Rice Idllis have been my favorite as far as I can remember.When me and my brother were growing up, fluffy steaming idllis was our regular breakfast :). It was only after my marriage that cooking interested me and I began trying out the dishes I knew (and did't knew). And the first time when I tried rice idlli, they were hard.Cooking over a year has made me realise that kitchen is an experiment lab, and we have to observe and remember how the dish was made and if the end result is not what we had expected, well, improvise the dish on trial and error basis.After many attempts, my idllis are turning out to be soft and fluffy.....just the way my mom use to do :)

Ingrediants :

1) Urad dal : 1 cup

2) Idlli Rava : 2 cups

Urad dal and Idlli rava are in 1:2 measure.

Method :

1) Wash and soak urad dal and idlli rava for 8 hours.Soak them separately.

2) Just before you grind urad dal,wash and rinse idlli rava with cold water.Drain the rava totally of water.

3) Grind urad dal to a very smooth paste with as little water as possible. Adjust the water needed for grinding as you grind. The amount of water added to urad dal while grinding is one of the factor that decides the quality of idllis.Do not add so less water that you can not grind urad dal(sometimes if the quantity of water is less, you see fumes coming out of the jar when you open the lid) or more water that the batter is watery.

4) Mix urad dal paste and idlli rava thoroughly.

5) Pour batter into a container and ferment overnight or 12 hours in a warm area.(Ipreheat the oven to 200 F for just 5 min and then keep the batter inside.). If the batter has risen and appears to be double the size, and if you are able to smell a light sour smell, then the fermentation is complete. Sometimes it takes more than 12 hours for me to ferment.

6) Pour the batter into the idlli stand and cook them exactly 10 min.(this is my magic minute.I have found that my idllis are not cooked if it is a min less and becomes hard if it is min more).Do not use the weight if you are using a pressure cooker which cooks rice. How long idllis are steam cooked is another factor which determines quality of idlli.

7) Remove the stand and allow it to cool for a min.Take a spoon and dip it in water and take the idllis from the stand.

8) Relish the hot, soft and fluffy idllis with any chutney.

P.S : I usually soak urad dal in morning and grind it at night.Sometimes, if I am not able to grind it, I keep urad dal and idli rava (both soaking in water) in fridge and grind it the next day, after it has come to room temperature(getting it to room temperature is important, otherwise urdal dal paste will be jelly-like).

After fermentation, when you cook idllis, they will be just as good. Bon Appetit :-)