Ragi Idli and Dosa using Whole Grain | Kezhvaragu Idli and Dosai

Ragi Idli and dosa, a healthy breakfast / dinner item made from finger millet, rice and urad dal. Finger millet(Ragi/Kezhvaragu) is one of the staple and ancient grains used in many parts of India. It's a  gluten free whole grain, rich in fibre and packed with so many nutrients. Adding ragi to your diet regularly would give immense benefit to your health. 

 

I had been wanting to try the ragi idli and dosa with whole ragi grains for a very long time now. But somehow, I find that my ragi dosa recipe with flour is super easy to make and didn't bother much with whole grains. Ever since the start of the pandemic, Indian store in our place carry the ragi flour on & off .

Most of the time when we visit the store, it's out of stock, so without much choice, i had bought the whole ragi grains and made the batter for idli and dosa. As expected, it turned out so good, it tastes great with both sambar and chutney. Now I have been making this batter regularly at home for the past couple of months.

Before moving on, to the recipe, let's see the FAQs.

How long can I store the batter ?

After fermentation, it stays well in the refrigerator for 2 or 3 day maximum. Unlike regular idli/dosa batter, it can't be stored for a long time. I highly recommend finishing the batter within 3 days.

Why can't I store it for a longer time?

Unlike regular dosa batter, millets tend to ferment faster even in the refrigerator . After around 3 days, it becomes very sour and has a stingy smell, so it's advisable to make the batter in less quantity and  finish with 3 days.

Related: How to make ragi dosai with ragi flour

Why haven't I used the fenugreek seeds ?

Usually fenugreek seeds help to ferment the batter. In all kinds of millet batter, millet itself takes care of that job, so no need to add ferment seeds otherwise it becomes too sour easily.

Ok, now let's check out on how to make this healthy & tasty ragi idli and dosa.

Related: How to make Jowar dosai/Solla dosai

Ragi Idli and Dosa using Whole Grain

Preparation Time : 12 hr | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Serves : 6 
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Ragi idli,Ragi dosai, Ragi idli using whole grain, finger millet idli,finger millet dosai, kezhvaragu idli,kezhvaragu dosai Ragi Idli and dosa, a healthy breakfast / dinner item made from finger millet, rice and urad dal. Finger millet(Ragi/Kezhvaragu) is one of the staple and ancient grains used in many parts of India.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients

Ragi - 1 cup
Idli Rice - 1 cup
Urad dal - 1/2 cup
Salt - 1 tsp
Water - 1 to 1.5 cups(for grinding)

Related: How to cook millets in open pot

Procedure

In a bowl, add the ragi, idli rice and urad dal, wash it thrice and soak it with enough water for at least 8 hrs/overnight. 

In the next morning, drain the soaked water and put it in the mixie jar/grinder  along with needed water and grind into smooth batter.

Pour into a large vessel and add the salt. Mix it well with your hand.

The batter should be in free flowing consistency. Cover with lid and keep it in a warm place for 4 to 6 hrs to ferment. 

Once the batter is well fermented, mix it well with the ladle. For idli, crease the idli plate with oil and pour the batter in each mould. 

Place the idli plate on the steamer basket and steam it for 8- 10 mins. 

Remove the idli plate from the heat and let it sit aside to cool a bit, then gently remove the idli with a spoon. Soft and fluffy idlis are ready. 

For dosa, if needed add little water and adjust the batter consistency and make dosa as regular batter. 

Spongy idli and crispy dosa are ready.  Serve it with chutney and or sambar. For more breakfast recipe, check out here 

Related : How to make Instant Ragi Dosai 

Notes: 

• Don't over cook the idli, it becomes dry. 

Continue Reading »

Ragi Mudde | Ragi Kali | Millet Recipe

Ragi Mudde/kali, a healthy savory ball made from the finger millet flour. Actually ragi was not part of our cooking when we  grew up. Every year, in the aadi(tamil month)month, all the amman temples in our area used to offer the ragi kanji(sweet) as prasadam.

Other than that, I had never eaten any ragi dish till my marriage. So all the ragi dishes that i'm preparing at home nowadays were learned on my own. More than me, ST is a huge fan of this ragi kali and often ask it for lunch.

As far as i remembered, in our home, other than uluntha kali,amma never prepared any other kali. When we were in Hosur, I came to know about this ragi mudde through various karnataka restaurants. Few restaurants serve this as part of their lunch menu in Bangalore. 

Since i hadn't tasted it before, i was skeptical to try it first, but then a neighbor aunty in my downstairs told me about all the health benefits of this ragi and encouraged me to include it in our diet. 

Every summer, in her house, they bought a large quantity of finger millet to make finger millet powder for the whole year. She herself washed all the millets, sun dried it completely and took them to a flour mill to grind and store it for the whole year . Such an amazing hard worker she is !!! 

