Rava Idli and Saagu

Rava Idli and Saagu
This is a karnataka special dish. Rava idli is always served with saagu only in karnataka. This dish is so popular in bangalore. You should get to taste the rava idli at MTR a famous restaurant in bangalore, they are so awesome ans taste so good ,no wonder they are the creator of this famous rava idli.
This Rava idli recipe is pure home made , though many ready mix easily available in the store but nothing like home made one. This is very tasty and goes very well with saagu. If you does not wanat to prepare saagu you can very well have with coconut chutney and it would taste equally good. Here goes the recipe for rava idli and saagu.

Rava Idli:
Ingredients:
Sooji rava - 1 cup
Vermicelli - 1 cup ( you can use 1/2 cup if don't like the vermicelli taste)
Onion chopped - 1 small
Channa daal - 2 tsp
Mustard - 1/2tsp
Cashew broken small pieces - 2 tsp
Cilantro Finely chopped - 1 cup
Salt
Cooking Soda - 1 tsp
Yogurt - 1 cup
oil - 2 tbsp

Procedure:
In a big kadai add oil,when its hot season with mustard and channa daal. Add cashews and fry for a min. Now add onion and keep frying for 5 mins.Reduce the flame to medium and add salt , sooji rava and vermicelli and fry until rava and vermicelli turns light burn.Add the cilantro. Allow the mixture to cool completely. Mix yogurt, water and cooking soda and mix well and set aside for 10 mins. The mixture should not be too thick or too watery. Add water to the mixture accordingly. Grease idli plate with oil and spoon the mixture and steam cook. Serve hot with Saagu or coconut chutney.

Rava dosai

Rava dosai

A very simple dosa preparation. No need for soaking, grinding, mixing, fermenting etc. This is a slight variation of the usual rava dosai preparation. I have used eggs instead of maida. I learned this from one of my friend. They taste much better than the maida version. A healthy version too because we are substituting a simple carb with good quality protein. Try it for a wholesome breakfast.

Ingredients :

Rava- 1 cup
Rice flour- 1/2 cup
Egg- 1 no
Cashew kernels- 8 nos (broken into small pieces)
Ginger- a small piece (minced finely)
Curry leaves- 10 leaflets (minced finely)
Green chillies- 4 nos (minced finely)
Jeera seeds- 1/2 tspn
Salt to taste
Oil for frying (you can use ghee if you wish)

Method :

Mix all the items mentioned above except oil. Make a batter by diluting the mixture with water. The batter should be very thin. It must be several times thinner than dosa batter and if you take the batter in a laddle and pour it, it must fall freely like thick buttermilk. After preparing the batter wait for half-an-hour. Now heat a pan. When the pan is hot enough pour a laddle of batter. You normally get a net-like dosa as shown in picture. No need to spread it. Dribble oil  and fry both sides until it turns crispy and golden brown. Serve with coconut chutney.

Taste enhancing tips for this recipe : The most important thing is you need to have a good pan. Use a thick bottomed pan in which the heat spreads evenly and at the same time slowly. Simmer the flame. Do not keep on high flame. The above mentioned points will help in cooking the rava dosa evenly. They also remain intact and crispy. I have only a hot plate.  The pan I use becomes hot quickly and that too only in the center. I had hard time getting a properly shaped dosa. I think electric pan can do wonders, when preparing rava dosa.  Cashews and ginger impart a very nice taste to the dosa. Happy cooking !!!