Back to some basics and alternative grains - Ragi Rotti

Are you all now well versed in writing 2018 in the year column :-)? I am not, it usually takes me over a month before I start to hear the warning bell ring in the head telling me that a new year has come. But I am noticing that with each passing year and the rarity of hand written notes, it is taking me longer to get used to writing the new number. Ready or not, here is 2018 and well on its way to being a entire week old too. Hope the new year is treating you well and vice versa. I hope you are all keeping up your resolutions for "a better you" if you are the resolutions person. Mine are more 'make it today, break it tomorrow' types :-)

I alluded in my last post that I was doing some experimental cooking, some of it was driven out of necessity. Growing up I had never heard of the nut allergies or gluten intolerance that seem to be so prevalent now. I am a person that grew up eating and enjoying everything vegetarian and edible. On one of the regular annual visits to the doctor where I was whining about that eternal problem of the expanding waist line, she suggested (I think more in the way of getting me off her back than anything) that I stop eating any wheat or wheat products. Looking at my incredulous look she made it sound more gentle than it had the first time by saying that I might want to reduce the wheat in my diet. Thinking back, I am convinced that what she was really telling me was to cut down on the portions and start spending some of those calories by way of exercise :-).

I get it that the medical professionals have to be political in some of these situations and make their professional advice sound less harsh and not as a personal attack on how I choose to live my life! The risk of being overly diplomatic especially with people like me is that their advice gets misconstrued to my personal advantage which is exactly what happened here too. I took what I liked from her expert advice, discarded the rest and twisted some of her advice to what I wanted it to be :-). Poor doctor and then I go back to her again in a year with the same complaints!! I remember the elderly doctor we had in Mysore when we were little kids, I am sure he had no such qualms about sugar coating his treatment or dispensing his advice gently. He infact had pushed the needle into my arm when nammamma had taken my feverish little brother to him for check up and I had simply toddled along side. Why he was giving a shot for a common clue is a question I have asked my physician sister, but..:-). We both survived the experience without any lasting harm :-)

So buoyed by my physician's advice, also because I have been seeing many friends and relatives start talking about gluten allergy and intolerance, I came home resolved (see what I mean by me being a resolute person, I have these multiple resolutions going all through the year and don't need Jan 1st to tell me it is time) to eat less gluten, cut down on bread and wheat in other forms. Instead of taking my doctor's advice for what it was, I decided to erase wheat out of my plate and replace with something else that was equally delicious (and possibly have the same effect since I wasn't reducing any quantity!!). That is how I landed on my other favorite grain aka raagi or finger millet. This is called poor man's food in many rural areas in India especially rural Karnataka. I love raagi mudde and so does DD. Give us both a platter of hot raagi mudde and pour  ladles of spicy bassaru, we will happily GULP it. But BH is in a different category. GULPing is what he cannot do and chewing a raagi mudde is not a pleasant experience. So, I usually make rice on days we have raagi mudde at home.

I will be honest that when I first tried my hands at raagi rotti, the edges tore and there were cracks all over the rotti surface, not a beautiful presentation. But over multiple trials I have perfected the ratio of water to dry flour and some kneading techniques to roll out a puffy, layered and perfectly soft rotti. Here is the recipe with all my tips and tricks written down. Oh, before I go on I want to clarify that rotti is not the 'pat on a griddle' type of rotti (ofcourse you can make raagi rotti similar to akki rotti which is one of the dishes that gets instant attention because of its popularity in Karnataka) but this one is more like 'rolled flat with a rolling pin' type of roti/rotti. BH fell in love with these soft rotis, so now we make this very often at home. It works perfectly for any meal of the day and stays soft even when it gets cool making it a great candidate for lunch boxes or travelling. I have made this for dinner and carried left over in my lunch box and they remain soft.

After all the elimination of wheat and re-introduction of raagi, if you thought I will be posting a Before and After picture, it is not happening. Mainly because Before is still the same as After :-). The expanding waist line is not going anywhere except in circles. That is a story for another day.

