Jowar Idli / Jonna Idli / Sorghum Flour Idli

These are traditional idlis with a healthy twist and below is the recipe if looking to incorporate millets into everyday Indian diet. The addition of sorghum flour to the idli batter boosts the nutrition factor while retaining the taste and the soft consistency of the rice version idlis.

Ingredients: (Yield 30 idlis)
3/4 cup sorghum flour / jowar flour 
3/4 cup idli rice
1/2 cup black gram / urad dal
Salt to taste

Directions:
* Rinse and soak idli rice and black gram in water for about 3 hours. Let the water level be at least an inch above the level of the ingredients during the entire soaking period.
* Drain the water used to soak and grind them along with sorghum flour adding salt and water as needed to form a thick, smooth batter. The final batter should not be runny. (I used less than 1.5 cup water to grind the ingredients.)
* Pour the batter into a container big enough to hold the fermented batter and cover it. (The batter level raises during fermentation.) Allow the batter to rest in a warm place overnight. The batter may take anywhere between 8 to 16 hours to ferment depending upon the local weather. The fermented batter looks like below in the images.


* Stir the fermented batter and pour into idli plates. 

* Heat water in a steamer / idli cooker / pressure cooker on medium flame. Place the idli stand in it and cover the lid. There is no need to put the pressure valve on if using the pressure cooker to steam idlis.
* Cook on low medium flame until idlis are done, about 15 - 20 minutes. (To check whether idlis are done, touch the surface of the idlis with wet fingers. If they are not sticky then that means idlis are cooked perfectly. If they are sticky, cook for some more time.)
* Wait for about 5 minutes and carefully remove the idli stand. Run a spoon around the edges of idli and unmould them.
* Serve with a spicy chutney and / or sambhar. 

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