Rava idly

  'At Hyderabad, you can never find rice idly, rava idly is the only option', this was one of my relative's opinion, about two years back.  And yes, he was right, starting from authentic Chutneys restaurant  to street-smart shops, all you can find is the magic of this rava idly.  But, the beauty of them, is that they are soft textured, that melts instantly in mouth.  Serve them with sambhar and chutney...... YOU ARE IN HEAVEN!!!  :)  :)  To all those fancy dishes, BEWARE, THE LORD IS HERE  :D  :D   :D

  About an month ago, I  experimented with initial quantities of urad dal and idly rava and to my surprise, they surpassed my test :)  So, I went on with same quantities, and this time blogging them with pictures.  YAY TO ME!   Just be aware to prepare them in large numbers - they are sure to vanish before your eyes!  For beginners, kindly note the tips shared at end of my post.





Soaking time: 2 hours
Grinding time: 20-25 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Yield: 20-25 idly

Ingredients required

For grinding

• 1/2 cup whole urad dal
• 1 cup + 1 tbspn water

other

• 11/2 cup idly rava
• 11/4 cup water
• 1 tbspn salt

Method

Soak urad dal for two hours.  Rinse them clean and  transfer to grinder along with 3/4 cup of water.  Sprinkle remaining water, in between every five minutes till you get soft, fluffy batter.

About half cup of urad dal and 1 cup of water yielded me four and half cups of soft, fluffy  paste.  I was amazed, as I measured them :/

In  another dry vessel, I added idly rava.

Now, this idly rava is mixed with 2 cups of water to obtain an watery-paste.

We are now, transferring this paste into our fluffy urad dal batter and mix it without forming any lumps.  You can mix them with spatula/hand.

Now, I leave this batter to ferment for six to eight hours. Afterwhich, you can notice small bubbles on the top, like  below pic.   You can use them rightaway, by adding salt or refrigerate and use when required.  I, added salt and mixed them thoroughly again.  

 I poured them into greased idly plates and steamed on higher gas flame for first ten minutes.  Lowered for next five minutes.

Idly gets over when an wet knife inserted comes out clean.  Cool, unmould using an wet spoon and serve.

TIPS

1. Please note that blending urad dal is done by grinder, not mixie or regular blender.  Grinder yields more quantity of urad dal paste that results on soft idly.  Results may vary if done using mixie.
2. Rava, used here is idly rava, which differs from bombay rava/suji.  Store-brought bombay rava can be blended twice/thrice and used in the recipe instead of idly rava.
3. Fermentation of batter is very important, for those from colder part, I would suggest you to mix urad dal paste along with rava by hand itself.  Also, you could add 1 tbspn sea salt while mixing.  Both these factors enhances the very same process.  
4. Cool the idly completely before unmoulding. That will give good shape to your idly.  

Linking this to CCC Challenge by Srivalli