Idli Dosa Batter | How to Make Dosa Batter

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups idli rice or parboiled rice
• ½ cup skinned urad dal
• ¼ cup poha, or flattened rice
• ¼ cup cooked rice
• 1 teaspoon methi seeds, fenugreek seeds
• 1 ½ cups water
• 4-5 ice cubes
• 1 ½ teaspoon salt, divided

Steps

1. Wash and soak idli rice, urad dal, poha and methi seeds in enough water in a way that there is at least an inch of extra water over the rice and dal.
2. Once the grains have soaked for about 8 hours, drain the excess water from both the bowls.
3. Grind the idli rice-urad dal mix along with the cooked rice till almost smooth with approx. 1 ½ cups water and 4-5 ice cubes in a mixer grinder. Add additional water if required. The consistency should be such that it can leave a thick coat on the back of a spoon and falls in a ribbon like consistency when poured with a ladle. The ground batter should feel very slightly gritty between your fingers.
4. Pour the batter into a bowl that’s large enough so that there is room for the batter to rise. Mix the batter with clean hands as shown in the video – this is an important step as it helps in the fermentation so please don’t skip it.
5. Cover the bowl and set aside to ferment. Leave it in a warm, dry place away from direct sunlight to ferment. Fermentation takes anywhere between 12-24 hours depending on the humidity and temperature at your place. The warmer it is, the faster it’ll ferment.
6. Once fermented, the batter should have become almost 1.5 times its size with a slight dome shape and a wrinkle, bubbly layer on top. You should be able to smell a little sourness in the batter. This smell means it has fermented. If it is too sour, it has fermented too much! You can use a spoon to check the batter – the texture should be frothy with air bubbles.
7. Take out 2 cups of batter in a bowl, add ½ teaspoon of salt and use it to make idlis, dosa etc.