Ragi Dosa Recipe

Ragi Dosa is a South Indian crepe made with finger millet also known as red millet. These iron and fiber rich dosas are healthy and are made often in South Indian homes. For the uninitiated, dosa is a traditional crepe made with rice and lentil batter. These ragi dosa are a variant of the traditional dosas but ragi is the main ingredient used here. In this post I share 3 ways to make ragi dosa – instant dosa using flour, using left over dosa batter and fermented dosa.

About Ragi Dosa

Ragi is a staple in our parts of India and I have grown up eating ragi in many different forms. My Mom would make ragi mudde, ragi malt, ladoos, dosas, idli, rotti, chapatti, halwa and many more using ragi. For every dish she had numerous ways and recipes to make.

Finger millet is considered a super grain due to its high nutritional profile, especially iron and calcium. It is believed that regular consumption of this whole grain is going to keep us healthy and strong. We were encouraged to consume this regularly at least in small quantities to boost our calcium and iron levels.

Ragi dosa is not a traditional dish and this grain was not even known to a lot of Indians few decades ago. Health awareness may have led to the invention of making finger millet dosa. There is no one way to make them. Here are my tried and tested ways.

3 Ways To Make

1. First one is the Instant dosa that can be made without much planning. We just mix up ragi flour with other ingredients and sometimes curd or buttermilk is added for a unique flavor. This method is good if you are a small family of 2 to 3 because cooking these takes time. Each dosa takes a minimum of 5 mins to cook, so plan accordingly. It is similar to the Oats dosa.

2. Second one is to soak the whole grain ragi, blend it and then ferment it. This method has several health benefits as the ragi is soaked, ground and fermented. It is good if you are focusing into healthy whole grain diet or have elderly folks at home.

3. The third method is to just mix some ragi flour to the premade dosa batter. This one is good to make when you have people with different choices at home. Plain dosa VS Ragi dosas.

Whichever method you make, the dosas will taste good if you like the earthy flavor of this grain. Serve them with any chutney or sambar.

More Ragi Recipes here,
Ragi Ladoo
Easy Ragi Roti
Ragi Idli
Chocolate Ragi Cake

I have shared the first and the third method below. You can find one more in the recipe card below.

How to Make Instant Ragi Dosa (Stepwise Photos)

This recipe makes 6 dosas (serves 2 people). They are not filling so serve them with a good heavy chutney like peanut chutney, aloo masala or a vegetable kurma.

Preparation

1. Here are the ingredients you need:

• ½ cup ragi flour
• ¼ cup rice flour or wheat flour (can double if you want less ragi flavor)
• 2 tablespoons fine semolina (optional or use rice flour)
• 2 cups water (¼ to ½ cup more if required)
• 2 tablespoons minced onions (make sure you chop them really fine)
• 1 green chili minced (or black pepper for kids)
• 2 tablespoons coriander leaves minced
• 5 to 6 curry leaves minced
• 1 teaspoon ginger minced
• 1/3 teaspoon sea salt (adjust to taste, start with lesser)
• ½ teaspoon cumin seeds (crushed)
• 2 tablespoons ghee or oil to toast

2. All all the dry ingredients except oil/ghee to a mixing bowl and pour half of the water.

3. Mix well to make a lump free batter and pour the remaining water in batches and mix well.

4. The consistency of the batter should be very runny for a thin crisp dosa, and slightly thicker for a thicker dosa. Rest aside for 10 to 15 mins while you make the chutney.

Make the Dosas

5. Grease your pan and heat it on a medium high flame until really hot. A few drops of water sprinkled on the pan should sizzle and evaporate. Stir the batter very well as the solids settle at the bottom. Regulate the flame to medium high and begin to pour the batter, moving forward – starting from the edges in a circular pattern to cover the entire pan.

6. You will have some unfilled pockets, fill them up with the batter.

7. Drizzle 1 teaspoon ghee or oil across the edges & over the dry spots. Let cook for 3 mins on a medium high until the edges begin to leave the pan.

8. Gently turn with a spatula to the other side and cook for another 1 min.

9. Lastly turn it again and cook until the base is crisp, for another minute. This is just a guideline for timing, it may vary depending on the kind of stove and cookware used. But it always takes me a minimum of 5 minutes (total time) or even longer.

10. Remove to a serving plate. Before you make the next ragi dosa, make sure the pan is really hot (not smoking) and give the batter a good stir else the solids settle at the bottom with only the water on top. If you pour the very watery batter without enough flour, it will have larger holes.

You can also make softer and thicker dosas which are actually very filling and these are great for babies above 10 months. I had made these thicker ones for my toddler with double the amount of semolina for a thicker texture and 2 to 4 tablespoons plain yogurt for a flavor (don’t use sour yogurt). These also keep good in the lunch box.

Ragi Dosa with leftover Dosa Batter

1. We will need fermented dosa batter. I used 1 cup batter. My dosa batter was made in the ratio of 1:3 (dal:rice). For more details you can check this post on Dosa batter.

2. Add 4 tbsp of ragi flour and little salt. You can also mix ragi flour and salt together with some water and then stir in with the dosa batter. My dosa batter was already runny so I added directly to the batter.

3. Mix them up together.

4. Pour water to bring to the consistency.

5. The batter must be of pouring consistency. To make crisp dosas make the batter slightly thick. For soft dosas make the batter slightly runny like mine. We feel the soft dosas taste better than the crisp ones.

6. Grease and heat a pan well as you do for normal dosa. Pour the batter in the center of the pan.

7. Spread batter to a thin dosa.

8. Drizzle some oil.

9. The edges of the ragi dosa will begin to leave the pan.

10. Flip it and cook.

Serve ragi dosa with chutney.

Related Recipes

Recipe Card

Ragi Dosa Recipe first published in April 2014. Updated and republished in July 2022.