Golden, crispy & crunchy Hotel Style Instant Onion Rava Dosa recipe with step-wise pictures. Making Onion Rava Dosa at home is easy with this fail-proof recipe!

Today I am sharing a popular South Indian breakfast recipe – Onion Rava Dosa. There are certain dishes that in spite of knowing how to make at home, it tastes best when ordered in a restaurant. Onion Rava Dosa is one such recipe for me. It is not that it is difficult to make at home and instant rava dosa comes to rescue when you are short on dosa batter. But to properly make hotel style rava dosa at home, you not only need to have a fail-proof recipe, it is also important to have the right cookware too. In hotels and restaurants, with industry standard stoves and pans, it is easy to get lacy rava dosa. In our domestic kitchens, the pans are much smaller and the stove doesn’t fire enough heat to make golden, lacy rava dosa. However, with few tips and tricks it is possible to achieve near perfect with homemade rava dosai.

The husband is a huge fan of Onion Rava Dosai. On the way to Chennai, we used to stop for dinner in highway restaurants. While my order always had barotta kurma, the husband orders Onion Rava *just love how they casually it call it that* and we would exchange half-way through to enjoy each other’s dinner. It seems like a life time ago, now that we are stuck at home. It is also one of the reasons why I re-started making onion rava dosa at home. I have already shared Oats Rava Dosa on the blog and since this original recipe calls for maida, I wanted to replace it with oats. But sometimes, the classic is the best and this recipe is just that.

Now coming to the fail-proof Onion Rava Dosa recipe and the tips/tricks I follow to get consistent results till the last of the batter.

Rava Dosa Key Ingredients

Almost always, rava dosa will have standard ingredients – unroasted rava (semolina), rice flour, maida and additions like cumin seeds, black peppercorns, finely chopped green chillies and curry leaves. Other ingredients usually added are finely chopped ginger and broken cashews. I always make the rava dosa with oil, but if you wish you can use a mixture of ghee & oil.

How to get Golden & Crispy Onion Rava Dosa

Let us talk about the tips and tricks to get best Rava Dosai at home.

Ingredient Measurements - This is one recipe where measurements are important. The standard ratios that I usually are 1:1:½:5 with rava to rice flour to maida to water. There are a lot of recipes with different measurements, be a judge and follow one recipe.
Runny Batter – I always add 5 cups of water for 1 cup of rava and it is not much. I always keep a cup of water handy to use during the process. Rava/semolina absorbs a lot of water and again, trust your instincts and add extra water if the batter is getting thick.
Dont let the batter rest for long - I don’t leave my batter to rest for more than 15 minutes. At the maximum, it rests for 30 mins and I always add a tablespoon or 2 of rava just before making the rava dosa. The longer the batter rests, the thicker it gets and there is a chance of the dosa falling in thick blobs instead of creates lacy patterns. Keep mixing the batter regularly to ensure that the rava is not stuck at the bottom.
Tumbler to Pour the Batter - I always use a glass/tumbler to pour the batter onto the hot tawa. First, it helps to drop the batter from a height and it creates lacy patterns with many holes. Pouring the batter using a ladle works too, but you might have to scoop it twice and it can fall in thick blobs.
Oil/Ghee - This is one recipe where skimping on oil or ghee wont get you good results. Each hole on the dosa should be oiled to get perfect texture.
Cast Iron Pan - Last but not the least, the pan used for making onion rava dosai. Non-stick pan works, but the dosa will not be crispy for long or even get a good color. Cast iron pan retains heat for longer and helps getting perfect texture.

That’s it! I have shared everything I know and follow to get perfect rava dosai at home. Please go through the recipe below for detailed instructions.

Onion Rava Dosa

How to make Onion Rava Dosa | Hotel Style Instant Rava Dosa

📖 Recipe

Detailed step-wise picture recipe of making Onion Rava Dosa | Hotel Style Instant Rava Dosa

In a large mixing bowl add rava, rice flour, maida, cumin seeds, black peppercorns, broken cashews and salt as needed. Mix well.

Next add finely chopped curry leaves, green chillies.

Add water and mix well. The batter should be thin and runny. Let it rest for 15-30 mins.

Before making the dosas, add 1 tablespoon of rava and ½ cup more water to the batter. Mix well.

Meanwhile heat the cast iron pan for making dosa. Once hot, set it on medium flame. (if using onions) Sprinkle a few finely chopped onions on the tawa and drizzle some oil around them.

Mix the batter thoroughly and take a small glass of the rava dosa batter.

Pour it from a height starting from the edge of the pan towards the center in circular motion, filling any large gaps. This has to be done fast and without over-pouring the batter at the same spot.

Drizzle oil all over the dosa, filling all the holes.

Cook the dosa on medium flame until the bottom looks golden brown.

Gently lift the dosa from the edges and fold it in half. Remove from heat.

Add extra water to the batter if it gets thick and mix it well before making each dosa. Repeat the same process for rest of the batter to make rava dosa.

Serve hot with coconut chutney, onion tomato chutney, sambar or peanut chutney.

Onions are optional and can be skipped.
You can also sprinkle any idli podi/chutney powder you have on the dosa while it is cooking to make Podi Onion Rava Dosa.
The tawa/pan must be very hot before pouring the batter and then the dosa should be cooked on low/medium flame for best results.
Mix the batter well between each dosa and add extra water if the batter is not free-flowing.

Reach out to me at [email protected]! Also follow me on:

Facebook – Cooking From Heart

Pinterest – Cookingfromheart

Instagram – Cookingfromheart

Twitter – Cookinfromheart