Simple, practical, and full of everyday flavour, Rava Idli Recipe (Restaurant Style) is a vegetarian Karnataka breakfast made with simple everyday ingredients in about 30 minutes. The recipe lays out the ingredients and each cooking step clearly, so you can adjust seasoning, texture, and serving size for your own kitchen.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 20 minutes
  • Cook time: 10 minutes
  • Total time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 8 · 8 rava idli
  • Category: Breakfast
  • Cuisine: Karnataka

Ingredients

  • 1 cup semolina ((bombay rava/ suji/ chiroti rava))
  • 2 tablespoon ghee
  • ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
  • ¼ teaspoon cumin seeds
  • ½ tablespoon chana dal (/bengal gram)
  • 1 tablespoon cashews (chopped (optional))
  • 10 curry leaves
  • 2 green chilies (chopped (skip if making for kids))
  • ¾ teaspoon ginger (grated or paste)
  • ⅓ teaspoon sea salt ((or use as needed))
  • 2 to 3 tablespoon coriander leaves (chopped finely)
  • ¾ cup runny curd/ yogurt ((or ½ cup Greek yogurt/ thick yogurt diluted with ¼ cup water))
  • ½ cup water (to soak rava (+ 2 to 3 tbsps to adjust the consistency))
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice ((omit if using eno))
  • 1 teaspoon Eno or fruit salt (or ¼ tsp Soda bicarbonate)
  • 1 teaspoon oil (to grease idli plates)
  • 4 whole cashewnuts (or 8 split)
  • 1 teaspoon carrot (grated optional)

Method

Preparation

  1. Heat 2 tablespoons ghee in a pan and fry the cashews until light golden. Remove to a plate and reserve aside.
  2. Add mustard, cumin, broken cashews and chana dal. Fry until the dal turns golden. Reduce the flame and add curry leaves, green chilies and ¾ teaspoon ginger.
  3. Saute just for 30 seconds and stir in the rava. Mix well and roast on a low to medium heat until crunchy and aromatic (about 5 mins). Cool completely.

Make Instant batter

  1. Once cooled, add salt, coriander leaves, curd and water. Mix well to form a batter and rest for 30 mins.
  2. After 25 mins, grease the moulds and place a cashew in each of the moulds. Sprinkle some carrots.

How to make Rava Idli

  1. Bring 2 cups water to a boil in a steamer or cooker. (or use 1.5 cups in IP). Meanwhile check the consistency of batter. If it is too thick sprinkle 1 to 2 tbsps water and mix.
  2. The batter consistency should be thick, of dropping consistency not pouring consistency. Stir in lemon juice and soda bicarbonate. If using eno, use only eno and omit lemon juice.
  3. Give a gentle mix and avoid overmixing. Divide the batter to idli moulds. (I get 8 portions in mine)
  4. Place the idli stand in the hot steamer and cover. Steam for 10 mins on a high flame. A tester or a fork inserted into the center comes out clean if it is well cooked.
  5. Cool down for 3 to 4 mins, demould them with a wet spoon.
  6. Serve rava idli with coconut chutney or potato sagu (recipe in the post).

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.