Collection of 28 tasty rava recipes – Rava also known as sooji or suji or ‘cream of wheat’ or semolina is a commonly used ingredient in Indian cuisine. Rava is used both in North Indian as well as South Indian cuisine.

In Northern and Western India, rava is used to make halwa, kheer, upma, dhokla and is also added to bhatura and poori dough. Whereas in South India, rava is used to make various breakfast recipes like instant idli, quick rava dosa, rava uttapam, kesari, kichadi, pongal and upma.
Apart from using rava as a main ingredient in a recipe, you can also use it to coat patties, sliced veggies while shallow frying. Most of the rava recipes are easy and quick to prepare and taste good as well.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Rava Breakfast Recipes
1. Upma recipe – A savory and popular South Indian breakfast dish. The ingredients used to flavor the rava give it a deliciously satisfying taste that will make this dish one of your new favorite go-to breakfasts.
Making upma does not take much time and can be done in 15 to 20 minutes. Other popular variations of upma are:
2. Rava idli – This recipe gives you an incredibly light, soft and tasty rava idli. For this instant rava idli, I have found the perfect combination of ingredients to make these savory cakes that are soft, moist, fluffy and delicious.
3. Rava dosa – It is a quick and popular variant of Dosa from South Indian cuisine. These are crispy, netted and thin crepes made with semolina, rice flour, all purpose flour and spices. These dosa does not require any fermentation and so are quick to make.
4. Rava uttapam – This is an easy and quick uttapam variant made with rava. Requires no grinding and fermentation. For making these uttapams, you will need fine sooji or rava.
5. Rava Pongal – healthy breakfast recipe of Pongal made with rava and moong dal. Pongal is a very popular South Indian breakfast recipe. Its not only delicious but also healthy and easy to make. Few more Pongal recipes on the blog are:
6. Rava chilla – easy breakfast recipe of chillas made with sooji. Chillas are savory pancakes made from gram flour or other lentils. Other similar recipes are:
7. Rava dhokla – It is a soft, fluffy, steamed savory cake made from rava together with herbs, spices, white sesame seeds and topped with coconut and coriander leaves. This is an easy, quick and instant rava dhokla and does not require fermentation. Other variations of dhokla recipes on blog are:
8. Onion rava dosa – easy lacy dosa made with sooji, rice flour, onions and all purpose flour (maida). A quick breakfast option and taste great when served with served with Coconut Chutney or Sambar.
9. Khara bath recipe – savory, smooth and soft khara bhath made with mix veggies. You can serve this MTR style khara bath with some lemon wedges and coconut chutney. It can also be packed in a tiffin box.
10. Sooji toast – easy to prepare toast with rava, onion, tomato and cream filling. It makes for a quick breakfast or evening tea time snack or an after school snack. Another similar recipe is this Besan toast.
11. Tomato upma – tangy and spicy upma made with sooji, tomatoes and spices. For more tomato recipes, you can check this Collection of 26 tomato recipes.
12. Oats Uttapam – healthy, easy and an instant recipe of uttapam made with oats, rava and besan. You can make these instant oats uttapam not only for breakfast, but also for brunch or for a quick evening snack
13. Rava kichadi recipe – South Indian breakfast preparation made from fine rava. i do add some veggies in it to give some texture and nutrition. But you can skip veggies and make it without veggies also.
Rava Snacks Recipes
1. Shankarpali recipe – crisp, flaky, melt in the mouth fried and baked biscuits. Shankarpali is a popular festive snack from maharashtra.
2. Rava vada – these instant rava vadas are crisp and tasty vadas made with rava as the main ingredient. these vadas make for a quick evening snack and are easy to make. You can also make them as an after school snack for kids.
3. Maddur vada – maddur vade are crisp fried patties popular as an evening snack in Karnataka. Maddur vadas are made with a mix of rice flour, semolina, all purpose flour, onions and some herbs-spices.
4. Paneer cutlet – These Paneer Cutlet are easy to prepare crispy, tasty cutlets made with Paneer (Indian cottage cheese), mix vegetables, herbs and spices. This paneer cutlet recipe is similar to the Veg cutlet recipe. addition of paneer makes these cutlets have a soft texture and yet they are crisp from outside.
For more delicious paneer recipes you can check this collection 91 Recipes made with paneer.
5. Suran fry – tasty and crispy elephant foot yam fry made with minimal ingredients. These are also known as suran phodi.
6. Raj kachori chaat – raj kachori also called as the king of all kachoris is a popular chaat snack from North India. you can compare raj kachori to a large Pani puri with various chaat item stuffings in it.
12 Rava Sweets Recipes
1. Rava kesari recipe – Kesari recipe is a popular and delicious South Indian sweet made from rava, sugar, ghee, saffron and dry fruits. This melt in the mouth orange-colored sweet is made during festivals as well as during poojas or auspicious occasions or any celebrations in South India.
2. Sooji halwa recipe – Suji ka halwa is your classic every day delicious North Indian sweet made with fine semolina, sugar, ghee, nuts and flavored with cardamom powder. In Maharashtra, this sweet is called as Sheera. This easy melt-in-the-mouth halwa recipe comes together in about 15 minutes.
3. Rava ladoo – It is a festive sweet of delicious balls made with semolina, sugar, ghee, nuts and flavored with ground cardamom. While there are many variations of making this popular Indian sweet, I share an easy Rava Laddu recipe that gets made quickly and tastes awesome.
If you are planning to make ladoos then here is this handy collection of 22 ladoo recipes.
4. Kesari bath – rich Karnataka style sweet made with rava (cream of wheat), sugar, dry fruits and ghee.
5. Pineapple kesari – melt in the mouth South Indian sweet made with cream of wheat, ghee, sugar and pineapple cubes. This recipe has added flavors of the yummy, tangy fruit pineapple along with green cardamom powder and dry fruits. It is delicious, smooth, silky and quite an easy recipe for keeps.
6. Sooji kheer – a quick and easy kheer made with rava. The sooji kheer recipe gets done in about 20 minutes and is so simple that even a newbie can make it easily.
7. Rava modak – sweet dumplings made with fine rava and stuffed with coconut jaggery filling. Modaks are favorite sweets of Lord Ganesha and often made during Ganesh Chaturthi festival.
8. Rava cake – This is a ridiculously easy recipe that even a beginner can make. Also called as semolina cake, this Eggless Recipe is made with fine rava, condensed milk, coconut, milk and flavorings. This recipe comes from the Goan cuisine and is also called as Baath cake.
9. Mango kesari – smooth, silky and a really good recipe of mango kesari. you can even make mango kesari as a naivedyam or for religious occasions or pooja. Instead of water, milk can also be used. Addition of milk will make the kesari more rich.
For more delicious mango recipes, you can check this collection of 37 Mango Recipes.
This Rava Recipes Collection post from the archives (September 2016) has been updated and republished on Jan 2023.