Cuisine: Tamil Nadu
Category: Breakfast
Prep: 20 min
Cook: 15 min
Serves: 4
Difficulty: Medium
🌿 Vegetarian
Tamil Nadu idli variant — mini idli — soft steamed rice cake.
Ingredients
- - 2 cups idli batter
- - Salt to taste
- - Oil for greasing moulds
- - Sambar to serve
- - Coconut chutney to serve
Method
- Prepare regular dosa batter: Use well-fermented idli or dosa batter.
- Prepare sambar: Make a thin, flavourful sambar — this is the base liquid the mini idlis sit in.
- Prepare steamer: Fill steamer with water and bring to a boil.
- Grease mini idli moulds: Use a mini idli stand (with tiny round moulds). Grease each cavity with a tiny drop of oil.
- Fill mini idli moulds: Pour the batter into each tiny cavity — they are very small so use a small spoon. Fill only three-quarters full.
- Steam: Place in steamer. Cover tightly and steam for 7-8 minutes.
- Check doneness: Mini idlis cook faster than regular — insert a toothpick, it should come out clean.
- Unmould into sambar: Carefully pop mini idlis into a bowl of hot sambar. The idlis soak up the sambar beautifully.
- Add coconut chutney: Drizzle a spoonful of coconut chutney over the sambar-soaked mini idlis.
- Serve: Serve in a deep bowl with extra sambar on the side. Mini idli sambar is a popular restaurant-style dish.