Ragi Idli and Dosa Batter with whole ragi grains
Make this batter to make fluffy idlis, crispy dosas. It does take some effort, but it is worth it. You get the benefits of millet whole grains along with the goodness of fermented foods.
Ingredients
- 2 cups ragi / finger millet
- 2 cups idli rice
- 1 cup whole white urad
- 1/2 cup poha/aval/flattened rice
- salt to taste
Instructions
The Ratio
- The base ratio is 4:1 for grains:urad. For this recipe, we substitute 2 parts of grains with ragi and 2 parts with rice. I also add 3/4 cup of poha as it makes idlis fluffy.
Soaking
- Rinse and soak two cups of ragi, two cups of idli rice and one cup of whole urad separately in plenty of water for five hours. Ragi can be quite messy to clean, so ensure you use a fine sieve to remove all dirt.
- Soak poha 45 minutes before grinding the batter in about 1 cup of water.
Grinding
- Add ragi to the wet grinder and grind to a smooth batter. Whole ragi takes a while to grind, so be patient and think of all the goodness you are going to get out of this!
- Next, add urad and grind to a smooth batter and remove
- Finally, grind the rice and poha to a coarse yet fully ground mixture
- I know you are tired now, but read on. Mix all the batters together and add salt
- Ferment in your usual way. It takes about 7-8 hours to ferment fully and does increase in volume too.
Make Idlis and Dosas
- Steam idlis for 7-8 minutes and remove off the mould when slightly cool. Idlis are fluffy and super soft.
- For dosas, I prefer using sesame oil. But this is also delicious with some ghee. I'd particularly recommend this with a spicy onion chutney.
Notes
- This recipe does require a wet grinder. I have not tried grinding whole ragi in a mixie, so not sure if will work.
- The recipe requires rice and poha so that we can make idli and dosa in the same batter. If you are not making idlis, simply remove the rice and poha from this recipe and try with two cups of ragi and one cup urad. Dosas are amazing in this method too.
- If you do not have access to whole ragi where you live, try my recipe with ragi flour ( recipe coming soon)!