Ragi Manni / Finger Millet Pudding

Being a Mangalorean, manni is a delicacy is most households. I particularly was not too drawn to home cuisine and always liked to try something from a different culture. But that changed when I had children and when I travelled around experimenting with different kinds of food. I began to appreciate our food. I wanted our children to know our culture, our habits and most importantly our food. Ragi Manni is an attempt to give the family a treat of one of our best sweet dishes.

Manni was traditionally a recipe made from rice but the ragi version is more popular these days – both for its taste and health benefits. While Ragi Manni may seem like a hard-to-do treat, its totally worth the effort. I picked the original recipe from Ruchik Randhap, my favourite Mangalorean food blog. However, I have made some tweaks to keep the process less cumbersome. Do let me know how you liked it.

*Cup measure used 1 cup = 240ml

Ingredients:

1 cup ragi grains, not flour

2 tablespoons raw rice

2 cups of coconut milk (I used the readymade coconut milk powder to make the milk, the canned one could be thicker and better too)

150 grams chopped jaggery

¾ tsp cardamom powder

2-3 tablespoons of cashew nuts and raisins

Pinch of salt

1 tablespoon ghee

Method:

Soak the ragi and rice together for at least 2 hours. Drain the water and grind with a little water. Sieve this mixture so you can extract the ragi ‘milk’. I used a large sieve. You could also use a cloth for better results. The residue can be used in dosa batter and won’t go waste.

Grease a non-stick vessel with ghee, add the ragi milk, the coconut milk, jaggery, cardamom powder and salt. Over a medium to low flame, cook this mixture stirring continuously. A little muscle powder will come handy here as the mixture thickens. Stirring continuously is important because the mix could stick to the pan quickly.

The mixture will gradually thicken and leave the sides of the pan. When you see it coming together as one large lump, you can turn off the flame. Working quickly, grease a large plate (approx. 8-9 inches) and pour the mixture onto it, flattening the surface. I had doubled the recipe as so I got three plates of 9 inches each.

Garnish with fried nuts if needed and cut into desired shapes when cooled.