Ragi skipped a generation in popularity. Though our educated parents knew how to make Ragi mudda, they didn’t think of it as a cool recipe for everyday meal. Education and jobs have moved them from villages to cities and old type of recipes was not fashionable to them anymore.
Recently there is a surge of pride in our agricultural products. I call it agricultural patriotism, elicited because, some evil global corporations (US based) which tried to claim patents on turmeric. If they had gotten these patents, no one except the company would have rights on this ancient agricultural product. numerous cases of this kind of attempts to steal the agricultural rights, virtues and history of ancient herbs and products, have surfaced in the recent past. People in countries like India stood steadfast to preserve their rights and they prevailed.
Okayรขโฌยฆ anyhow coming back to Ragi…
Like quinoa of South American indigenous people, Ragi also plays important part in the nutritional makeup of South India’s village populace. Unpretentious, basic and strength to body kind of food, rich in Calcium and iron, I love my ragi. Low in price, easy to make and versatile, the basic recipe can be adopted to suit any type of palate.
Here is the recipe of ragi mudda or sankati the way we make in our home.
Recipe:
(for two people, for one serving)
1 cup of ragi flour
Fistful of rice
1/4 teaspoon of salt
4 cups of water
1 teaspoon of ghee
Preparation:
Take water and rice in a saucepan, add salt and bring to a boil. Cover and cook the rice until the grains are 
soft. When the rice is soft, add – just pour or dump ragi flour into the pot. Donot stir now, this is the way folks back at home cook. Cover and put this mixture on medium heat for few minutes until the steam lifts the plate covering the pan. Remove the cover. Using a wooden masher or whisk, stir the ragi-rice mixure vigorously and thoroughly until you see no lumps.
Reduce the heat to low, cover and let it steam cook for about 15 minutes. Switch off the heat. Let it cool down a little bit and make mudda or balls with it. Back home, they dip their hands in cool water first and then immediately take a portion of ragi and shape them into a ball, all done very fast. Here, I use an ice cream scooper to make round balls.
How it is served: Place the ragi mudda in a bowl and pour the sambhar over it. Not too cold and not too hot, just warm is perfect for the palate. Drizzle ghee over it. Today I made carrot sambhar for ragi mudda. It tastes quite good not only with sambhar and but also with peanut chutney, potato kurma or any other vegetable gravy curry. People in Telangana region of Andhra, are particularly fond of ragi mudda/sankati-chicken kurma combination.
How it is eaten: Using your hand or with a spoon, take small portions from the big ragi mudda, dip them into sambhar and swallow. Don’t use teeth; let the tongue do the work. Ragi can be incredibly gummy so traditionally the small balls are never bitten, they are just swallowed. Warm ragi mudda coated all around with sambhar… gives an incredible satisfaction. Children love this kind of food.
Variations: As I mentioned above, you can change the recipe to suit your taste just by changing or adding ingredients. Basic method of preparation is the same, but you can make it mildly sweet by adding jaggery or sugar. Or more rich by substituting the water with milk. You can also add one tablespoon of ghee while still cooking. Also add toasted and finely powdered cashews or peanuts to make it even richer.
Ragi mudda or santaki in Carrot sambhar with ghee ~ Our meal today.
English translation of Ragi Mudda is – Ragi ball or porridge
Recipe Source: Attamma and Rajeswari – My mother in law and sister
first of all…I salute you to bring the glory back to Ragi by your wonderful words..:)
I love Ragi…My mom used to tell me that she never used to feed me with any baby products when I was young..she used to make “raagi kanji”
made out of raagi maavu and raagi milk ( soaking raagi seeds adn squeezing them with cloth would give u a sort of milk)…so “I am a Raagi Gal” ๐
and in South India,esp Tamil Nadu we make ( the farmers and who works in field) something called “Raagi Koozhu” which is also losely translated to pirrdge…and we eat it with “vathakuzhambu” or non-veg eaters eat it with Paaya or some non-veg based gravy…
i am going to make this this week end ๐ thanks Indira…
Comment by IBH — December 7, 2005 @ 5:00 pm
IBH… With awards and all, I wanted to write something more than just the recipe and photos. ๐
Ragi girl.. then you must be one incredibly healthy, beautiful baby.:)
and I love the taste of ragi. My grandmother used to make, laddus with the ragi maavu, milk (extracted just the way you mentioned) and jaggery. I know ragi kanji (ganji, we call it in Telugu). We make it either with milk (sweet ragi gangi) or with buttermilk (salty ganji). One of my first recipes, I posted in my blog is Ragi malt (sweet ragi ganji), the new fashionable name we are using now for the old calssic ragi ganji. ๐
Word of the caution though, again how tasty ragi mudda entirely depends on how fresh the ragi flour is. If the flour is stale and old, please don’t blame the recipe.:) Let me know how it turns out.
