How to make soft idlies?

Many people have asked me this questions before. SO I finally decided to post this, so from now, I can just send them a link:

It took me a while to figure out idlies - so don't be disheartened if they don't come out well the first few times. I use a counter-top grinder. You can buy them for $250 here. They ship it home and its very convenient. I just couldn't make good ones with mixie/blender. The batter is always rubbery when I use a blender.

The ratio is 4 cups of idly rice and 1 cup of white whole urad dal. From my experience, the two most important thing to get good idlies are
1) Idly rice - just any parboiled rice do not give soft idlies. Get idly rice from the Indian store. Any brand would do. They have to be short and fat.
2) How you grind urad dal - there is a point after grinding it for 20 minutes in the grinder when the volume of the urad dal increses to twice or thrice of what you started. When u put a spoon, it wont stick to it. Thats when u need to stop. This is the trick to make fluffy idlies.

Soak urad dal and rice seperately for 3 hours.
First grind urad dal as mentioned above. Remove it from the grinder.
Grind rice till its smooth - it can be a little grainy - it doesnt matter. Grind for above 20 minutes with adequate water.
When the rice is done, add the urad dal batter to the rice batter and let it spin in the grinder for a minute - so they mix properly. Also add salt at this stage.

Store the batter inside the oevn. I prehead the over to 125 degrees - and turn it off - and put the batter in the oven. It takes me 1.5 days or two nights for the batter to ferment. You can heat the oven to 125 degrees for 5 minutes and turn it off every day while the batter is inside - it quickens the fermenting process.

There are also little secerts that no one really tells you. You should store the batter in multiple batches. You HAVE to use the entire batch on one day to make idlies. Lets say you use half of the batter and store the rest, you wont get soft idlies the next time u use it. Its like some bonds are formed between the molecules - you have to make idlies as soon as u use a spoon and mix it all up. Else you wont get soft idlies the next day. So what I do is, I divide the batter into three batches. When they ferment, I put them in fridge without mixing it. I mix the batter with a spoon only before making idlies. I completely use one batch at a time. If there is extra batter, I make idlies and freeze it. Microwaving the frozen idlies will be as good as making them fresh.

Also, I have a special pan for making idly - where you use a cloth on top of the idly plate and put the batter on the cloth. So there is NO oil at all. Its just steam. And these idlies are better when frozen and micro-waved later. But you can make only 6 idlies at a time. I felt idlies made with this pan was usually softer than the ones from pressure cooker.

I make fresh batter almost every week. With these tricks in place, I really have to try hard to screw up idlies anymore ;-)

Blink

You are happy one minute and don't feel so good the next minute. Now will your world fall apart after you don't feel so good depends on a lot of things. Makes you wonder, what you work for all you life? What relationship did you build all these years? Are people meant to be rational? Does offering a rational solution to ALL the problems really solve the problems? Or does it trivialize the problems? Do people really want to solve their problems? Or maybe they want to have some moderate amount of problems to keep the mind occupied? Can all the problems be outsourced or can money be thrown at it? Well, for the most part yes. But then there is core that people need to believe in; trust in that someone is going to stand by you, irrespective of how irrational you are. Not for long - maybe a couple of days once in three months. People who want to hear you blabbering about your irrational worries and problems in life - not because it will take longer to solve 3 days from now - but because they really want to relate to you. Do you want let someone affect you like that? Do you want let someone bother you by not coming home on time, by not remembering something thats important to you? Or do you always want to protect yourself from everyone - isn;t that easier? No expectations - whatesoever - but is it worth it? What does it feel like to come home to an empty house and cook alone and watch TV alone and go to bed alone? Is it all worth it? Why not let that person come closer a little bit - let them affect you a little bit - let that one tear off for them? Why not?

"Open issues" - my friend calls it1 i am in Marital Bliss.

What is it?

I decided to stay at home instead of going to work for 3 days when Karu is gone India - hmm, not without feeling guilty. But I really enjoyed it. I also realized I would not want to do it everyday. Once in a while, a break is good. On one hand, I do not want the lifestyle of going to work everyday. On the other hand, I crave for crazy deadlines and feeling mentally exhausted from work. What is it that I want? Why this inertia to do stuff? I do like my job. I love it when I meet some deadline or fix a bug. But why doesn't it setup a positive feedback loop to do more. This is a total contradiction to human existence. We must do what makes me happy. The kind of crap I do, when I am not working is office not even close to how exciting my work is. I need to figure this out. I understand, end of the day, I want to keep my hands full, balancing both work and family. One without the other may not keep me occupied enough to be happy. How many ever times, I say out, I still don't know what causes this inertia. I hope to figure this out.

