Rava Upma

I don't think many of us need a recipe to make uppuma which is the very basic tiffin item of Indians. But for me making it without lumps was a great challenge till I learned the technique from Packiam aunty in my dad's house. Ingredients: Rava (semolina) - 1 1/2 cup water - 2 1/4 cup {water = (number of cups of ravai x 2) - (3/4 cup)} salt - 1/4 tsp (1/8 tsp per cup of rava) onion - 1 (small) green chilly - 2 ginger - 1 inch curry leaf - 1 sprig channa dhal - 1 tbsp mustard - 1/2 tsp Shredded coconut - 2 tbsp (optional) sesame oil - 2 to 3 tsp. Method: Heat a wok. Dry roast the rava till it smells good / starts to become coarse like sand. Transfer it to a plate . Chop the onion, curry leaf, ginger, green chilly finely. Heat 2 tbsp oil in the same wok. Add mustard seed. let it splutter. Then add the channa dhal and fry all the chopped ingredients along with it. As the onion starts to become transparent, add the water + Salt and let it come to a boil. Then reduce flame and sprinkle the rava in equal spacing , just like shower. Don't stir. (Stirring will result in lumps) Immediately cover with a lid. Reduce flame to minimum. After 3 minutes in low flame , open the lid and start to stir using a spatula. we can see the uppuma get cooked well and starts leaving the edges. Put off fire. Add shredded coconut , if desired. Now we get a very dry uppuma without any lumps. Serving suggestions: Serve as breakfast or dinner along with coconut chutney or sugar. The above said quantity served two adults.

Rava Idly

Rava Idly / Semolina Idly is a kind of Idly served in TamilNadu restaurants. It is much easier to prepare and a delicacy to serve along with sambar or tomato chutney.
I tried making this Rava Idly many times and failed to get that fluffiness. I got something like uppuma:)
Then got the recipe from a old magazine. They insist on grinding urid dhal.Many people do not use urid dhal. But it gives a wonderful texture and it resembles much like original Idly.



Ingredients:
Rava - 2 1/2 cup
urid dhal - 1/2 cup
curd - 1/2 cup
water - 1 cup
To temper:
oil - 2 tbsp
cashew - 10
ginger - 1 inch
green chilli - 2
mustard - 1 tsp
channa dhal - 1 tbsp.
curry leaf - 1 brig
cilantro - a handful
salt - 1 1/2 tsp

Method:
Soak the urid dhal for 1 hour.
Dry roast the rava till you get a nice aroma.
Grind the urid dhal to a fine paste and mix it with the rava along with salt, curd and yeast.
I didn't have a sour curd, so I added a pinch of yeast to the batter for fermentation. There is no need to add yeast during summer. Do not add a lot of water.
The consistency should be like a pan cake mix / urid dhal vadai batter.
Keep it inside oven or any warm place and let it ferment for 8 hours.
Just before making idly, we need to add the tempering.
Chop the green chilli, cilantro, ginger and curry leaves.
Heat a pan with 1 tbsp oil .Add the channa dhal and mustard.
Let the mustard crackle.
Then add the cashews , chopped green chilli, cilantro, curry leaves and ginger.
Fry them for a while and mix it with the fermented batter.
Coat the idly vessel with little oil and pour the batter.
Steam cook the idly for 10 minutes (Do not put 'cooker-weight' if you are using a pressure cooker).
Take the idly vessel out , keep it out and scoop the Rava idly after 2 minutes .
Rava Idly is ready.

Serving suggestions:
We can microwave the idly before serving.
Serve Rava idly hot with tomato chutney or sambar.
Makes 14 fluffy Rava idly.

Rava Idly has black gram (Urid dhal) . So it goes to Legume affair hosted by Srivalli and Susan.