But all jokes aside, raagi is traditionally considered a super grain and also due to its low glycemic index, it is released slowly into the blood stream making it a great food choice for diabetics as well. If you are looking for gluten free options but love your rotis and leavened breads too much, this is a great replacement for the wheat rotis that are so common. One of my little nephews was recently diagnosed with Celiac which instantly removes wheat and all gluten sources from his plate :-(. It is plain hard for the mom to tell him he can't have his favorite pooris in lunch box anymore. We made these raagi rottis when he came home last time and my little nephew loved these hot off the griddle with a smear of tuppa (home made ghee/clarified butter), brought a big smile to the mom's face and made the aunt's day :-).

Note on pictures - As you can clearly tell these are pictures from different days, it goes well with any kind of side dish. Also there are 2 different batches of raagi hittu or flour and the color in one is brown-pink while the other is darker tending towards black but both tasted delicious.

What do you need to make raagi rotti? 
Makes 5 standard size rottis
1 cup water
3/4 cup raagi flour + 1 Tbsp for dusting
1/8 Tsp salt (optional, skip it if you prefer)
2 Tsp oil (divided use)

How do you make raagi rotti? 

• In a sauce pan, add water, couple drops of water and salt (if using) and bring it to a gentle boil on medium heat.
• Add dry flour as the boiling starts and reduce the heat to low. 

• Do not touch the flour at this point, let the water continue to boil and soak the sides of the dry flour. 
• Once all the dry flour looks wet, with a stick of a strong ladle (I use the wood churner called kadegOlu), starting from the center of the heap using a circular motion, mix the flour with the water briskly so there are no lumps and everything comes together. 

• Switch off the stove, cover and let it rest for 2-3 mins, this dough doesn't have to get cooked completely as in raagi mudde since it gets cooked again on the griddle. 
• Take a wide plate and add a tsp of oil and scoop out all the dough on to the plate and leave it for just a minute so you can handle the dough with your hands. 
• Knead the dough using the palm and fingers of your hand as you do with wheat flour dough for rotis/bread for about 3mins to get a soft, non breaking pliable consistency. 

• Break the dough into equal sized portions and roll them into balls. 
• Use a wet paper towel to keep the remaining dough balls moist while you are working on one rotti. 
• Take a ball on your rolling surface, dip it in dry flour, flatten it slightly and using a rolling pin roll them into a uniformly thin rotti. Use a light hand and you will see this dough spreads easily into shape. Use dry flour to dust as needed.

• Heat a flat griddle/tawa and shake off any extra dry flour from the rotti and place it on the hot tawa. I always roast these on medium flame to give it time to cook. 
• Once the underside of the rotti starts to get some bubbles, turn it over. Cook on both sides until you get light brown spots on the surface. 
• This rotti puffs up easily with a gentle press with a soft cloth or a flat spoon. 

• Take it out and smear a light dab of ghee before serving. 
• These stay fresh and soft for a day. Serve it with any dry or gravy side dish of choice.

Notes: 

• What I have described above is one way of making lump free dough. If you feel uncomfortable with this here is an alternative way to ensure no lumps are formed: Mix a Tsp of flour in the cold water along with drops of oil and salt and bring it to boil. Lower heat and start adding dry flour in spoonfuls and continuously mix until all the flour is used. Proceed with the next steps in the recipe instructions above. 
• 3/4: 1 ratio works well for most batches of flour, sometimes it make take a couple of spoons more or less depending on the quality of flour. Pics show the consistency of the dough, the idea is to get there by adjusting the water as needed. 
• If the dough feels very soft and watery when you have used up all of the 3/4th cup, add a bit more dry flour, mix it in cover and cook. If the dough feels very tight while mixing the first time, add a couple of spoons to make it softer. 

