Cornmeal Idli

Ingredients:

Cornmeal (coarse like semolina) – 3 cups
Black Gram/Urad Dal – 1 cup
Fenugreek Seeds – 1 1/2 tsps
Salt to taste

For Cooking:

Steamer with Idli molds
Ghee/Oil – a few tsps for greasing the molds.

Method:

1. Wash and soak black gram and fenugreek seeds in water for 4-5 hours.
2. Wash and soak cornmeal in water for 4-5 hours. Make sure the water level in the container used for soaking cornmeal is an inch above the level of cornmeal. Once you add water, mix thoroughly and set it aside.
3. Discard the water used for soaking black gram and fenugreek seeds. Grind them with just enough quantity of fresh water – about a cup of water. Grind into a smooth batter.
4. Add salt and grind it the batter for a minute more.
5. Mix this batter with the soaked cornmeal. Beat the batter thoroughly until well combined.
6. Allow the batter to ferment overnight or for atleast 7-8 hours. The batter will foam up and double in volume.
7. Pour enough water in the steamer and set it on high flame.
8. Grease the cavities of each mold with 2 drops of ghee or oil.
9. Now lightly mix the batter to combine well. It is very important NOT to over mix the batter; doing so will release all the air captured during fermentation and make the idlis harder when cooked. Just 2-3 gentle stirs should be good enough.
10. Pour the batter into the greased cavities.
11. Place the molds in the steamer and cook for 25-30 minutes or depending on the size of your steamer, on medium-high flame.
12. Turn off the flame and immediately, remove the lid of steamer to discard the vapors collected in the lid.
13. Allow the mold to rest for 2-3 minutes.
14. Unmold carefully and serve topped with ghee, with your choice of chutney and/or sambhar.