Recipe Cooked, Photographed and Written by Praveena
PrepTime:5 mins CookTime:15 mins Cuisine:Indian
Instant rava idli / semolina idli, is the sure shot breakfast recipe , which I depend on when I have very little time. The main reason behind is, this recipe requires few basic ingredients which we generally have. And needs just 10-15 mins of time. Above all these, it doesn’t need me to stand at the kitchen counter for long, just roast, mix and steam.
This is the recipe which I have been following since many years, which never failed. Try this recipe, to enjoy soft, fluffy and healthy steamed idli without any soaking, grinding and fermenting.
Idli is the most common and popular breakfast foods of South India. Its made of fermenting the lentil batter and steaming the batter in a specific idli pan. It is considered as the helthiest breakfast items of the world.
There are many varieties of Idli(s) made with different batters, while the below recipe is with Rava/ Sooji/ Semolina.
We had these idli(s) with Instant Coconut Chutney / Kobbari Pachchadi and a pickle Dosavakaya / Yellow Cucumber Pickle
Before starting to cook, don’t forget to see the Tips mentioned at the end.
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Ingredients:
- Rava / Semolina / Sooji – 1 cup
- Homemade Curd / Plain Yogurt / Greek Yogurt – 1 cup
- Green Chillies – 3 (finely chopped)
- Fresh Coriander – handful (finely chopped)
- Curry Leaves – 5 (finely chopped)
- Salt – 1 teaspoon (or) as per taste
- Water – ¼ cup / as required
- Cooking Oil – 1 to 2 tablespoons
- Baking Soda / Eno / Fruit Salt – ¼ teaspoon
Ingredients for Tempering :
- Mustard Seeds – ¼ teaspoon
- Jeera / Cumin seeds – ¼ teaspoon
- Urad Dal / Black Gram – ¼ teaspoon
- Chana Dal / Bengal Gram Lentils – ¼ teaspoon
- Turmeric powder – ¼ teaspoon (optional)
- Cashew Nuts – 10
Special Ingredients:
- Curry Leaves
- Coriander
- Green Chillies
Step wise pics Procedure for Instant rava idli / semolina idli:
- Firstly put a frying pan on stove top under medium flame.
- Add the oil and let it heat.
- Add all the ‘ingredients for tempering’ into the pan and let them turn light brown.
‘Ingredients for tempering’ added to the oil in frying pan - Add all of the chopped green chillies, chopped coriander and chopped curry leaves. Give a stir.
Chopped Coriander Leaves, Green Chillies & Curry leaves added to the Tempered content in pan - Add the semolina and dry roast till you get a pleasant aroma and the colour of semolina slightly changes. This might take around 3-4 mins.
Rava / Sooji / Semolina added to the tempered content in the pan - Switch the flame off and transfer the semolina into a wide mixing bowl.
- Add the salt and baking/cooking soda into the same.
- Mix everything and then add the curd/yogurt to the bowl.
- Now, mix everything thoroughly into a smooth batter by adding the water. See pics below for the consistency.
Baking Soda, Salt, Water and Yogurt/ Curd added to the mix in bowl - Apply oil to the idli pans and pour in the batter up to ¾ level of each hole.
- Put the pans into an idli steamer or into a wide bottomed vessel filled with 2 cups of water.
- Close the lid of the vessel, put it on stove top under high flame.
- Steam them for up to 10-12 mins, switch the flame off and leave the vessel unopened for 3 more mins.
-
Steamed Idli(s) in the Idli steamer - Gently take the idli(s) out of the idli pan with a wet spoon and serve!! Done!!
Tips:
- Whatever might be the size of the cup the ratio of rava/semolina:curd is 1:1
- Vegans can use a plant-based yogurt for this recipe.
- Be careful while dry roasting the rava/semolina, so that you don’t burn.
- Don’t add too much water while making the batter.
- If you wish to have your idli(s) white, just skip the turmeric powder in the recipe.
- Adjust the salt as per your taste.
- This recipe does not need any fermentation.
- You can even rest the idli batter for 10 mins, before steaming. But, I didn’t.
- If you do not have the idli steamer pan you can pour the batter in a round cake tin, steam it in a wide bottomed vessel and cut them into desired pieces.
- These idli(s) can be be re-heated and served even when they are steamed a day before.
- The batter stays good up to 2 days when stored in fridge.
Result:
- These, instant rava idli / semolina idli, taste very much like the reagular idli(s).
- ⭐️Yes, this South Indian breakfast item, is always a star in my kitchen.🙂
- We had these idli(s) with Instant Coconut Chutney / Kobbari Pachchadi and a pickle Dosavakaya / Yellow Cucumber Pickle

Instant Rava Idli / Steamed Semolina Patties
Ingredients
- 1 cup Rava / Semolina / Sooji
- 1 cup Homemade Curd / Plain Yogurt / Greek Yogurt
- 3 Green Chillies (finely chopped)
- handful Fresh Coriander (finely chopped)
- 5 Curry Leaves (finely chopped)
- 1 teaspoon Salt (as per taste)
- ¼ cup Water (as required)
- 1 to 2 tablespoons Cooking Oil
- ¼ teaspoon Baking Soda / Eno / Fruit Salt
Ingredients For Tempering
- ¼ teaspoon Mustard Seeds
- ¼ teaspoon Jeera / Cumin seeds
- ¼ teaspoon Urad Dal / Black Gram
- ¼ teaspoon Chana Dal / Bengal Gram Lentils
- ¼ teaspoon Turmeric powder (optional)
- 10 Cashew Nuts
Instructions
- Firstly put a frying pan on stove top under medium flame.
- Add the oil and let it heat.
- Add all the ‘ingredients for tempering’ into the pan and let them turn light brown.
- Add all of the chopped green chillies, chopped coriander and chopped curry leaves.
- Give a stir.
- Add the semolina and dry roast till you get a pleasant aroma and the colour of semolina slightly changes. This might take around 3-4 mins.
- Switch the flame off and transfer the semolina into a wide mixing bowl.
- Add the salt and baking/cooking soda into the same.
- Mix everything and then add the curd/yogurt to the bowl.
- Now, mix everything thoroughly into a smooth batter by adding the water. See pics below for the consistency.
- Apply oil to the idli pans and pour in the batter up to ¾ level of each hole.
- Put the pans into an idli steamer or into a wide bottomed vessel filled with 2 cups of water.
- Close the lid of the vessel, put it on stove top under high flame.
- Steam them for up to 10-12 mins, switch the flame off and leave the vessel unopened for 3 more mins.
- Gently take the idli(s) out of the idli pan with a wet spoon and serve!! Done!!
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Thankyou for the tasty recipe. My rava idlis didn’t fluff up. I added Eno and Greek yogurt. Is there anything else I can try next time?
Hi Nily, Most welcome! You might try to use plain yogurt / sour curd. Or else, after adding up everything, try to rest the batter for 10 mins before steaming. Hope this helps. 🙂