Wash rice and rice flakes, soak it separately for 5 hours.
Wash black gram, fenugreek seeds and bengal gram and soak it in water for about 3 hours.
Always grind rice and dhal separately to get best results. I ususally grind dal first.
Drain water and grind black gram mixture in the wet grinder (advisable for soft idlies) until fluffy by adding drained water little by little at frequent intervals. It takes about 40 minutes to get a frothy batter. Transfer it to a large bowl.
Drain and grind rice well for 20-30 minutes until smooth or slightly coarse by adding water at frequent intervals. Transfer it to the bowl with urad dal batter.
Add salt to the batter and mix evenly with your hands.
The consistency of the batter should neither be thick nor watery. It should be medium.
To be on the safer side, transfer the batter to 2 containers so that it doesn’t overflow after fermenting. It should be filled only up to ¾ th, so as to allow space for fermenting.
Leave it for 8 to 10 hours undisturbed in a warm place to ferment. You can see that the batter would have raised after fermenting.
If you are not using it immediately, you can refrigerate and use for about a week.
You can prepare idlis or dosas with this batter for the first 2 days and later only Dosas, Paniyaram or Uthappam.