Onion Rava Dosa recipe | Crispy Rava Dosa | Tips to make a hotel style rava dosa | Savoury Semolina Crepes
Whenever we are at a restaurant / cafe that has idli dosa on the menu, my husband’s first preference is usually onion rava dosa. Made well, this variety of dosa is a real treat.
A crispy texture from semolina, bites of flavour from the cumin, mustard seeds and curry leaves and bits of heat from the green chillies.
Onion rava dosa when served with a basic coconut chutney or a spicy tomato chutney like in this case, is the perfect South Indian breakfast or tiffin dish. For the longest time, I had not tried this version of the dosa out, because it was not something that my grandmother or mother made at home. The lacy appearance with crispy edges always led me to think that this was rocket science.
But no. It is fairly simple. There is no grinding or fermenting of batter required as in a regular dosa. Onion rava dosa is very amenable to meal prep. Just mix up all the ingredients (except for onions and coriander) and keep it in the fridge overnight. Add enough water to thin the batter and start making the dosas. That’s all there is to it.
If you are a dosa making beginner, then I would highly recommend you try this in a non-stick pan for ease of getting the dosa of the pan. This is the pan I use and highly recommend.
Serve Onion Rava Dosa with a spicy tomato chutney or flaxseed molaga podi.
Also try: Buttermilk Rava Upma
Growing up on dosas
I have eaten an abundance of Idlis and Dosas well into my adult life. My granny would make the batter once a week in the large wet grinder machine that occupied place of pride in the balcony. (I hear it is now used by a local Udipi restaurant to whom it was sold, as it as too heavy for her to handle anymore.) I remember that my grandpa has bought this in Saravana stores in Madras way back in 1984 and got it to Bombay. How does my memory go so far, you may wonder. But I tie this to the fact that he had bought me one of my favourite purple pavadai with a pink border in that same Madras trip, so it is not that difficult to remember 🙂
If the batter was ground on Day 1, tiffin on Day 2 and 3 would be Idlis, Day 4 and 5 would be Dosai. The logic of this being, a less fermented batter works better to give fluffy, tasty idlis and a more fermented batter could yield crispy, ‘holey’ dosais. If the batter still hung around on Day 5, Ammama would put a pinch of soda in the batter to reduce its sourness and make Ilippuchatti dosai, what you would know as the thicker set dosa. Ilippuchatti is the the tradional iron wok. A ladle of batter would be poured into a well oiled wok, not spread, but covered and allowed to bubble and cook thoroughly. This one would be the size of the palm and about 4 times thicker than a regular dosai.
While meal prep is all the current rage, I smile when I think that my grandmother and the women of her generation were already meal prepping tiffin time for the whole week by grinding idli-dosa batter in large quantities.
I learnt the dosai making technique early on. When I was just 10 years old, I would love to serve hot dosais to anyone who would care to eat them. Dosai is probably the first thing I learnt to make in the kitchen.
Rava dosai, Onion rava dosai, Neer dosai and the other variants were all discovered only when I was old enough to eat in Udupi restaurants. It was then I discovered there was a whole world of dosas other than the ones I had eaten at home. A properly made onion rava dosa soon became my favourite on the menu, so it is no surprise that I wanted to learn how to make this myself.
Tips for a perfect onion rava dosa or rava dosa:
- Keep the batter very watery.
- Pour ladles full of batter on a hot pan from a slight height (6″ or so) so that the liquid hits the hot pan, bubbles and you get a dosa with those many many small holes like in the restaurant.
Ingredients
Method
- To make the mix for the onion rava dosa, mix all 3 flours in a large bowl.
- Add in the sour buttermilk and add the water carefully to make a thin batter. This will be much thinner than the regular dosai batter.
- Heat 1 tsp oil in a small pan or a tempering ladle. Fry cumin and mustard seeds. Once they pop, add the curry leaves and green chillies. Stir for a few seconds and add it to the prepared batter.
- Season the batter with salt. Keep aside for 30 minutes. Just before preparing the dosas, mix in the finely chopped onions and coriander.
- Oil a non-stick tava / pan. Once hot enough, pour one ladle of batter at a time from a slight height, so that it bubbles and gets a netted appearance all around. Take a second ladle of batter and pour around this to increase the size of the dosa. If you are a beginner, then make smaller sized dosas with just one ladle of batter.
- Drizzle some oil along the edges of the dosai (traditionally sesame / gingelly oil is preferred). On a medium flame, the first side should take 1 1/2 - 2 minutes. Carefully flip the dosai over to the other side, keep for a minute of so until it has turned golden brown and crisp and it is ready to eat. Serve hot with spicy tomato chutney.
Notes
Originally published on April 8, 2007. Updated with new photos and text.
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Hey I’m first here! Nandita I learnt Rava dosa from the MTR pack just looking at the ingredients. Rava, maida, jeera. I too use butter milk. The rice flour sounds good to include. The dosa is perfectly browned. Gopium will approve.
