Instant Rava/Suji Idli Recipe

When we were expecting Sanju, like 8 years ago, we used to visit the Klinik Kesihatan at Tengku Kelana in Klang. Nearby there was this Indian restaurant that had these lovely idlis. They were orange in color. For a while I had no idea what idlis were those, but through time, I got to know those were rava idlis.

Fast forward to present day, I've recently got myself the idli steamer, and yes, I am like the girl with a new toy, eager to play with it. Initial plan was to make idlis, but since idlis require overnight fermentation, I was not able to get the plan in work. However, I remembered seeing the rava idli recipe, which is also touted as the instant idli recipe. Do not fall for the instant word, although it does not require overnight fermentation, it is not really instant per say.

For the first time ever I felt compelled to arrange the spices and other ingredients on a dish before cooking. Of course most Indian dishes require more than 3 spices, but this one was extra special with the uses of channa and urad dhal in the tempering. Also, from my past experience it was good to arrange them out to avoid risking forgetting one item. It makes me feel so bad when I leave one spice item out, makes the dish feel incomplete.

You will notice a lot of the spices are just estimation, can take this picture for reference of how much my 'some' is.

So here's listing out the ingredients.

We need:

1 cup rava/suji/semolina

1 cup yogurt

some water

some turmeric powder

some curry leaves

some asafoetida

some cumin seeds

some mustard seeds

some urad dhal

some channa dhal 

some ginger, grated

green chilli, chopped fine

1 carrot, grated

cooking oil

salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

Method:

1. Heat up some oil in a pan. Sautee cumin, mustard seeds and asafoetida till it pops. 

2. Add curry leaves, urad and channa dhal. Let it sautee for 3-4mins.

3. Add green chilli, grated ginger and carrot. Add in the turmeric powder and salt. Sautee for 3-4mins.

4. Add the rava and give a good stir while it roasts for about 5 minutes.

5. Turn off the heat and let it sit till it cools down.

6. Once its cooled, you can add the yogurt, and stir it well. Add some water to get the idli consistency.

7. Let it sit for 20mins.

8. Add the baking soda and stir it well. Immediately scoop the batter onto the idli moulds and steam for 10 minutes.

You can serve it will dhal, curry or the variety of chutneys. I made onion coconut chutney. This recipe yields about 20 regular sized idlis.

The idlis are so soft and fluffy, with grainy texture of suji. Just brings back thousands of memories of eating suji halwa. The best thing is it was even a hit with the picky eater Jeev. One thing for sure, it tasted good even on its own. I should have just added more water.

It is actually similar to this rava uttapams I made last year. Rava uttapams are pan toasted, while this rava idli is steamed. They both can have more vegetables and seasonings added.

The next mission is to make fluffy idlis with spanking fish curry, till then, stay tuned!