Grits Idli / Steamed Grits and lentil cakes

I have 3 elder sisters. Did I ever tell you that?

My oldest brother-in-law  is diabetic. My sister makes everything that you can make using rice with sooji or rava. She makes rotti with rava, idli with rava. When I say idli with rava, it is not the same as the rave idli that you get in restaurants. So, using that inspiration, here comes a version of idli, which uses grits that we find in every store here in U.S.

For those who don't know what it is, grits is basically coarsely broken white corn. It has the same consistency of idli rava. It is nice to eat corn as a grain instead of rice sometimes. Don't you agree?
One Year Back - Yeast Waffles
Ingredients:
Urad dal / Black Gram Dal - 1 cup
Quick cooking grits - 2 cups (not instant)
Salt - to taste
Little oil to grease the idli mold

Method:
Soak black gram dal or urad dal for 4 - 5 hours in enough water. Rinse well and without putting too much of water, grind into a smooth and fluffy batter in a blender/mixie. Meanwhile, take the grits in a bowl. Add warm water about a cup or so to the grits and mix with a fork till you get a wet sand consistency. Set aside for 5 minutes. When the urad dal grinding is done and is a smooth batter, take it and mix with the wet grits in the bowl. Add a pinch of salt and mix well. Let it sit overnight or for about 10 hours to ferment. It has to be warm weather wise. Otherwise, fermentation won't happen. In that case, place it in the oven with its light on.
When the batter is fermented and is ready to be used, prepare the idli mold by greasing with oil lightly. Adjust the salt of the batter. Pour the batter into the mold and steam cook these cakes for 8 - 10 minutes. It depends on how high the heat is. Turn it off and couple of minutes later, check for the doneness by inserting a toothpick or a fork. If the toothpick comes out clean, then idlis are steamed perfectly. If not, steam cook for couple more minutes.

Serve hot or warm with chutney or sambar or both. Leftovers can be warmed and served. Sending this to Srivalli's Breakfast Mela.

Enjoy.