Idlis, dosas & paniyarams.

I had been wanting since many years to buy the wet grinder. I had heard that dosas & especially idlis turn out to have melt in mouth consistency when batter is churned out in the wet grinder.

My sister in law ( my hubby's brother's wife )  gifted me the wet grinder. And I was elated ! I was given instructions on how to use it the first time .And I was hooked !

I have been grinding batter in the wet grinder & let me tell you, its simply amazing ! The dosas, idlis, & paniyarams turn out superbly. I do get tired to wash the wet grinder after all the grinding. And yet , the efforts are worth the softest idlis, dosas & gundpangalu ( Kannada for paniyrams )   !

I googled & followed the ingredients for wet grinding from Prema's blog.

I sometimes use 1-2 tsp methi seeds.I have used 1 tbsp methi seeds as well.More methi seeds has the effect of increasing fermentation. Hence, batter may turn out to be more sour. To avoid this, add just 1-2 tsp methi seeds.Different recipes use varying amounts of methi seeds.

For dosas, idlis & paniyarams, I use the same proportion of ingredients. For dosas, the batter can be more watery than idli batter. For idlis & paniyarams, the batter must have drop down consitency, not watery.

Ingredients : 1 cup urad dal, 1-2 tsp methi ( fenugreek )  seeds, 2 cups boiled rice, 2 cups normal rice ( any rice that you use to cook rice daily ) , 1/4-1/3 cup poha, salt to taste.


Method : Soak boiled rice first after washing it for 3 times .Boiled rice will grind finely only when it is soaked for more than 3-4 hours.Keep aside.

Urad dal & methi seeds are soaked together after washing. These are soaked for 3-4 hours. Keep aside. Normal rice is washed & soaked for 3-4  hours.Keep aside.

Poha can be washed & soaked just half an hour before grinding.

After 3-4 hours of soaking urad dal -methi mix, grind the mix in wet grinder for more than half an hour. Take breaks of 2-3 minutes after every 10 minutes. Add water, if it is very thick.Slowly, the batter will start fluffing up & get very light. That is the time to stop grinding.Pour the batter into a deep vessel.This can be done by titling the wet grinder vessel ( if the wet grinder vessel tilts by button push ) or by using a ladle to scoop out the batter.

Next, take both the varieties of soaked rice & put in the wet grinder vessel.The urad dal batter remaining in wet grinder vessel is hardly an issue as finally , both urad dal & rice batter must mix to get fermented.

Add water to vessel & start grinding. Wash poha & add washed poha to batter while a break is taken from grinding. Add more water if batter is too thick.Grind finely. The batter must not be grainy or particulate in consistency. This grinding will take 45 minutes to one hour.

Add this rice poha batter to urad dal methi batter. Mix nicely with ladle or with hands. The warmth of the hands will ferment the batter better.

Keep batter aside for night. Before retiring to bed, keep batter  in refrigerator.Next morning or whenever idlis or dosas or paniyrams are scheduled as breakfast, take out the batter & make them.Add salt to taste before making them.

Idlis : Grease the idli moulds in the idli stand & pour ladlefuls of batter into each mould. Put water in the idli cooker or the pressure cooker.Keep  the idli stand into the cooker with water around the idli stand.Close the lid. Let it steam for 8-10 minutes on high flame. Put off gas. Remove lid after 4-5 minutes. Remove idli stand.Let it cool for 4-5 minutes. Remove idlis from moulds. Serve hot with chutni and or sambar or chutni powder plus til oil.

   My mom sometimes uses  dhokla plates for making idlis. And they look like plump white dosasor even plate idlis. My mom gets very nostalgic about plate idlis as my mom's mom ( my nani or granny ) used to make idlis in plates !

Dosas : Start heating tawa on gas stove. Grease the tawa. Pour out a ladle full of batter & spread it on tawa in circular manner. Cover with lid. After 2-3  minutes, take out lid.If the dosa has started rising from the outer sides, it is ready to be flipped up.Spread alittle oil of the dosa & flip it over.Cook for 2-3 minutes .Remove the dosa from the tawa, Serve with chutni, sambar or chutni powder.

If masala dosa is needed, before flipping dosa, spread little  potato onion sabzi or bhaji in the middle of the dosa. Cover the sabzi with the two sides of dosa. And if possible flip it lightly. even if sabzi falls outside, please don't worry.It can be put inside. After 1-2 minutes of cooking, remove masala dosa on to a plate. Serve with chutni, sambar, chutni powder-til oil or just like that.

Paniyarams : Please go to the blog post on paniyarams or appams or gundpangalu.

I soak boiled rice in morning by 9. I soak urad dal & normal rice by 11.I start grinding by 2-3.By 10-11 in night before I retire to bed, I refrigerate the batter. This is for summers.

During winters, batter can be left outside over nite.

Some soak chana dal ( 1/4 cup )to urad dal ( for dosa batter )  if 1 cup urad dal has been used .This enhances golden yellow colour in dosas.