in a bowl take ½ cup husked whole urad dal and ¼ teaspoon methi dana or fenugreek seeds. rinse both the urad dal and methi seeds for a couple of times.

then soak them in 1 cup water for 4 to 5 hours.

in another bowl take 2 cups parboiled rice or idli rice. rinse the parboiled rice or idli rice for a couple of times.

add 2 cups water. mix well and soak everything for 4 to 5 hours.

strain the urad dal and reserve the water. keep this water for grinding the dal.

use the wet grinding blade in the jar for grinding both urad dal and rice. add the strained urad dal in the grinder jar.

add the reserved water in parts and grind to a smooth fluffy batter.

pour the urad dal batter in a large bowl or pan.

to the same jar, add the half of the rice.

then add ¼ to ½ cup water and grind till smooth. a fine grainy consistency of rice is also fine in the batter. you can grind the rice in two to three batches. overall add ¾ cup water for grinding rice.

pour the rice batter in the bowl containing the urad dal batter.

add 1 teaspoon rock salt or as per taste.

mix both the batters very well with your hands or a spoon or spatula.

cover and allow the batter to ferment overnight for 8 to 20 hours. the timing will vary depending on the temperature conditions in your city.

the batter should increase in volume and double or triple. just lightly stir the batter. check the consistency. if the batter looks too thick, you can add about ⅛ to ¼ cup water or more if required. mix well.

heat up a tawa or a cast iron pan, brush or spread some oil on the tawa. for a non stick pan, you need not grease the pan. the tawa has to be hot. while making uttapams, you can regulate the flame from low to high. before pouring the batter, reduce the flame to low.

pour the batter with a ladle or spoon.

gently spread the batter to a thick pancake.

first method – add some chopped onions. lightly press the onions on the uttapam so that they stick to the batter.

drizzle with some oil on the sides and on the uttapam. cook on a medium flame.

when the base becomes golden and crisp, gently flip the uttapam.

cook the side with the onions till the onions caramelize.

you can even gently press with the spatula so that the some uncooked batter also gets cooked well. if the uttapam is not cooked well, there will be raw uncooked batter in the center. so do make sure to cook it properly.

flip over to check if this side is cooked well. the onions will also be caramelized. you can caramelize the onions more if you want.

second method – in a plate take 1 cup chopped onions, 2 or 3 chopped green chilies, 12 to 15 curry leaves (chopped) and ⅓ cup chopped coriander leaves.

mix very well and keep aside.

spread the uttapam batter on the tawa and top the onion mixture on the uttapam.

drizzle some oil on the sides and top. cook onion uttapam on a medium-low to medium flame.

then turn over and cook till the uttapam as well as the onions are caramelized.

serve onion uttapam hot or warm with coconut chutney and sambar.