Thanks!
Comment by Indira — December 7, 2005 @ 5:15 pm
Today, just today, an hour back I have made and eaten Ragi Mudda, with gummadikaya pappu (pumpkin dal) and ghee. Heavenly!!
And now you post this!
Are we all on the same page?
I think we are on the same palate.
Many many thanks for bringing forth the king of rural andhra staple.
Comment by Vidyanath Tirumala — December 7, 2005 @ 9:53 pm
I have never heard of this flour before Indira, thank you for introducing it to me! I will check out the local store and see if I can find it, and make sure it is fresh too ๐
Comment by clare eats — December 7, 2005 @ 10:45 pm
we have ragi at home everyday in the morning along with buttermilk or curds.Make the ragi paste and mix in the curds.Just love ragi…:)
Comment by Sailaja — December 8, 2005 @ 12:32 am
Absolutely amazing ……..your recipes remind me of the mom’s cooking. Strangely I never used to like Ragi mudde and used to stick it to the bottom of the plate to escape the ire of my health conscious dad ๐
I feel like having it now.. I think I have grown older…
Comment by Sudha Raju — December 8, 2005 @ 4:28 am
indira, i love ragi, in fact, we mix it with our regular atta and make rotis with the mixture. my little baby loves to chew on those rotis. i will try out ragi dosas ones of these days.
Comment by rumy — December 8, 2005 @ 5:26 am
Indira – Cute results! The novelty in your recipe is that you have added cooked rice. Amazing pictures!
We’ve chosen and tagged you to do a meme – you are what you eat. We hope that you don’t mind. Pl check out the link here and let us know what you think ๐
http://mydhaba.blogspot.com/2005/12/you-are-what-you-eat-meme-my-dhabas.html
Comment by VK Narayanan — December 8, 2005 @ 5:34 am
Indira,
Do you know of a way to test the freshness of the raagi pindi?
Thanks.
asterisk
Comment by asterisk — December 8, 2005 @ 7:16 am
Hi Vidyanath, that’s healthy coincidence.:)
Gummadi pappu and Ragi, great combination.
Clare..Most of Indian stores carry this flour. ALso sold under the name of ‘nachini’ flour. Do let me know how it turns out.
Sailaja.. I know what you are talking about. That is one very healthy breakfast.
Sudha.. thanks!
Rumy… ragi roti taste great, Sort of teething food, aren’t they?
we make them along with sajja(another type of millet, like ragi) roti for Sankranthi festival in our home. Ragi dosa is my new favorite. I think you are going to like it.:)
VKN…Thanks for the tag, will post my reply soon.
Any links make the comment go under observation, until my approval. (Incase you are wondering.)
Asterisk… smell.. fresh ragi flour smells like earth after rains. Incredibly fragnant.
Comment by Indira — December 8, 2005 @ 9:36 am
I haven’t heard from ragi until know… Everyday you learn something. Now I’m curious to discover more about it. ๐
Thanks Indira!
Comment by Marcela — December 21, 2005 @ 11:05 pm
Nice Indira.
I wish things were so simple as to classify them into ‘Good’ versus ‘Evil’.
However most human beings do what they genuinely think is best. That’s the problem.
Nevertheless more power to “agricultural patriotism” as you call it.And may ragi get more popular as well.
Comment by deccanheffalump — December 26, 2005 @ 1:39 pm
Hi,
This is a great posting, love the recipe. I have an allergy to wheat,barley and rye – which rules out most western flours, ragi seems like a cool alternative.
One thing I have been searching for is malted but not ground ragi (I would like to try to brew with it and the flour is too finely ground). I live in Toronto Canada and I’ve talked to a few importers about this, but I’ve been having difficulties finding this. I can find malted ragi flour, and I can find whole, unmalted ragi – but I can’t find malted,unground ragi. Do you happen to know if such a product exists – what would the Indian word for this be?
Thank you,
Patrick
Indira says…
Helo Patrick, thanks! I’m glad that you find the recipe with ragi flour useful.
