Rajgira (Amaranth Seeds): Popping, Laddoo, Roti and How to Use It

Drop a spoonful of rajgira into a smoking-hot dry kadai and, within seconds, the tiny beige seeds burst into white puffs, like popcorn shrunk to the size of sooji. That popped rajgira (amaranth, also called ramdana) is the easiest way to eat rajgira: in chikki and laddoo with gur, in milk as porridge, or ground into atta for roti with a potato binder. Here’s how to do each one, how rajgira really compares with quinoa and kuttu, how to store it before it turns rancid, and why small children need care with loose popped seeds and hard chikki.

How to pop rajgira in a kadai

This is the one skill everything else rests on. The seeds are so small that a few seconds too long turns them brown and bitter, so work in tiny batches and keep a plate ready.

1. Heat a heavy iron or steel kadai on high for 2 to 3 minutes. Test with 5 or 6 seeds: they should pop within 2 or 3 seconds. If they just sit and darken, it isn’t hot enough.
2. Add 1 level tablespoon of raw rajgira. More than that and the bottom layer burns before the top pops.
3. Stir nonstop with a dry cloth ball, a pastry brush or a flat wooden spatula. Most seeds pop in 5 to 10 seconds.
4. Tip onto a plate immediately, even if a few haven’t popped. Wipe the kadai and repeat.
5. Sieve out unpopped seeds through a chhalni; they’re hard and gritty. Save them for porridge.

A quarter cup of raw seeds gives roughly one cup of popped rajgira, enough for 8 small laddoos. Popped seeds are feather-light and fly about, so keep fans off while you work.

How to make rajgira chikki and laddoo at home

Chikki and laddoo use the same two ingredients. What changes is how long the gur cooks: chikki needs the syrup to set hard and brittle, laddoo needs it softer so you can shape it.

Rajgira chikki

1. Grease a steel thali or the back of a tray and a rolling pin with a few drops of ghee.
2. Melt half a cup (about 100 g) of grated gur with 1 teaspoon ghee on low heat, stirring.
3. Once it froths and darkens a shade, drop a little into a bowl of cold water. When it hardens into a ball that snaps cleanly, it’s ready. This takes 3 to 5 minutes after melting.
4. Switch off, tip in 1 cup popped rajgira and stir fast until every puff is coated.
5. Turn onto the thali, roll to about 5 mm thick and cut into squares while warm. Once cool, break along the cuts.

Rajgira laddoo

Cook the gur only until a drop in cold water forms a soft ball you can squash between your fingers, about 2 minutes after melting. Mix in the popped rajgira with a handful of chopped peanuts or roasted til if you like, cool for a minute, then press into lime-sized balls with greased or wet palms. Work fast; the mixture sets as it cools. A batch this size makes about 8 laddoos, each close to 70 to 80 kcal.

Rajgira roti, porridge and homemade rajgira atta

Making rajgira atta at home

Raw seeds are so small and hard that most mixers leave half of them whole. Two ways round it: grind popped rajgira, which turns to soft flour in 20 seconds and suits laddoos, sheera and porridge, or grind raw seeds in small batches of a quarter cup, in 20-second bursts, and sift. The raw version is better for roti. Make only what you’ll use in 2 to 3 weeks, since the flour goes stale fast.

Rajgira roti (makes 4 to 5)

1. Mash 1 medium boiled potato until smooth.
2. Mix with 1 cup rajgira atta, salt or sendha namak, and a little chopped green chilli and dhania.
3. Knead with a few tablespoons of warm water into a soft dough. Rest 10 minutes.
4. Roll between butter paper or pat by hand to 3 mm, then cook on a medium tawa with a little ghee, about 1 minute a side.

Rajgira porridge (serves 1)

Roast 2 tablespoons of rajgira atta in 1 teaspoon of ghee until it smells nutty, whisk in 1 cup of milk, and stir on low for 5 minutes until thick. Sweeten with a little gur and top with chopped fruit. Whole seeds work too: simmer 1 part seeds in 3 parts water for 20 to 25 minutes. They stay slightly crunchy inside a gluey porridge, which some people love and some don’t.

Rajgira vs quinoa vs kuttu: the honest nutrition

All three are pseudo-cereals, seeds eaten like grains, and all are gluten-free when pure. Rajgira stands out a little on protein and minerals.

The minerals come with a catch: like most seeds and leafy plants, rajgira carries phytate and oxalate, which hold on to some of its iron and calcium. Eating it with a squeeze of lemon or a vitamin C fruit helps the body take up more plant iron. So rajgira is a good food. It won’t fix anaemia on its own.

Rajgira seeds and chaulai saag come from the same family of plants. The leaves are a vegetable with their own cooking rules, covered in our guide to chaulai and kulfa saag.

Myth: rajgira is a millet

It’s often shelved with millets and sold in “millet” packs, but rajgira isn’t a grass seed at all. Millets like bajra, jowar and ragi are grasses; amaranth is a broad-leaved plant, which is why its seeds are allowed on vrat days when grains are not. The name rajgira is usually read as “royal grain”, and ramdana as “God’s grain”. The English name comes from a Greek word meaning “unfading”, after its long-lasting red flowers. For true millets, see our guide to jowar, kodo and kangni roti.

How to store rajgira so it doesn’t go rancid

Each tiny seed holds oil, and oil goes stale. Keep raw seeds in an airtight glass jar in a cool, dark cupboard for 3 to 4 months, or in the fridge for up to 6. Flour gets about a month. Popped rajgira stays crisp for 2 to 3 weeks in a tightly closed tin; add a dry spoon only. Sniff before every use: fresh rajgira smells faintly grassy and sweet, while a bitter, paint-like or musty smell means throw it away without tasting. Weevils love it too, so our weevil-proof storage guide applies here as well.

Rajgira questions, answered

Find more seeds, grains and flours in Grains, Daals & Pulses.