South Indian food is my all-time favorite food. I have been making Idli batter at home for years and now with Instant Pot, the process of fermenting the batter has become a lot easier. The best part, is I use the same batter to also make fluffy uttapam and crispy dosa too!

Idli are pillowy soft cakes made by steaming fermented rice and lentil batter. Popular breakfast or Tiffin food in Southern India, gluten-free and vegan Idli is easy to make using just a few pantry ingredients. And if you have already tried making South Indian Idli, make sure to try out my protein-packed quinoa idli too!

Steamed Idli's served with chutney and sambar

The key to pillowy-soft & light Idli is the perfectly fermented batter. Although I grew up in Western India, my mom frequently cooked South Indian food at home. Her Idli, Dosa and Uttapam are to die for! So I am sharing with you my mom's batter recipe! I have so many memories of helping my mom measure the lentils and rice, and the excitement of preparing my favorite childhood food!

Proportions

There are a lot of recipes out there with various proportions of rice and idli. My Mom always did a 1:3 urad daal to rice ratio for the perfect balance of carbs and proteins. She also adds a couple of other ingredients to enhance the texture and added nutrition!

Ingredients

Here are 4 ingredients that I use to make Idli batter:

Idli Rice - Short grain pearly white rice makes the perfect idli
Skinned Gota Urad Dal - Although you can also use the skinned urad dal it still many times has traces of the outer black skin which can make the batter look discolored
Poha - Optional ingredient but I would highly recommend it as these flattened rice flakes add lightness to the idli. If you do not have poha you can substitute it with idli rice
Methi Seeds - These are fenugreek seeds that help with the fermentation process and add nutritional benefits along with a good amount of fiber and minerals
Sea Salt or Pink Himalayan Salt - Table salt, Iodized salt, and even refined kosher salt inhibits the grown of good bacteria during the fermentation process, so use whole unrefined salts such as sea salt or pink Himalayan salt

Once you have gathered the ingredients, the process to make the homemade Idli batter is easy. All you need is a high-speed blender, and I really like my Blendtec for that!

Tips

Before we get into the process here are my tips to make the perfect Idli batter:

Make sure to use cold water when blending rice and lentils
Blend urad dal to smooth consistency while the rice batter should be slightly coarse
Use a nonlocking lid on the Instant Pot when starting the fermentation process. Sometimes, over fermentation can cause the batter to overflow or can even lock the Instant Pot lid
If you do not have an Instant Pot, simply put the pot of batter covered in a warm place or inside the oven with the oven lights on
The water proportions for blending the batter is based on the exact ingredients I use. If you use different rice or use urad dal instead of the gota urad dal you may need more or less water

Steps

Making Idli batter has three easy steps - soaking, blending, and fermenting - here is how to do it:

Soaking

Put the Idli Rice and Urad Dal in two separate mixing bowls or pots. Rinse them both a couple of times, draining out the water each time. Add methi seeds and poha to the rice bowl. Soak in water for 6 to 8 hours or overnight (photos 1 - 4)

Steps one through four of making idli batter

Blending

Drain all the water out from both bowls. First, add soaked Urad Daal to the blender and add 1.25 cups of cold water and blend until the batter is smooth. Scrape the sides of the blender if any dal sticks to the sides of the blender and blend again until smooth. If using Blendtec use the smoothie function. Take out the batter in a large pot or Instant Pot insert.

Add the drained rice to the blender jar with 1.5 cups of cold water and blend making sure to stop while the batter is still a bit coarse but not grainy. It is important to blend the rice batter slightly coarse (photos 5 - 8)

steps five through eight of how to make idli batter

Add the rice batter to the urad dal batter. Add sea salt and mix well. You can use a silicone spatula or mix the batter well with your hands. If using the Instant Pot Insert, place the insert inside the Instant Pot and place a nonlocking glass lid on top. Note: Please do not use the Instant Pot lid, the fermenting process may sometimes cause overflow leading the lid to get locked (photos 9 - 12)

Fermenting

Press the "Yogurt" (normal) function that will run for 8 hours. Keep an eye on the batter after 6 hours or so, if it starts to rise, you make want to take out the inner pot. Depending on the temperature in your kitchen, it may take up to 12 hours for the batter to fully ferment. So after the initial 8 hours, if needed you can then select the "Yogurt" mode again and let it ferment for additional 4 hours or so. Once fermented the batter will double up its volume and will be light and airy.

steps thirteen through sixteen of the fermented idli batter

Storage

Once the batter is fermented, use it right away to make Idli, Dosa, or Uttapam. If you are prepping the batter ahead of time, you can refrigerate it for up to a week. Bring the batter to room temperature by taking it out of the refrigerator a couple of hours before you are ready to cook. You can also freeze the batter for a few weeks.

Did enjoy this meal prep / cooking101 recipe? Here are some more articles on my blog that will help you with the basics of Indian cooking and also time-saving tips and tricks:

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