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.
Idli is considered as the healthiest breakfast items of the world because of its properties of Fermented Batter, No Oil, No Fry, Vegan, Gluten free, Lentil & Rice based batter, cooked upon steaming.
There are many varieties of Idli(s) made with different batters, while the below recipe is an Instant, No Soaking, No Grinding, Just Mix & Make, style idli made with Ragi (Finger Millets/ Nachni) Flour.

Table of Contents:
- Possible Alterations for the recipe, ‘Instant Ragi Flour Idli / Nachni Idli’:
- Health Benefits of ‘Ragi Flour Instant idli / Instant Finger Millets Idli’:
- How to serve, ‘Instant Ragi Flour idli / Finger Millet Flour idli’:
- Other recipes from my blog:
- Full Video from my You Tube Channel:
- Step wise pics Procedure for ‘Ragi Flour idli / Instant Finger millets Flour idli’:
- Prep Work:
- Make the Batter:
- Arrange the idli Steamer:
- Steaming Ragi Flour idli:
- Tips:
- Result:
- Ingredients, Accessories on ‘AMAZON’ to ‘SHOP’:
- Recipe Card & Print:

Possible Alterations for the recipe, ‘Instant Ragi Flour Idli / Nachni Idli’:
Other Ingredients to add: For additional taste, you can add few cashew nuts, chopped coriander leaves, a tablespoon of ghee, grated carrot to the batter.
Alternative idli pans: You can pour the batter in a round cake tin, steam it in a wide bottomed vessel and cut them into desired pieces.
Without using rava/semolina: This is not possible, as its used for binding purpose.

Health Benefits of ‘Ragi Flour Instant idli / Instant Finger Millets Idli’:
Ragi/Finger Millets: is a whole grain that is gluten-free, rich in fibre 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.
To Conclude: This recipe is best suitable for Diabetic friendly, Low Calories, Vegetarian, Kids friendly diets.

How to serve, ‘Instant Ragi Flour idli / Finger Millet Flour idli’:
As shown in the picture below, we had these idli(s) with Courgettes / Zucchini Chutney / Nethi-Beerakaya Pachchadi and Instant Coconut Chutney / Kobbari Pachchadi.
Here are few chutney and podi recipes from my blog, suitable for idli.
- Chana Dal Chutney Recipe for Dosa, idli
- Instant Coconut Chutney / Kobbari Pachchadi
- Coconut – Almond Chutney / Kobbari – Badam Pachadi
- Peanut Chutney / Palli Pachadi
- Ginger Chutney / Andhra Allam Pachadi
- Avocado Chutney (South Indian style)
- Fresh Coconut Chutney Powder (Oil Free)
- Mint Leaves Spice Powder / Pudina Karam Podi
- Moringa / Drumstick Leaves Spice Powder / Munagaku Podi

Other recipes from my blog:
Before starting to cook, don’t forget to see the Tips mentioned at the end.
Instant Pot recipes collection⇒ Electric Pressure Cooker / Instant Pot Recipes
Chutney recipes collection here⇒ Chutney / Pachchadi / Dip
Breakfast recipes collection here⇒ Breakfast / Tiffin
Related Posts:
- Instant Semiya idli / Vermicelli Instant idli
- Yellow Moong Dal Idli / Pesarapappu Idli
- Whole Ragi Idli / Finger Millets Idli
- Instant Oats Idli / Oats Veg Idli
- Instant Rava Idli Mix (Storage Friendly)
Follow me on⇒ Facebook / Pinterest / YouTube / Instagram
Full Video from my You Tube Channel:
Ingredients:
- Ragi Flour / Finger Millet Flour / Nachni Flour – 1 cup
- Semolina / Upma Rava / Sooji – 1 cup
- Homemade Curd / Plain Yogurt / Greek Yogurt – 1 cup
- Baking Soda / Cooking Soda / Eno – 1 teaspoon
- Salt – 1½ teaspoons (or) as per taste
- Water – 1½ cups (or) as required
Special Ingredients:
- Baking Soda / Cooking Soda
- Curd / Yogurt

Step wise pics Procedure for ‘Ragi Flour idli / Instant Finger millets Flour idli’:
Prep Work:



Make the Batter:



Arrange the idli Steamer:

Steaming Ragi Flour idli:



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.
- Before steaming, you can rest the batter for 20-30 mins, if you wish to. But I didn’t, I used it right away.
- Storage: These, Ragi Flour idli / Nachni / 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

Ingredients, Accessories on ‘AMAZON’ to ‘SHOP’:
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Recipe Card & Print:

Instant Ragi idli / Finger Millets Flour Idli / Nachni Idli Recipe
Equipment
- Frying pan (for stove-top method)
- Instant Pot or Electric Pressure Cooker
- Idli steamer / Wide bottomed vessel
Ingredients
- 1 cup Ragi Flour / Finger Millet Flour / Nachni Flour
- 1 cup Semolina / Upma Rava / Sooji
- 1 cup Homemade Curd / Plain Yogurt
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda / Cooking Soda / Eno fruit salt
- 1½ teaspoons Salt (or as per taste)
- 1½ cups Water (or as required)
Instructions
Prep Work:
- Measure the ingredients and gather everything at one place.
Make the Batter:
- 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.
Arrange the idli Steamer:
- Apply oil to the idli pans and pour in the batter into them, up to ¾ level.
Steaming Ragi Flour idli 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.
Steaming Ragi Flour idli in INSTANT POT:
- 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.
Serving:
- 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. 🙂