Rava Idly

Rava (Sooji) idly is a speciality breakfast item served with spicy onion chutney / potato sagu and this gives a nice variation to regular idlis. Speaking of rava idli, I am instantly reminded of Hotel Saravana Bhavan (Chain restaurant in Tamilnadu) where you get classic, hot & fresh rava idli 's with little ghee drizzled on top. Nothing in the world can stand up to their quality & taste when it comes to rava idli. They used to be so perfect & "plate-lickingly" delicious everytime. As I am writing, I have started to drool for HSB 's rava idly - so I am moving on to my story.

So, this morning as I was getting up, I had some serious thoughts running in my mind about the forthcoming US elections. Well, did you believe that ?!!??! Actually, I was trying to come up with some breakfast item that my daughter would like :) For me, this is THE most important issue than anything in the world during the morning rush hours, as my 4 yr old beats the hell out of me just to finish her breakfast before she had to rush to school. I ran out of her regular breakfast items .. bread & cereals .. and was trying to quickly finalize on something. I know she loves idli - so decided to try rava idli hoping that she would like it (right, this is the first time she is going to taste rava idli).

Finally, my efforts paid-off when I saw my kiddo happily eating them. 

Ingredients

Rava (coarse variety) - 1 cup

Buttermilk - 2.5 cups (rava idli tastes better with sour curd / buttermilk)

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Channa dal - 1 tsp

Chopped cashews - Few

Hing - 1/4 tsp

Chopped Coriander leaves - Few

Grated Carrot - 1 no.

Oil & Salt - To taste

Method:

Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds and channa dal. Once the mustard seeds splutter and the channa dal starts turning golden brown, add the hing and cashews. After cashews start turning golden brown, add rava and fry till it turns golden brown & a good aroma comes out of the mixture. Let it cool.

Then, add 2 cups of buttermilk to the dry mixture, add salt and mix well. Let it rest covered for 10 mins. Add the rest of the buttermilk and mix well. Rava will be all soaked up in buttermilk and consistency  will get slightly thicker than idli batter. 

Grease idli moulds with sesame oil. Sprinkle grated carrots/cilantro at the bottom of the idli pan. Then, ladle the batter into idli moulds. 

Steam in an idli maker or pressure cooker for 10-12 mins (without weight). Allow it to cool and remove idli's gently from the idli mould.

Rava idli's tastes great when its hot. Drizzle little ghee on top and enjoy them with your favorite side. Most importantly, DO NOT count the idli's when you eat :)

TIPS:

You can also add grated ginger & finely chopped green chillies to the batter. I skipped both of them (my hubby doesn't like the taste of ginger & I didn't want my kid to bite on chillies).