Ragi malt
Preparation Time
5 minutes
Cooking Time
15 minutes
Difficulty Level
easy
Meal Type
Drinks
Serves 2
Key Ingredients
- Ragi (finger millet) flour, sprouted if you have it
About This Recipe
Ragi java, ragi ambli, ragi malt: three names for the same idea, which is ragi flour cooked thin enough to drink. In the villages of southern Karnataka and Rayalaseema it is the farmer's breakfast, drunk from a steel tumbler before the day's work, and in Bengaluru it comes chilled from carts in summer with a piece of raw onion. The savoury version with buttermilk is ambli or majjige java; the sweet version with jaggery, and often milk, is what many homes and packs call ragi malt.
The word malt is not decoration. Traditional ragi malt is made from sprouted ragi: whole grain soaked overnight, tied in a cloth for a day until the white shoots show, sun-dried, lightly roasted and milled. Sprouting makes the flour paler and a little sweet, and it is the flour South Indian homes keep for babies and elders. Plain ragi flour works in exactly the same way in this recipe; the drink is darker and earthier, nothing else changes.
This recipe cooks one base and finishes one glass savoury and one sweet, so you can taste both. The texture should be a thin, smooth, pourable porridge that coats the spoon lightly, never a jelly. Double either finishing group to make both glasses the same way.
Ingredient List
Serving Size:
1x
2x
3x
Base (for 2 glasses)
- Ragi (finger millet) flour, sprouted if you have it — 4 tbsp
- Water — 2 1/2 cups
Savoury way, ragi ambli (for 1 glass)
- Sour buttermilk, thin — 1/2 cup
- Salt — 1/4 tsp
- Small onion, finely chopped — 1 piece
- Green chilli, finely chopped — 1 piece
- Roasted cumin powder — 1/4 tsp
- Curry leaves, torn (fresh, or a few dried) — 4 nos
Sweet way, ragi malt (for 1 glass)
- Jaggery powder — 1 1/2 tbsp
- Cardamom Powder — 1 pinch
- Milk, optional — 1/4 cup
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Serving Suggestions
Drink savoury ragi ambli at room temperature or chilled, with extra raw onion to bite on between sips; with a ragi roti it makes a light lunch. The sweet ragi malt goes warm in winter and cold in summer, and pairs with a crisp ragi dosa for a full breakfast. More ways to use the grain are in the ragi recipes roundup.
Tips for Cooking Ragi malt
Level the tablespoons of flour rather than heaping them: four level spoons in 2.5 cups of water give a drink that pours, while heaped ones take it closer to a porridge. Once the slurry is in, keep the heat low and the spoon moving, because ragi catches on the base of the pan when left. Salt the savoury glass only after the buttermilk goes in, since buttermilk varies in sourness and salt.
Chef’s Note
Taste before you sweeten: sprouted flour is already faintly sweet, so the sweet glass may need less than the full 1.5 tbsp of jaggery. A sweet glass comes to about 128 kcal, 1.7 g fibre and 79 mg calcium, with more of the calories from the jaggery than from the flour; the plain java base in each glass is about 48 kcal before buttermilk or jaggery goes in.
Per serving (approx.): 128 kcal, protein 1.5 g, carbs 29 g, fat 0.3 g, fibre 1.7 g. Computed from IFCT 2017 / USDA values for the listed quantities. Measures: 1 cup = 240 ml, 1 tbsp = 15 ml, 1 tsp = 5 ml.
Happy Cooking
!!
ByCOWBERRY
Jul 24, 2026
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