Homemade Idli Mix + Soft Fluffy Idli Making

Earlier, I shared how to make homemade mixes for making Idli, Khaman, Dhokla, Dosa, Vada, Uttapam and more. You can read the post here with video instructions. Being an Indian, specially Gujarati, steamed snacks are on my weekly menu such as Khaman, Dhokla, Idli, Vada, Dosa, Uttapam and more. So I keep my homemade flour mixes in bulk and use as needed to prepare recipes instant or just mix flour mix with water and let it ferment overnight and next day, just steam, provide great comfort for those busy days!
Over the years, I learned that you have to have right utensils, ingredients to prepare the food at it’s best. I highly recommend few things for this recipe like dome lid steamer, ENO Fruit Salt, and quality ingredients like rice and lentils, preferably organic. And if you are planning to make flour mixes at home, investment in Burr mill will be a great option.


To prepare Idli, I start with rice, lentils and few more ingredients. My standard measurement for making Idli is
1 cup Parboiled Rice
1 cup Long/short grain Rice
1/2 cup Black Gram, Split & Skinless
1/4 cup Beaten Rice (Poha) optional
2 tbsp Chana Dal (Bengal gram, split & skinless)
1 tsp Fenugreek Seeds
Now, if you don’t have parboiled rice, not to worry, you can just use one kind of rice which can be long/short grain rice. But I prefer to use parboiled rice for better Idli.
Parboiled rice takes less time to cook, and the cooked rice is firmer and less sticky. In India, parboiled rice is very popular in the southern states. It is preferred for making idlis and dosas, as well as kanji for babies and elders, as it is easier to digest and better in terms of nutrition than raw rice.
I usually prefer to keep all those ingredients mixed and preferably ground for quick, easy, instant recipes but there are few ways to prepare Idli. For traditional recipe, wash and soak all those ingredients at least 6-8 hours or an overnight, drain extra water, grind and allow it to ferment another 6-8 hours or an overnight. But I have my own way of preparing this recipe, I keep ground flour mix and prepare Idli instant or just let batter ferment.
Below is the video instructions for making Idli flour mix and making soft fluffy Idli using homemade Idli flour mix.

Once you have the flour mix ready, trust me, you will want to make this kind of recipes often as it becomes lot more easier to manage.
Now, when you are ready to prepare the idli form the flour mix, all you have to do is add water to the flour mix and prepare idli instant or let the batter ferment.