Welcome aboard!

Indian cuisine is a riot of colours, flavours, and spices. Every state has its own unique culture- ingrained taste bud. And, to many of us staying within familiar tastes is a sacrosanct act. Of course an occasional trip to a speciality restaurant that serves another fare is ok. But, as a matter of routine ...at home...NO!

One of the benefits of being born to parents who dared an interstate marriage (am talking about India of the 70's) was being able to widen a regional taste bud to accept, experiment and, relish eclectic cuisines :-)

I love food! Be it traditional or fusion, cooking is all about turning out fare that is tasty and healthy.I welcome all lovers of good food to come on aboard and share your kitchen adventures.

If you like what you see, do leave a comment. If you don't, please leave a suggestion to help me make this better.

You can also request for any recipe you want. Just leave a note in a comment box.

Happy cooking!

Dershana

Sunday, June 22, 2008

How to make Idli/ dosa batter?

Starting on your first culinary expedition? Here's help. Do let me know if you require anything specific.
Cheers!
Raw rice - 4 cups (if the quality of black gram is not fluffy enough use 3 cups rice)
Black gram (urad dhal/ uzhunnu) - 1 cup (without skin)
Fenugreek seeds (methi/uluva/vendayam) - 1 teaspoon (5 gms)
Gingelly oil (sesame oil/nallennai) - 1 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Cooked rice - a handful (optional)

Wash and soak the raw rice and black gram seperately for 4 hours with water sufficient to immerse them. Soak the fenugreek seeds along with the black gram.
Grind the black gram adding water little by little into a smooth fluffy paste. You can use the wet grinder blade of a mixer or the wet grinder for this. Grind the rice likewise and add to the bleack gram paste. Add salt to taste along with the gingelly oil. Blend everything together very well and allow to ferment overnight.

PS: Adding the right quantity of water is key to the quality of the batter. For idlis the batter should be of a thicker consistency. To make dosas with the same batter just add a little more water.

NOTES:  I've had reader queries regarding alternatives to raw rice. Here they are:

  • Parboiled rice
  • Idly rice (this looks like par boiled rice and has teh same texture but is sold for a higher price in my part of the world)
  • Basmati rice (during our stay at Lebanon this was the only type available in the neighbourhood supermarket, they work well too)
You can use these solely or in combination with the raw rice. Browse through the Idli and dosa section for many more options.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Dershana,

Now only i am seeing this site!.

It is excellent and good for beginners like me!. (Especially Your Recipes).

Can we use Boiled Rice (i mean Par boiled Rice) instead of Raw rice?

Dershana said...

Dear Anonymous,
Really glad that you find my site useful.

Yes, you can use par boiled rice. To get an even better consistency you can try 2 cups of par boiled rice and 1 1/2 cups of raw rice. If you are at a place where you get very good quality Urad dhal (black gram) then a 4:1 ratio too will be fine. 4 parts rice to 1 part urad.

Anonymous said...

Hi,

Thank You for ur reply.

 
Blog Blog