the batter towards the centre. Let the grinding continue till the texture of batter becomes smooth.

Mix the two together along with required quantity of salt. Keep the batter in a warm place in a container big enough to hold all the batter in less than half its height. This is to prevent the batter that rises up on fermenting from spilling out of the vessel. Close the vessel with a lid and let it stand overnight or for about 12 hours.

Millet Idli Batter is now ready. Procedure to make idlis is same as for any other idlis (steamed for about 8 mins in cooker by pouring batter on idli plates)

Tete - a - Tete:

Procedure for preparing batter remains the same even when done with “mixie”, a popular short n sweet name for Indian mixer grinders!

Poha or Avalakki is known by many other names like “beaten rice, “pressed rice”, “flattened rice and “flaked rice”

Recipe Contributor: Shyla H Rao