About your question, I understood what you are asking about. I’ve never saw malted, unground ragi here in US, in Indian stores/health food stores /online. We regularly grind the fresh flour from whole ragi in our hometown, Nandyala in South India. Matter of fact, I brought this flour, freshly milled from there. I’m sorry to say, the only way you can get hold of that stuff is, travel to South India or through Indian friends who know about this stuff. I hope this helps.
Comment by Patrick — January 4, 2006 @ 1:48 pm
PLEASE LET ME KNOW IS RAGGI NACHINI IN MARATHI AND THE RECIPE OF CARROT SAMBHAR
Indira replies,
Hello Leena, if you place the cursor or mouse pointer on a photo for few seconds, names or description of the item, in different languages appear. The same for all other photos too.
Yes, ragi is also called nachini.
Comment by LEENA P. RAJ. — January 17, 2006 @ 6:16 am
I am Looking for the same kind of recipe using jonnalu (Jowar) .Any suggestions please.Thanks in advance.srinivas
Comment by srinivas — January 19, 2006 @ 3:50 am
this is a great recipe,but i want some more recipies with ragi which are delicious
Comment by swetha — February 4, 2006 @ 6:43 am
please let me know about the nutritional value of ragi. how it can replace other cereals from the regular food habite.
Comment by chirag gajjar — March 4, 2006 @ 8:55 am
Hi Indira,
Just wanted to add another variation to ragi mudda.
Instead of rice in the recipe, you can take some ragi flour, mix it with water into smoothe paste to a batter consistency (no lumps), let it cook on the stove for some minutes and then you can continue the recipe as is. This gives a pure ragi mudda without the rice, for folks who are looking for recipes without rice.
This is the way my mother makes it at home, since my father is diabetic and she tries to exclude rice as much as possible.
I love both the variations of ragi mudda… :-)..
Again, great work with ragi flour. I hope you do realize, how you are contributing in getting us all to eat a little more healthier.. ๐
Regards,
Sujatha.
Comment by Sujatha — November 2, 2006 @ 2:51 pm
You recipe was simple, easy and also great tasting. I appreciate your help.
Thanks
Padma
Comment by Sri Padma — February 3, 2007 @ 6:37 pm
Hi Indira,
Your blog is really nice. I have tried out the mysore pak recipe from here and it turned out very good. Do you know of any recipes using whole ragi, not the flour? I was thinking of something like your millet recipe..can ragi be cooked like that?
Thanks very much.
Comment by mila — March 14, 2007 @ 5:50 pm
hii dis is swarna from hyderabad.i luv ragi mudda.its very delicious.i like even ragi malt.This malt can also be given to babies.It gives lots of strength.
Comment by swarna anamica — March 19, 2007 @ 7:42 am
Hi Indira,
I made this dish following your recipe. It came out very well.
Thanks,
Kamakshi
Comment by KM — March 19, 2007 @ 11:04 am
Hi,
Do you get ragi in grocery stores in US?
Thx
Comment by see — March 27, 2007 @ 2:16 pm
the recipe is superb, very easy to make thankyou
Comment by ramesh — May 4, 2007 @ 3:58 am
Hi Indira,
ur recipes r very easy to prepare.
thanks for Ragimudha recipe.
Comment by yamini — June 12, 2007 @ 9:58 am
The receipe is very easy to make and tastes good. Congrats ! keep it up !!
Comment by arunan — November 2, 2007 @ 9:59 am
I live in the UK and cant find it here – today someone tells me that it is available in a small Sri Lankan shop near the Balaji temple in Dudley and as she is going there will get me some – I have been using ordinary millet from the Punjabi store, tastes OK but not 100% – I love ragi chapatties too, same ingredients as a ragi dosa but kneaded into a dough, patted onto a cold tava and cooked in steam – no oil required – very healthy
Comment by Neena — November 15, 2007 @ 3:36 am
hi first i am thanking u giving such wonderfull dish in web site.
Comment by vivek — November 27, 2007 @ 3:33 am
You are really great, i live in USA once i saw this on website i was really happy and remember my childhood days
Love this dish
thanks again
Comment by Kiran — December 21, 2007 @ 10:06 pm
Dear Indira,
I am really happy to see your site. I made raagi sankati using your recipe. It came out so good. Please post more Rayalaseema dishes.
Andal Rangachari
Comment by Mrs Nitya — December 26, 2007 @ 9:13 am
dear Indira,
Your website has inspired me to cook with gusto all over again ! Your recipes are so similar to our lingayat cooking. I just made ragi mudde today just like we used to make back home which is identical to your recipe.
