Ragi Mudde or Ragi Balls

Hi all, today I am writing about the healthy protein pack traditional main course dish called ragi mudde. It is the household name in rural regions of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and parts of Tamil Nadu. It is prepared using finger millet or ragi and water. In recent times it’s become common in urban community because of its health benefits.

Ragi mudde when dunk in masoppu, bassaru, soppu saru and just gulped…it tastes yummy. Well this can be combined with simple tove or dal, the taste is equally good. This recipe is slightly changed from traditional one. Here I have given the flavour of coconut oil just to satisfy the taste buds of Mangaloreans. Well my grandmother use to prepare the same by adding tempering to the flour. That has totally a different taste. Here is a simple recipe for any beginners

Course: Main course

Cuisine: Karnataka

Preparation time: 5 mins

Cooking time: 10 mins

Serves: 2 Nos

Ingredients:

Ragi flour- 1 cup

Water-1 3/4 cup

Salt- as per taste

Coconut oil- 1 tsp

Method:

1. Sieve the ragi flour, to remove any lumps or bigger ragi particles and keep this aside.
2. Take a thick kadai, add water, salt, oil and allow it to boil.
3. Now lower the flame and add half of ragi flour to the hot water with continuously mixing using wooden mudde stick or spatula so that no lumps are formed.
4. Now add the remaining ragi flour and cook the mixture on medium flame. At one stage, the ragi mixture leaves the sides and bottom. It will become a thick mass.
5. If you touch with wet hands, the mixture will not stick to the finger tips and this means it is cooked.
6. Now take this out on plate, using wet hands, divide into equal parts and prepare balls.
7. Serve hot ragi balls or ragi mudde with desired side dish.

My Notes:

I prefer thick kadai over non stick pan, as the water evaporates faster in non stick pan. The Ragi tends to dry up faster leading to undercooked ragi balls.

I use the mudde stick but it can be prepared using any wooden spatula.

Good fine ragi flour gives good smooth textured ragi balls.

Ghee can be used instead of coconut oil for nice aromatic mudde.