Spring is in the air

Oh its sooo - yes nice is the word I am looking for - not exactly beautiful. Its raining. But still the refreshing chill air - the bitter cold is behind us. Now I understand why Spring is so special. It lifts the spirit. I have to admit, after living in places with just Summer for all 12 months, I am beginning to like to seasons :) Well, it adds more drama to life - it makes you to feel stuck at home, it makes u feel gloomy and it also makes you feel so happy, like today.

Yesterday, my piano instructor taught me Major C scale and melodies set in C major scale. She said I should play with it and make my own melodies :D I got really excited. when I got home, I played and played still Karu begged me to stop :)

Now I am listening to old Tamil songs - simple songs set in C major scales. Illiayaraja can really do some magic with just the C scale - yes just the white keys - no complications and the music flows. My favourite is "Germmanyin senthemagala" Its so peppy!

Pulli Kolam

I was looking for pulli kolam patterns when I came across this website. Traditional and unconventional kolams:
http://kolangal.kamalascorner.com/
label: Sillu Kolam

I tried reproducing it on the rough paper I was scribbling my assembly code on. It tingled my mind - just like the assemble code :)

The satisfaction of joining that last incomplete line waiting to be completed encompassing all the dots- and become the full circle of life. Ahhhh - wonderful!

With a couple of kolams, I started seeing the patterns and it became easier. How I wish I can understand the math behind it and come up with my own patterns.

Book of Eli

Well I am going to spoil it for you. If you are planning to watch this movie, dont read this post. But believe me you wont miss a thing - maybe save 10 bucks on the ticket. Whatever - I have to share this coz its too funny.

Post-apocalypse. Our hero Eli is traveling alone. He meets a lot of enemies - fights them, kills them - lot of dishum dishum. Character establishment - strong hero. Our villain Carnegie is looking for a "book" and he hires gangs to find this book. It turns out this book he wants is bible. He finds out that Eli has this book because he hears Eli pray. He tries to seduce Eli with his daughter, fight him with his gang. Everything fails and he finally stabs Eli himself and acquires the bible after a 30-minute drama and action. Our guy Eli, fatally wounded escapes to Alcatraz! Here he dictates bible from his memory for people at Alcatraz to write it down and print it. Then he dies.

Now for the laughs I promised: Carnegie goes home after all the fight and opens his beloved bible. And its in BRAILLE!!! Apparently ELI is blind all along!! Shhhh.... SUSPENSE!

Vinnaithandi Varuvaaya

For once Simbhu and Trisha look good and peppy and I want to watch this Tam Chickflick. I hope its not as bad as Laysa Laysa. The crew has done a good job advertising the movie - the posters look great, inspired and "copied" from popular movies like alaipayuthey, dil se, kakka kakka etc.

As for the music, ARR has done a good job. The music is very different. They do not stand up nor will you remember it once the player stops playing. But something mesmerizing about it and something that makes me happy and want to keep listening.

The lyrics are bad - feels like the lyricist did not know how to write words for the different music layout. The words don't flow with the music. The words don't feel the music. Its just there. And the singers just read it out. Maybe we have to ape west - well, thats where the music came from ;-) Write the lyrics before you make the music. I also felt we need more diversity with the male singer - it doesn't go with the spirit of the music. We have Chinmayi, Shreya Ghoshal, Andrea, Bombay Jayasree - but all the male voices sound the same, okay maybe a little different. Having said all this, I just want to keep listening to the songs.

I read very mixed reviews, esp people complaining, this is too much Hollywood influence etc. Blah blah blah you people. Here is what ARR has to say about it: "It is an experimental attempt - Songs are not set in Charanam or Pallavi." - maybe that is why I you could never remember the tunes, like grammatically incorrect sentences - but still mesmerizing :)

It reminds me for the dialogue Surya says before the song "Mundhinam Parthene" from Vaaranam Ayiram. I have listened to this song more than 100 times but I could never repeat what he says. Because it is so very grammatically incorrect - but very romantic ;-) Here is what he says:
naan idha solliye aaganum..
nee avlavu azhagu..
Inga evanum ivlo azhaga oru…
Ivlo azhaga paarthurka maattaanga…and I am in love with you…



Karu says: "This is the dead knell for Tam music.". I understand the urge for change and experimenting with western music - but I wish we come up with our own fusion and not just adopt western music.