Ragi Idli - brown beauties for a healthy breakfast

Food blogging and gray skies do not go hand in hand. My blog posts have dwindled in number this past week and if you really insist on knowing the reason, just follow my finger that points to the cloudy, dark outdoors. To top the cream with cherry (that is pretty good for a saying, don't you think?), the investment made generously by the ever supportive BH in the form of a camera flash decided to die on me. I had to hide my face as BH found some tell tale remnants of cooked lentils and a few strands of cilantro sticking right next to the battery case. The man thinks that I have blocked the electrical connection with a non conducting dal or such material. I am officially on the 'Hall of Shame' list at home currently. I may have been a tad negligent, but in my defense, things like these are bound to happen when the kitchen counter doubles as food blogger's direct feed to the channel :-).

All is not lost yet, a pact has been made and BH has been all pacified with promises of delicious food (that is an easy endeavor always, I mean the pacifying part not the bribe :-)) and has agreed to work on the 'cleaning of the flash and bringing it back to life' activity as soon as he can get some time from the seemingly unending meetings and work he has been involved in. In the mean time, I pray fervently that his diagnosis is right on and also ask for a few minutes of sunshine and brightness to coincide exactly with the time I am done with my cooking and ready to take pictures so I can invite you all to try my recipes with cheerful looking pictures that do justice to the deliciousness of the dishes :-). Too many specifications in my prayers, let us see how things turn out. I will keep you all posted.

Until such time, I am going to depend on my ever dependable stash of dishes in my drafts. You have to accept that there is definitely a strong evidence of intelligence in my brain given the fact that I have quite a few yummy creations in my drafts ready to go at a moments notice. Some days, I go on a cooking spree and make multiple dishes and take hundreds of pictures of them all. But by the time I get to them, the mood would have passed and I stare blankly at the pictures and beyond as I cant seem to feel any stories connecting me with those pictures. Sometimes I flutter away to find another set of pictures that make me write reams and reams of stuff about it, and I put the original set back in the draft folder and move on, the draft gets forgotten, well almost or until now..

A month or so ago, I had written a post about diabetic friendly recipes for the Diabetic awareness day and while working on that post, I had made more than one diabetic friendly recipes. While all of them were very close contenders on the taste scale, I had to choose one and I went with Barley upma as that seemed to be a not so common dish. At the same time, my ragi idli got pushed into the draft. This very unassuming idli is a perfect breakfast or dinner when eaten with a spicy chutney or sambar. I have two variations of the same recipe, they change the texture of the idli a little bit, so choose whichever one you prefer.

If you haven't done already, Ragi or finger millet is something you want to incorporate in your regular diet, it has low fat content, good amount of fiber content and high calcium content . If you are not used to the color it imparts to the dishes, it may be a put off initially but don't let that deter you from experiencing a very earthy and fulfilling taste. We relish Ragi mudde, Ragi rotti and Ragi dosa on a regular basis at home.

What do you need to make Ragi idlis?
Makes about 20 idlis
1/2 cup urad dal
1 Tblsp avalakki/poha/rice flakes
1/4 Tsp fenugreek seeds
1/2 Tsp salt
Variation 1:
1 & 1/4 cup ragi flour
Variation 2:
3/4 cup ragi flour
3/4 cup idli rava

How do you make Ragi Idli?

• Soak Urad dal with poha & fenugreek seeds for 3-4 hours.
• Drain the water, scrub and wash the soaked dal once and grind it to a very smooth batter using water.
• Variation 1:
• Once the urad dal is soft (I grind it for about 25-30 minutes in wet grinder), add the ragi flour slowly and give it a couple of pulses so it mixes well with the urad dal paste.
• Alternatively, you can take the urad dal paste to a big bowl, mix the ragi flour until it is homogeneous and lump free.
• Variation 2:
• Rinse idli rava in water and keep aside for an hour. Squeeze out the extra water and add it to the ground urad dal batter along with the ragi flour.
• Follow the below steps for both variations:

• Add salt and mix together. Adjust the consistency of the batter using water as you are using dry flours here. It should be easily pourable but not flowing thin.
• Cover and set it in a warm place to ferment, takes about 8-10 hours. See notes for help on fermenting.
• Grease the idli plates with a drop or two of oil and pour a spoon full of batter. Steam like regular idli for 15-20 minutes or until they are cooked completely.
• Let the idlis stand in the plate for a couple of minutes after you switch off the stove, remove gently using a butter knife. We had it with carrot chutney.

