Ragi mudde – A staple food in some parts of Karnataka and Andhra pradesh. Ragi is finger millet and mudde is a moist ball. It is nutritious, healthy and a whole some every day food of a large population in many rural areas of Karnataka. Ragi was well known as the poor man’s grain from decades as they are easy to grow with minimal water resources and zero pesticides.
To make ragi mudde, the whole grain finger millet is milled to flour and then cooked to a moist ball. It is served with some every day gravies like bassaru, massoppu, saaru or any dal varieties. Farmers who would leave home in the early hours of the day would eat this with a nutritious lentil dish that helped them to keep fit the whole day.
This Karnataka style ragi mudde is sightly different from ragi sankati and there are slight variations to making this with rice or rice flour. Ragi sankati is served with a simple chicken curry, chicken gravy or chicken pulusu in rayalaseema area.
Ragi mudde is prepared only with ragi flour and no rice or riceflour is used. It is good to serve with a dal curry or leafy vegetables. You can find the recipes of dal here to go with this.
Consuming finger millet regularly strengthens the bones and also helps to maintain steady iron levels. I have used home made ragi flour but any good quality store bought fine flour is good to make this.
Ragi mudde can be prepared by bachelors too easily with ready made flour. It barely takes 10 minutes to prepare, good to have for breakfast or even for dinner.
For more Ragi recipes, you can check
Ragi roti
Ragi ladoo
Ragi idli
Ragi halwa
Ragi rava upma
To make ragi mudde, traditionally a wooden stick called mudde kolu is used to incorporate the flour with the Hot water. However if you do not have you can use a steel ladle.
Ragi mudde recipe
Ragi mudde recipe | How to make ragi mudde | Ragi recipes
Ingredients (1 cup = 240ml )
- ½ cup ragi flour or finger millet flour
- 1 cup water
- Salt as needed (optional)
How to make the recipe
- Add salt, 1 tbsp ragi flour to water in a pot and mix well to remove any lumps.
- Begin to cook on a medium flame.
- When the mixture begins to boil rapidly, add the flour.
Making ragi mudde
- Take off the pot from the stove, and stir well with a wooden stick to prevent lumps.
- You will see that the water is absorbed quickly by the flour, but yet looks soggy. Bring the flour together to the center of the pot, this helps to trap the steam in the flour.
- Back to the stove, cover and cook on a low flame for about 3 minutes without burning.
- Switch off the stove and leave it as it is covered.
- When the temperature comes down, either grease or moisten your palms and roll it to balls.
- Serve ragi mudde with your favorite gravy or sambar.
NUTRITION (estimation only)
Alternative quantities provided in the recipe card are for 1x only, original recipe.
If you are new to cooking, follow my detailed step by step photo instructions for best results.
How to make ragi mudde
1. Stir in 1 tbsp flour in 1 cup water and bring it to a boil.
2.Allow the mixture to boil rapidly.
3. Add the rest of the flour in 2 parts. If you are making more ragi mudde then add it in 3 to 4 parts.
Cooking ragi mudde
4. Set the pot aside, away from the stove and stir well with the wooden stick or spoon to prevent any lumps. Put it back to the stove and cook till it thickens. Scrape off the sides and get the dough to the center of the pot.
5. Cover and cook on a lowest flame for about 2 to 3 minutes.make sure you are not burning it.
6. Off the stove and let the dough rest for few minutes. Keep the pot covered since it still gets cooked.
When the temperature comes down, grease or rinse your palms and roll the dough to balls.
Serve with any dal or gravy curry.
Geetha Krishnan says
Hi Ms.Swasthi, tried both ragi ladoos and ragi biscuits. Both were excellent. Thanks for sharing.
swasthi says
Hello!
You are welcome! Glad you liked them. Thank you!
Prabhakar Naik says
Excellent!
I am a beginner,
I did not know..the steps
I thought it was simpler than as described here.
Thanks!
swasthi says
You are welcome!
Anoosha says
Thank you Ms. Swasthi. I always wanted to eat this healthy dish and your receipe was a timely help. ☺
swasthi says
Hello Anoosha,
You are welcome. Glad you liked it!
Thanks for the comment.
Chetan says
Awesome recepies, helps me so much
swasthi says
Thank you!
D says
Great foolproof recipe, thanks.
swasthi says
You are welcome!
