Name: Instant Oats-Rava Idli
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 15 min
Ingredients: ¾ cup semolina/suji/rava; 1 ½ cups oats (ground to an almost fine powder); 3 tbsp coconut oil or any other cooking oil; 1 tsp mustard seeds; 1 tsp urad dal/split black gram lentils; 1 tbsp chana dal/split Bengal gram lentil; Few chopped curry leaves; ¼ tsp hing/asafetida powder (optional); 1 tbsp chopped green chilies/jalapenos/Serrano peppers; 1 tsp salt; 1 tsp baking soda; ½ cup plain curds/yogurt (fresh or sour); 1 cup water or as needed; More oil for basting or greasing the idli pans

Instant Oats-Rava Idlis – fluffy, savory and spongy steamed Indian cakes using tempered and spiced oats and semolina yogurt batter. It is the perfect healthy treat to begin your day with as a plate of sumptuous breakfast or even a brunch, lunch or dinner option!

Served with a side of fresh coconut chutney, it makes for a filling, delicious and easy to make meal!

This instant oats rava idli recipe (with step-wise pictures) will be so good, it will surely be added to your recipe repertoire to make often as is done in my house!

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INSTANT OATS-RAVA IDLIS:

Growing up in the southern part of India, my breakfast platter consisted mainly of crispy dosas (fermented rice-lentil savory crepes), idlis (fermented savory rice-lentil steamed cakes) or a bowl of upma (savory semolina porridge) with my morning cuppa coffee.

Bread and eggs were a rarity although I did enjoy it once in a while, especially when my mother made it using chopped green chilies in the scrambled eggs!

Making fermented idlis or dosas need at least a few hours of fermenting time; traditionally done overnight to wake up to a delicious and nutritious breakfast.

But, when you run out of these batters or may not have planned ahead, these instant idlis come to the rescue. You can check out this basic semolina or rava idli which is the most popular instant idli which I normally make.

Semolina is roasted with some spices/lentils and made into a batter with yogurt and baking soda for that instant rise.

With everyone on the bandwagon to make daily meals healthier and healthier, adding a nutrient rich grain flour like oats to my rava idli batter made lot of sense. Just add some ground or powdered rolled oats to the rava idli mixture and that is it!

INGREDIENTS NEEDED TO MAKE INSTANT OATS-RAVA IDLIS:

These are most probably all in your pantry especially if you are into Indian food.

Rava/semolina/suji: Use the coarse variety of semolina easily available in any Indian store or online. It is called “Cream of Wheat” in the grocery aisles here in the US.
Oats: preferably rolled oats.
Yogurt/Curds: The plain variety; store bought or homemade. It could be regular yogurt or even Greek yogurt.
Coconut oil: you can use any cooking oil you like or have.
Mustard seeds, lentils (urad dal/split black gram dal, chana dal/split Bengal gram dal), green chilies/jalapenos/Serrano peppers (for that bite of heat; optional), curry leaves, ginger and hing/asafetida powder which is again optional too but as south Indians, we love the aroma and flavor not to mention the digestive benefits it adds to any dish.
Baking soda: As this is an instant variety of idli, in the absence of fermentation, we need to add a rising agent like baking soda or even Enos Fruit Salt (easily available in any Indian store or online) to react with the yogurt to help the idli rise.
Salt to taste
Optional ingredients: To make idlis more nutritious, you can stir in grated carrots, nuts, grated beets, cooked green peas, chopped coriander leaves etc. in the batter before steaming.

HOW TO MAKE INSTANT OATS-RAVA IDLIS WITH STEP-WISE INSTRUCTIONS:

In a blender jar, make an almost fine powder of 1 ½ cups of rolled oats and set aside.
Keep ¾ cup semolina/suji ready.

TO PREPARE THE TEMPERING FOR IDLIS:

Heat 3 tbsp oil and add 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp urad dal/split black gram dal, 1 tbsp chana dal/split Bengal gram dal, few chopped curry leaves, ¼ tsp hing/asafetida powder, 1 tbsp grated ginger and 1 tbsp chopped green chilies.

Saute a few seconds and add semolina and oats powder.

Roast until hot and slightly roasted on medium heat, stirring often. This will take about 4 to 6 minutes. The mixture should feel hot to the touch but do not let it burn or change color!
Remove from heat, add 1 tsp salt to taste. Mix well and set aside to cool.

Once cooled add 1 tsp baking soda and stir to incorporate the baking soda evenly.
At this stage, you can bottle it up in a dry jar and use to make idlis for later.

TO MAKE THE OATS-RAVA IDLI:

In a mixing bowl, add ½ cup yogurt and ½ cup water. Mix well using a whisk.
Stir in the cooled oats-rava mixture and stir to make a smooth batter. Add more water if needed to form a flowy but slightly thick batter. Set aside until the idli steamer is ready.

