The best accompaniment with idli is chutney,sambhar or even Dhali thoy. Remember, I had posted Dhali thoy long back.My favourite combo is sambhar onion Sambhar. Nobody can beat my Amma’s sambhar. I just love her sambhar…With the same idli batter you may prepare bullet idli, but for that again you need a special stand with small depressions.I got mine from Kerala but it is easily available in South India.
As a kid I disliked idli as it sounded boring but now I can gorge it for my breakfast,lunch and dinner.It makes the best and healthy travel food too. Goes well with chutney pudi or pickle.Idli vada sambhar also make s a great combo.During travel my Papa used to let us eat only idli as it was better than other items but I used to dislike it so much then…Kids relish it with homemade butter and sugar too.
There is so much to write on this topic but I wont bore you’ll anymore.But yes,with leftover idlis we can prepare many dishes which I will post as and when I prepare.Coming up next Idli roast prepared with leftover idli.Until then stay tuned 🙂
Ingredients:
Black gram dal(urad dal)-1 cup
Idli rawa-2 cups(I use Nilgiris)
Salt- to taste
Water-as much needed to grind the batter
Method:
- Soak urad dal for 5-6 hours or overnight.
- Next day wash it thoroughly and grind it in an electric grinder or blender until fluffy.
- Wash the idli rawa,drain the water if any and mix it with the ground urad dal and mix it well with a ladle and ferment it overnight or 7-8 hours.
- Next morning add salt to taste,water if needed and beat the batter well.
- Keep the batter medium thick,don’t make it too thin nor thick.
- Grease the idli moulds and add a ladle of batter and steam it for 20 minutes.
- After 20 minutes switch off the flame,open the lid and take out the cooked idli.
- Wait for 5-6 minutes before you unmould the idli.
- Take a butter knife or a normal knife and unmould it carefully from the sides without breaking it,
- If the idlis are cooked perfect it wont break.
- Serve it hot with chutney or sambhar.
My notes:
If you have a idli stand you may steam it in a pressure cooker too by adding little water inside the cooker directly and keeping the stand on it,but do not put the whistle,steam it high for 20 minutes.
I have tried the above method but I avoid adding the batter in the bottom plate since there is a tendency of water bubbling over the batter and idli’s turn watery.
I didn’t learn to prepare idli overnight,it took a lot of time to master with the trial and error.
At times I use traditional idli moulds which comes in separate cups in different sizes.