Oats Idli

Oats idli

In the era of increasing health consciousness and ingredient selection, many innovative dishes have emerged featuring health-friendly options like millets, quinoa, and oats. Among these, oats stand out as an exceptionally versatile ingredient suitable for various culinary applications. I recall the days when searching for oats in large stores proved futile, as it was not as popular and readily available. Back then, oats were often associated with porridge or recommended by doctors. However, over time, oats have transformed significantly and earned a significant place on kitchen shelves.

Today, it's common for households to stock up on different oat varieties, including quick-cooking oats, oats for porridge, and steel-cut oats. It's remarkable to witness how Indian households have seamlessly integrated this versatile ingredient into their culinary repertoire. Oats are no longer confined to being a thick, mushy porridge ingredient; instead, they have become a staple in various traditional Indian dishes. Our forefathers might not have been familiar with it, and our grandmothers likely never envisioned that their traditional recipes would be reimagined with these ingredients.

Initially hesitant to replace the usual idli/dosa ingredients with anything other than the conventional idli rice/udad dal combination, I eventually succumbed to the temptation of trying oats in my recipe. To my surprise, not only did I achieve the fluffiest idlis, but they also turned out delicious and were well-received by the entire family.

Ingredients :

1 1/2 cups Oats (dry roast for 4 minutes, cool and grind to a fine powder)

3/4 cup semolina (sooji/upma rava)..I also replace this with multigrains flour which is coarse like rava and available in stores...you can also use samba rava instead of white rava..

1 cup Yogurt1 carrot peeled and gratedSalt to tasteA pinch Eno Salt - (or cooking soda)Water as required.For Tempering

1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
1 tsp Split Black Gram Dal
1 tsp chana dal
A pinch Asafoetida powder
1 tbsp green chillies finely chopped
Some sprigs of curry leaves
chopped coriander leaves
2 tsp oil

Method

Heat oil in a pan .
Add mustard seeds and as they begin to splutter,
add urad dal, chana dal and let the dals turn golden .
Add chopped green chilies, curry leaves and asafoetida and saute for a few seconds.

Add grated carrot and saute for 2-3 minutes.
Add semolina/sooji and saute till golden
Add coriander leaves and turn off heat.
Cool ingredients.
Add the ground roasted oats powder and salt to taste.
Add the curd and mix.
Add just enough water to make a thick dosa batter.
Grease idli plates .
Add eno salt or cooking soda and mix well.
Pour a ladle full of batter in each greased depression of the idli plates.
Steam for 13-15 minutes.
Serve warm with chutney of your choice.

Tips

keep the batter for 5 or 10 minutes before steaming ..

You can add vegetables of your choice - capsicum, cabbage, peas etc.

As I had to prepare this quickly I did not add any veggies in the batter

Addition of toasted cashew nuts gives a richer taste.

Addition of Eno Salt or Cooking soda yields fluffy idlis.

Buttermilk can be substituted for water while preparing batter.

Suggested chutney recipe

Five tablespoons chana dal

Three tablespoons urad dal
Tamarind size of half lemon or use tamrind paste

Seven to eight kashmiri chillies..or less if you like less spicy.

One tsp salt or to taste.

For the tempering

1/2 tsp oil

1/2 mustard seeds
pinch of hing
some curry leaves.

Method

Dry roast channa dal and urad dal separately till light brown.

Roast red chillies for a few seconds.

keep the tamrind soaked in little water to soften while grinding

Now mix all the ingredients except those of vaghaar and grind to a paste.

For the tempering

Heat oil and add mustard seeds.
When they splutter, put off the gas and add hing and curry leaves. Stir for a minute.
Add this to the chutney and mix well.

Note:

Good for those who want to avoid coconut,as the consistency is very thick after grinding I keep it little light by adding water few drops while grinding .

sometimes I make a chutney which gives the flavor of coconut chutney without adding ground fresh coconut

just take a handful of gram dal..called puttani / pottukadalai , green chillies, salt,hing, curry leaves and add water while grinding..

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