This is the comprehensive guide to sooji or rava. Learn about the different varieties that you can buy, what makes sooji different from semolina, and how to use it in Indian cooking.
Jump to:
What is it?
Sooji, rava, and rawa all refer to an Indian variety of semolina. It is used extensively in Indian cooking, from sweet dishes like kesari (also known as sooji halwa) to savory applications like rava dosa. You can buy sooji/rava at an Indian store or online.
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → Sooji vs. All purpose flour vs. Wheat flour
The question folks often ask is the difference between sooji, maida/all-purpose flour, and whole wheat flour. Here is the high level breakdown, which includes an overview of wheat and how it is milled.
Anatomy of Wheat
All wheat has three parts which are the bran, germ, and endosperm. Semolina, sooji, and all purpose flour are milled and made with only the endosperm, whereas whole wheat flour is made from the "whole" wheat (bran, germ, endosperm).
Hard wheat vs. soft wheat
Hard wheat is a term for wheat that has high gluten content; soft wheat has less gluten content. The difference, then, between all purpose flour and maida (Indian all purpose flour) vs. semolina and sooji is that semolina/sooji is made from hard wheat while all purpose flour/maida is made with a combo of hard and soft wheat. This makes semolina/sooji high-gluten and all purpose flour in the middle range so it can be "all-purpose" or used for both high-gluten and low-gluten recipes.
Indian sooji vs. American semolina
Indian sooji and American semolina are NOT the same even though Indian sooji is often marketed as semolina.
The similarities of Indian sooji and American semolina are that they are made from the milling process described above and from hard wheat.
The difference is that American semolina by definition has to be made from a hard wheat called Durum wheat whereas Indian sooji is made up of various Indian varieties of hard wheat that are not necessarily Durum wheat.
When buying American semolina, you will notice a yellow tinge that is due to Durum's yellow properties, whereas Indian sooji will be a whiteish color.
Substituting Semolina and Sooji
In most Indian cooking applications, American semolina can be swapped in for Indian sooji with similar results as long as the coarse types match. A couple good examples are substituting coarse semolina for coarse sooji and fine semolina/semolina flour for fine sooji/pani puri sooji (more on coarse types below). I've even run experiments with finicky recipes like homemade pani puris with various semolina types that help illustrate this point.
Coarse vs. Fine Sooji
Coarse and fine refers to the grind size of the sooji or rava, with coarse sooji having bigger granules and fine sooji having smaller granules. In general, it is better to use fine sooji in doughs that you want to be more supple (i.e. puri/pani puri/dhokla) and coarse sooji when you want the texture of the granules, like in rava dosa or upma.
Upma rava and pani puri sooji
Coarse and fine sooji are the most common types of sooji, but there are two other varieties you might encounter at the store. One is called upma rava, which is coarse sooji that has been roasted so it can be used for the South Indian dish upma. I personally prefer to just buy coarse sooji and do the roasting at home instead of buying this variety. The other variety is called pani puri sooji, which is even finer than fine sooji and is the closest to American semolina. It is the best Indian variety of sooji to use for making pani puri because of how fine the grains are.
When to use sooji?
- For extra crunch - Sooji is used in recipes like rava dosa or pani puri to add extra crunch. The higher the ratio of rava added to the rava dosa batter, the crunchier it will be.
- For chewy texture - Since sooji has a higher gluten content than regular all purpose flour/maida, adding sooji to batters like dhokla helps add a bit of chewy texture.
- For a nutty flavor - Sooji has a very delicious and nutty flavor. Making a pineapple kesari (sooji halwa) really showcases its delicious flavor.
Delicious
Recipes that use sooji
Check out these Indian recipes that highlight sooji/rava:
This is a detailed article about sooji and rava! Please leave a comment below letting me know what you thought of this article and if it was helpful to you! I always love hearing your questions and your comments 🙂
Deepak
The fine sooji is also used to coat fish and prawns to make a delicious rawa fry in Karnataka