Rava Dosai

Masala dosas are the most famous of all, but in my house rava dosas rule.  Rava dosa – made with sooji/cream of wheat, does not require fermenting, is really easy to make, and tastes great.  I remember, once when I was in India, my husband called up and said that he had invited a couple of friends over for dinner and wanted to make rava masala dosas and sambar.  I gave him my recipe over the phone, and he made it for his friends.  He still gets rave reviews for it.

Onion Rava Dosa

The recipe that I grew up with used buttermilk to make the batter.  The dosas were not too crispy.  I later found a recipe on vahrevah dot com, that seemed very simple and the dosas tasted like the ones you get in South Indian restaurants.   This one just used water to make the batter.  I don’t think I have modified his recipe at all.

Both my kids and husband love this dosa, and I can make it without too much planning.  With so many varying tastes in my house, some days I end up making three different dinners to please everyone’s palate.  But on days that I make rava dosa, everyone is happy. 

These dosas take a little longer to cook on the tawa (griddle) than the regular dosas.  You can make a potato masala for this, just like the one for masala dosa, but this dosa tastes so good that you don’t need to.  I served this with sambar. 

Plain Rava Dosa with Sambar

Here is what you need:

• 1 cup sooji (rava/cream of wheat)
• 1 cup rice flour
• ½ cup all purpose flour
• salt to taste
• ½ tsp. hing (asafetida)
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1 ½ tsp. crushed black pepper
• 2 green chilies, finely chopped
• few curry leaves, chopped
• 1” piece ginger, minced
• ½ onion, finely chopped

Here is how I made it:

1. Take the rava, rice flour, all purpose flour, salt, hing, cumin seeds, and crushed pepper in a bowl.
2. Add the green chilies, ginger, and curry leaves.  Mix well.
3. Add water while continuing to mix with your hand.  Keep adding water till the batter is watery – more watery than regular idli/dosa batter – more like buttermilk.  If you let the batter sit for some time, the rava will absorb the water - so check the consistency just before you make the dosas.
4. Place your tawa/griddle on the stove and turn the heat to high.
5. When the tawa is hot, sprinkle chopped onions on the tawa, covering the surface evenly (my youngest does not like onions, so I make it without onions for him).
6. Drizzle the dosa batter to cover the tawa.  The batter should spread on its own, forming a lacy pattern. You don’t have to spread the batter like you would for regular dosas.  Don't pour the batter in the center, but move your ladle around so that the batter falls and spreads evenly covering the tawa surface.
7. Now, drizzle oil around and in the center of the dosa.
8. Leave it on for a few minutes.  When the edges are slightly brown, flip it over and cook till the other side is also crispy.
9. Repeat with the rest of the batter, remembering to stir it well before making each dosa.

Serve hot with chutney and sambar.