Later i had started  to include ragi slowly in our diet and today we both like ragi in any form !!! Now coming to today's recipe, as it may sound simple but it's actually quite tricky to cook this kali perfectly for beginners, i had my share of failed experiments with this kali.

After a few failed attempts, I knew the knack of making perfect ragi mudde/ kali . If you're a beginner, there are few things to take care of, so check out the notes also. 
Without further delay, let's check out the recipe, but if you want to know what i have prepared for past 4 days under Whole Grains, here they are
Day 1 - Kambu Koozh
Day 2 - Millet/Samai Puliyodharai
Day 3 - Millet/Kuthiraivali Upma
Day 4 - Millet Paal Kanji

Ragi Mudde/Kali

Preparation Time : 5 mins | Cooking Time : 10 mins | Makes : 2 small balls 
Recipe Category: Millet | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Ragi Mudde, Ragi Kali, Millet Kali Ragi Mudde/kali, a healthy savory ball made from the finger millet flour.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Ragi flour - 1/2 cup
Water - 1 cup
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Ghee - 1/4 tsp(optional)

Procedure

Take 1 tbsp of flour in a bowl, add 2 tbsp of water and make it as thin ragi slurry.

Add the remaining water & salt into the thick pan and bring into boil.

Once the water comes to boil, add the ragi slurry into it and mix it well. Now gently sprinkle the remaining flour evenly on the water.

Close the pan with lid with a little opening in the side and let it cook for 5-7 mins in the medium flame.

After 5-7 mins, open the lid and with the laddle mix it vigorously until all the flour mix together and became a single mass.Switch off the flame.

Let it cover and sit aside(this is important to get smooth & non-sticky balls) until it comes to hand bearable temperature. Now add the ghee(if you're using or simply wet your hand with water) and take a small portion of dough and roll into smooth ball.

Tada, Ragi Mundde/Kezhvaragu Kali is ready to serve. Serve it with your favorite kuzhambu & sides. We had it with sambar and vendakkai pachadi.

Notes:

• After sprinkle the flour into the water, don't mix it immediately. Let it cook for at least 5 mins before mixing with the ladle.
• Adding slurry helps to avoid the lumps.
• If the flour is not cooked well, then it forms lump while mixing with the ladle.
• Cook the flour in medium flame, otherwise the bottom would be burnt before the flour gets cooked.
• If you're not using ghee, simply wet your hand in the water and start making ball, it will help to make smooth balls.
  

Continue Reading »

Instant Ragi Dosa | Ragi Dosai | Breakfast recipe

Instant Ragi dosa, a quick, healthy & tasty breakfast crepes made from the finger millet flour. When i had shared the recipe of ragi dosa made with fermented batter on fb, one of the reader shared the recipe for this instant version of ragi dosa that she used to prepare for years in her home, within the next few days, i tried this dosa for breakfast and we really like it and it became the regular menu for our morning routine.I love the crispy texture of this dosa and it's definitely a quick & healthy breakfast for your busy mornings. 
To get the crispy & lacey texture, unlike the regular dosa where the batter is poured into the tava and spread with laddle, here the batter should be pour over the hot tava just like rava dosa. 

Instant Ragi Dosa

Preparation Time : 5 mins | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Makes : 6 dosa 
Recipe Category: Breakfast | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients
Ragi flour - 1/2 cup
Wheat flour - 1/4 cup
Salt - to taste
Onion(chopped) - 1(small)
Water - as needed
Oil - for drizzling on dosa 

Procedure

Take the ragi flour, wheat flour & salt in a bowl, mix it well. Then add the onions and mix together with the flour.Add water slowly into the flour and mix it well without any lumps.The batter should be thin like the rava dosa batter.Heat the dosa tava, grease it with oil and pour the batter evenly on the tava, drizzle some oil on the sides and cook on both sides.Healthy & tasty Ragi Dosa is ready.Serve it with sambar and/or chutney & podi.

Notes:

• Depends on the quality of the flour, you may need more or less water.
• Instead of mixing onions with the batter, you can spread the onions evenly on tava before pouring the batter for each dosa just like onion rava dosa.
• Here i have added only onions, but you can add any or all of the ingredients like chopped green chili, curry leaves, coriander leaves and cumin seed for extra flavoring.
  

 Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#85

Continue Reading »

Ragi Idiyappam | Kezhvaragu Idiyappam | Finger Millet Idiyappam

Ragi Idiyappam, an healthy string hoppers made from finger millet flour. If you have follow my blog regularly, you would have know by this time that how much i like idiyappam.

I love all kind of idiyappams that are made from rice flour, wheat flour, beetroot or the one made from rice batter.This ragi idiyappam is the latest additions to my idiyappam list. I have tried this many times with different proportion of ragi & rice flour or sometimes even without rice flour. Each one has slight difference in taste and texture. 
Here i'm sharing the recipe of ragi idiyappam which i like the most both taste & texture wise.Use this as a guide and change the proportion as per your liking. I like this idiyappam with grated coconut & sugar. But you can also have it with sambar and/or even with coconut chutney also, that too tastes equally good.

