Idli and Dosa Batter - stairway to heavenly soft idlis and crispy dosas !

Idli and Dosa batter - after number of trials and experiments , came up with one recipe which works every single time to produce soft idlis and crispy dosa ! 

Quantity - approx 75 regular size idlis 

Ingredients -

Idli Rice - Laxmi brand 4 cups 
Whole White Urad Dal without skin - 1 cup
Salt - 1 tsp for fermentation and as  per taste for cooking 
Water - as required for grinding 

Appliance needed -
Ultra stone grinder

Procedure -

1. Wash idli rice and  whole urad dal separately . Wash max 2 times and then soak it separately in enough water for atleast 8 hours or overnight is best .
2. Once soaked nicely , drain water from these in a colander completely . Now it's time to grind these separately .
3. First grind idli rice - for this keep ready atleast 3 cups of water to be added while grinding . Pour little soaked rice in ultra grinder before starting it . Also keep the knife given as part of ultra grinder appliances ready to stir in between - this prevents rice getting stuck while grinding . Now start the grinder and keep adding ladleful of rice and also water in between to ensure it is grinding smoothly . It is very important to balance rice + water input to avoid any rice being stuck and also to maintain consistency of batter . For 4 cups of rice , usually max 4 cups of water is enough . Consistency of batter should not be very watery . Grind it for 20 mins after all the rice is emptied into grinder . Keep a timer to prevent from over grinding - this will  make batter too hot due to heat produced from grinding . 
4. Keep checking in between to prevent batter from getting stuck or becoming too thick . Use ultra knife to remove any batter stuck to the sides of grinder . 
5. After 20 mins , you will get a smooth but a bit grainy and not too thick or thin batter . This is the right consistency and texture needed . Remove batter into a air tight container or a big vessel which will be used for fermentation . Usually it is good if you use air tight container or even instant pot vessel with a air tight lid . Remove all batter from ultra grinder steel vessel - even the batter stuck to the stone grinder etc . 
6. There is no need to wash this steel ultra grinder vessel to grind urad dal . Ensure it is as much clean as possible by removing all rice batter from it . 
7. Repeat same steps for urad dal . While grinding urad dal , you will need max 1 or 1 and half cups of water . Do not add more water as it will become watery and that prevents fermentation . Add just enough water to let it flow nicely while grinding . 
8. Grind urad dal for 20 mins . After 20 mins , you will get nice hot and fluffy urad dal batter . 
9. Mix this batter with rice batter . Ensure you remove batter from stone grinder as well and clean steel vessel nicely .
10.  Mix both batters nicely with your hand . Add 1 tsp of salt and mix nicely to make them into one uniform batter . It is very important to use your clean hands for mixing this batter . This ensures your body heat is transferred while mixing and helps in fermentation and also adds healthy bacteria from your skin to aid fermentation.
11. In order to ferment there are several ways depending on season -
    a. If it is winter , keep the batter in oven with oven light on for atleast 10 hours or overnight is best . You will get nice fermented batter after 10-12 hrs
    b . If it is summer , you can keep the batter outside on your kitchen counter or on your back porch/balcony/patio for atleast 8 hrs or till it ferments.
12. Once fermented , always remember to take out the desired quantity of batter in another vessel ,add salt as per taste and then use it to make idli or dosa . For idli usually you do not need to add more water unless the batter is very thick . For dosa you need to add more water to adjust consistency . It is important to remove batter in separate vessel and then add water + salt as desired . This prevents the whole batter from not losing its fermentation or becoming bad . 
13 . Day 1 batter is always used for making soft idlis - grease idli plates with oil nicely and add ladleful of batter in each idli slot. Put enough water in steamer and then arrange idli plates on top of each other - ensure holes in the top plate align with batter on the bottom plate . Steam for 12-18 mins , let it cool nicely and them remove soft idlis .
14. Day 3 batter is usually ready for dosa . As mentioned above , adjust water and salt as per desired dosa consistency and then spread ladleful on a hot tawa . Pour little oil to get crispy dosa . Also remember to reduce gas flame while pouring batter on hot tawa and then increase the heat to cook dosa. You can cook dosa from both sides or just one .

Serve hot idlis or dosa with your favourite homemade coconut coriander chutney or molgai podi + ghee or piping hot sambar :)

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