This Hotel style onion rava dosa is a variation of the popular Rava Dosa recipe with slightly more onions and some spices and herbs. This is one of the easiest dosa variants to make since no grinding and no fermentation of batter is required. Make these instant hotel style onion rava dosa for a delicious breakfast or brunch. You can also enjoy them for a light lunch or dinner.
To make this instant onion rava dosa – just mix all the ingredients and allow the batter to sit for 15 to 20 minutes and then you are ready to make the dosas. When the batter is resting, you prepare the Coconut Chutney. The ease of this recipe makes it a good option for breakfast or even for brunch.
I have tempered the dosa batter with mustard seeds, cumin seeds and curry leaves. This tempering gives a really nice flavor to the dosa and does not take more than 5 minutes.
To make the batter, you can use water or buttermilk. Sometimes I prepare the batter with water and sometimes with buttermilk. Both ways the onion rava dosa tastes good. The spices, herbs that go into the dosa batter give their unique taste and flavor. Not to forget the presence of onions too.
This onion rava dosa is best served hot or warm with coconut chutney or Sambar.
Few more similar instant dosa varieties that you can make in a jiffy are:
- Oats Dosa
- Ragi Dosa
- Wheat Dosa
How to make Onion Rava Dosa
- In a bowl take the following ingredients and mix them with a spoon.
- ½ cup unroasted rava (sooji or semolina)
- ½ cup rice flour
- 2 tablespoon all purpose flour or whole wheat flour
- 1 finely chopped green chili
- 1 medium sized finely chopped onion or about ½ cup of finely chopped onions
- 1 inch finely chopped ginger or 1 teaspoon finely chopped ginger – optional
- 9 to 10 crushed black peppercorns
- 1 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves (cilantro leaves) – optional
2. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a small frying pan. Crackle ½ teaspoon mustard seeds first on low heat. Then add 1 teaspoon cumin and 5 to 6 chopped curry leaves. Saute for a few seconds till the cumin browns.
3. Add this tempering mixture along with the oil to the other ingredients in the bowl. Also add salt as required.
4. Pour water or buttermilk and make a thin batter without any lumps. The batter should not be thick or of medium consistency. I added about 2.25 cups water to the batter.
If the batter becomes too thin, then add some rice flour to slightly thicken it. Keep aside the dosa batter for 15 to 20 minutes.
5. Heat a cast iron skillet or tava or a non-stick pan. Using a small piece of cotton fabric or paper napkin or half of an onion which has been dipped in oil, grease the pan all over.
6. With a ladle pour the dosa batter. First start pouring the batter from the edges. Keep the heat to medium.
7. Then move pouring the batter towards the center. If there are big gaps, then fill them lightly with the batter.
8. Sprinkle ½ teaspoon oil from the top. This dosa takes a little longer time to cook than the regular Dosa. The pan has to be really hot before you pour the batter.
9. Let the base becomes golden or crisp. Flip and cook the other side. Usually, I cook both sides. But you can just cook the base and when the top is also cooked, fold the onion rava dosa and serve immediately. Prepare all the dosas this way.
Keep a note that the rava and the flours settle down at the bottom of the batter. So you have to stir the batter very well every time you make the dosa. In case the batter becomes thick after making a few dosas, then add some water or buttermilk. Stir and mix again.
10. Serve the hotel style onion rava dosa hot or warm with coconut chutney or vegetable sambar for a comforting breakfast, brunch or lunch.
You can also serve it with other chutney varieties like Tomato Chutney, Onion Chutney, Peanut Chutney or Ginger Chutney.
If you have any leftover dosa batter then refrigerate it for 1 day. Ideally served these onion rava dosa hot or warm.