Ragi Idiyappam

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Breakfast | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Ragi Idiyappam, Kezhvaragu Idiyappam, Finger millet Idiyappam, Millet Idiyappam Ragi Idiyappam, an healthy string hoppers made from finger millet flour..

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Ragi flour - 3/4 cup
Rice flour - 1/4 cup
Water - 3/4 cup
Sesame Oil - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste

Procedure

Take the rice flour, ragi flour, salt  in a bowl, mix it well, then add the oil and give a good mix. Heat the water in a sauce pan and bring into boil, immediately pour the hot water into the flour and mix it vigorously. 

Once the flour became a single mass, cover it with lid and set aside for 10 mins. After 10 mins when the dough comes to hand bearable temperature, make a smooth dough .

Take a small portion of dough and make it as log. Fill the idiyappam maker with the dough.

Squeeze the idiyappam on greased idli plate.

Place it on steamer and cook it in steam for 6-8 mins. 

Tada, Ragi Idiyappam is ready to serve. 

Related: How to make Ragi Puttu 

Related: How to make Ragi Roti/Chapati

Notes:

• Depends on the flour quality,you may need more or less water,so always boil extra 1/4 of water.
• Add little by little of water into flour. If you add more water, then the idiyappam will be sticky. 
• Sesame oil gives wonderful aroma and i used the same for greasing the plate too.
• Instead of idli plate, you can steam it in idiyappam plate too.
  

Continue Reading »

Ragi Dosai | Finger millet Dosa | Kezhvaragu Dosai | Ragi dosa with ragi flour

Ragi Dosai, a healthy dosa recipe made from the finger millet flour. Finger millet is one of the healthy grains, in our childhood days , amma used to make adai ,puttu and kanji using ragi flour and she found it very difficult to make us eat those things.Later she totally stopped making them because none of us in home liked them much. But now as I understood  the importance of whole  grains/ millet in our diet, I tried to include them as much as possible.

Traditionally ragi dosa is made from the whole finger millet, but here in this recipe, I have used the flour for a short cut method. It's such a simple trick to make the batter in minutes. Whenever i make idli/dosa batter, i used to soak a little extra urad dal for making this ragi batter. So I would be having two varieties of batter for the whole week and no need to worry about breakfast and dinner !! Every South Indian can understand me on how much it means to have a variety of batters on hand !! It would make life a lot easier !! 

Amma learned  this recipe from her sister and during one of our phone calls, she mentioned it to me and the next day itself I tried them and it was  so delicious. Ever since it has become a regular in my home. With this batter, you can make them as thin crepes or as thick pancakes.But i liked them as thin crepes and it tastes great with both chutney and sambar !! Now let's check out on how to make ragi dosa.

Definitely all millets are an acquired taste at least to me.So try to include little by little in the beginning. Click on below image to see the detailed recipe for other ragi recipes.

Ragi Dosai with Ragi Flour

Preparation Time : 8 hrs for fermenting | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Makes : 8 dosa 
Recipe Category: Dosa/Millet | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
ragi dosa, ragi dosai, finger millet dosa,finger millet, ragi dosa with ragi flour, traditional recipe Ragi Dosai, a healthy dosa recipe made from the finger millet flour.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Ragi Flour - 1 cup
Urad dal - 1/4 cup
Fenugreek seed - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil for making dosa

Procedure

Soak urad dal and fenugreek seed in water for 30- 45 mins. Once the dal is well cooked, drain the water and add into mixie jar along with enough water.

Grind into smooth batter in mixie/blender. Measure and take ragi flour in a bowl and add water enough water into it and make a thick batter.

Now add the urad dal batter along with salt into ragi batter. Mix it well.

Cover it with lid and let it ferment.In the next morning, the batter would be risen wonderfully.With the laddle, mix the batter, if needed add some water and making as pouring consistency.

Heat the dosa pan, add a laddle pull of batter and spread it in circular motion.Sprinkle some oil on the edges of the dosa.Let it cook for 2 mins.

Then flip the dosa and allow to cook on other sides too. Remove it on the plate and serve it your favorite chutney.

Tasty, crispy & healthy Ragi Dosa is ready. If interested in instant ragi dosa without fermentation, check this out. 

For other millet dosa, try out this kambu dosa 

For varities of idli and dosa side dish, check out my collections. 

Notes:

• Fermenting time varies depends on the temperature where you live, if you live in cold place, put it in oven for overnight with lights on. I do the same every time to  ferment the batter and it works like a charm.
• If you live in hot places, 6 hrs itself is enough to ferment.
• This dosa stays soft even for 2-3 hrs.
• To enhance the taste, use ghee instead of oil.
  

Continue Reading »