Mavalli Tiffin Rooms (MTR) opened in Bengaluru in 1924. During World War II, when British India faced severe rice shortages, the restaurant couldn't get enough rice to make their traditional idlis. The Maiya brothers experimented with semolina (rava) — semolina was wheat-based and more available — and the rava idli was born. The dish became permanent, then iconic. The Singapore branch on Serangoon Road brought the original recipe over, and rava idli is now on every South Indian menu in Singapore — though not all places know how the dish was invented.
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Food origins
MTR's rava idli was invented during World War II
Wartime rice shortages in 1940s Bengaluru pushed MTR to invent the now-classic rava idli — a dish that travelled to Singapore decades later.