Ragi is a healthy grain and nutritious food for babies. It’s known as finger millet in English, ragi in kannada, nachni in Marathi & Gujarati, mandika in Hindi, panji pullu in Malayalam, ragulu in Telugu, marwa in Bengali & Nepali and kelvaragu or Keppai in Tamil.
- It is rich in calcium hence strengthen the bones.
- Rich in dietary fiber so helps in healthy weight gain.
- Cures anemia as rich in iron.
- It has proteins & minerals, easily digestible for babies.
Though soaking and sprouting the ragi takes lot of time, its highly recommended for babies and toddlers. Here is the advantage of the same: Soaking and sprouting helps to absorb iron content as the level of Vitamin C increased during the process. Also sprouted ragi is easily digestible for babies and increase the nutritional values.
Ragi can be given to babies of age six months plus after introduced with few veg or fruit purees and rice. Please check this how to make ragi porridge for babies. When you start begin with 1 tbsp of cooked ragi porridge and check whether the baby shows any allergic reaction. Check it for 3 days and if the baby is not allergic to it, you can increase the amount gradually. For toddlers, ragi porridge can be made with milk. You can also make ragi dosa for toddlers.
- Ragi seeds - 1.5 cups
- Measure the ragi seeds using a measuring cup as mentioned in the ingredients table & keep it ready.
- Take ragi in a vessel and wash it by rubbing well with your hands. It has lots of mud so repeat the process 2 to 3 times unless it is clean and get rid of all mud.
- Then soak the ragi in clean water for 12 hours. Keep it covered (with provision to some air to enter) while soaking. After 12 hours, open. The color of the ragi will be changed after soaking.
- Then drain the water completely. Transfer the drained ragi to a clean white cloth or cheese cloth for sprouting. Place the cheese cloth with ragi in a colander.
- Tie it up with all four corners and keep it undisturbed for another 12 hours for sprouting. After 12 hours, open the cloth carefully. You could see the tiny sprouts in ragi. Transfer the sprouted ragi to a plate and sun dry it for 12 hours.
- After sun drying the ragi, dry roast the ragi in a pan in low flame for 5 minutes or until it's toasted. Remove from the pan and cool it down.
- Take the roasted ragi to a dry mixer jar and blend it to a smooth powder. Sieve the powder well. Cool it down and store in a air tight container.
Procedure :
- You can store this sprouted ragi powder in airtight container and keep it in refrigerator. It stays well 2 to 3 months.
- Sprouted ragi would have tiny sprouts. If you can’t see the tiny sprouts, sprinkle little water and sprout it for another couple of hours or more.
- Make sure you cool down completely after roasting & blending. Otherwise it will let out moisture.
- You can also grind the ragi in mill if you’re preparing larger quantities.
- If grinding at home, do it in intervals in order to avoid overheating of the blender.
- Always check with your pediatrician before introducing any new food.
When to keep ragi under sun dry?
After sprouting
Hi.. My baby is 6 months old….the flour is to be sieved in a normal fine mesh sieve or a muslin cloth.
Normal fine mesh sieve would do
Thank you for sharing your method.. I used a normal mesh (finest available) and the brown husk pieces did come down from the sieve..If I used a fine cloth then this would not come down.. My question is is it ok for this brown powdered husk to be present in the final powder?
Repeat sieving 2 to 3 times until the flour is husk free.
Hi..Thank you so much for all the recipes, I am a diligent follower of your food blog. My baby will be 7 months soon and I have started this ragi porridge for him. But I am not able to get the proper consistency for porridge with this powder.. it’s like all powder deposits at bottom and watery stuff on top
I am pro at making it the other way by soaking overnight and grinding next day but that won’t give me benefit that I get from sprouts.
May be my water to powder ratio is wrong? Can you tell me how to prepare it with powder?
Am glad you like my recipes:) if the ragi powder is settling at the bottom you may have added more water to cook. Try to reduce the water amount and see (try with 2 tbsp of ragi 3/4 cup to 1 cup of water) .Once the ragi is cooked and porridge consistency is reached, switch off. Later you can adjust the thickness by adding water/milk if it is too thick. Hope it helps!
So we should make the regular porriadge with malted Ragi ?
Any ragi powder you can use to make ragi porridge , the method is same!
Nice recipes
Useful for us
Thanks Kavita:) Glad you found our recipes useful!
Hi,
Thank you for such healthiest recipes. I used a fine cotton cloth to sieve the powder. Now should we trash the thick leftover powder though i grinded it several times.
use a fine sieve instead of cloth …
Hi thank you for the useful tips. Here in my place winter is started and is it ok to dry the sprouted ragi in fan or is there any option.
yes you can dry it inside the room and dry roast in a pan..if you get sunlight
Thank u for ur reply, then i will try to dry inside room. I would like to Thank u for ur website which is very useful for new mommies.
glad you found our website useful!
Can I add almonds and chaswenuts powder to do mix my baby is 15 months old
yes you can add
hi dr,
can i extract ragi milk from this sprouted ragi and make porridge for my baby (6 month old). if so, is it possible to store the sun dried sprouted ragi in fridge? will it affect its nutrition content..?
thanks
Yes you can take milk from sprouted whole ragi and you can store the sprouted ragi in refrigerator.. but not sure how long it stays good
hi dr,
i followed ur method to sprout ragi..seeing that tiny sprouts in ragi was an awesome moment….thanks for ur well detailed post …:)
Most welcome and Yes its a treat to eyes:)
I do not get sunlight where I live….is there any other option? Can I dry it under the fan n then roast it?
yes, you can dry under a fan or keep it in an oven with just light on.
Can v soak ragi for more than 12hours…..if v soak more than 12hours it will be any issues…..
it might give a bad odor if soaked for more than 12 hours. also there is a chance that it may get spoiled.
Can v use that I tied n ketp tiny sprouts r der…..not much v can use it na
if no bad odor, you can use it.
Hi, I made ragi powder at home, but I can still see some small ragi particles after cooking it, what should I do to make it more fine and also my baby’s poop has rahi particles, so is it normal?
Sieve it two to three times and see.
also, make sure to cook the ragi powder at least for ten mins. undigested foods come out in poop and its common in the first few months as the baby’s digestive system isn’t fully developed.
I have prepared this sprouted Ragi powder.. But while cooking once it reaches thick consistency it is releasing water and not able to get porridge consistency again.. Please let me know what can I do
Homemade ragi powder porridge will not become thick like pudding and will be in slightly thick consistency. Try to reduce the water amount and see (try with 2 tbsp of ragi 3/4 cup to 1 cup of water). Once the ragi is cooked, and porridge consistency is reached, switch off. Later you can adjust the thickness by adding water/milk if it is too thick. Hope it helps!