Raagi, Ajwain and Cheese Roti

Ragi or finger millet is a highly nutritious grain, native to (African) Ethiopian highlands. This grain found its way to Asia, and India in particular through trade routes, over 4000 years ago. Ragi mostly grows in arid regions of North Africa, India and Sri lanka

Image source: restore.org.in

We find Ragi featuring as one of the staple grains in most Ethiopian, Sudanese and Morrocon and a few other African cuisines. This grain has found its way into South East Asian cuisine as well. Vietnamese women are fed ragi based dishes during their post delivery months.

Ragi flour has a distinct brown colour

Popular ragi recipes....
Porridge made with milk and jaggery (called Ragi Kanji in tamil) is a wholesome breakfast food. Boiling a home ground list of ingredients for the Kanji powder is a usual routine in our home. This kanji powder, boiled in plain water and then mixed with salt and Buttermilk is considered safe for diabetic patients.

Ragi is also considered an ideal baby food for infants 6 months and above. I grew up on Ragi sprouts and can vouch for it :-). My grandparents and my amma used to painstakigly soak, sprout and grind (in an aattu kallu - an old fashioned granite grinding stone) to extract ragi milk and then make porridge out of the crushed ragi sprout. Ragi sprouts also make a great salad base.YUM...

Western and southern parts of India have various traditional ragi recipes. Karnataka is known for the Ragi mudde, Maharastra for its yummy Bhakri (roti made with ragi) and most parts of south India have some variety of ragi dosai.

Another very yummy ragi dish is the sevai or the idiappam. Conventional idi appam is made of rice. My amma makes  ragi version too. I make my version of  ragi filled roti inspired by sattu parata. (will post more on that very soon)

Nutritive value of Ragi:
Ragi (millet) is rich in thiamin, iron and a good source of natural fiber. Good source of Calcium

I had posted a ragi roti recipe (guest post) earlier. My aunt's version was the Pudina Dhaniya roti.

Ragi roti (my version): Serves 4

Ingredients:
Ragi (Millet) flour - 1 cup
Whole wheat flour - 1 1/4 cup
Salt - pinch (optional)
Asafoetida (hing) - 1 pinch
Feta cheese crumbs - 1/4 cup
Mozarella cheese - (grated) - 1/4 cup or lesser
Ajwain (not thyme though both smell the same) - 1/2 tsp


Process:
Knead all the ingredients together
divide the dough and roll out your rotis

Dinner is served. 

Today's specials: Ragi roti, pudina-dhaniya chutney, onion salad (in lemon juice), mixed veg and peanuts sabzi, and chole...YUMMY.

Lets eat....