We eat mudde with bassaru which is a terrific combination. My husband was licking his fingers today as the combo tasted so heavenly. Thanks again for bringing back memories and recipes from our home and past !
With best regards usha peddamatham
Dear Usha,
Happy new year!
It’s great to read that this recipe has brought back memories. Thanks for taking time to let me know.
What is Bassaru? WOuld you please write few words about it, I would love to try it with ragi mudda.
Thanks in advance.
– Indira
Comment by usha — January 2, 2008 @ 5:13 pm
Dear Indira,
Bassaru is basically basida saaru. Basida means in kannada strained or drained.
We cook toor dhal until just done ,add chopped green beans and chopped dill and continue to cook until the beans are al dente. Then drain the dhal. To the drained clear broth add ground masala of sauteed onions,garlic, cilantro sambhar powder,coconut and tamarind.
Boil the broth with ground masala and do vagaira with mustard, curry leaves,crushed garlic and red chillies.
For the dhal eat oil ,do vagaira, saute chopped onions and green chillies and add to the dhal vegetable mixture. You have bassaru and a sookha been curry that is an eternal favourite in our community. With Mudde a day old bassaru is truly food of the gods !
Try it ! You will be licking your fingers. That is a promise !
usha
Thanks very much Usha.
I will definitely try this recipe, and also with ragi mudda.
– Indira
Comment by usha — January 4, 2008 @ 9:02 am
Hi…I wanted to prepare on my own & finally could do it with the instructions given by you….Thanks….It is one of the best dishes i like….
Comment by Anand — January 11, 2008 @ 9:00 am
I did it with Jowar instead of Ragi…concept is same…
Comment by Anand — January 11, 2008 @ 9:01 am
Hi Indra,
Greatly presented!!!.
i will try on my daughter ๐
Thank for sharing the golden recipe
Comment by surya — March 27, 2008 @ 2:32 am
Very good work.
Keep it up.
Long live Mahanandi.
Comment by Srikanth — April 24, 2008 @ 12:09 am
hai, dear Indira,
keep up the good job to educate the indan culture. I want to know the following:
1. is there any purification required on row ragi powder?
2. what is the minimum time the ragi required to cook and at what temparature?
3. is the cover(brown colour natural coating) on ragi needs to be removed before feeding to infents?
pl reply. keep up the good job.
A Gopakumar
Comment by amruta gopakumar — May 28, 2008 @ 7:17 am
Hi Indira:
I would like to buy seeds of white ragi and also malted ragi.
Do you know a place in Canada where I could buy?
Thank you.
Comment by Salvador Garza — February 19, 2009 @ 11:32 pm
Good stuff… we’ll make it to day! Also, it is better to update with the nutrition values.
Nutritive value of Ragi per 100 g
Protein 7.3 g
Fat 1.3 g
Carbohydrate 72 g
Minerals 2.7 g
Calcium 3.44 g
Fibre 3.6 g
Energy 328 KCal
Comment by Raja babu — April 6, 2009 @ 7:19 am
Wonderful food – It reminds me my childhood. I am using Ragi as a drink from my chindhood. Take 2 Table Spoons of Ragi floor and add to a glass of water mix with hand and see that it will be mixed thoroughly with the water and keep that on low fire and stir often . After it is cooked add milk, sugar and elachi. A wonderful summer drink is ready. (Optional – you can add some quantity of barely (cooked) to the drink)
Comment by k. rani — April 17, 2009 @ 8:21 am
awesome… i’m from bangalore and even we make mudda everyday at home and yeah even we add rice.,,,i think it makes it more soft…. i was searching for its nutritional value and i found this blog…. thanks ๐
a small tip which i got from my granny, try to eat mudda at afternoon cos it takes little more time to digest…..
Comment by karthik — May 11, 2009 @ 4:31 am
Excellent!!This gave me nostalgic memories of my bangalore days!!
cheo!
Thanks..
Comment by Magesh — May 23, 2009 @ 8:17 am
Hai Indira.
We r from Rayala Seema in AP. Me and my wife liked ur website very much. I’m very much intrested in cooking and keep trying many variations of recipes.
Raagi Mudda is one of my favuorites and we have Ulli Poola curry, Anapa Kayala pulusu, Sambar, Groundnut chutney etc etc with this Raagi Mudda.
