
How to make lip-smacking Rava Vada Snack?
Rava Vada Recipe – Easy procedure with step-by-step photos. Vada is a extremely popular snack / breakfast dish originating in South India. The original Medu Vada (Or Ulunthu Vadai in Tamil) is served for breakfast along with Idlis. For those of you who aren’t aware of Vadas – these look like donuts but are actually spicy. The outer portion is a crispy fried texture with a soft inner. This combination is why we would nominate the humble Vada as one of India’s elite dishes to the world 🙂
The Rava Vada Recipe that we have here uses Rava (Sooji in Hindi) or Semolina as the main ingredient for the Vada. Rava brings in a different flavor to this popular South Indian snack. We’ve used Onions and Green Chillies – Onions for that chewiness and green chillies to add that spiciness to the Vada. You can choose not to use Onions and only go for green chillies.
We would like to note that the quality of the Rava determines how soft (on the inside) and how crisp (on the outside) will the Vada turn out to be. Curd is generally used in a batter based recipe that has Rava as the main ingredient. Rava is a little rigid and provides resistance to a batter based dish such as this Vada or Idli. So we use Curd to help leaven the batter allowing it to rise. Use small batches of the batter to begin with and test to see how the Vada turns out. This will help determine the frying time of the Vada, a little better. In our case since the pan was small, we fried only about 1-2 Vadas at a time. Frying multiple Vadas is dependant on the pan that you are using.

Rava Vadas doesn’t need any side-dish as kids (and grown-ups) will devour it within minutes :-). However, if you want to complete the meal, then serve these Rava Vadas with some spicy Sambar or the favorite South Indian side-dish: Coconut Chutney (See Coconut Chutney Recipe here).
You can also check out these other Chutney recipes that you can use as side-dish for Rava Vadas:
Check out other snacks recipes here:
Goli Baje (Mangalore Bajji Recipe) – Has a crispy outer like the Vada but has a slightly elastic inner
Sweet Potato Vada Recipe
These Vadas are a perfect snack for an evening along with some piping hot Coffee or Chai. You can also combine this for a morning breakfast along with Idli, Dosa or Upma.
Ok over to you now. Make these lovely Rava Vadas and home and let us know your feedback.
Recipe for Rava Vada, along with step-by-step photos, below.

Rava Vada Recipe
Equipment
- mixing bowl
- kadai
Ingredients
- 1 cup rava need not to be roasted
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon pepper seeds
- 1 cup onion finely chopped
- 1 cup curd
- 2 nos green chillies finely chopped
- 1 inch ginger finely chopped
- 2 tablespoon coriander leaves finely chopped
- 2 tablespoon curry leaves
- 1 pinch baking soda
- 1 pinch salt as per requirement
- 6 tablespoons oil for frying, as per requirement
How to make:
- Add the cup of rawa in the mixing bowl.
- Add cumin seeds and pepper in the bowl.
- Then add onion, chillies, ginger, coriander and curry leaves.
- Add the required salt.
- Add curd and baking soda to the mixture (use the same cup which you have measured rava)
- MIx thoroughly and also check the salt consistency. Rest for half an hour. Dont add water to the dough.
- After half an hour, dip your hand in water and take a small ball from the dough and make it as flat.
- Put a hole in the middle of the dough.
- Heat the oil in the kadai and put the dough in it.
- Allow to fry for 20 seconds.
- Then remove from the kadai and turn back to fry on the other side.
- Both sides now should be fried completely, and they should be crispy.
- Put the tissue paper in the plate and place the vada on it to absorb the excess oil.
- Yummy crispy vada is ready to serve with tea or coffee.