Steamed, fluffy and delicious, idli happens to be a favourite at my home. Whether we’re in search for a breakfast, lunch, dinner or even snacking, idly fits in perfectly at any time in the day. The fact that it is steamed and not fried, unlike a lot of Indian snacking options, makes it guilt free and absolutely binge-worthy.

Traditionally prepared with rice and urad dal, the delicacy can be prepared with ragi, oats, lentils or brown rice, but the simplest, according to me, is rava(semolina) idly. The soaking, fermentation and grinding process is eliminated in my cheat recipe and hence, it gets ready in a matter of minutes and can be relished with coconut chutney, green chutney, sambhar or even by itself.

Since its a very versatile dish, I’ve tried a couple of different variations of it, like vegetable idly, peri peri idly, coriander idly. Here’s my recipe for those perfect puffy rava idlies:

Preparation time: 10 mins

Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients:
1 cup semolina
1/2 cup curd
1/2 cup water
1 tsp eno fruit salt (soda bicarbonate)
1 tsp ghee/vegetable oil
Salt to taste

Steps:
1. In a bowl, mix semolina, curd, salt and water and mix well till you get a pouring consistency batter. Add some more water if the batter gets too thick.
2. Leave the mixture aside for 8-10 minutes.
3. Grease the idli moulds with vegetable oil/ghee to ensure that the idlies come off easily from the utensil.
4. Add eno to the mixture and mix well. Immediately pour the mixture into the moulds and steam on medium heat for 4-5 mins. Insert a skewer to see if it is fully cooked.
5. Keep aside for a minute and take out from the moulds and serve hot.

Note:
1. Do not let the batter sit after adding fruit salt. Use immediately or otherwise, the idlies won’t be fluffy.
2. If making in batches, then separate the mixture in different bowls and add eno only to the portion that you are going to steam.
3. For the different variations, add your choice of vegetables/peri peri powder/coriander paste etc in stage 1.