Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Ragi manni/pudding (Fingermillet pudding)


 Ragi Manni/pudding (Finger millet pudding)
Ragi (English-Finger millet,Chinese-䅟子,Arabic- Tailabon, German-Fingerhirse, French-coracan) is a popular millet in Southern India and is made into different dishes like porridges, puddings, pancakes,cookies, etc. Nutritionally,it is rich in the amino acid methionine and is among the few grains which contains a considerable amount of calcium.
Ragi is also given to babies as one of first cereals after rice(in fact Nestle India had launched a baby cereal mix with rice and ragi). My grandmother used to make ragi manni during summer, as it is believed in Ayurveda to cool the body.Traditionally it is made by soaking the ragi millet overnight in water,then grinding it to a fine paste and straining it in a cheesecloth.This is then cooked with jaggery and coconut milk,till it reaches a thick pasty consistency.It is then poured into huge plates and set aside to cool. The end product used to be simply amazing-a dark chocolate brown pudding(my gran used to tell me that it was Indian chocolate pudding,so that she could get me to eat it)that simply melted in the mouth.
Sadly,I could not find ragi millet here(not that I would have gone through the whole cumbersome process even if I had),but managed to get the ragi flour at the Indian store to make this instant version. I substituted milk for the coconut milk and the final product still was very tasty though it didn't have the same rich dark brown colour.Also,since it's not strained you can see brown specks of the ragi coat. The ragi manni/pudding can be eaten hot or cold(I love it cold)and had as a porridge for breakfast or served as a dessert or a healthy anytime snack(if you can mange to control the portion size)!
Ingredients:Serves 2
  • Ragi flour: 1 cup
  • Milk/Coconut milk: 2 cups
  • Jaggery: 1 cup scraped OR Sugar: to taste
  • Cardamom powder: 1/4 teaspoon
  • Salt: a pinch
Method:
  1. Mix the ragi flour with the cold milk and make sure there are no lumps.
  2. Pour this into a saucepan and add the jaggery/sugar,salt and cardamom powder.
  3. Cook on medium heat stirring continuously(take care to see that it doesn't form lumps).
  4. When the mixture starts to thicken, reduce the heat and keep stirring till you get a porridge like consistency.
  5. Remove from heat.
  6. Serve the ragi manni (finger millet pudding) warm or chilled.
Note:
  • You can substitute sugar for the jaggery, though it is more nutritious to use jaggery.
  • Adding a pinch of salt is supposed to make the dish sweeter (not sure if that's really true).

Question: Do you feel that adding a pinch of salt to a sweet dish makes it sweeter or is it just an old wives tale?

33 comments:

Pavithra Elangovan said...

Wow thats so so healthy .. meal.. love the dish and nice idea to make as pudding swetha..

chow and chatter said...

thanks for posting good for Jasmine very educational I am learning so much more about Indian cooking from you, my Mum in Law will be surprised he he

Jenn said...

Never had ragi pudding, but I've heard about it from a couple of my Indian friends. There's an indian store near my house. I wonder if they'll have some ragi millet in stock. I'll need to check it out.

Ann said...

Sounds ultra yumm adn healthy. Since I have lot of rice milk in stock, gonna try it soon :)

Anonymous said...

Sweta - thanks so much for sharing...I am learning so much from you about new dishes that I've never heard of before!

Home Cooked Oriya Food said...

Very healthy pudding/porridge... I love yourhealthy twists like replacing coconut milk with milk...

Christo Gonzales said...

yes I do think salt makes things sweeter...and I have never had this pudding but I would love to...

Meghan (Making Love In The Kitchen) said...

And I learned something new today!

Pooja said...

That is a healthy n delicious pudding! Never tried with ragi flour!

theUngourmet said...

Sounds interesting and good. I would love to try it!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a very yummy and healthy breakfast!

Gita Jaishankar said...

Thats a very healthy breakfast...more like a healthy dessert for breakfast :)

Gina; The Candid RD said...

Hmmm..I wouldn't say it makes it sweeter, but it adds a whole new demension in my opinion. You know the whole salt and sweet combination, it's great! And only a little salt is needed, which makes it great not such a bad thing.

Anonymous said...

looks wonderful!
and I think adding salt doesn't make it sweeter...it just makes it taste BETTEr with a touch of seasoning in it!

Heather S-G said...

YUm!!!

Juliana said...

Sounds really healthy...and I like your intro about ragi...very interesting. Would like to try it. Nice picture!

Angie's Recipes said...

Thanks, the post is educational and yummy to read.
Gotta check local Asian shops for the ragi millet.

Unknown said...

Lovely healthy recipe. Thanks for sending this to Showme your breakfast event!

sangeeta said...

this is so healthy n nice with that coconut milk........whole organic raagi is available here n i make this for my daughter Mithi.....the addition of CM is interesting............i keep the bran n add a mashed banana to it so that Mithi can swallow it properly.good for kids n adults both.
my mom makes laddu from ragi.

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella said...

This looks lovely and I love reading about foods from other cultures, even if I can't get a hold of them :)

Balance, Joy and Delicias! said...

such a great healthy and yummy recipe for dessert! :)

Vrinda said...

Great pudding with ragi..i am not a fan of ragi but i know its very healthy..nice presentation

Anupama said...

Sounds like a very healthy dish :-)

Chef Jeena said...

What a great treat to have and healthy too, great blog. :-)

Ramya Vijaykumar said...

You always have something nutritious and different coming up in your space!!! We make Ragi mudda but never used coconut or atleast I dont use it!!! sounds so healthy and nutritious!!!

Renus Kitchen said...

have never tried ragi..guess I have a reason now, especially after reading to yout post

veena said...

Ragi pudding ..
sounds great ..nice idea ..keep it up ..
looks very delious and healthy tooo

Anonymous said...

such a healthy dish.I think I will have to bookmark all ur recipes to try them out..esp cos am trying to diet now

Diana H said...

Thanks for introducing me to something new. Ragi and jaggery, both are new to me - if I come across it, I will know what it is and something to do with it. Thanks.

lisaiscooking said...

This sounds comforting and healthy! I've been cooking with more varieties of grains lately and am always interested in learning more.

Lavanya said...

healthy pudding..i thought of trying it once..but feling lazy to try it..good one!!

Muneeba said...

Gave you a lovely award, and it's waiting for you on my blog. Go grab it! :)

Healthy pudding said...

Hello Dear,

It is absolutely a good suggestion, good nutrition means taking in the right kind of nutrients in the right amounts needed by the body. Thanks...