May | 2016 | Vegetarian Cuisine from South India

Ragi or finger millet, is a common part of Kannadiga cuisine. It is easy to come by dishes made with ragi served in restaurants such as ragi mudde or ragi idli or ragi rotti. While it is also consumed in other parts of South India and Maharashtra, it is primarily grown and consumed in Karnataka.

In the past I did try to consume ragi as it is said to bring down body heat and is very nutritious. However, those experiments kinda failed, and I was a bit apprehensive of trying it again. However, a desire to eat healthier caused us to look up some recipes and buy some ragi flour.

This experiment is by far one of the better ones, and I absolutely delight in making this again and again. So here comes: the Ragi Dosa!

Ragi Dosa served with tomato-perugu pachadi

Batter:

1 cup ragi flour
1/2 cup wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup sour buttermilk

Method:

Mix all the ingredients and add water to make it into pouring consistency.
Set aside for 1 hour

Once the batter is ready…

Dosa:

Chop 1 onion, green chillies and ginger finely and set aside. You may mix them up for easy use, or keep them separate.
Heat an iron skillet on medium flame.
spread some oil over it and wait till it is well heated.
Taking a large tablespoon/serving spoon, pour the batter in a circle from outside in.
- Traditionally, we would pour the dosa batter into the center and spread outward. Here we do not spread. Hence it is poured…
The batter should spread towards the center, while forming a gauzy dosa. You may pour a little more batter if it does not join completely at the center.
- If the dosa seems too solid i.e not forming holes while spreading, add a bit of water to dilute it. This will help it spread better.
Add the onions, chillies and ginger in amounts preferred and add oil to the outside of the dosa.