Breakfast

Multi Millet Idlis

Posted on by Vijaya Venkatesh
Cooks in: 30 Minutes Serves: 4 People

Idlis are a popular breakfast item of our country, particularly in South. My millet idlis are as tasty, soft and porus as rice idlis.  I have served the idlis with Chettinaad Kaara Chutney.

Ingredients:

  • 1 Cup Kodo Millet/Varagu
  • 1 Cup Little Millet/Samai
  • 1 Cup Barnyard Millet/Kudhiraivali
  • 1 Cup rice flakes/poha
  • 1 Cup Urad dal
  • 1 tsp Methi seeds
  • 3 tsp salt

Directions:

  1. Wash and soak millets together for 4 hours.
  2. Wash and soak the dal and methi seeds together for 4 hours.
  3. Wash and soak poha for 2 hours separately.
  4. Using a blender/mixie, first grind the dal and methi seeds till it becomes fluffy. Add very little water while grinding.
  5. Grind the millet using little water and add to the ground dal.
  6. Grind the soaked poha to a smooth consistency.
  7. Mix the ground dal, millet, poha well adding salt.
  8. Ferment for 8 hours or overnight.
  9. Make idlis using an idli cooker.
  10. Serve with sambar/chutney/podi

 

37 Comments

  1. Pingback: Idli Upma | The Millet Table

    1. Hi Kowsalya,
      You can use cooked rice instead of Poha. The measurements remain the same.

  3. Thanks a lot Vijaya Ma’am for the yummy recipes. I used only the little millet and the idlies came out so soft and no difference in taste compared to rice idlies. We all liked it a lot.

    1. Hi Lakshmi,
      Idlis look soft and fluffy!! Awesome!! Thanks so much for sharing your experience.

    1. Hi Suchitra,
      Yes, the proportions remains the same. Use any single millet or mixed millets.

  5. Hi vijaya mam
    Any combination of millets can be used to make idli batter or only these 3 will work out?

    1. Hi Jaishri,
      Any combination of millets except bajra and Jowar can be used to make 3 cups of millet in total. Thanks for your visit.

    1. Hi Priya,
      I always use whole urad dal for idli. Thanks for your visit.

      1. It will give enough for a 4 member family. I have not counted though!

  7. Hi VV ma’am
    I have Proso and Kodo millet. Can I use only these 2 for making idli batter. I see that you have not used Proso millet in any idli batter recipe. Any particular reason?

    1. Hi Nithya,
      Agree that I have not used proso for idli batter. There’s no particular reason for this. Follow my foxtail millet idli recipe if you are using only Proso.

      1. Thanks for the quick response ma’am. I replaced the foxtail with Kodo millet and reduced proportions to suit 1 C millet. The batter wasn’t watery when I ground it. But after fermentation it got really watery and my idlies didn’t rise. Guess this will become my dosa batter now. Will try again with Foxtail millet once this batch is over.

        1. Hi Nithya,
          Yes, millets tend to become watery when fermented. To avoid this, grind adding very little water and keep it thick than the normal idli batter. This should solve your problem.

  8. Hi mam…for how many days can we store and use the multimillet batter (for idly and dosa) ? Or is it to be ground fresh for use each time? TIA

    1. Hi Anushya,
      Millets ferment fast and you can store and use the batter for 3 days. Thanks for your visit.

  9. Viji
    Can we use the millet powders and if yes what can be the ratio?
    Thanks a lot.
    Shanti

    1. Hi Shanti,
      I have shared a couple of recipes with millet flours. Please check those posts.

  10. Pingback: Party Idlis : Lemon & Podi Idlis | The Millet Table

  11. Hi, I made these idlies last week and they came out fabulous. I ground the batter in my wet grinder and so reduced the quantity of urad dal just a little bit.

    Thank you for sharing all these millet recipes.

    If you could create a section in your blog on the different kinds of Millet’s and also how we can powder these, it will be helpful. I live in the US and have difficulty finding the flour. (I did check the website you recommended but looks like it is confined to India)

    1. Hi Nanditha,
      Thanks for trying and validating the recipe. Happy to know that you liked the idlis.
      Regarding the availability of millets in US I will let you know the details soon. I will look into the section mentioned by you. Once again thanks so much.

  12. Hi Viji tried this recipe a couple of times and each time this works like a charm, idlies are super soft n fluffy

    1. Hi Preethi,
      Thanks for trying and validating the recipe. Happy to know that your family enjoys millet idlis very much!

  13. Tried multimillet idlis. Came out real good. Thanks for the recipe.
    If I replace one of the millet with foxtail millet, will the proportion of ingredients change?

    1. Hi Veena,
      Thanks for trying and validating the recipe. Your idlis look really soft!
      You can replace foxtail millet with one millet. Still the proportions will remain the same. I have posted foxtail millet idlis as a separate post. Please try that recipe if you want to use only that millet.

  14. Hi vijaya made this idli and it was the softest idlis i wud hav ever had . The taste and texture was out of the world. I left the idlis under fan for 15 min. But still they were moist and soft. Thanks for the recipe

    1. Hi Rajeshwari,
      I am happy that you tried this recipe! It is a fool proof recipe and as you said, the idlis will be as soft as cotton! Yours looks beautiful! Thanks for trying and validating the recipe.

    2. Hi Rajeshwari,
      Thanks for trying and validating the recipe. The idlis remain soft even the next day! Happy to so many validations!!

  15. I have been told by a friend who deals in Millets, that never to mix millets, he says it is always more healthier to cook one millet at a time to get their full benefit.Is it true?

    1. Hi Rama,
      It may be true when you use millets as whole grains as the cooking time may vary for different millets. But, for idlis, we soak well, grind and ferment. So there is no harm. Don’t we buy the multigrain atta sold in the market which is considered more healthy? Please listen to your body and decide.

  16. I’m a great fan of your recipes…and I have tried some of them too.
    kids validated recipes.
    happy tummy