First wash and soak 1 cup whole urad dal for 4-5 hours in enough water in a cold place.

Before grinding the urad dal, soak 2 cups idli rava in enough water for not more than 30 mins.

Now drain the excess water from soaked urad dal and add it it to the mixer grinder. If needed, grind it batches.

Add 1-2 tablespoon of cold water as needed and grind the dal by pulsing a few times until the batter is fluffy and smooth. Don’t add a lot of water while grinding the dal and don’t grind the batter continuously. If the batter feels warm, place the jar in fridge for few mins or let it rest until it cools down. Remove the batter onto the storage container. Repeat this with rest of the soaked urad dal.

Now squeeze off the excess water completely from the soaked idli rava. If there is excess water or moisture, it makes the batter runny. After each squeeze, add the rava to the urad dal batter.

Add salt as needed for the batter. I added ~1 teaspoon of salt, adjust per taste preference.

Using clean hand, mix the batter well. The batter should be thick at this stage.

Ferment the batter in a warm place for 7-8hrs or overnight. It should double up in volume and the batter should feel light and airy.

Place the idli steamer with enough water on medium heat. If using cloth to steam the idlis, wet the prepared white cotton cloth and line it on the idli plate.

Adjust the consistency of the idli batter by adding water as needed. The batter should neither be too thick nor thin. It should not be runny but drop slowly from the ladle.

Fill the idli plate with the idli batter.

Place the idli plate inside the idli pot/steamer and steam cook for 8-9 mins on medium flame.

Remove the idli by gently pulling off the cloth. If the idli is stuck to the cloth, sprinkle a few more drops of water and wait for another couple of minutes.

Remove all the idlis from the cloth. For next batch, wet the cloth again and repeat the above steps.