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 cassava, plantain, 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 Rajasthan, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra 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.

Potato Pizza

This recipe inspiration came from me visiting manjula’s website because she has a recipe contest for the month of September 2010 and in this contest we need to come up with a recipe using potato. Thought I might participate in this recipe if at all I get a new recipe idea with potatoes.

It kept me thinking as to what new recipe I can make with potato other than the usual curry/sabji etc., out of potatoes. It made me scratch my head all through this week thinking about this potato recipe. So I did search in and out of Google for some new recipes. I saw this recipe in a blog ….wondered as “pizza with potato?”….hmm ….then said to myself “why not?”…

So trying this recipe with some changes to the original recipe…

Ingredients:
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3 large and even sized Baking Potatoes/Russet potatoes

3 multi colored Bell Peppers (I used Red, yellow and green), chopped finely

1 small Onion chopped

2 tbsp Capers

¼ cup parsley chopped

¾ cup Pasta sauce (used sweet basil pasta sauce)

Salt to taste

½ tsp Black pepper powder

¼ tsp Red pepper flakes

¼ cup Parmesan cheese

½ cup Fresh mozzarella cheese grated/ Fontana cheese (I used Fontana cheese)

1 tbsp Olive oil

Method:

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1. Boil the potatoes in pressure cooker for 2 whistles or until they are cooked almost 3/4^th. Cool the potatoes and peel off the skin and cut into 3, one (1) inch slices on the lengthier side. Cut thin slice on the edge slices so that they have a flat bottom.

2. Preheat the oven for about 400F.

 3. In a bowl mix ¾ tbsp olive oil, salt and pepper. Whisk it well. Spread this mixture on the potatoes so that they coat well and arrange them on a baking sheet and bake them for about 10 mins.

4. Meanwhile, in a bowl add the chopped onions, chopped bell peppers, capers, salt, pepper and parsley, crushed red pepper flakes and remaining olive oil and mix them well. (you can add any toppings of your choice....like creating your own pizza)

5. Take the potatoes out of the oven, spread the pasta sauce evenly on top of the potatoes, place the mixed veggies on top so that it covers all the pasta sauce,

6. Add some Fontana/mozzarella cheese on top and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and pop this into oven for more 5-7 mins or until the cheese it melted. 

7. Enjoy the yummy pizza without all the fat and meat ;-)

Note: You can also broil it for about 2 mins to get a light brown crust on top of the cheese and veggies.


Re-posting this recipe to participate in the event hosted by Tamalapaku and  Pari's 'Only'- Baked giveaway  page.

Announcing "Serve It" Series.. Serve It-Grilled

'Serve It' is a series of event focusing on cooking techniques started by my dear friend Denny of Oh Taste N See and me. After a grand success of the Serve It - Chilled last month at Denny's, the event is happening here this month. The round up of the last month's Serve It event can be checked out here.

This month's theme is Serve It - Grilled. According to wiki, Grilling is a form of cooking