• Wash the green moong dal and soak in plenty of water for 8 hours or over night.Drain all the water from the dal and leave in the colander for few minutes. This helps to remove excess moisture from the dal.
• Add the dal to a food processor, followed by coconut pieces, green chili, ginger and cumin. Pulse it till the whole mixture is ground.
• To the ground mixture add finely chopped onion, coriander leaves, baking soda, oil, salt and lemon juice.
• Mix well, if the mixture is runny, add little rice flour.
• Take small portion of the mixture and flatten it slightly.
• Arrange them on a greased plate and steam for 10 minutes and release the pressure naturally.

If using instant pot 

• add 1.5 cups of water and boil it in the saute mode. Once the water comes to a boil, hit cancel. Place the idli mold and close the lid. Turn the pressure valve to vent position. Press the steam mode and keep an external timer for 10 minutes. ( we don’t want to use the timer in the instant pot because instant pot takes time to built up pressure, before the cooking time kicks in. We don’t know how much time that is….so an external timer works best in this recipe)

If using traditional pressure cooker

• Add 1.5 cups of water to cooker, let it boil. Place the idli stand with the vada and close the lid. Do not place the whistle and steam them for 10 minutes. Wait for 5 to 7 minutes before you open the lid.

If using idli steamer

• Add 1.5 cups of water to cooker, let it boil. Steam them on high for 10 minutes. Remove once the pressure releases naturally.

If you don’t have any of the above gadgets use a wide pot

• Add 1.5 cups of water in the bottom of the pot and let it simmer, then use a steamer basket or any other plate to place the vada. Close the lid and steam the Vada for 12 minutes. Let rest for 7 mins before removing them.