Mallige idli is just a name after the famed pleasantly perfumed Jasmine flowers in Kannada and used to describe extremely soft pillowy idlis as such .

The name is also synonymous with sponge idlis and Khushboo idlis.
To me it is just one more variant of a very soft idli worth trying out. I have already posted a recipe for Khushboo idlis. As this recipe is slightly different in proportions of ingredients used , I decided to make a separate post .

The advantage of the recipe is that it makes excellent super soft idlis, sponge dosas and also good to make thin crispy dosas ...as shown in the video..so I call it my all in one batter . See the pic below .at the end of the post .

Recipe type South Indian
Breakfast / Tiffin
Prep time 10 minutes
Resting time ... 4 hours for soaking +8 hours fermenting
cook time ....... 5 minutes
Total time ...... 12 hours 15 minutes
Yield...... 30 idlis medium size

Ingredients:

2 cups idli rice

3/4 cup udad dal / black gram dehusked whole

1 cup thick variety of poha/ beaten rice

salt for batter .

Method:

Soak rice separately after washing it twice with enough water .

Soak the udad dal after washing it well around three times .
Soak it in approx 2 cups of water .

Note it is very important that you need to soak in just enough water to cover the udad dal and a little more to allow for swelling of the dal after absorbing water.
This water has to be used to grind the dal after soaking .Do not discard it.

Wash and soak poha/ beaten rice just an hour before grinding. Soak it separately.

After 4-5 hours , grind the udad dal first using the soaking water and to a very smooth batter.

Grind the rice and poha / beaten rice together to a very smooth batter as we need soft light idlis.
Mix both batters well with hand evenly and also another important point to note is that we need to add a little more water to batter if it is thick before fermenting itself .

After fermenation we should not add water to dilute a bit to make idlis. This is an important point. So if you feel you have ground a very thick batter , add a little water just before you keep to ferment and mix well.

Allow batter to ferment without adding salt form 8-10 hours.

After fermentation you will see the batter is ready to make idlis is airy and light as well.

Grease idli plates, and pour about 3/4 full in each idli cup and steam for 5-6 minutes.

The idli cooker shoould be preheated with water boiling inside .

Allow idlis to cool a bit, use a spoon to ease out idlis.

Enjoy soft pillowy idlis with sambar or chutney.

Note.

I have not used methi seeds in the recipe as we need pure white idlis .