Ragi roti
Preparation Time
15 minutes
Cooking Time
15 minutes
Difficulty Level
moderate
Meal Type
Dinner
Serves 2
Key Ingredients
- Ragi (finger millet) flour
About This Recipe
Ragi roti is eaten under two names and in two shapes. In Karnataka, ragi rotti is a thick, hand-patted round with onion, coriander, green chilli and cumin worked into the dough, cooked on a tawa and eaten for breakfast or dinner with chutney pudi and butter. In Maharashtra, where the grain is called nachni, and in the north, the roti is thinner and plain, a chapati stand-in for people who want a gluten-free grain on the dinner plate. This recipe gives the plain roti and the rotti add-ins as an option; the dough is the same.
Why hot water: ragi has no gluten, so a cold-water dough has nothing to hold it together and cracks at the edges the moment you press it. Boiling water cooks some of the starch on contact and turns the flour into a soft, clay-like dough that pats out clean. Kneading while warm and using wet fingers to pat, not dry flour, are the other two habits that make the difference between a soft roti and a stiff one.
A good ragi roti is matte, dark brown, soft enough to fold, with a few puffed blisters and no crisp edges. Sprouted ragi flour gives a lighter, sweeter roti; a quarter cup of jowar flour (or wheat, if gluten is not a concern) in the mix makes the dough more forgiving if you are patting for the first time.
Ingredient List
Serving Size:
1x
2x
3x
Dough
- Ragi (finger millet) flour — 1 cup
- Water, boiling — 1 cup
- Salt — 1/2 tsp
- Ghee (1 tsp in the water, the rest to smear on the rotis) — 1 tbsp
- Ragi flour, for dusting — 2 tbsp
Optional, for Karnataka ragi rotti
- Small onion, finely chopped — 1 piece
- Green chilli, finely chopped — 1 piece
- Fresh coriander leaves, chopped — 2 tbsp
- Cumin Seeds — 1/2 tsp
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Serving Suggestions
Plain ragi roti goes with any dal, a dry sabzi or a bowl of curd, with a smear of ghee or white butter while it is hot. Karnataka ragi rotti is eaten with coconut chutney, chutney pudi mixed with oil, or a bowl of ennegayi, the stuffed brinjal curry. At dinner, two rotis with a katori of dal and a vegetable make a full plate. More ways to cook the flour are in the ragi recipes roundup.
Tips for Cooking Ragi roti
Measure the water hot, not cold, and add it in two stages: three-quarters to bind, the rest by the spoon while kneading. The dough should feel like soft clay and hold a fingerprint. Keep the balls under a damp cloth, pat with wet fingers, and cook on a properly hot tawa; a cool tawa dries the roti before it cooks. Wrap cooked rotis in a cloth at once so they stay soft.
Chef’s Note
Ragi flour from a recent milling gives the softest roti. If the first roti breaks while lifting, pat it directly on a sheet of plastic, invert the sheet over the tawa and peel it away. Two rotis, one serving of this recipe with their ghee, come to about 260 kcal, 6.7 g fibre and 218 mg calcium.
Per serving (approx.): 260 kcal, protein 4.3 g, carbs 40 g, fat 8.7 g, fibre 6.7 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 27, 2026
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