As I had mentioned in an earlier recipe, Idlis are a very popular South Indian breakfast dish. So popular that one may wonder why anybody would look for variations of the classic recipe. At home, during certain festivals such as Ganesh Chaturthi or other poojas, one cannot eat anything made of rice until the pooja or ceremony is over. This is when our mothers would make “Rulava Idli”. This does not use rice or rice rava (cream of rice), but we use a form of rava or rulav (rava in Konkani) or cream of wheat called Bansi rava. Bansi rava is widely available in stores in South India. We found this rava (cracked wheat) in an Indian store in NJ and it comes close to Bansi rava.
Ingredients
- Urad daal - 1 cup
- Bansi rava (cracked wheat fine) - 1 cup
- Salt to taste
Instructions
Wash and soak urad daal in water for 4-6 hours.
Using a wet grinder, blend the urad daal to a smooth paste. Water needs to be added to grind the daal smoothly. Do not make this too watery.
When the daal is being ground, soak the rava in water for about 20 minutes or so. Discard the liquid in which the rava is soaked and mix the rava with the blended daal. Add salt to taste and mix well.
Keep the batter in a warm place overnight for fermentation. I usually preheat the oven till it is slightly warm and place the vessel containing the batter in the oven overnight.
Next morning, pour the batter into idli moulds and steam in a steamer (Pedavan) for 10 minutes.
Serve hot with coconut-cilantro chutney.
Note:
- The rava can be added next morning too, keep just the blended daal in a warm place for fermentation and add the rava the next morning just before steaming the idlis.
- I personally prefer adding the rava to the batter the previous night.
- Since cracked wheat is used instead of rice in this idli, it is considered to be healthier.
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