Rava Rave

Visited Mustafa's again recently (it's still mango season...) and dropped by Anandha Bhavan for dinner - as I promised a while ago, I'm putting up a post about Rava Mysore Masala Thosai (or Dosa).

I thoroughly enjoyed this sinful meal - spicy, crispy on the outside, soft and delicious inside, a visual treat as well - lacy South Indian crepe smeared on the inside with a red chutney, served with 2 more chutneys - coconut, onion as well as a tangy rasam. The heat kinda creeps up on you. With the first bite one raves over the crispy edges of a dosa fried in ghee and what seems to be a mildly spicy potato and onion filling. With each succesive mouthful the heat builds up to a intense, constant burn. Phew! A bit different than the sharp spike of heat that one usually associates with chilli padi (bird's eye chilli) which may much hotter but dissipates more readily.
What made this dosa so different? What is Rava anyway?

I went home and did a bit of research.

Normal dosa batters are made from rice and split urad dal, blended with water and left to ferment overnight. Rava dosas on the other hand are made from semolina flour, does not need fermentation and it is the characteristic of semolina that gives this version its distinct crispy texture.

Aha! now I know.

And now I know several other food items made from semolina that I really love to eat - pasta , couscous and suji cake. the common denominator is semolina. By the way, semolina has many aliases (is there such a word?) - in North India it goes by the name suji and in the South, rava. In North Africa, people know it as couscous and in Turkey, bulgar.

Semolina is the endosperm or heart of the durum wheat (a hard wheat) with very high gluten content and a high protein to carb ratio. Good quality dried commercial pasta is made from durum wheat as opposed to regular soft wheat flour that is good for making cakes and equally delicious fresh egg pasta)