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. 

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Ragi Chapathi | Finger Millet Roti | Ragi Roti

Ragi Chapathi, a delicious and healthy roti made from finger millet flour and wheat flour. If you have followed by blog for a while, you might knew by this time that how much i like ragi and i already have a lot of recipes using ragi/finger millet like idiyappam, dosa, paniyaram, murukku and many more. Do check out the respective link if you're interested.

 Now coming to today's recipe, it's my recent addition to the ragi series. Whenever i'm bored of regular chapathi/ roti using wheat flour, i like to play with other flours in addition to the wheat flour/atta, out of few experiments, this ragi chapathi is my favorite. 
The ratio of wheat flour to ragi flour is purely upto your preference, you can add more or less of any flour, the given quantity is my preference and it gives soft chapathi with wonderful ragi flavor.

If the ragi flour is more in the dough, it's hard to roll the chapathi smoothly and also the chapathi will be little bit on harder side, on the other hand if the wheat flour is more, the color of the chapathi is dull and also it doesn't have much ragi flavor.

As i said earlier before, it's really up to you on what you and your family prefer and adjust accordingly. Now let's check out the recipe.

Ragi Chapathi | Finger Millet Roti

Preparation Time : 15 mins | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Makes : 8-10 
Recipe Category: Roti | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Ragi Chapathi,Finger Millet Roti,Ragi Roti,Kezhvaragu Chapathi Ragi Chapathi, a delicious and healthy roti made from finger millet flour and wheat flour.

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

Ingredients
Wheat flour - 1 cup 
Ragi Flour - 1 cup(heaped)
Salt to taste
Water as needed

Procedure

Take the wheat flour,ragi flour  in a bowl, mix it well together.

Next add the required salt, mix it well and then add water little by little and make a smooth,pilable dough.Let it rest for 10-15 mins.

Divide the dough into equal parts and roll them into smooth balls.Dust the working surface with flour and using rolling pin spread the dough into thin sheet.

Heat the tava and grease the tava with oil, place the rolled thin sheet on the tava and cook for 30-40 secs on one side, when you see the bubbles on the top, flip into other side and cook till the brown spots occurs. 

That's it,Delicious & healthy Ragi Chapathi is ready.Serve it with your favorite curry, we had it with spinach dal.

Related:How to make Spinach Roti

Notes:

• The dough should be soft and pilable for soft chapathi. 
• With the same dough, you can make phulka too, refer here to make phulka.
  

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Ragi Murukku, a delicious savory snack made from the finger millet flour. Last diwali itself, i had seen this murukku recipe from few fellow bloggers and immediately noted down the recipe in my todo draft to give it a try sometime. 

At last, a few weeks before i tried this murukku for the first time, glad that i gave  it a try, it was so cripsy and tasty in its own way. I'm not gonna lie that it tastes as good as rice murukku, surely there is a difference in taste because of finger millet flour, but i can say it was way more tastier than i would expected, definitely worth giving a try if you're looking for some murukku recipe made from millets. 

With all being said, we both finished off this murukku within a couple of days :-) , now you can understand how good it was!

Here in this recipe, i have used the star shaped disc for the murukku press, but you can use whatever you like, even if you can't make the circles neatly, just squeeze them randomly like butter murukku , it's home made so shape doesn't matter right?? Ok, now let's see how to make this yummy ragi murukku. 
Other murukku recipe are
Mullu Murukku
Daliya/Pottukadalai Murukku

Ragi Murukku | Kezhvaragu Murukku | Murukku Recipe

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Makes : 12 to 15 
Recipe Category: Snacks | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Ragi Murukku,Kezhvaragu Murukku,Ragi Chakli,Snack,Homemade,Finger millet murukku,healthy snack Ragi Murukku, a delicious savory snack made from the finger millet flour.

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

Ingredients
Ragi flour - 1/2 cup
Rice flour - 1/4 cup
Gram flour/Besan - 2 tbsp
Butter - 1 tbsp
Salt - to taste
White sesame seed - 1/2 tsp
Water - as needed
Oil- for frying

Procedure

First put all the flour(ragi,rice & gram) into the sieve and sieve it once, then add the salt and sesame seed and mix it well.

Next add the melted butter into the flour and mix it thoroughly with your hand, then add the water and make the soft dough.

Use the star shape disc in the murukku press and fill the press with the dough.

Squeeze the dough into concentric circles on small plate or flat laddle, heat the oil for frying and drop the murukku into oil gently.

Cook till the "shh" sound stops. Remove from the oil and drain it on tissue paper. Once it completely cooled, put it in air tight container.

Tasty and crunchy murukku is ready.

Related:How to make Butter Murukku

Notes:

• Since the murukku dough is already dark in color,it's hard to find when it's done, so make sure to remove from the oil when the "shh" sound stops, otherwise it's easily burned.
• If the dough breaks when you squeeze, add little extra water into the dough, knead it well and then use it again.
• Instead of besan/gram flour, you can use the pottukadalai flour too.
• Instead of white sesame seed, black can also be used,since the murukku is already dark, i have used the white sesame seeds.
  

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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.
  

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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.
  

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