Pour water into the idli steamer (or inner pot if using Instant Pot or a stove top pressure cooker) and let it come to a boil.
Grease idli pans with oil.
Meanwhile, again, just before steaming, adjust the consistency of the batter and to make for a flowing but thick batter as it would have thickened slightly by now due to semolina absorbing some moisture; add more water if needed. Too much water and the idlis will be mushy; too little it will be hard and dense, so add accordingly little by little.
When the water starts steaming in the steamer/instant pot, pour small ladlefuls of batter in each idli stan;, do not overfill; they tend to expand on steaming.

Place the idli stand in the simmering steamer/cooker/IP and steam cook for 12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the idli comes out clean.
Remove the stand from the pan and let cool slightly.

Demold delicious Oats and Rava idlis and serve hot with coconut chutney.
We enjoyed ours with some Walnut- coconut chutney and homemade, homemade Spicy Tomato Thokku/Relish/Chutney. All recipes are on blog but leaving link in post too.
Enjoy these fluffy, soft, healthy and delicious Oat and Rava Idli folks for breakfast, lunch or dinner!
The key tip to remember is once you have mixed the roasted, spiced flours with yogurt, it is best to steam them immediately. Leftover batter does not make for good idlis! So mix only as much as you need with yogurt mixture.

SERVING SUGGESTIONS:

Serve oats rava idlis hot or warm with a side of coconut chutney. There are a variety of chutneys you an enjoy them with but this time, we enjoyed with our favorite Walnut Coconut Chutney and my homemade Spicy Tomato Thokku/Chutney!

Store leftover idlis in the fridge and use within a couple of days.

Enjoy Foodies and Happy Cooking!

OTHER CHUTNEYS YOU MAY LIKE TO DIP YOUR OATS RAVA IDLIS IN:

Instant Oats-Rava Idli

Fluffy, savory and spongy steamed Indian cakes using tempered and spiced oats and semolina yogurt batter. It is the perfect healthy treat to begin your day for a sumptuous breakfast or as a brunch, lunch or dinner option too!

Course Breakfast, Brunch, Dinner

Cuisine Indian, South Indian

Keyword Healthy, idli, oats, rava, semolina, spices, steamed, yogurt

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Author Vanitha

Ingredients

¾ cup semolina/suji/rava
1 ½ cups oats ground to an almost fine powder
3 tbsp coconut oil or any other cooking oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp urad dal/split black gram lentils
1 tbsp chana dal/split Bengal gram lentil
Few chopped curry leaves
¼ tsp hing/asafetida powder optional
1 tbsp chopped green chilies/jalapenos/Serrano peppers
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
½ cup plain curds/yogurt fresh or sour
1 cup water or as needed
More oil for basting or greasing the idli pans

Instructions

In a blender jar, make an almost fine powder of1 ½ cups of rolled oats and set aside.
Keep ¾ cup semolina/suji ready.

TO PREPARE THE TEMPERING FOR IDLIS:

Heat 3 tbsp oil and add 1 tsp mustard, 1 tsp urad, 1tbsp chana dal, few chopped curry leaves, ¼ tsp hing, 1 tbsp grated ginger and 1 tbsp chopped green chilies.
Sauté few seconds and add semolina and oats powder.
Roast until hot and slightly roasted on medium heat, stirring often. This will take about 4 to 6 minutes. The mixture should feel hot to the touch but do not let it burn!
Remove from heat, add 1 tsp salt to taste. Mix well and set aside to cool.
Once cooled add 1 tsp baking soda and stir to incorporate the baking soda evenly.
At this stage, you can bottle it up and use to make idlis for later.

TO MAKE THE OATS-RAVA IDLI:

In a mixing bowl, add ½ cup yogurt and ½ cup water. Mix well using a whisk.
Stir in the cooled oats-rava mixture and stir to make a smooth batter. Add more water if needed to form a flowy but slightly thick batter. Set aside until the steamer is ready.
Pour water into an idli steamer (or inner pot if using Instant Pot or a stove top pressure cooker without weight) and let it come to a boil.
Grease idli pans with oil.
Meanwhile, again adjust the consistency of the batter to make for a flowing but thick batter as it would have thickened slightly by now; add more water if needed. Too much water and the idlis will be mushy; too little it will be hard and dense.
When the water starts steaming in the steamer, pour small ladlefuls of batter in each idli stand, do not overfill, they tend to expand on steaming.
Place the idli stand in the simmering steamer and steam cook for 12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the idli comes out clean.
Remove the stand from the pan and let cool slightly.
Demould delicious Oats and Rava idlis and serve hot with coconut chutney.
We enjoyed ours with some Walnut- coconut chutney and homemade, homemade Spicy Tomato Thokku/Relish/Chutney. All recipes are on blog but leaving link in post too.
Enjoy these fluffy, soft, healthy and delicious Oat and Rava Idli folks for breakfast, lunch or dinner!

Recipe Notes

The amount of spices and green chilies is according to your preference.
Make sure to roast both semolina and oats powder well to avoid a sticky idli.
You can make these idlis using only semolina too.
Try and use up all the batter for steaming or mix yogurt to batches of roasted oats rava mixture. Leftover batter does not make for fluffy idlis