 

Notes:

• I usually switch the oven light on and keep the batter inside the oven, this ferments the batter well overnight. You can heat the oven to the lowest temp setting on Bake, switch it off and put the batter inside for fermenting. If you live in a warm climate, a corner on the counter top will do the trick.

• I added some grated carrots to top the batter when I poured them to the idli moulds. This adds a little bit of color making it appetizing to the consumers and gives extra nutrients.
• Since store bought ragi flour is very fine in texture, these idlis are not grainy like the regular idlis, variation 2 gives you that texture as you use half of rice rava/idli rava.
• These idlis do not plump up like regular rice idlis and remain the same size after cooked , make sure you steam them long enough to cook them through.

 

Ragi dosa - take a diversion from the routine and enjoy the protein rich dose

Are you one of the Dose(a) lovers? How do you like your dose? Paper thin and crispy or soft and delicious? In my house, dose is an all time favorite and when everybody enjoys it, I can't really make the same versions again and again, can I? There are umpteen number of different varieties of dosas out there while every one of them may not be palatable, some definitely appeal to your senses.

I don't know how many of you prepare Ragi dosa, I started making it recently. I love finger millet or Ragi for all its nutrition. I make a plain ragi flour dosa (similar to godhi dosa) but had not tried it with urad dal. I got the recipe from one of my friends S. I knew she made it regularly, but had never asked her for the recipe until recently. I have made this 3 times already and loved it. As is Sattvaa tradition, I do not post my recipes until I get consistent results with it, so you can be confident that this is a tried and tasted recipe.

This Ragi dosa doesn't need fermentation like the regular dosa and hence scores over for a quick fix. All you need to plan is the soaking time for the Urad dal preferably about 4 hours and the grinding time. While it doesn't need to be fermented, you don't have to fret if you made a large batch because I did that the second time, the dosas turned out delicious even after a 10 hour gap. It was one of those cold days and I had not refrigerated the batter either and we enjoyed the very slight hint of fermented taste. So, go on and make these healthy dosas for a breakfast or dinner.

What do you need to make Ragi dosa? 
Makes about 15 regular size dosas
1/2 cup urad dal - I used the deskinned whole urad
11/4 cup ragi flour - you get this in all Indian stores
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 Tsp salt (adjust to taste)
4-5 cups of water - approximate, see notes below
Couple of Tsp oil to make dosas

How do you make Ragi dosa? 

• Soak urad dal & fenugreek seeds together  in 3 cups of water for 4-5 hours.
• Wash the soaked dal in 2-3 changes of water and grind into a fluffy, soft batter using water preferably in a grinder, see below for useful notes on using regular mixer/blender. 
• Take out the urad dal paste and add the ragi flour and salt into it and mix it in with hands making sure there are no lumps (small or big) by adding water. 
• Play around with the consistency to get the type of dosa you like, thinner the batter, thinner you can spread it for crisp dosa.
• Heat a flat griddle/pan and pour a ladleful of batter on to the hot pan and spread it out using a circular motion. 

• Drizzle oil around it, let it cook for a minute until the edges start to rise from the pan. Using a flipper turn the dosa over and let it cook for half a minute before serving it with any chutney or other side dishes of your choice.

Notes: 

• Use cold water to blend the urad dal into a smooth paste. Add water spoonfuls at a time and take care not to heat up the motor. 
• You need to adjust the consistency of the batter based on your preference for paper thin or thick dosas. If you want thinner dosa, make the batter thinner so you can spread easily

Raagi Mudde - welcome to a rustic, down home meal experience

Yep, some of of you that visited Sattvaa on my last post guessed it right about the next post. Raagi mudde and bassaaru is such a well known hand in hand combination. This dish is one of the staples in rural Karnataka diets and many other Southern states. Raagi/finger millet makes for a very filling and nutritious (highest calcium content per serving compared to all other millets) meal and hence is especially popular in the farming communities as they will be able to sustain longer while doing the physical work. Though I am a thorough city bred gal, I love this simple, homely meal of raagi mudde anytime.

