Idli

Idli or Idly or Iddly owes its origin to 700 CE aka Calendar Era (I had to Google this) :| In fact, the whole process of steamed food stemmed from Indonesia, giving rise to the modern day Idli.

Idli has various alterations, but a rookie like me likes to stick to the basic version :D

You'll need:

* 2 cups rice

* 1 cup urad dal

* 1.5 tbsp salt

* A pinch of baking soda

* Oil for greasing

1. Sabse pehle, you need to pick, wash & soak the dal for 8 hrs.

2. Then, pick, wash & drain the rice. And grind it coarsely in a blender.

TipToCook - If you are a tad lazy or don't have the time or a food processor, you can pick up ready-to-use idli batter from a store, too :P But that's not what I did. Am serious!

3. Post 8 hours, grind the dal into a smooth & frothy paste. Then, mix the ground rice & dal together into a batter.

4. Iske baad, add salt to this & set aside in a warm place to ferment for 9 hours. (Yes, that's how long these little rice cakes take. I think.) :P

5. 9 hours baad, grease the idli stand with oil & fill each section 3/4 with the batter. Then, steam cook the idlis in a pressure cooker on a medium flame for 10 min.

6. Once done, use a butter knife to remove the idlis. And enjoy with sambhar or chutney or ketchup (whose recipes am not posting here; yet.) ;)