Friday, July 01, 2011

Millet (Raagi) Squares


I was grown up with millet, but never liked it all through my childhood. I was very skinny and my mom always  (daily :-( ) used to make this raagi ganji with milk and used to make me drink before I go to school. I never liked to eat raagi this way, but I enjoyed eating "mudha" with mutton curry and yogurt rice, I still love eating it. When we used to stay in Bangalore, India...Karnataka people made so many recipes out of it. Shoj never liked it, so I didn't try any recipes, except the raagi dosa with lots of onions and green chilies and made these pancakes with ghee...he just ate it. So I never tried any more recipes.
But now I want to introduce it to my son, definitely not by giving the raagi ganji :-), so thought of this recipe.
I made this recipe in a hurry to post on to my event and I was not having much millet at home, so could not take from scratch photos. I liked this squares, but I am not yet sure whether Anush will like it or not. 
I also tried making "mudha" at home and mixed more rice to it and gave with curry to Anush, well he ate it, because he was not able to find the difference, so I will continue it. But for Shoj, it's a tumbs down. :-)

I used "Finger Millet" in this recipe which looks like this.

Nutrition

Finger millet is especially valuable as it contains the amino acid methionine, which is lacking in the diets of hundreds of millions of the poor who live on starchy staples such as cassavaplantain, polished rice, or maize meal. Finger millet can be ground and cooked into cakes, puddings or porridge. The grain is made into a fermented drink (or beer) in Nepal and in many parts of Africa. Thestraw from finger millet is used as animal fodder. It is also used for as a flavoured drink in festivals
Nutritive value of Ragi per 100 g
Protein 7.3 g
Fat 1.3 g
Carbohydrate 72 g
Minerals 2.7 g
Calcium 344 mg
Fibre 3.6 g


Energy 328 kCal
In India, finger millet (locally called ragi) is mostly grown and consumed in RajasthanKarnatakaAndhra PradeshTamil NaduMaharashtra andGoa. Ragi flour is made into flatbreads, including thick, leavened dosa and thinner, unleavened roti. Ragi grain is malted and the grains are ground. This ground flour is consumed mixed with milk, boiled water or yoghurt.
In Andhra Pradesh Ragi Sankati (Telugu), which are ragi balls are eaten in the morning with a chilli, onions, sambar (lentil based stew)or meat curry and helps them sustain throughout the whole day.

Ingredients:
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1 cup finger Miller
1/2 cup Sugar
1 Stick room temperature Butter
1 pinch Salt

Method:
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1. In a pan dry roast the millet on a medium low flame for about 5-8 mins or until the grains get slightly toasted. Allow it to cool and powder then in a mixer to a fine paste. Else you can use ragi powder also. Since I am hosting an event and mentioned myself to use whole grains, I used the whole grain.
2. Preheat oven to 375F.
3. Mix the sugar and butter and mix it until it forms to a dough.
Note: There are two methods to prepare the dough before baking
Method 1:
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4. On a line baking sheet with parchment paper spread the mixture evenly into a big square and even it out with a pastry knife.
5. Bake this for about 10-12 mins until the dough is cooked.
6. Let it stand in the oven for more 4-5 mins.
7. Take a cookie cutter and cut desired shapes or if you don't have one, cut with a knife to desired shapes and allow it to cool. Once cooled you can separate the squares and store it in a air tight container.
Method 2:
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4. Wrap the dough in a plastic wrap just in a dough shape or roll out to shapes or cylinder, as of your convenience. Keep the dough in the fridge and allow it to cool for about 45 mins to 1 hr.
5. Preheat oven to 375F.
6. Roll the dough and cut to desired shapes either with a cookie cutter or knife and arrange the pieces on a parchment paper line baking sheet and bake it for about 10-12 mins.
7. Allow it to cool and then transfer it to a airtight container.

Sending this recipe to the event "cooking with whole foods - Ragi" hosted by Oh Taste n See and Sumadhura.