I want to give a small tip in cooking this Raagi Mudda. You said:
***********************************************
When the rice is soft, add – just pour or dump ragi flour into the pot. Donot stir now, this is the way folks back at home cook. Cover and put this mixture on medium heat for few minutes until the steam lifts the plate covering the pan. Remove the cover. Using a wooden masher or whisk, stir the ragi-rice mixure vigorously and thoroughly until you see no lumps.
***********************************************
Instead of dumping the raagi flour, we have to reduce the falme to the minimum and then slowly add th raagi flour, while continuously stirring it with the wooden masher and then let it boil for some time after mashing it to no lumps. Then add water and ghee. This way u dont get lumps. This is how we make it.
Try it and let me know.
Best regards,
Dileep Tallam
It’s good to read a comment from fellow Rayalaseema vaasi. Thanks for the tip, Dileep. I will try it like that for my next try.
-Indira
Comment by Dileep Tallam — July 12, 2009 @ 4:33 am
Hai Indira.
Actually, as I mentioned we reduce the fame and then add the raagi flour while continuously mashing with a wooden masher and by this method there would be no lumps formation. This is how we cook.
After reading your blog, I tried your way and finally there were so many lumps. next time we tried with our old method and there were no lumps. So, I wanted to give this tip.
Please let me know once u try to make it in our way.
Best regards,
Dileep Tallam
Comment by Dileep Tallam — July 14, 2009 @ 5:10 am
In recent past only we are making this ragi mudda. It is delicious with anything right from chutneys to buttermilk. Best food. Nice to see some articles and comments on this food.
Keep posted.
Comment by jai gopal — December 21, 2009 @ 1:59 am
I remember my mom used to mix Ragi powder in milk and give me, when I used to live in Bangalore in my early years. I used to find it heavenly!
Then we moved to Ahmedabad, and ragi was lost forever – I would keep pleading mom to get me ragi milk, but it was simply not available!
Now, more than 15 years later, I have shifted to Hyderabad. Suddenly came across this stuff called “ragi sankati” at a restaurant! Knew nothing about it other than the word ‘ragi’. Confirmed with the waiter if it was vegetarian, and ordered it.
I’m hooked to it now!!!
Comment by Siddharth — February 10, 2010 @ 12:00 pm
thanks for the recipe , specially the proportion of raagi & rice and the presentation. I tried this recipe with sambhar and dippied raagi balls, it wass great , my daughter loved it
Thanks ๐ ๐ ๐
Comment by gauri — July 4, 2010 @ 12:20 am
Hi Indra,
First of all let the say thanks for this article, i read the comments of many people saying they are not getting in different so why can’t we create awareness of ragi.. in other countries and help many diabetics patients …..can you please comment u r opinion to mahesha185@gmail.com
Comment by Mahesh H — September 3, 2010 @ 12:37 pm
Thanks for sharing this gem! True that we need to protect our heritage recipes which though old in fashion are rich in nutrients.
Comment by Mutyala Rao — February 6, 2012 @ 9:18 am
it was really awesome thank u very muich
Comment by vijaya — May 29, 2012 @ 2:32 am
excelent ragi mudda reduced my suger level.
Comment by shaik shariff — March 18, 2013 @ 11:36 am
I have to day prepared the Ragi Sasnkati just as it is described in this site and I made Onion sambar.
I am delighted to taste it with the onion sambar. I am going to introduce this as dinner to my wife who has cronicle diabetis. Really it is wonderful.
Comment by T.V. Subramanyam — April 21, 2013 @ 6:29 am
Hi Indira,
What can one do if too much water has been added to the muddha? (This ofcourse happened before I came cross your blog.) It would be most helpful if you had some SOS tips alongside the recipes. Many thanks.
Comment by Kinnera — January 22, 2015 @ 9:36 pm
Hi Indira,
What can one do if too much water has been added to the muddha? (This ofcourse happened before I came cross your blog.) It would be most helpful if you had some SOS tips alongside the recipes. Many thanks.
Comment by Kinnera — January 22, 2015 @ 9:36 pm
Hi Indira,
What can one do if too much water has been added to the muddha? (This ofcourse happened before I came cross your blog.) It would be most helpful if you had some SOS tips alongside the recipes. Many thanks.
Comment by Kinnera — January 22, 2015 @ 9:36 pm
thanks for the recipe.I like the ragisankati
Comment by suneetha — July 6, 2016 @ 4:45 am
thanks for sharing the recipe.I like the ragisankati.
Comment by suneetha — July 6, 2016 @ 4:47 am