Oats Idli / Idly

Oats Idli

The other day I prepared Oats Idli. I was very happy when it came out very well – soft, tasty and filling. In fact, it tasted almost like Rava Idly and hence, I feel if you do like Rava Idly, you will like Oats Idli. It should help make a good breakfast for your family. So, why Oats Idli on breakfast menu?

Idli are well known and well received, healthy, nutrition rich food. The Black Gram lentil or Urad Dal is protein rich and Idli itself is spice and oil-free. Doctors recommend going for Idli as an easily digestible healthy food during illness. Oats are known to heart friendly and rich in dietary fiber. The soluble fiber found in Oats is known to lower low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or bad cholesterol levels. Oats are also known to aid weight loss, reduce blood pressure, increase energy levels. So, when these two healthy foods come together, I can only imagine things turning out to be good (although, lentils are left out in Oats Idli but some of the protein content of lentils missing is compensated by its presence in Oats. Protein content in Oats is known to be higher than those in other cereals).

The other advantage with Oats Idli is that its preparation time is lot lower than normal Idli. No need to soak Dal or lentils for hours, prepare batter and then leave it to ferment overnight for 12 hours. Hence, like Rava Idli, Oats is instant preparation and hence the term Instant Oats Idli.

After my Oats Breakfast recipe became the most popular recipe on my blog, readers have been asking me for more Oats recipes. Hence, after Oats Upma, Oats Soup, now I am posting Oats Idli. I found its recipein Sharmilee’s recipes blog. I admire her work a lot and do check out her post too for some step by step instructions on how to make Oats Idli. I made some small changes here – instead of Wheat Rava, I used normal white or medium sized Rava and used Green Chilli paste. Also, Instead of using Curd + Water, I used Buttermilk. We usually prepare Buttermilk at home daily, so I used sour Buttermilk. I added the Coriander Leaves to the batter directly without frying. It really came out well and my relatives who tried it out based on my instructions found equal success with it. Do try it out and let me know if you like it or post questions if you have issues.

Oats Idli

Time to prepare: 30 min

How to Make Oats Idli / Idly:

1. Dry roast the Instant Oats in a frying pan for 3-4 min and set aside to cool it completely. Then grind the roasted Oats to a fine powder in a mixer grinder or in a food processor.
2. In the same pan, dry roast the White or Medium Sized Rava for 3-4 min or until you get a nice aroma from it. Allow the Rava to cool. Now transfer the roasted Semolina/Rava and powdered Oats from above step to a mixing bowl and mix well.
3. Seasoning Part: Heat Oil in a pan, add Mustard Seeds, once they splutter add grated Carrot and Chopped Green Chilli or Chilli Paste (I used Chilli Paste) and saute till the raw smell of the Carrots disappear. This may take about 5 min of time.
4. Add these seasoning ingredients to the Oats-Semolina mixture bowl and mix once. Now add Asafoetida/Hing, Finely Chopped Coriander leaves/Cilantro, Baking Soda, Curd + Water or Buttermilk and mix everything together with the help of spatula to prepare the Oats Idli batter. If batter becomes too thick adjust with sufficient water or Buttermilk and the batter turns as thick as the normal Idly or Dosa batter.
5. Grease the Idly/Idli plate with Oil/Ghee and pour the sufficient amount of batter to the Idly/Idli molds with the help of ladle. Arrange the Idly/Idli plates and steam it for 10-12 minutes or till done. It may take maximum 15 min to cook the Idlies.

Now the Oats Idly/Idli is ready. Serve hot Oats Idli/Idli with Coconut Chutney, Saagu or Chutney Powder depending on your preference.

Tips:

1. One can use Wheat Rava or Semolina for healthier version of Oats Idli.
2. Baking Soda provides good texture to the Oats Idli and the Idlies turns fluffier by adding just a little Soda to the batter.
3. One can add Fried Cashews to the Oats Idli batter. This gives rich taste to the Oats Idli, if you are ok with just a few extra calories.
4. Other vegetables of your choice can be added to the Oats Idli.

Oats Idli

Related Recipes