Soft and fluffy idli made with idli rava(cream of rice/rice rava) and urad dal.
Please do not confuse this with instant “Rava Idli” the popular Karnataka special breakfast, made with upma/local sooji(cream of wheat). That rava idli is made with wheat flour processed regular rava.
But this Idli batter today I want you to show is prepared with rice rava(cream of rice), which requires just 2 hours of soaking(unlike 6hrs of soaking for Idli arisi). Hence the total making time(soaking+grinding+fermentation) reduces. Idlis are the most popularly consumed breakfast in many parts of India and particularly in Tamil Nadu.
For instance, it is purely steam cooked and mild. Hence no worries about fat or white sugar/extra salts/spices. Undeniably, the popular combo for the Idli is sambar and coconut chutney. Dunk a bite in Tiffin sambar and coconut chutney and gobble. Yummy delicious it would be 😉
Usually, we make idli batter with parboiled or boiled rice(Idli pulungal arisi) and urad dal. But nowadays in restaurants and small food outlets, idlis are made with the batter prepared with rice rava instead of rice.
Idli with idli rava | Idli with rice rava
As you may know, rava is nothing but powder from wheat or rice. Normally rava means sooji or local rava or upma rava, the cream of wheat. Rava upma, Kesari and such dishes are made with this sooji or local rava. There is one more idly rava available in the market, which is the cream of rice. We can make dosa batter with this Idli rava too and the idlis made out of this batter is really soft and fluffy. Absolutely, one cannot make out the difference from normal rice batter Idli. As it is already in powder form, we need not soak it for four to six hours. Just one or two hours of soaking is enough and we can proceed with grinding the batter. Above all, this rice rava gives a nice texture to the idlis somehow.
Try these popular breakfast items:
Idli with idli rava | Idli with rice rava
Ingredients
Ingredients:
- 4 cups idli rava (rice rava)
- 1 cup whole urad
- 1 tsp fenugreek seeds
- Water to grind
- 1 ½ tsp salt
Instructions
Soaking:
- Wash the Idli rava thoroughly with water two to three times. You can use the tea filter or strainer to drain properly.
- Soak with enough water for one to two hours.
- Rinse and soak urad dal and Methi(fenugreek) seeds.
- Instead, you can soak Idli rava, urad dal and fenugreek seeds together in the same vessel.
Grinding:
- Like normal Idli batter, this Idli rava batter also requires the same kind of grinding.
- First grind urad dal and fenugreek seeds into a smooth paste, collect and keep aside.
- Then add the soaked idli rava into the grinder and grind smooth.
- Idli rava absorbs a lot of water while soaking and the wet grinding may not need more water.
- Alternately, you can grind everything together if you have soaked all together.
- Finally, mix urad and rice rava batters and combine well with hand. Hand mixing yields better fermentation.
Fermentation:
- I recommend you to add salt after fermentation for those who live in cold places. Because cold weather means the longer time it takes to get fermented.
- For hot places/hot climate conditions, you can add salt before keeping for fermentation.
- Mix well, cover with a tight lid and keep in warm place.
Making idlis:
- Grease the Idli plates or use a wet cotton cloth and pour the batter.
- Steam cook in Idli maker or pressure cooker without weight on it for ten minutes. Check the doneness by inserting a knife or toothpick.
- Remove the idlis using wet spoons.
- Serve piping hot idlis with sambar and chutney.
Notes
Nutrition
How to Soak rava to make the batter:
- Wash the Idli rava thoroughly with water two to three times. You can use a tea filter or strainer to drain properly.
- Soak with enough water for one to two hours. You can see the clear water after washing the rice rava.
- Rinse and soak urad dal and Methi(fenugreek) seeds.
- Instead, you can soak rava, urad dal and fenugreek seeds together in the same vessel.
Grinding rava for idli batter:
- Like normal Idli batter, this Idli rava batter also requires the same kind of grinding.
- First grind urad dal and fenugreek seeds into a smooth paste, collect and keep aside.
- Then add the soaked idli rava into the grinder and grind smooth.
- Rava absorbs a lot of water while soaking and the wet grinding may not need more water.
- Alternately, you can grind everything together if you have soaked it all together.
- Finally, mix urad and rice rava batters and combine well with hand. Hand mixing yields better fermentation.
Fermentation:
- I recommend you to add salt after fermentation for those who live in cold places. Because cold weather makes the fermentation process longer.
- For hot places/hot climate conditions, you can add salt before keeping it for fermentation.
- Mix well, cover with a tight lid and keep in a warm place.
Making idlis with idli rava batter:
- Add salt to the fermented batter, mix well. The batter is raised and doubled with lots of air bubbles.
- Grease the plates or use a wet cotton cloth and pour the batter.
- Steam cook in Idli maker or pressure cooker (without weight on it) for ten minutes. Check the doneness by inserting a knife or toothpick.
- Remove using wet spoons. Serve piping hot idlis with sambar and chutney.
