Instant Ragi Oat Idli

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Since the first time I made this  Instant Oats Idli (steamed cakes)  I have been making it regularly at home, so much so, that  the word instant idli  almost became synonymous with oats idli in my home.Almost but not quite:-)

Anyway for a while now I have been wanting to try making idli with cracked wheat and ragi. I wanted to make it as low carb and healthy as possible, not only for our sake but also because a few of my friends have been requesting something that is very low carb and diabetic friendly.

Ragi or Finger millet is said to be very healthy, you can read about its health properties here and here. In the past I have used it to make this dosai/ crepe  and some other varieties of dosai I have yet to post. For the first time I tried it in idli and loved this soft, simple and quick to make idli very much. I know that  this is going to provide serious competition to the oats idli I mentioned earlier, in my home :-)





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Ingredients and Method to make Ragi Oat Idli
3/4 cup cracked wheat powdered to rava consistency or wheat rava (broken wheat / dalia / fada)
3/4 cup quick oats powdered coarsely
1/2 cup ragi flour (finger millet flour/ nachani/ keppai)
1 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
1 tsp baking soda

seasoning
2 tsp oil
1 tsp split chick pea lentil (Chana dhal/ Kadalai parappu)
1 tsp split black gram lentil (Udad dhal/ ulatham parappu)
1 tsp mustard seeds (rai/ sarson/ kadagu)
4 Indian or Thai variety green chillies cut fine (or to taste) (hara mirch/ pachai molagai)
4 tsp broken cashew nuts
1 tsp dried curry leaves (or 1 stalk fresh curry leaves cut fine) (optional) (kadi patta/ karapillai)

Just before steaming add
In 1: 1 ratio plain yogurt (curd/ dahi) (Total 2 cups for this quantity)
for this entire quantity about 5 tbsp of freshly grated coconut ( or to taste) (see notes)
handful cilantro cut fine

Powder cracked wheat to semolina (rava ) consistency and keep aside.

Similarly powder quick oats coarsely and keep aside.

In a large container or bowl, mix together powdered cracked wheat, powdered oats and fingermillet (Ragi) flour. Add salt and baking soda to this and mix well.

In a small pan, heat oil, add chana dhal, stir for a few seconds then add usad dhal and stir for a few seconds. When the udad dhal is begining to turn reddish add mustard seeds. When mustard seeds splutter add green chillies, when green chillies start to turn color add cashews and stir till cashews begin to redden. Then quickly add curry leaves stir a couple of times and pour the entire oil + lentils+ cashew mixture on the dry powder and mix well.

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At this point the mixture can be stored in an airtight container for a week or so if required and only what is needed can be removed and used.This yields 2 cups of dry mixture

If you are planning to use entire mixture at once then, just before steaming add yogurt to the dry mixture and mix well.

Then add coconut and cilantro and immediately pour the batter on pre-greased idli plates ( I do not grease my idli plates and it still works fine for me), place idli plates in pressure cooker  and steam without the weight for about 7 to 8 minutes. Remove from heat, let cool for a minute or so and then remove idli from mould and serve hot with chutney or sambar of choice

Total yield approximately 16 (Yield will depend on the size of the idli moulds, mine are medium size so larger moulds will yield less and smaller moulds more )

Notes
The grated coconut adds a very nice flavor to this idli so skipping that may change the taste of the idli quite a bit.

This idli along with my Ragi dosai is off to the JFI- Ragi event being hosted by Madhuram