Thattu Idly – Idly with a twist

I recently got to know about this dish from my brother.  Last month, he was on vacation to Coorg and had tasted this stuff somewhere on the highways of Mysore.  He insisted me on learning this recipe as he liked it.  I was so surprised when he narrated how the dish would be.   He said idly’s will be very thin and soft, in the shape of a mini oothappam.  I was so curious that I immediately googled and saw the image of how the thattu idly’s be.  I was super stunned and excited and wanted to try it immediately.  I browsed and found few bloggers have posted this.  As always, I took the uniqueness found in every link and combined and tried on my own with a gut feel that it would come out perfect with my cooking experience.  Yeah, it came out as expected.  I emailed the picture to Bro, he was so surprised and came home that evening to give a taste.  DH and Jr. H also liked this and it was an instant hit at home which made me to prepare thrice in this short timeframe.

From blogging, i came to know that a separate stand will be available for making this idlys but I used by idiyappam stand covering it with a cloth.

Ingredients:

Idly Rice – 1.5 cups

Raw rice – 0.5 cup                                                

Urad dhal – 1/2 cup

Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp

Cooked rice – 1 cup

Salt – To taste

Baking soda – a pinch

Preparation:

1. Wash and soak rice (raw rice + idly rice) and urad dal separately for 3 hours.  Soak Fenugreek along with urad dal.

2. Grind urad dal first into a smooth batter.  The final texture of the batter should be like a butter.  This is the main tip to be followed for getting softer idlys.

3. Grind rice next, this should also be smooth, but need not be like urad dal, can be on slight coarse side too.  Add cooked rice while grinding the rice.  This can be added when the rice is ground half.

4.  Add salt and mix the two batters, close and leave it to ferment for 8 hours/overnight.

5. In the morning, half an hour before making idlys, add a pinch of baking soda and mix well.  

6.  Take the idyappam plates, cover it with white cloth, pour a good ladle full of batter, and tilt the plate slightly so that the batter is spread evenly.  Do not spread it with the ladle.

7. Fill all the plates, steam cook for 7 minutes in a pressure cooker.

8. Remove the stand and let it rest for some 3 minutes.

9. Turn it upside down over a serving plate and peel the cloth gently from the idly.

 

10. Repeat the same process for rest of the batter.

11.  Serve hot with sambar or chutney.