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By Swasthi on August 1, 2022, Comments, Jump to Recipe
Ragi flour recipe or ragi powder recipe. Ragi in Kannada is known as finger millet in English, ragulu in telugu, kezhvaragu or keppai in tamil, nachani in marthi and gujarati, marwa in bengali & nepali, mandika in Hindi. In the recent years, this wonder grain gained popularity due to the high absorbable nutrients in them that are available at an affordable price. You can also check this detailed post on 18 ragi recipes which are healthy and delicious. In this post I will drive you through how to choose ragi to make finger millet flour or powder at home. This can be used for all including for babies, toddlers and kids’ porridge.
To make sprouted ragi flour at home, one needs lot of patience since it is quite a lot of work. The entire process of sprouting and making the flour takes around 3 days. But then the benefits are immense especially for babies and toddlers. Helps to gain good weight, stronger bones, stronger teeth and helps to prevents iron deficiency, if used correctly.
Here is a detailed post on how to introduce ragi to babies and also try this delicious apple ragi.
you can also check this detailed baby food chart for 6 months old babies.
you can also check this food chart for 8 months old babies.
Why the nutrients in ragi are easily absorbable?
Our body needs vitamin D to absorb calcium from food. Along with calcium there is also vitamin D in ragi, hence calcium from this little grain is absorbed better.
During the soaking and sprouting process, the levels of vitamin C increase, which helps to absorb iron content as well.
Why ragi is sprouted?
sprouting increases the overall nutritional values.
sprouted flour is easily digestible on sensitive tummies. It is highly recommended to use sprouted ragi flour for babies and toddlers.
Is sprouting ragi easy?
Sprouting might have been easy for some lucky folks. I have seen people sprouting them so easily hanging them in a window sill or just leaving them in a colander. But it isn’t easy always and they may not sprout at all. We have been successfully sprouting them by tying in a cloth and then moving it to a dark place.
Why did my ragi not sprout?
Finger millet is either from the recent harvest under 3 months old or is a very old stock or aged grains.
They do not sprout if not soaked enough.
Could be due to climatic conditions.
Note that wet season or rainy season may not be the right time to sprout and make the flour. finger millets tend to turn moldy especially in places like Bangalore during the wet season.
How to sprout ragi and make ragi flour or powder.
Ragi flour
Sprouted finger millet flour is used to make porridge, mudde and sankanti
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For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card
Prep Time2 days days 14 hours hours
Cook Time15 minutes minutes
Total Time2 days days 14 hours hours 15 minutes minutes
Servings1 kg flour
AuthorSwasthi
Ingredients (US cup = 240ml )
- 1 kg ragi / finger millet
- water as needed
Instructions
Ensure millets are clean without any stones or debris. Wash them thoroughly under running water several times.
Soak them in clear water for about 24 hours. Use a large pot to soak them well. Do not cover the pot, just tie a muslin cloth on the rim. This helps the grains not to turn moldy and smelly since air is circulated through the cloth. Place the pot in a good ventilated place like a window sill or in the veranda. Change the water every 8 hours.
Rinse them well again. Drain them to a colander.
Transfer to a washed sun dried clean cotton cloth. A white cloth is best. If using colored cloth make sure it doesn’t release any dye or color.
Bring together all edges, make a very tight knot. The pack should look tight, this helps them to sprout well. Refer the picture above.
Keep it in a steel pot. Cover partially and move it to a dark place for about 20 to 24 hours.
They can sprout anywhere from an inch to 1 ½ inches long depending on climate and the quality of grains.
Open the knot and loosen them, spread on a dry cloth.
There are 2 ways of dehydrating sprouted ragi
one is to dry them in shade for 2 to 3 days in an airy place like a veranda. You will have to keep them inside the house uncovered in the night. This method needs no roasting, the sprouts turn crunchy by the end of second day during the hot days. Second method is to dry roast them on a tawa on a medium flame till they turn crunchy.
How to make ragi powder.
If making for babies, making the flour at home is highly recommended. Refrigerate the roasted or dehydrated sprouts for about 2 hours and powder them in a blender jar in batches. Refrigerating helps to powder them well without the blender getting heated.
You can send it to a flour mill as well. You can mill half a kg of rice first and then add finger millet to the mill. Collect the rice flour in a separate pot. Use a different pot to collect the ragi flour. This helps to prevent other flours (like wheat flour) from the mill getting mixed with finger millet flour. Since rice flour is safe for babies, even if it gets mixed its fine.
flour is sieved usually to remove coarse particles. Some folks even sieve it using a thin muslin cloth, if the flour is for babies under 6 to 8 months. Sieving through a muslin cloth also helps to remove hard fiber particles which may cause stomach upset or throat irritation in few babies. But again this needs a lot of patience. You have a elder person like MIL or Mother at home to help you, then you can go for it.
Store the flour in an tight jar glass or steel jar and refrigerate. If frozen it can be used up to a year.
Alternative quantities provided in the recipe card are for 1x only, original recipe.
For best results follow my detailed step-by-step photo instructions and tips above the recipe card.
NUTRITION INFO (estimation only)
Nutrition Facts
Ragi flour
Amount Per Serving
Calories 3280Calories from Fat 117
% Daily Value*
Fat 13g20%
Saturated Fat 3g19%
Sodium 110mg5%
Potassium 4080mg117%
Carbohydrates 720g240%
Protein 73g146%
Calcium 3440mg344%
Iron 39mg217%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
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About Swasthi
I’m Swasthi Shreekanth, the recipe developer, food photographer & food writer behind Swasthi’s Recipes. My aim is to help you cook great Indian food with my time-tested recipes. After 2 decades of experience in practical Indian cooking I started this blog to help people cook better & more often at home. Whether you are a novice or an experienced cook I am sure Swasthi’s Recipes will assist you to enhance your cooking skills. More about me
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