More Dosa varieties
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Onion Rava Dosa
Ingredients
Main ingredients
- ½ cup unroasted rava (sooji or semolina)
- ½ cup rice flour
- 2 tablespoon all purpose flour or whole wheat flour
- 1 green chili – finely chopped
- 1 medium onion – finely chopped or about ½ cup of finely chopped onion
- ½ inch ginger – finely chopped (optional)
- water or buttermilk as required – i added 2.25 cups water *check notes on how to make the buttermilk
- 9 to 10 black peppercorns – crushed
- 1 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves (cilantro leaves) – optional
- salt as required
For tempering
- 1 teaspoon oil
- ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 5 to 6 curry leaves – chopped
Other Ingredient
- oil or ghee as required for roasting the dosa
Instructions
Making batter
- Take the rava, rice flour, all purpose flour, green chilies, ginger, onion, coriander leaves, crushed black pepper in a mixing bowl.
- Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a small frying pan. Crackle the mustard seeds first on low heat. The mustard seeds should pop before you add the cumin seeds.
- Then add the cumin and chopped curry leaves. Saute for a few seconds till the cumin browns.
- Add this tempering mixture along with the oil to the other ingredients in the bowl. Add salt as required.
- Pour water or buttermilk and make a thin batter without any lumps. Keep aside for 15 to 20 minutes.
- The batter should not be thick or of medium consistency. If the dosa batter becomes too thin, then add some rice flour to slightly thicken it.
Cooking onion rava dosa
- Heat a cast iron skillet or tava or non-stick pan. Smear a bit oil with a slice of onion or a small piece of fabric or paper napkin. Keep the heat to medium.
- With a ladle pour the dosa batter from the edges towards the center.
- Sprinkle ¼ or ½ or 1 teaspoon of oil from the top.
- Let the base becomes golden and crisp. Flip and cook the other side. When both the sides are cooked, remove the dosa from the pan.
- Prepare all the dosas this way.
- While making second dosa stir the batter very well as the rava and the flours settle down at the bottom of the batter.
- Serve the hotel style onion rava dosa hot with coconut chutney or vegetable sambar. This dosa has to be served immediately.
Notes
- *To make the buttermilk – dissolve 3 to 4 tablespoons of yogurt in 2 cups of water. Whip the buttermilk very well before you add it to the other ingredients.
- The recipe can be scaled to make a larger serving.
- Adjust the spices according to your taste preferences.
- You can skip ginger and black pepper if you want.
- Additionally, you can also add some finely chopped fresh coconut to the batter.
- Cook the dosa on medium to medium high heat depending upon the thickness of the pan. If your pan is not heavy then cook on medium heat. For a heavy skillet use medium high heat.
Nutrition Info (Approximate values)
This Onion Rava Dosa post from the archives (April 2014) has been updated and republished on 20 October 2021.
I tried these recipe today.although I used a non stick pan my dosa were sticking to the pan I was not able to turn the dosa pls help
mamta, while making dosa firstly always use a heavy pan. it can be nonstick or cast iron, but the pan has to be on the heavier side. light weight pans do not work and dosa or pancakes made on such pans will stick. secondly the pan has to be used only for making dosa or for pan frying or shallow frying food. if it is used for dry heat cooking, like making rotis or roasting spices, then also dosas can stick. hope this helps.
Hello Ma’am…
Whenever i plan to cook sumthing new, veg recipes is the site i refer and follow and thankfully everything has turned out perfect …last time i made khasta kachori and it was better then market wali kachori….
I love dosa but can’t make it frequently because of the required preparation time but yesterday i tried this recipe and turned out so good… Thanks a lot…
Welcome Shweta. Glad to know that you refer the website often for preparing new recipes. Thanks for sharing your positive feedback on rava dosa recipe.
Ur recipes are simple and easy to follow… I follow ur website everyday… theres not a single day I have not seen ur website for my cooking.. thanku for making my life in the kitchen so easy….
Love the variety of recipes .. u name it u have it… keep up the good work
Welcome Archana. Thanks for your positive feedback. Glad to know that recipes are helping you.
Thankuu mam for such a yummy recipe… Today i prepared and my family liked it so much…. I measured according to ur given measures and i came out perfect… i always follow ur recipes.. Thankuu very muc mam..:)
Welcome Ruchi. Glad to know this.
Quick receipe, especially when kids are bored of the normal dosas.
Thanks Nithya