By itself, the mudde (or balls) does not have taste except for the salt added to it but it is usually paired with a spicy, slightly thick broth such as bassaaru or other gravy items. This ball is not chewed but dunked in the gravy and gulped down the throat :-), so if you have never had it, it takes some practice. Nammamma never learnt the trick of gulping mudde bites while us kids followed Anna and enjoyed it. Now, while DD & I love our raagi mudde with bassaaru and adept at the technique of eating it, BH is still working on his skills of eating it right. So a trivia conclusion is that the genes can be transferred from father to daughter (as in my case) or mother to daughter (as in my daughter's case) :-)

Raagi mudde or cooked finger millet balls had been available only at homes when we were kids but on my recent visits to Bengaluru, I saw places glorifying and touting this healthy, nutritious and very filling dish. My experience with one of the restaurants which claimed to serve authentic Malnad food (for starters, raagi mudde is not from Malnad region) had a really bad looking mudde which was not even a decent mudde/ball but wiggling like jelly :-). I am grateful that I only saw it on someone else's thali and not mine.

I like my mudde soft yet firm. While the consistency is somewhat personal preference, the important thing is to make sure the flour is cooked well. If you are looking for back to basics, raagi mudde is as basic as it can get. Easy to prepare, uses just 3 ingredients (not counting the water of course) and keeps you full for a long time. Give this earthy dish a try and enjoy a wholesome meal.

If you haven't made raagi mudde or seen it being made, I strongly urge you to read through the notes. I made sure I put a lot of helpful tips in there. I am not very happy with my pictures right now but I did the best as everyone was waiting at the dining table, will try to update pictures when I next make raagi mudde.

What do you need to make Raagi mudde? 
1 cup raagi flour/finger millet flour
1.5 cups water
1/2 Tsp oil
1/2 Tsp salt

How do you make Raagi mudde? 

• Take water, salt and oil in a thick bottom sauce pan and let it come to a gentle boil. 

• Pour the raagi flour into the water, reduce heat and let cook for 4-5 minutes.

• The water will bubble up and surround the dry flour completely, do not mix it before this happens.

• Once you see only a small tip of the dry flour mound, mix it vigorously with the back of a sturdy wooden spoon and bring it to a single mass. 

• Reduce the heat to low, cover the pan partially and cook for another 5-6 minutes. 
• The color of the raagi mudde changes from light brown to dark brown when it cooks.

• Take off the stove, smear your palms with a drop of oil and scoop out the raagi mass and make it into a ball. 
• Pinch off small pieces of the mudde, dunk it completely in the gravy, put it in your mouth and gulp it down. Doesn't sound appetizing? Trust me on this and give it a try and I am sure you will become a fan.

• We had our raagi mudde with bassaaru and a side of palya.

Notes:

• It is important to wait until the dry flour gets covered with boiling water so it gets cooked partially. 
• Hold the pan tightly in one hand (my father used to hold it between his two feet to get a good grip while moving the wooden ladle with his hands) and mix it well so it doesn't form small flour knots - these do not cook well and makes raagi mudde taste bad. 
• Watch the change in color of raagi mudde as you let it cook, you can also pinch off a small portion between your fingers, if it is sticky it needs to cook further. 
• While making balls, put your hands in cold water to help manage the heat. 
• You can enjoy raagi mudde with gravies that do not have a lot of vegetables so it is easier to dip the mudde pieces and coat it with the gravy. 
• The ratio of raagi flourto water is 1:1.5 but may change slightly depending on the quality of the raagi flour. Whenever I get a new brand of flour, I usually take 1/2 cup water out of the vessel before adding the flour and then reuse it while cooking the mudde. This way you can be guaranteed with the right consistency. 
• If the mudde after mixing in the flour seems very liquidish, add a Tblsp more of flour, mix it well and let cook. If the mudde seems hard (you will notice the difficulty while mixing it in), sprinkle some water and mix it.