Ragi Roti (Millet-Flour Flatbread)

I've been trying to eat healthy and maintain a diet chart and a fitness log for sometime now. Not been very regular until recently. Its not easy when you have a husband who loves to bake and bakes something almost every night. Ya, last night was chocolate torte - Day 1 of Experiment Torte. He experiments something everyday to perfect it. Sigh. And I'm the guinea pig, mostly. And all because I have sophisticated taste, you know? But then, there's a limit somewhere no? So, I don't eat them now *determined look*

So, the last time I pranced around the Indian store, I saw Ragi flour and bought it after a little jig in front of it. Ya, I dance a lot at the Indian store to trashy music. Because I miss it. In fact, the stuff I miss about India is the noise levels and the random chaos, and the number of people on a street at one point in time. This way, no one knows how much noise I make. Which is a LOT.

Coming back, Ragi flour is just one of the items that I've hoarded in my pantry, apart from Kokum and some other stuff that I'm unable to recognize now. Then, she sent me this video. While I loved everything in the video but the Gourmet person cooking something, I absolutely identified with the bit about Ragi Mudde and Ragi Roti! I 'almost' grew up on such food. No, I wasn't an angel of a kid to enjoy it then. But then, I've eaten it and have some great memories associated with it. My granddad suffered from Diabetes and was a very disciplined man. His lunch everyday was Ragi Mudde with spicy Sambar. Ragi Mudde, by itself is bland. A huge reason why I hated it as a kid. But eat it with a dollop of ghee and a tons of Sambar, and you got me there. My youngest sis loved this even as a kid, surprisingly. She survives on junk food now, believe it or not!

Another thing that my granny made with Ragi flour was Dosa. I wasn't too fond of it, coz I found it too soggy for my tastes. However, I loved the Ragi Roti. Made like the more popular Akki Roti, my mom spiced it with onions, green chillies and coriander. I loved the earthy taste of Ragi Roti. Well, it is through this dish I learned the meaning of earthy food. I rediscovered this dish after literally 10 years (I think we stopped cooking Ragi after my sis grew out of it and my granddad passed away!) I had this for lunch today with some Tomato-onion chutney and some yogurt. I loved the kick that the chillies gave an otherwise bland Roti. We're doing the whole 'empty the fridge' challenge unofficially this week. I checked and we could go for another month with the stuff we have! So, here's to a quick emptying of our refrigerator and pantry!

Presenting to you the most nutritious and diet-friendly food! Don't go by the pictures or the colour of the food. They just don't matter in this case!

Ingredients

1 cup Ragi flour

1/2 cup onions - chopped finely

8-10 green chillies or jalapeno, chopped finely

3 tbsp coriander, finely chopped

1 tsp oil to grease the flour

Water to knead the dough

Salt to taste

1. Make a dough of the above ingredients. Add just enough water to make into a thick dough. It is not going to be rolled out into a Roti, but is going to be flattened on a Tawa or a greased plastic sheet. You can add more onions if you wish.

2. Use a parchment paper or a greased plastic sheet or ziplock cover and press the balls of dough to flatten it into a Roti shape. Like this.


3. Transfer the flattened dough onto a hot skillet or Tawa greased with a little oil or butter or ghee. Let cook. The light brown Roti will turn into a dark chocolatey brown roasted flatbread.

You can eat this with any Chutney or dip. The idea is to make the dough spicy or the chutney spicy, so that the blandness of the Ragi flour doesn't come through. I loved, loved, loved this 'for one' lunch of mine and will surely be buying Ragi flour in bulk and make this a regular at home going forward.

I was talking about this dish with a friend of mine and she mentioned that the dough itself could change its texture or nature because it is made just out of Ragi without addition of rice flour or whole-wheat flour. I'm really not sure if that could happen because I made very less dough and finished it in 30 mins :D I made this for A in the night and it was tough to press and flatten it then because the dough had let out water and broke into pieces as I transferred onto the tawa. So, use as less water as possible to make the dough. If you try it, do let me know how it came out for you, and how long you kept it for. I'd love to perfect making these Rotis!

I understand the significance about organic food and realize that we just need to go back to the basics to eat and live healthy. I'm not someone who eats organic food for the simple reason that I cannot afford it at this point in time of my life. I'd love to grow my food too, but there is no space around me. Also, I do think that we should eat all kinds of healthy food, albeit 'non organic.' In such a situation, my easiest way out of bad food habits is portion control and just back to basics. And I've found that only recently (after I started cooking mostly) that eating healthy does not have to be eating non tasty food. Here's to a healthy living with tasty food!

Mixed Vegetable Curry!

N and I love to experiment with food! We try all kinds of cuisines. Also we always seem to have guests for who we are cooking. We generally cook elaborately for our guests. After one such draining week, we craved for simple food and regular desi khana. No other cuisine on the planet offers more regional diversity than Indian cuisine. You travel just a couple of hundred miles from Chennai to Andhra Pradesh and the food is very different! Travel a couple of hundred miles to the west and you enter Karnataka, a whole new culinary world!. You travel a few hundred miles southwest and you enter Kerala. All these 4 states belong to the southern part of india and they all have very different and unique ways of preparing and eating food. I haven't mentioned the other states across India which offer tremendous variety in terms of ingredients and the style of cooking. And I'm not talking subtle variations. There are truly some dramatic variations in Indian cuisine depending on the region.

Coming back to the weekend, I love my South Indian roots, but N and I suddenly had this craving for some good old North Indian Roti-Sabzi. It also helps that with Roti-sabzi, there are fewer dishes to wash :P So, we came up with this on a spur and made it every time since then to entertain guests.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup cubed onions
1/2 cup sliced carrots
1/2 cup sliced beans
2 potatoes, cubed
1 green bell pepper, deseeded and cubed
1/4 cup peanuts
1/4 cup poppy seeds (khas-khas)
1 tsp turmeric powder
1.5 tsp garam masala (I used MDH brand)
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp cumin seeds
Red chilli powder to taste
salt to taste

1. Microwave the cubed potatoes with some water for some time until they are semi-done. By this, I mean the outer part should start to soften. A fork should still not be able to cut through it.

2. Roast the peanuts and poppy seeds, cool them completely and pulse them in a blender or food processor into a semi-coarse powder.

3. Add 2 tbsp oil to a pan on high heat. Add the cumin seeds when the oil is hot. Add the cubed belle peppers first. I love the burn marks on my bell peppers. I think it goes really well with the smoky flavor of bell peppers and imparts additional 'smokiness' to it. Keep stirring to avoid burning.

4. After half the pieces have acquired the burn marks, add the onions, beans and carrots. Reduce the heat to medium-high. When the onions are translucent, bring the heat to medium and add the salt and all the dry spices. Keep stirring to avoid burning the veggies.

5. After 2-3 mins., add the potatoes. Add the remaining 1 tbsp oil. This way, I make sure that my potatoes are roasted but dont overcook and turn mushy.

6. When the potatoes are almost done, add the peanut-poppyseed powder. Mix well and cook for 2 more minutes.

7. Garnish with finely chopped coriander or some more peanut-poppyseed powder and serve hot with rotis

This dish was so simple and easy to make! Also, the nut mixture makes this dish seem rich, but there is hardly any bad calories playing here! Try it for a weeknight meal and let us know how it came out! Of course, you can add some paneer to it to lend more richness, and any other veggies that you like :)