Sweets & Desserts Zephyr's Corner

Healthy and tasty Ragi Laddoo–nutritious Finger Millet sweet

Millets are the new superfoods. It is ironical that after throwing them out in favour of imported cereals and other breakfast foods, Indians have discovered millets anew, thanks to western research and endorsement about their nutritious value and health benefits, forgetting that we have used them for millennia in our daily diet.

According to Wiki, millets are the products of a “group of highly variable small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains”. They have been in use by humans for over 7000 years and find mention in our vedic literature too. Millets like jowar (sorghum/great millet), bajra (pearl millet), nachani/ragi (finger millet), kangni/kakum/thinai (Foxtail millet) are all used regularly as the main cereal in Maharashtra and the southern states. They are made into rotis, cooked with spices into upma-like dishes, made into khichdis, dosas, idlis and a lot of other dishes too.

Eating millets has many health benefits as they are rich in nutrients, including minerals, vitamins and fibre. Millets are gluten-free and ideal for those who are allergic to gluten. It has amazing cholesterol-lowering properties since it is rich in fibre, and is good for those trying to reduce weight.

I thought of first starting with Ragi and sharing a couple of recipes with it. This millet is protein-rich, has many amino-acids and is rich in Iron, Niacin, Thiamin and Riboflavin among others. Ragi is a rare vegetarian source of the amino acid Methionoine, which helps promote growth of healthy skin and hair. It has a very high calcium content and is used as a weaning food for infants in south India.

Generations of children have grown up drinking the ubiquitous Ragimalt, a delicious health drink made with malted ragi and fortified with other ingredients. Homemade versions are still prepared across Tamil Nadu to nourish children and provide them with vital nutrtients. A glassful of ragi porridge mixed with milk and sweetened with sugar or jaggery is a filling, quick and nutritious breakfast even for adults and elders. It can be made savoury by adding buttermilk and salt to it too.

Though it is supposed to be a ‘warm’ food that induces heat in the body and hence considered a winter food, ragi is consumed throughout the year in the south. Adding buttermilk or milk to it makes it ‘cooler’ during the summers. In fact, villagers have the habit of cooking and making balls out of ragi flour, which are then soaked in water overnight during summers. The ragi balls are then dissolved in the same water they were soaked in, mixed with buttermilk and eaten for breakfast with raw onions, for that added coolness and zing.

My mother used to soak ragi flour in water with a handful of broken rice and cook it in the morning. We would eat it with sambar/rasam/buttermilk in place of rice at least once a week. It would have a refreshing sourness to it. We called it koozh or kaLi. This was slightly different from the way it is prepared in Karnataka. Called Ragi mudde, it is not fermented but cooked directly with water to be made into large round balls, which are then consumed with a variety of gravies.

Ragi is mixed with finely chopped onions, chillies, coriander and other spices and patted like thalipeeth or chila/adai and roasted on a tawa with a little oil. Called ragi rotti, this is a traditional breakfast recipe of Karnataka. It lends itself to a host of other recipes too, both savoury and sweet–like laddoos, halwa, pancakes, biscuits, cakes and more.

I will share some recipes made out of millets in my forthcoming posts. Let me start with Ragi Laddoo, which is not only delicious, but can stand in for a nutritious snack or even a quick breakfast, supplemented with a glass of milk. It is a simple no-fail recipe. I have used jaggery to make it even more nutritious and added dry fruits, til and groundnuts to give it the added protein punch.

(Note: The cup I have used measures 250 ml)

Ingredients for Ragi Laddoo:

  • Ragi (finger millet) flour                              1 cup
  • Jaggery                                                          ½ cup (powdered)
  • Cashewnuts                                                 10-12
  • Walnuts/almonds                                         10-12
  • Groundnuts                                                   1 tbsp
  • Til                                                                    2 tbsp
  • Ghee                                                              2-3 tbsp
  • Cardamom powder                                      ½ tsp
Ingredients for Ragi Laddoo
Ingredients for Ragi Laddoo

Method:

  • In a heavy-bottomed pan or kadhai, lightly roast cashews, almonds and walnuts. Roast them separately till they turn aromatic. Don’t brown them.
  • Roast the groundnuts till it turns brown. Take care not to burn it. Remove the skin by rubbing between a thick cloth.
  • Dry roast the til till it begins popping. Remove to a plate.
  • Coarsely crush the dry fruits, groundnuts and til and keep aside.
  • Heat two tbsps of ghee in the kadhai and roast the ragi flour on a low to medium flame till it turns aromatic and changes colour. It will become moist with the ghee. This may take at least 10-15 mins. Do not increase the heat.
  • Remove the ragi flour to a big plate or bowl and add the crushed dry fruits to it.
  • Add cardamom powder. Mix well.
  • In the same kadhai, add the powdered jaggery and 1 or 2 tbsps of water. Let it melt and then filter it to remove any impurities. Heat it again for a minute and then add to the ragi flour mixture a little at a time. Mix it well with a spatula. Mix it till it all combines well.
  • Now, shape into laddoos in size of your choice.
  • Let it cool completely before storing in an airtight container. It will keep for a fortnight.
Ragi Laddoos
Ragi Laddoos

Notes:

  • Remember to roast the ragi well on a slow flame.
  • You can substitute sugar for jaggery. Add powdered sugar to the roasted ragi mixture after it cools down a little. Add more ghee to help in binding.
  • A few spoonsful of milk can also be used for binding, but it will reduce the shelf life of the laddoo.

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