Ingredients:

• Semiya (Vermicelli) – 200 gms
• Maida/Rava – 1 cup
• Rice flour – 1/4 cup
• Butter milk – 1/2 cup
• Onions – 1 small (finely chopped)
• Ginger – 1/4 inch (finely chopped)
• Green chillies – 2 (finely chopped)
• Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
• Split urad dal – 1/2 tsp
• Curry leaves – a few
• Oil -2 tbsp
• Salt to taste

Method:

Cook the semiya in water and set aside. Mix the rice flour, maida/rava (if using rava, soak the rava for an hour in water and mix) with some butter milk, salt and water to make a medium thick batter. To this, add the cooked semiya and mix well.

Heat oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds, add urad dal, curry leaves, and then the chopped onions, ginger and green chillies and saute for a while. Add this to the batter. Mix well. Can also add in coriander leaves for extra flavour.

Pour the batter into the idli moulds and steam them in a pressure cooker (without putting the weight in the cooker) for about 10 min. Remove from cooker and keep aside for a few minutes and then remove the idlis from the moulds and serve.

Can be served with all chutneys. Note: can add in any leftover dosa batter along with this for improving batter consistency if needed.

Ingredients:

Set 1:

• Parboiled Rice – 4 cups
• Whole Urad Dal – 1 cup
• Fenugreek seeds – 1/4 tsp
• Salt – 1 1/2 tbsp

Set 2:

• Green chillies – 3 (finely chopped)
• Ginger – 1/4 inch (finely chopped)
• Gram Dal – 1/2 tbsp
• Split Cashews – 8 (chopped)
• Split Urad Dal – 1/2 tsp
• Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
• Curry Leaves – a few (chopped)
• Oil – 1 tbsp

Method:

Soak all the ingredients from set 1 (except salt), rice and dal+fenugreek separately for about 4 hours. Then wet grind them separately pouring enough water to make a thick batter. Then, mix both batters (from rice & dal) and add the salt and mix well and set aside to ferment (the batter will rise about 1/2 inch to an inch). Under normal tropical weather conditions, this should take around 10-12 hrs. In colder conditions, it might take longer. Dont allow to ferment longer. The batter will turn sour.

Once the batter is fermented, mix well again, adding a pinch of baking soda dissolved in few tsp of water.

Soak the gram dal in water for 1/2 hr (till soft). In a small pan, heat oil, splutter mustard seeds, add urad dal, curry leaves, green chillies, ginger and cashews and saute for a few minutes. Add this mixture and soaked gram dal to the batter and mix well.

Pour the batter into the idli moulds and steam them in a pressure cooker (without putting the weight in the cooker) for about 10 min. Remove from cooker and keep aside for a few minutes and then remove the idlis from the moulds and serve. Alternatively instead of pouring into the round idli moulds, can pour into other fancy containers like tumblers, round bowls, etc to get the appropriate shape. Then, can cut the idlis into pieces and serve.

Can be served with all chutneys or sambhar.

Ingredients:

• Parboiled Rice – 4 cups
• Whole Urad Dal – 1 cup
• Fenugreek seeds – 1/4 tsp
• Salt – 1 1/2 tbsp

Method:

Soak all the ingredients (except salt), rice and dal+fenugreek separately for about 4 hours. Then wet grind them separately pouring enough water to make a thick batter. Then, mix both batters (from rice & dal) and add the salt and mix well and set aside to ferment (the batter will rise about 1/2 inch to an inch). Under normal tropical weather conditions, this should take around 10-12 hrs. In colder conditions, it might take longer. Don’t allow to ferment longer. The batter will turn sour.

Once the batter is fermented, mix well again, adding a pinch of baking soda dissolved in few tsp of water. Pour the batter into the idli moulds and steam them in a pressure cooker (without putting the weight in the cooker) for about 10 min. Remove from cooker and keep aside for a few minutes and then remove the idlis from the moulds and serve. Can be served with any type of chutney, curries or sambhar.