Recipe Cooked, Photographed and Written by Praveena
PrepTime:10 mins CookTime:20 mins Cuisine:Indian
Idli is the most common and popular breakfast foods of South India. Its made of fermenting the lentil batter and steaming the batter in a specific idli pan. It is considered as the healthiest breakfast items of the world because of its properties of No Oil, No Fry, Vegan, Gluten free, Lentil & Rice based batter, cooked upon steaming.
Health Benefits of ‘Ragi / Finger Millets’:
There are many varieties of Idli(s) made with different batters, while the below recipe is with Ragi/ FingerMillets/ Bhakri / Nachni which is a whole grain that is gluten-free, rich in fiber that helps with weight loss and diabetes.
It’s packed with calcium, good carbs, amino acids and Vitamin D. And is easily digestible by infants and kids. (info from internet).
We had these idli(s) with Courgettes / Zucchini Chutney / Nethi-Beerakaya Pachchadi and Instant Coconut Chutney / Kobbari Pachchadi.
Before starting to cook, don’t forget to see the Tips mentioned at the end.
My Chutney recipes collection here⇒ Chutney / Pachchadi / Dip
My Breakfast recipes collection here⇒ Breakfast / Tiffin
Related Posts:
- Whole Ragi Idli / Finger Millets Idli
- Instant Oats Idli / Oats Veg Idli
- Instant Rava Idli Mix (Storage Friendly)
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Ingredients:
- Ragi / FingerMillet / Bhakri / Nachni Flour – 1 cup
- Semolina / Upma Rava – 1 cup
- Homemade Curd / Plain Yogurt / Greek Yogurt – 1 cup
- Baking Soda / Cooking Soda / Eno – ¾ teaspoon
- Salt – 1½ teaspoons (or) as per taste
- Water – ½ cup (or) as required
Special Ingredients:
- Baking Soda / Cooking Soda
Step wise pics Procedure for ‘Ragi / Bhakri / Finger millets idli’:
- Firstly put a sauce pan / vessel on stove top under medium flame.
- Add the semolina/rava and dry roast, until the colour of semolina/rava slightly changes and you get a pleasant aroma (takes 2-3 mins).
- Switch the flame off and let it cool down a bit.
Ragi/Bhakri/Finger Millet flour used - Add the ragi / finger millet / bhakri flour, salt and baking/cooking soda into the same vessel.
- Mix everything and then add the curd/yogurt to the same.
Curd / Yogurt used - Now, add water as required and mix everything thoroughly into a smooth batter. See pics below for the consistency.
- Apply oil to the idli pans and pour in the batter into them, up to ¾ level.
Ragi/FingerMillet/Bhakri Idli batter taken into idli pan for steaming - Put the pans into an idli steamer or into a wide bottomed vessel filled with 2 cups of water.
- Close the lid, steam them on stove top under high flame for 10-12 mins, then switch the flame off and leave the vessel unopened for 3 more mins.
Steamed ragi/fingermillet idli(s) out of the steamer - Gently take the idli(s) out of the idli pan with a wet spoon and serve!! Done!!
Ragi/Millet/Bhakri Idli taken out of steamer and ready to be served
FULL VIDEO FROM MY YOU TUBE CHANNEL:
Tips:
- Whatever might be the size of the cup the ratio of flour:rava:curd is 1:1:1
- Vegans can use a plant-based yogurt for this recipe.
- Be careful while dry roasting the rava/semolina, so that you don’t burn.
- Don’t add too much water while making the batter.
- Adjust the salt as per your taste.
- You can ferment the batter for 20-30 mins, if you wish to. But I didn’t, I used it right away.
- If you do not have the idli steamer pan you can pour the batter in a round cake tin, steam it in a wide bottomed vessel and cut them into desired pieces.
- These, Ragi / Bhakri / Finger millets idli can be re-heated and served even when they are steamed a day before.
- The batter stays good up to 2 days when stored in fridge.
Result:
- The taste of these, Ragi / Bhakri / Finger millet idli is very much like the regular idli(s) but not 100% the same.
- In texture, yes they are very soft exactly the same as the regular ones.
- We had them with Instant Coconut Chutney / Kobbari Pachchadi and Zucchini Chutney / Nethi-Beerakaya Pachchadi

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Instant, Ragi / Finger Millets / Nachni Idli Recipe
Equipment
- Instant Pot or Electric Pressure Cooker
- Idli steamer / Wide bottomed vessel
Ingredients
- 1 cup Ragi / FingerMillet / Bhakri / Nachni Flour
- 1 cup Semolina / Upma Rava
- 1 cup Homemade Curd / Plain Yogurt
- ¾ teaspoon Baking Soda / Cooking Soda / Eno fruit salt
- 1½ teaspoons Salt (or as per taste)
- ½ cup Water (or as required)
Instructions
- Firstly put a frying pan on stove top under medium flame.Add the semolina/rava and dry roast, until the colour of semolina/rava slightly changes and you get a pleasant aroma (takes 3-4 mins).
- Switch the flame off and let it cool down a bit.Add the ragi / finger millet / bhakri flour, salt and baking / cooking soda into the same bowl.
- Mix everything and then add the curd/yogurt to the bowl.Now, add water as required and mix everything thoroughly into a smooth batter.
- Apply oil to the idli pans and pour in the batter into them, up to ¾ level.
STEAMING ON STOVE TOP:
- Put the pans into an idli steamer or into a wide bottomed vessel filled with 2 cups of water.Close the lid, steam them under high flame for 10-12 mins, then switch the flame off and leave the vessel unopened for 3 more mins.
INSTANT POT FOR STEAMING:
- Fill the pot with 2 cups of water. Saute for 2 mins until the water boils.Put the idli stand in the pot, close the lid, put valve for VENTING.Select STEAM mode under HIGH pressure for 10 mins (use an external timer) and remove the lid only after 3 more mins.
- Gently take the idli(s) out of the idli pan with a wet spoon and serve!! Done!!
Notes
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I adore these! Healthy, delicious and filling.
Yes Vidya!! Right said! 🙂
Do we need to soak batter for 10 or 20 minutes?
No, I did not soak, just mixed and used. Not needed.
is it not necessary to dry roast rahi??
No its not necessary. But, no fault in doing so too.
Is there any substitute of semolina as I have gluten allergy.
There isn’t any. Sorry about that. But you can try the other Ragi idli recipe from my blog, which doesn’t use any rava / rice too. But needs fermentation. Just have a look at it.
Thanx for Recipe. It came out pretty good but it was on little dry side instead of nicely soft. Please suggest what variable I should fix to get soft idli’s. Thank you
Hi AS! Most welcome! And thank you for your nice feedback! 🙂 Reason might be the quality of semolina / rava. Just adjust the water you add for making the batter, might be add a bit more and even steam for 2 more mins and see. Hope this helps. 🙂