Cooking millets: pot, pressure cooker or rice cooker
Water ratios, times and the small changes that give you fluffy grains or a soft, rice-like texture.
Ragi through the day
Five ways to eat ragi, from morning malt to a dinner of ragi mudde.
Ragi is the millet Karnataka never stopped eating, and it fits into every meal of the day.
In the morning, ragi malt is the simplest start. Whisk 2 tablespoons of ragi flour into a cup of cold water, then cook on low heat for 5 minutes, stirring, until it thickens. Add milk and jaggery, or buttermilk and salt.
For breakfast, ragi dosa needs no grinding: whisk ragi flour with a little rice flour, curd and water, rest it for 15 minutes, and pour it thin on a very hot tawa.
In the evening, ragi and jaggery granola with curd is a good snack for children coming home from school.
For dinner, ragi mudde with soppu saaru is the traditional meal of the Karnataka farmer. Bring 1 cup of water to the boil, add half a cup of ragi flour without stirring, cover for 3 minutes, then beat with a stick until smooth and roll into balls with wet hands.
And on hot days, ragi ambli, a fermented ragi drink with buttermilk, cumin and onion, is the coolest thing you can drink.
