Rajgira (amaranth): names, nutrition, benefits and how to cook it

Rajgira is the seed of Amaranthus cruentus, the amaranth plant, and its English name is amaranth. IFCT 2017 records the seed under food code A002 as 'Amaranth seed, pale brown', with 356 kcal, 13.3 g of protein and 7.5 g of fibre per 100 g. A 2012 Journal of Food Science review describes amaranth as a highly nutritional pseudocereal whose protein amount tops what true cereals carry.

Rajgira is not a millet. ICAR-IIMR's bulletin defines millets as a group of small-seeded grasses, and the 2012 Journal of Food Science review classes amaranth as a pseudocereal — a seed used like a cereal without being one. The two sit on the same shop shelf because both are small, gluten-free and eaten whole or as flour. Amaranth rajgira is one seed in three kitchen forms: whole seed, rajgira flour (amaranth atta) and popped rajgira, and the rest of this page follows the three forms. The flour is the seed milled whole, so the numbers carry across all three forms.

One grain, many names: in English rajgira is amaranth seed, in Hindi ramdana, in Gujarati rajagaro and in Marathi cavali biya. IFCT 2017 records a name for it in ten Indian languages, all in the table below, with Bengali, Urdu and Sanskrit left blank in the same list.

Two spellings cause most of the confusion: ramdana is Hindi for the same seed, and amaranth flour in English is rajgira atta, the milled grain. The rajgira names page takes each name by region and untangles rajgira from the grains it gets confused with — quinoa, ragi, kuttu and kangni.

Source: IFCT 2017 (ICMR-NIN) local-names list. — means no name recorded in the source.

The table below is rajgira nutrition per 100g for the raw seed, from IFCT 2017, and it is the flour's table too: rajgira atta is the same seed milled.

Read the table this way: the grain is dense at 356 kcal per 100 g, carries more protein than wheat or rice at 13.3 g, and brings 7.5 g of fibre, 8 mg of iron and 162 mg of calcium with almost no sodium — 2.8 mg. In IFCT 2017, rajgira has no vitamin C figure, and no tested GI for the plain grain sits in the University of Sydney database. For the full GI story and the same numbers turned into roti and katori servings, see rajgira nutrition per 100g.

Per 100 g raw, edible portion. Composition: IFCT 2017 (ICMR-NIN). — means not reported. These are average values for the food; the label on a pack gives the values for that product.

Ten benefits sit on the deeper page, each traced to the nutrient that does the work; the short version runs the numbers.

• Protein: 13.3 g per 100 g, above what wheat and rice carry, and the 2012 review finds amaranth carries a larger amount of protein than true cereals.
• Iron: 8 mg per 100 g; a 2024 meta-analysis of ten amaranth-containing intervention studies saw haemoglobin edge upward, but the change missed statistical significance, and plant iron absorbs better with vitamin C foods at the meal.
• Fibre: 7.5 g per 100 g, the part ICMR-NIN's guidelines credit with slowing the absorption of carbohydrates and fats and adding satiety.
• Calcium and magnesium come to 162 mg of calcium and 270 mg of magnesium per 100 g; magnesium sits among the minerals the guidelines credit with nerve cell transmission, fluid balance and the work of enzymes and hormones.
• Gluten-free: ICAR-IIMR's bulletin lists amaranth among the grains that may help people adhering to a gluten-free diet.
• Low sodium: 2.8 mg per 100 g.

ICMR-NIN's Dietary Guidelines also name amaranth seeds among the foods with health promoting effects, alongside fenugreek, flax, chia and basil seeds, to be eaten at least three to four times a week. Each benefit, its source line and its limits: rajgira benefits.

Rajgira has no single flagged danger; its cautions are about amounts and form. At 356 kcal per 100 g the seed is energy-dense, so it should replace something on the plate, not sit on top of it. Its 7.5 g of fibre is welcome in a usual diet but deserves a gradual start, with enough fluids, when rajgira is new to the plate. Plant iron needs help to be taken up (a vitamin C food in the meal does that job), and tea close to a meal works against it, so diets that count iron should not lean on rajgira alone. Coeliac caution: the seed itself is gluten-free, but flour milled on lines that also handle wheat can pick up traces, so check the pack. And plain rajgira has no tested GI, so no measured figure exists to plan meals around it. A diet your doctor has set for you outranks a general page, so ask before rajgira becomes a daily grain. The full list: rajgira benefits.

Only as a swap, and the arithmetic is simple: one roti from 30 g of rajgira flour is about 107 kcal, two are about 214 kcal, and the fibre that comes with them adds satiety. Frying and ghee push those numbers up fast, so the guidelines' rule applies — cook with minimal oil instead of frying, and let rajgira take the cereal slot instead of adding a second one. The same plate logic covers rajgira's vrat cousin kuttu, which runs close at 343 kcal per 100 g, and on fast days a rajgira roti simply stands where a wheat roti would. the rajgira for weight loss page works through the full plate, including why no GI claim can be made for the grain.

