Idli/Dosa Batter

Ingredients:
4 Cups - Idli Rice or Ponni Bolied Rice
2 Cups - Whole Urad Dal
2 Tea Spoons - Salt (or as per taste)
Water

Procedure:

1. Wash Idli rice and Soak the rice for 8 hours or over night.
2. 2 hours before grinding, wash Urad dal and soak it. Cover it with a lid.
3. Drain urad dal water in a bowl and grind urad dal first. Use urad dal water during grinding.
4. If grinding using a wet grinder, we usually grind urad dal for 30-45 mins. This makes urad dal batter very soft, light and fluffy, thus when making idles they come out spongier.
5. Take out the urad dal batter and later grind Idli rice for 20 minutes in a wet grinder. Add water as required.
6. Make sure you do not add more water, as the idlis will come out flat.
7. Take out the rice batter and mix it along with urad dal. Add salt and mix well with your hand.
8. Cover the batter and store it in a warm place preferably.
9. The fermentation process usually takes 8-10 hrs or more depending on the outside temperature.
10. After 8 hours, the batter will rise atleast half of the original batter quantity. If the batter did not rise,  do not mix the batter instead let it be for few more hours. Batter should rise inorder to get soft idlis.
11. Once the batter is ready, mix the batter well. Idli/dosa batter is ready to use.
12. For making idlis the batter should be little thick, but when dipped with a ladle and poured it should flow smoothly. If the batter is too thick and doesn't flow smoothly add little water and mix well.
13. For making dosas the batter should be thin, we usually take some batter separately and mix little extra water and make dosas with this batter and we make idlis with the remaining batter.