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Rava Idli Recipe

Time and servings

Nutrition

Per idli.

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About

It is an easy and simple healthy South Indian breakfast meal prepared with a combination of semolina, yogurt, and a range of spice mixes. Rava Idli or Sooji Idli is a quick and instant version of the traditional idli recipe that is mainly derived from the combination of rice and urad dal. It takes only minutes to prepare the idli batter and then steam it to moist and spongy idli. Theoretically, an idli preparation takes the entire journey of soaking, grounding, and overnight fermentation to have a soft & spongy idli. Whereas, in this idli, the entire process is cooked in 10 -15 mins making it a perfect choice for morning breakfast. There are several different ways to make the authentic & traditional Rava Idli. The most popular and effective way is to make it instant and with medium-sized roasted semolina. When it is mixed with sour curd, it gets the typical idli batter texture, which is later topped with ENO or baking soda to hasten the fermentation. The other way is to ground the rava and then ferment it which is very similar to the typical rice and urad dal-based idli. In addition, the variations can also be introduced with the type of toppings added to the instant Sooji Idli batter. Any type of vegetables like grated carrots, finely chopped beans, capsicum, and even corn to make it more interesting.

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Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp ghee
  • 10 cashew (halves)
  • 1 tsp mustard
  • ½ tsp urad dal
  • ½ tsp chana dal
  • ½ tsp cumin
  • few curry leaves
  • pinch hing
  • 2 chilli (finely chopped)
  • 1 inch ginger (grated)
  • 1 cup rava (coarse)
  • 1 cup curd
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ cup water
  • 2 tbsp coriander (chopped)
  • ½ tsp eno fruit salt

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Instructions

  1. Firstly, in a pan heat 2 tbsp ghee and roast 10 cashews.
  2. roast on low flame until the cashew turns golden brown. keep aside.
  3. in the same ghee, add 1 tsp mustard, ½ tsp urad dal, ½ tsp chana dal, ½ tsp cumin, few curry leaves and pinch hing. Splutter the tempering.
  4. Add 2 chilli, and 1 inch ginger, and saute slightly.
  5. Now add 1 cup rava and roast on low flame until the rava turns aromatic.
  6. Cool completely and transfer to the large bowl.
  7. add 1 cup curd and ½ tsp salt. Mix well making sure everything is well combined.
  8. Also, add ½ cup water and mix adjusting the consistency.
  9. Now add 2 tbsp coriander, cover, and rest for 20 minutes.
  10. After the rava has soaked well, add ½ tsp eno fruit salt and mix gently.
  11. Mix the batter until the batter turns frothy.
  12. Now place the roasted cashew in a greased idli plate and pour the batter in the idli mould.
  13. Place the idli plate in a steamer and steam for 15 minutes.
  14. Finally, enjoy Rava Idli Recipe with chutney.

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Step-by-step

1
Firstly, in a pan heat 2 tbsp ghee and roast 10 cashews.
2
Roast on low flame until the cashew turns golden brown. keep aside.
3
In the same ghee, add 1 tsp mustard, ½ tsp urad dal, ½ tsp chana dal, ½ tsp cumin, few curry leaves and pinch hing. Splutter the tempering.
4
Add 2 chilli, and 1 inch ginger, and saute slightly.
5
Now add 1 cup rava and roast on low flame until the rava turns aromatic.
6
Cool completely and transfer to the large bowl.
7
add 1 cup curd and ½ tsp salt. Mix well making sure everything is well combined.
8
Also, add ½ cup water and mix adjusting the consistency.
9
Now add 2 tbsp coriander, cover, and rest for 20 minutes.
10
After the rava has soaked well, add ½ tsp eno fruit salt and mix gently.
11
Mix the batter until the batter turns frothy.
12
Now place the roasted cashew in a greased idli plate and pour the batter in the idli mould.
13
Place the idli plate in a steamer and steam for 15 minutes.
14
Finally, enjoy Rava Idli Recipe with chutney.Rava Idli Recipe

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Video

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Tips

The recipe of Rava Idli is super simple with basic ingredients used to make this beautiful meal. Yet some mandatory and effective tips to make it correctly are –
  1. Semolina Variant – The most common rava used for this is medium coarse textured semolina. Do not use thick bansi rava or even fine-grained semolina as it may not yield the desired texture and softness with idli.
  2. Yogurt Sourness – The softness of the idli, depends upon the sourness of yogurt or curd. It helps to ferment the batter and react with ENO to produce soft and spongy idli within minutes.
  3. Consistency – The batter consistency is very critical for this recipe. Like any other idli recipe, the batter has to be semi-thick so that it can attain its shape when poured into idli cooker molds.
  4. Resting – Once the batter is prepared, rest it for a minimum of 10 minutes. This helps ENO to react with yogurt and hasten the fermentation process.
  5. Tempering – While adding mustard and urad dal seasoning or tempering is optional. Yet adding it helps to get the perfect balanced taste to the idli.

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FAQ

Always use coarse rava or Bombay rava for this recipe. Using fine rava or Chiroti rava may end up with chewy textured idli. Do not attempt with thick rava too, you may not get the desired texture of idli.
Instant rava idli is prepared with Eno and curd to fasten the fermentation process. If baking soda is used instead of ENO to hasten the process, baking soda reacts with Indian spices, especially with turmeric, and produces idli which is orange in color.
Idli stand is not necessary to steam idlis. Instead of an idli stand, you can use small steel cups or katoris, plates to steam the idlis.
Always roast the rava on a low to medium flame until it turns aromatic, or else the idli may turn sticky and hard. Roast the rava in a good amount of ghee or oil. There should be enough ghee or oil to coat the rava. Also, using ghee gives a good flavor to the idlis. rest the rava batter for about 30 minutes as the rava nicely absorbs water. The more you rest the batter, the tastier the idlis are. also, steam the instant rava idli on medium flame.
There are many variations like the simple instant rava idli. You can try vermicelli rava idli, vegetable rava idli, moong dal idli, bread idli, poha idli, oats idli, stuffed idli, ragi idli, and many more.
Rava idli batter can be preserved for the next day when it is stored in a refrigerator. Also, avoid adding ENO salt if you are using it for the next day. Once ENO is added, it cannot be preserved. So take a proportion of rava batter in a bowl, preserve it in the refrigerator, add ENO to the remaining batter, and steam idlis. The batter stays good for a day when kept in the refrigerator. As curd is added to the batter, do not preserve it for more than 2 days as it may turn sour and you might get sour idlis.

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Notes

  • firstly, make sure to roast the rava on low flame, until the rava turns aromatic. Else the idli will be sticky.
  • Also, you can add carrots to the batter to make it look colorful.
  • Additionally, you can add pieces of cashews to the idli batter to get the crunchy bite.
  • Finally, Rava Idli Recipe needs to be soft and fluffy, so make sure to add eno just before steaming to the batter.
Original recipe by Hebbar’s Kitchen: https://hebbarskitchen.com/rava-idli-recipe-instant-semolina-idli/