Rajgira flour has no gluten, so the rules of wheat dough do not apply. For flatbreads, knead the atta with just-boiled water — the hot water binds the flour and keeps the edges from cracking — give the dough a ten-minute rest, then roll gently between two sheets of paper. On a medium tawa, about two minutes a side, with a thin smear of ghee to finish: that is the rajgira roti, four rotis from 1 cup of atta in about 40 minutes, about 141 kcal each as the recipe makes it.

For anything cooked wet, the flour meets liquid the other way: whisk rajgira flour into cold milk first and simmer for porridge, or roast it in ghee before the milk goes in for sheera, and it thickens without lumps. The amaranth recipes roundup carries all eight dishes grouped by meal — roti and puri, porridge and upma, popped rajgira and chikki, sheera and ladoo — with vrat substitutions and a plain-vs-sweet guide at the end.

The whole seed cooks like a small grain: wash it, then temper mustard, cumin, curry leaves, a chopped onion and one green chilli in a teaspoon of oil, tip in the rajgira with three times its water and salt, cover and leave it on low heat for about 15 minutes; when the water is taken up and the seed is tender, finish with lemon and coriander. Popping is faster still: heat a heavy kadai very hot, add the rajgira a tablespoon at a time and keep shaking the pan, and the seeds puff white within seconds. Popped rajgira becomes chikki with jaggery, and roasted atta, jaggery powder and ghee pressed while warm make the rajgira laddu: twelve laddus from the batch in about 30 minutes, roughly 118 kcal apiece.

Storage is the same for seed and flour: a sealed jar on a cool dry shelf, never an open bag. The seed keeps for many months that way; the flour has no fixed figure, so smell it before use — fresh atta smells like grain, and a musty or bitter smell means it has sat too long. Cooked rajgira food goes to the fridge the same day; the UK Food Standards Agency gives it two safe days there. When buying, check what the pack holds — whole seed for popping and upma, flour for roti and sheera, popped seed for chikki — and judge freshness by the milling date and the smell on opening. Rajgira atta and amaranth atta are two labels for the one flour; either name is fine as long as amaranth is the only grain inside.

Is rajgira a millet?

No. Rajgira is amaranth seed, the grain of Amaranthus cruentus, and it sits in a different plant family from the millets, which are small-seeded grasses. Botanists class it as a pseudocereal — not a grass, but a seed used the way cereals are — which is how it lands on the same shop shelf as ragi and bajra. The two groups also share the habit of being small, gluten-free and cooked whole or as flour.

What is rajgira flour?

Rajgira flour is amaranth flour, sold as rajgira atta or amaranth atta: the pale-brown amaranth seed milled fine. It carries the whole seed's numbers — 356 kcal, 13.3 g protein and 7.5 g fibre per 100 g — since the seed goes in whole. It is the flour behind rajgira roti, puri, sheera and laddu, and it needs hot water to hold a dough because it has no gluten.

Difference between rajgira and quinoa?

They are two seeds from two different plants. Rajgira is the amaranth seed (Amaranthus cruentus); quinoa is the seed of Chenopodium quinoa, a different plant, and each carries its own IFCT 2017 food code. Per 100 g, rajgira carries 356 kcal and 13.3 g protein against quinoa's 329 kcal and 13.1 g. Both are gluten-free and cook like small grains, which is why recipes use them alike, but they are not the same seed.

Is rajgira good for weight loss?

As a swap, yes. One roti from 30 g of rajgira flour is about 107 kcal, and the grain's 7.5 g of fibre per 100 g is the part ICMR-NIN's guidelines credit with slowing absorption and adding satiety. Jaggery, ghee and frying undo the arithmetic. Keep rajgira plain, skip the frying, and let it replace rice or wheat rather than join them. Full working: the rajgira for weight loss page.

How rajgira flour is made?

Plain rajgira flour is one ingredient: the pale-brown amaranth seed, cleaned and milled whole, so the atta keeps the seed's full numbers per 100 g. There is no soaking, roasting or second grain in it. Once opened, keep the jar airtight and away from heat.

Is amaranth and rajgira same?

Yes, they are one grain under two names: rajgira is the everyday Indian word, amaranth the English one, and the botanical name is Amaranthus cruentus. IFCT 2017 lists the seed as 'Amaranth seed, pale brown' with ten regional names alongside, ramdana in Hindi and rajagaro in Gujarati among them. Amaranth atta and rajgira atta are the same flour.

What is rajgira called in english?

Amaranth, in full amaranth seed: IFCT 2017 gives the grain the label 'Amaranth seed, pale brown', botanically Amaranthus cruentus. In Hindi the same seed is ramdana. Rajgira, amaranth and ramdana are three ways of saying one seed.

Why we eat rajgira in fast?

The farali kitchen leans on rajgira for what it brings to the vrat plate: the grain is gluten-free, energy-dense at 356 kcal per 100 g, and turns into roti and puri from its flour, laddu for the sweet end and popped rajgira in place of puffed rice. The recipes linked above carry the substitutions, and each fast sets its own allowed list.