This rava idli batter recipe or sooji idli batter recipe is easy and simple instant idli batter recipe using semolina flour known as sooji flour or semolina flour in India.
You can make instant rava idli using rava idli batter which is made using rava (sooji or semolina flour) and few other ingredients and seasoning if you wish.
Traditionally rava idlis or sooji idli is made using eno or fruit salt which is added while preparing the batter. This rava idli batter recipe is made without eno and so I am using a little baking soda in the recipe. Rava idli or sooji idli traditionally prepared with seasoning, you may adjust the seasonings and extra ingredients as you wish. Mustard seeds, cashews and raisins are some of the popular seasoning used with rava idli batter.
You may also use a teaspoon of baking powder (as we do not have eno in this recipe) which makes the idlis more airy, soft and delicious, although it is not a very necessary ingredient.
Idlis are steamed cakes used for breakfast in India and you can make different kinds of idlis. The most popular type of idlis enjoyed in South India is made of fermented rice batter which needs soaking and many hours of fermentation to prepare the batter. You can learn here in detail how to prepare popular rice idlis using idli batter.
Before going to the rava idli batter recipe, let me tell you that this is a very simple and easy to follow rava idli batter recipe which you can quickly make with the basic ingredients required to make the rava idli batter for idli.
You can instant and simple rava idli or simple sooji idli with seasoning or without seasoning as you wish. Just prepare the idli batter and add the seasoning if you wish, or you may skip the seasoning if you want to keep it more simple and plain or to make it even more quickly or if you are out of ingredients to prepare the seasonings.
You can see there are many optional ingredients which you can add to the batter and they are very much worth adding to the batter. The flavor your rava idli will greatly depend of which all optional ingredients you choose to add. There are some optional ingredients which I strongly recommend for the best flavor.
However, in case you are out of those optional ingredients or if you just don't have the time to add them, you can still prepare the tasty and easy rava idli using the basic ingredients to make the rava idli batter.
Feel free to experiment with the optional ingredients based on your taste preferences, you may even add new flavors or new ingredients like chopped veggies to add to the batter to make your own rava idli batter!
More Recipes In Blog Using Sooji Flour (semolina Flour)
- See easy quick semolina porridge recipe for breakfast here which is made using sooji semolina flour
- See easy semolina pancakes recipe using yeast and semolina flour
- See easy Indian dessert recipe for sooji rava ladoo here
The below shown picture shows how the semolina flour (sooji flour or rava flour) looks like.
So let us see more about rava idli batter recipe (or rava idli recipe using rava idli batter).
Let us first learn how to make rava idli batter using this easy rava idli batter recipe and then learn how to make instant rava idli (steamed semolina cakes) using the batter prepared from scratch.
You will need an idli cooker to make idlis.
You can buy idli cooker here. I have bought the same idli cooker from Amazon which I still use. You can make different kind of idlis like rice idli, rava idli or more varieties in this kind of idli cooker designed to make steamed idlis.
rava idli batter in idli molds
To make rava idli batter and rava idlis, you need rava or sooji flour which is the slightly coarse semolina flour used to make rava idlis and many other popular Indian dishes.
Rava Idli or sooji rawa idli is one of the most popular, kid friendly, healthy and easy breakfast recipes in South India, which you can make from scratch so quickly.
As the name suggests rava idli is made of quick cooking semolina flour which is actually kind of very finely broken wheat known as rava (rawa) or sooji.
Rice idlis are more traditional and they are made by grinding fermented rice and urad dal (black gram skin removed) and steaming the batter using idly cooker.
But this recipe of sooji rava idli is a quicker version using the sooji or semolina flour which doesn’t require fermentation.
They go great with any Indian chutney or side dishes of your choice, but they taste just great even without any side dish. This is a breakfast recipe, but it is quite filling and very commonly used for dinner as well. They are also suitable to send in kids lunch boxes.
The good thing is that you need only few ingredients and you can make this in a hurry if you have an idly cooker. Total preparation time and cooking time will not exceed more than 20 minutes.
So here is how you can make simple rava idli or sooji idli using this rava idli batter recipe.
Rava Idli Batter Recipe - How To Make Rava Idli Using Homemade Rava Idli Batter
Ingredients
- Rava Sooji or Semolina flour 1 Cup
- Yogurt ½ Cup
- Water ½ Cup you may add a few more spoons if needed
- Salt as needed
- Baking Soda ½ teaspoon
- Ghee or Melted Butter or oil 2 tablespoons
For seasoning
- Cashew Nuts a few
- Raisins a few optional but you can add if you love the sweetness of raisins
- Mustard Seeds 1 teaspoon
Instructions
To make the rava idli batter
- Roast sooji in a pan for few minutes and keep it aside. The color of your rava idli will depend on how long you roast sooji, as sooji turns slightly brown with roasting. If you roast for less time, it will be white in color. Both are fine, just make sure to lightly roast the sooji rava flour to avoid the raw taste. If you are buying roasted sooji, you can skip this step.
- Add salt and baking soda to the roasted sooji and mix well.
- Add yogurt to the sooji mix and stir well to avoid lumps.
- Add water to the sooji yogurt mixture and again stir well to make the batter.
- If you do not want to add the seasoning, just add the recommended amount of ghee or oil or butter to the batter and mix well to prepare the batter for making simple rava idlis. If the batter is too thick, you may add a few spoons of water to make the batter of the right consistency. Make sure not to add too much water than recommended amount. If you wish to add the seasoning, do not add the oil or ghee now, but follow the below steps.
- To prepare the seasoning, heat ghee or oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds.
- When the mustard seeds splutter, also lightly fry the cashew nuts and raisins till they turn light golden color.
- Add the prepared seasoning (oil or ghee with mustard seeds, fried cashew nuts and raisins) to the sooji batter (rava idli batter) and stir well till it is well combined. (If you are not using cashew nuts or raisins just add the melted clarified ghee or oil as I already mentioned in the above step).
- Now the batter of the rava idli is ready to be used!
To Make Rava Idli Using The Prepared Rava Idli Batter
- You will need the idly cooker to make the idlies. Using a spoon, pour the batter on the molds.
- Add little water in the bottom of the cooker and place the idly plates one on top of another, inside the cooker. Make sure you do not have too much water on the cooker which may spoil the dish.
- Close the cooker and place on high heat. Once the water starts boiling, which takes only a few seconds, reduce the flames and steam on low heat for about 8 to 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes, remove from heat and open the cooker. Let it cool for few minutes.
- Once the idlis are cooled, you can take them out of the molds using a spoon. Use a wet spoon to take the islis out which will help with easily taking the idlis from the mold, without causing them to stick to the cooker. If you want, you can grease the molds with little ghee or oil before pouring the batter which will make things easier.
Notes
Hope you find the post on rava idli batter recipe to make rava idli at home helpful!
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