Haha, aren’t we smart, agar sab humare jaise karne lage toh bechara MTR will be outta business…BTW I learnt RAVA idli from the ingredients on MTR packet LOLLLLGopium, i was thinking about him while I wrote my side of the dosai story…just checked his blog, he hasnt updated ina while
That is so simple – instant gratification once more! All I need with my dosais and idlis is the gunpowder! And garlic or heeng in that is a strict no-no in our family.
i love dosas nandita and noel as well, slowly he started enjoying indian food and so dosas and idlis everyweek at home.i usually garnish with coconut pieces as well which gives a nice flavour to the dosas!!
Loved the description Nandita and you made Dosa when you were 10. You are a Genius
Onion Rava dosai is my all time fav too…whenever we go to the one and only Udipi restaurant here, I definitely order this one. I use the same recipe but minus the baking soda. Amma would also add thinly sliced fresh coconut slices to the batter and a tiny drop of ghee on the dosai for the grand finale….yummyyyy
Nandita, thanks for stopping by… my, my, you bring back memories – i lived in madras about 14 years ago, way before they changed my city’s name on me! My dad used to call oothappam as “dosai’s grandma” – as the dosai batter ages before taking the oothappam form 🙂 of course, i used to argue that it is dosai’s granchild, as it came later chronologically! your post on dosai brought back memories. nice work! like your blog…
well, we had idlies on day 1, dosa on day 2, oothappam on day 3 and kuzhi vellai aapam on day 4. sighwith the dessicated coconut, i get crappy chutney and that takes away the whole josh of a good dosai.
Darling, I loved your post, as usual a great read… You made dosa’s when you were 10? 🙁 I still can’t make a thin dosa without breaking it, Siv is dosa expert at home. My mom only used to make the thick oothappams, so I blame her for not teaching me. :)Lemongrass cafe sounds great, menu reads just like the restaurants here, I’m so happy we have all these international cuisine available in India now… You should start carrying your camera with you when you go out to eat, it is really embarrassing, everyone will stare at you like you are mad photographing everything you eat :), need real thick skin, but it’s fun :).
i want a recipe for low cal coconut chutney pls pls pls nandita…:))
Nandita technoratti got me here…Thanks for the inclusion.Awaiting more surprises ;)…Thurs pucca
Hey Nandita,I love your posts! The story about your grandma, her grinder and your pavadai made me laugh! I envy you the best of both the worlds! Mumbai being so cosmopolitan and your access to everything.. Indian and International! Onion Rava Dosai is our favorite too. I follow your grandma’s policy.. old batter always gets used up as set dosai or onion rava dosai.. to old batter i just add rava, a little maida, some soda, buttermilk …your tomato thogayal sounds delicious!And the menu at lemongrass .. its been ages since i ate soemthing that good! Like i said “I envy you” :-)CheersLatha
Levely write up, Nandita. I love Rave idlis and rave dosai-because they are so quick to make! and i heart the set dosai: that used to be my all time favorite lunch in Bangalore :)That tomato thuvaiyal looks good: very inviting.
your recipes make me think a lot on how my grandmother used to cook and also makes me think on posting some traditional recipes. I am now working on it. you have inspired me to do it. thanks for the lovely recipes!!cheerssharmi
Nandita, Idly and Dosai is a staple in my house. And onion rava masala is everyone’s favourite. But they have never turned out so good at home as your pics look!
Nandita, you must be brave to try your hand on dosas at that young age. This was the last thing that i tried my hands on. Once you get the trick then its easy. I still havn’t got the trick for smearing or splashing the rava dosa batter to make it that thin and crisp. Your dosa looks looks devine lady.
Nandita, More than the recipes I loved reading about your gran and dosakallu on muttai madi:). Your posts always make an interesting read. You made dosa when you were 10!!!!! wow!
best explanation of the idli -dosa dilemna. since i don’t make them too often,i always forget which one to make first.thanks a lot for the tomato chutney too.
Nandita,Your blog is always so informative!And thanks for a great breakfast idea, which was successfully implemented last weekend. Turned out very nice. My dosais were not very crisp though, any tips on that?The chutney is too good!The combo went very well together, and as you have mentioned in your post, my hubby too was asking for more :)!
such fun, this idli batter…Read your blog while being transported into cooking blogs….The ildi, on the first 2 days, dosas the next 2 …was so true to form….and then I make ( on those nobody to eat at home days, when batter gets extended) gulpanganal ( what we kannadigas call it , and tamilians, I think call it kuzhi puttu) and then it was baby dosas for the lunch boxes for kids…nice read here..
Yummm!!It is indeed delicious to be tam bram:)
nice one. check out my recipe…
tasty stuff indeed..south india is the heartland of tasty food…
Rava dosas are my fav south indian food…..yours looks so neat and inviting…simply love it______________________________Chennaimoms.com
It looks so yummy, i will definitely try this.
thanks!
Really thanks for sharing tips on how to make crispy onion rava Dosa. I will make Dosa as per your direction and will revert back to you about the delicious taste.