Swathi says
It wasn’t hard as ball but it was soft and tasty. My husband loved it
swasthi says
Hi Swathi,
Hope you were able to make a ball. The texture hard or soft comes from the ratio of water to flour. The amount of water depends on the kind of flour. Some take up so much water hence the mudde comes more firm some don’t. So experienced cooks keep adding the flour approximately until it comes to a texture they think is right. This is similar to the way many people make upma. Keep adding rava to boiling water until you get a certain consistency. So for firmer balls, next time use the same recipe & try adding a bit more of flour. Hope this helps.
Divya says
That is not ragi mudde plz correct it as ragi mudha
swasthi says
Ragi mudde is in kannada and ragi mudha is in telugu. There is nothing to correct!
Sravanthi says
Correct
Kanchita Dutta says
Nice and healthy recipe.thank you.What is the difference between ragi mudde and ragi sankati?Please post the recipe for ragi sankati and accompanying chicken dishes.Also I request you to give a recipe on how to cook morninga leaves (drumstick leaves).Iam from Bengal but I have interest to learn local dishes as I am residing in Bangalore and southern dishes are so nutritious and tasty.Thanks in advance.
swasthi says
Hi Kanchita,
You are welcome. Ragi mudde is made with just ragi flour. But ragi sankati is made with rice and ragi flour. You can cook rice with 1:4 water until soft. Mash it slightly to mushy texture and then add the ragi flour in parts. Mix and incorporate the flour to make sure there are no lumps. Cook covered on a very low flame until the entire mixture turns to very thick mass. I usually stir fry moringa leaves with aloo or sweet potato just like the way we make aloo methi. You can also add it to dal. We make the sukhi dal with these leaves as they taste less bitter here. I also add some leaves along with mashed aloo or sweet potato to atta and make the paratha (not stuffed) Hop this helps.
Ratna says
Awesome . It’s a big hit for the first time and we enjoyed very much. Thankyou so much for the recipe Swathi.
swasthi says
Welcome Ratna. Happy to know the ragi mudde turned out good. Thank you
Bindu says
Thanks a lot swathi… it exactly how u have shown in ur pic…
swasthi says
Welcome Bindu
Sravani says
Really ur recipes help me a lot. I love to cook different recipes and ur blog helps me in that and my family loves all ur recipes. Thank you so much
swasthi says
Welcome sravani
Cynthia says
Nice easy & Healthy recipes
swasthi says
Thank you
Archana pradeep says
Useful post for new learners….Thank you very much
swasthi says
welcome Archana
Josephine says
V.good N useful everyday RECEIPES.
swasthi says
Thanks Josephine
Anil says
Swathigaru I started food court help full your recipe ragimudda thanqyou
swasthi says
Welcome Anilgaru.
So glad to know it is useful. Good luck
Aravind says
Thanks for all the healthy foods you share with us.
swasthi says
welcome Aravind
Elango says
Am staying in bangalore.. Am a bachelor and I used to take raagi mudde at shops regularly.. And now the interesting thing is after reading this am preparing in my own and am enjoying a lot thanks to u dr….
swasthi says
welcome Elango,
Iam so glad that you are enjoying homemade ragi mudde now, perfectly healthy one to stay fit.Have a wonderful day
Sathish bellur says
Tried your recipe , came out fantastic. Instructions are quite easy to follow. Thank you
swasthi says
Welcome Sathish Bellur
chaitanya varma says
helpful..
thanx Swathi garu
and I would like to know how healthy it is. . .
swasthi says
Welcome Chaitanya garu,
it is definitely very healthy if accompanied with a good vegetable or leafy vegetable side. Preferably a side dish of soupy consistency goes good.
kiran says
Tried it today…came out well…thanx a lot…ur recipes helps bachelors like us…
swasthi says
welcome kiran,
Iam glad my recipes are helpful. Thank you
pranav says
Above receipe of ragi mudde helped me a lots..thanks
swasthi says
Welcome Pranav,
i’m glad the recipe helped you
🙂
akshith says
Ragi mudde looks mouth watering I lov tat very much
swasthi says
Thanks Akshith.
🙂
Chikka Ramaiah says
Ragi ball / Ragi mudde is very good for health
I am using mudde for fast 60 years
swasthi says
Thank you