Kudiraivaali / Barnyard Millet Rava Idli – Bread Bakers

After a long gap, I am back in the group Bread Bakers.This month’s challenge was quite interesting. Have you heard of ancient grains. The challenge is to make a bread with ancient grains. When I checked for ancient grains, I understood that it was all gluten free grains like Quinoa, millet, sorghum, amaranth, teff, freekeh, chia seeds, farro, spelt, Kamut and Einkorn. As per host Robin’s rules no wheat to be used. So I had to create a gluten free bread. I really had a tough time thinking for a recipe. When it comes to gluten free breads, our cuisine has a lot of breads which include rotis, idlis and dosas. So I thought of making idli with millets. Then for idli I need to grind urad dhal so it wouldn’t fit the theme exactly. Then came the idea of rava idli with millet rava. And yes, I finalised on rava idli with barnyard millet/ Kudiraivaali. 

If you are new to millets, then here is a short introduction to millets.

There are eight millet you can use in your daily cooking instead of rice:
Kodo Millet/ Varagu
Fox Tail Millet/ Tinai
Little Millet/ Samai
Proso Millet/ Pani Varagu
Barnyard Millet/ Kuthiraivally
Sorghum/ Cholam
Pearl Millet/ Kambu
Finger Millet/ Keppai

Millets can be easily substituted for rice in Indian cooking. Lately there is a craze for all things millet and even I have got it. I use millets in my day to day cooking and as it has a low glycemic index, it is easy to digest and a great food for diabetics. So if you haven’t started cooking with millets, then start today.

The idea of making rava from kudiraivaail rice came very late. I didn’t have an idea on how to do it but only today morning, I started that experiment. I roasted the rice and ground it in my mixer for a few seconds and tada! I got kudiraivalli rava. The making of idli is same as the usual rava idli. As curd is used to mix the batter, this needs no fermentation. So in half an hour your idlis will be ready. Though the idlis are soft, they don’t have that beautiful dome like the normal idlis. But paired with chutney and sambar, they taste so delicious. Always serve idlis hot. When cold, they tend to become firmer. So steam them or microwave them before serving. We had a hearty and healthy breakfast today and hope you try it once to know how amazing it is to incorporate millets in cooking.

Makes 28 Idlis

Ingredients:

Kudiraivaali/ Barnyard Millet – 500 gm (makes 2 1/2 cups of rava)

Curd/ Yogurt-2 cups

Water-3/4 cup

Salt-to taste

Oil-2 tbs

Channa Dhal – 2 tbs

Broken Cashew nuts – 2 tbs

Mustard-1 tsp

Hing/ Asafoetida – a pinch

Curry Leaves – 2 sprigs

Baking Soda-1/2 tsp

Procedure:

In a pan dry roast the millet until hot to touch.

Transfer to a mixer jar and grind it for 3-5 seconds until the rice is broken to semolina consistency.

Transfer to a plate and let it cool.

In a pan, heat oil and add channa dhal and cashew nuts.

Roast until brown.

Add in mustard, hing and curry leaves and when they crackle, add in the rava.

Roast it until the rava becomes slighly brown.

Remove from stove and allow it to cool a bit.

Whisk together curd, water and salt in a bowl and add it to the warm rava.

Mix well. Finally add baking soda and mix well.

Grease idli plates with little oil and fill them with the batter.

Steam cook for 15 minutes.

Remove from the steamer and allow the plates to cool for 5 minutes.

With the help of a spatula, gently remove the idlis from the moulds.

Serve hot with chutney of your choice.

Kudiraivaali Rava Idli Recipe

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Ingredients

  

Ingredients

• cups Kudiraivaali/ Barnyard Millet - 500 gm makes 2 1/2of rava
• Curd/ Yogurt-2 cups
• Water-3/4 cup
• Salt-to taste
• Oil-2 tbs
• Channa Dhal - 2 tbs
• Broken Cashew nuts - 2 tbs
• Mustard-1 tsp
• Hing/ Asafoetida - a pinch
• Curry Leaves - 2 sprigs
• Baking Soda-1/2 tsp

Instructions

 

Procedure

• In a pan dry roast the millet until hot to touch.
• Transfer to a mixer jar and grind it for 3-5 seconds until the rice is broken to semolina consistency.
• Transfer to a plate and let it cool.
• In a pan, heat oil and add channa dhal and cashew nuts.
• Roast until brown.
• Add in mustard, hing and curry leaves and when they crackle, add in the rava.
• Roast it until the rava becomes slighly brown.
• Remove from stove and allow it to cool a bit.
• Whisk together curd, water and salt in a bowl and add it to the warm rava.
• Mix well. Finally add baking soda and mix well.
• Grease idli plates with little oil and fill them with the batter.
• Steam cook for 15 minutes.
• Remove from the steamer and allow the plates to cool for 5 minutes.
• With the help of a spatula, gently remove the idlis from the moulds.
• Serve hot with chutney of your choice.