Making Idli takes so long mainly because you have to soak both the rice and the lentils before preparing them. Put your rice in a bowl and your lentils in another one and soak both of them. If you are planning to make Idli for breakfast, it will be good to soak them in the morning the day before.

In the evening you take out the water and mix rice and lentils together. Put them into a strong grinder and add the cup of water in order to make it into a nice paste. It should have approximately the consistency of honey. Put the paste into a bowl or pot and let it stay overnight at a warm place, for example covered by blankets or in an oven that you slightly preheated but then switched off.

In the morning you should be able to see that the dough came up noticeably, just as bread dough comes up due to yeast. If it has not done that yet, you can place the pot into the sun or an oven on very low heat for some time until it does.

Once the dough has nicely come up, you can fill it into the Idli forms of your Idli cooker. Pour water into the cooker so that it does not touch the forms, close the lid and place it onto your stove. Bring the water to a boil and let it boil for about fifteen minutes.

When the time is over, check once whether the Idli are ready by sticking a knife into one of them and pulling it out again. If the dough is sticky on the knife, it is not ready yet and you have to let it steam a bit longer. Once the knife comes out clean, your steamed rice cakes are ready!

Serve them with some Sambar or coconut chutney - enjoy!