These days, everyone’s raving about ragi. The humble super millet, packed with fibre and calcium, is extremely beneficial due to its umpteen health benefits.
Known as finger millet in English, ragulu in Telugu, nachani in Marathi and Gujarati and marwa in Bengali, this super food has long been a traditional baby food. But adults have also woken up its many health benefits.
It can help protect your heart health, improve the digestive system, lower the risk of cancer, boost respiratory health, detoxify the body, optimise the immune system, increase energy levels, and improve muscle and nerve health. Ragi also leads to stronger bones, stronger teeth and helps to prevent iron deficiency.
The millet is filling and wholesome and recommended for all age groups. Add it to a meal every day to increase fibre in your diet. To ensure that the calcium and iron are easily absorbed, sprout ragi at home or buy the easily available flour made from sprouted ragi. The millet is extremely versatile and can be used in a variety of recipes, including idlis, dosas, rotis, porridge, pancakes, cookies and even bread.
Serving and nutritional details
Single serving: 1 cup cooked ragi, 174 gm
Calories: 207 calories
Carbohydrate: 41.2 gm
Dietary fibre: 2.3 gm
Fat: 1.7 gm
Protein: 6 gm
Ragi also contains between 10 and 20 percent of the USDA’s recommended daily value of thiamin, niacin, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, copper and manganese.
Recipe card :
Meal Type : Breakfast/ Dinner
Cuisine : Indian
Category: Vegetarian/ millets/ healthy
Serving : 4
Required Ingredients:
Ragi ( finger millet ) - 1 cup
Urad dal- 1/4 cup
Methi seeds- 1 tbsp
Thick Poha- a fistful
Method :
1. Wash Urad dal couple of times and soak for 4 hours.
2. Wash the remaining ingredients together, and soak them for 4 hours.
3. After 4 hours, with the required amount of water, grind urad dal to a fine paste( do not add excess water, the dosa becomes soggy, if the batter is too watery)
4. Now grind the ragi mixture to a fine paste and add it to the grounded urad dal.Mix everything really well.
5. Ferment the batter overnight.
6. In the morning, before making dosa, add the required amount of salt ,adjust the consistency by adding little water only if required.
7. Make thin dosa on a hot tawa, add little ghee on top, close the lid and cook. You need not flip it .
8. Serve hot thin dosas with the peanut chutney or any side dish of your choice.
My Notes :
1. Instead of Poha, you can use 2 tbsp cooked rice while grinding the batter.
2. Using ghee helps in absorbing the nutrients of millets better.
3. Peanut chutney is the best combination with Ragi, you can make any side dish of your choice.
The recipe is adopted from skinny recipes YouTube channel.