Multigrain Mango Muffin

Multigrain Mango Muffin

MMM recipe! Sounds tacky isn’t it? Well, I thought it is a good acronym for this really multigrain mango muffin. I had some left over mango pruee following my eggless mango cake trial and wanted to make a good breakfast. I thought cardamom would go well with mango as it is not a very strong flavour and will not fight with mango. I tried to take as many clicks as possible as I made the muffins but towards the end, after resting them, I thought they may not be good enough. I was so wrong and my fear of the effect of the ingredients I used was unjustified. I thought it will be an extremely dry muffin and will have a poor texture. However, it was quite good. It was quite springy, soft and easy to eat. Usually, millets tend to make the baked product a bit dry and difficult to swallow but I think it is the fruit puree that helped this muffin. If you find you child binging on this, just as well, the goodness in it will help their growth. Here is the recipe, lets get the holiday season started. Like most of my recipes, this is not very sweet so if you have a sweet tooth, please increase the sugar but have in mind that the mango pulp is sweet as well.

¼ cup ragi flour

¼ cup oat flour (oats ground)

1 teaspoon cardamom powder

¾ cup all purpose flour

½ cup water

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup mango puree

Pinch of salt

2 tablespoon oil

2 teaspoon baking powder

Mix together the flours, baking powder, sugar, cardamom powder and salt

Add the oil, mango puree and water and mix until just combined

Pour into muffin moulds, about 3/4^th full and bake in a preheated oven at 180degC for 20-25 minutes. A skewer inserted in centre should come out clean.

You may dust with some icing sugar and serve.

Ragi Choco-Blueberry Muffin

Ragi Choco-Blueberry Muffin


Ragi is one of my favourite millets because it has a hearty and earthy flavour associated with it. Some people may find it a bit strong and it could be dry it at times but with the right recipe, it would make a yummy dish. I always try to include some of this millet in our diet and especially in my wee one’s. Recently I came across a blogger friend of mine post a cake here made with ragi and it seemed nice. We are not real dessert people so it would be a struggle for me to finish off the cake. I then thought I could make muffins as I knew cake was feasible. My wee one and I whisked the ingredients together and made these muffins. He absolutely loved it and I tried it and honestly I liked it better than store bought chocolate muffins. It is not fatty or loaded with sugar so does not have to make one feel guilty and it also makes a wholesome breakfast. My husband, who is fond of the store/bakery bought choco muffin said the flavour, the texture and the rise was all similar to store bought but he thought it was not very sweet. I deliberately do not add lot of sugar to my kid’s dishes because I wuld rather that he develops a liking for less sweet treats just so I build good eating habits. He wouldn’t complain because I usually add blueberries or raisins or currants so it comes in every bite and keeps his taste buds satisfied. Anyway, here is the recipe...

1/3 cup ragi
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon coco powder
Handful of blueberries
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup milk
Pinch of salt


Mix all dry ingredients together

Add all wet ingredients including blueberries and make a batter to dropping consistency and pour in muffin moulds

Bake in a preheated oven at 180degC for 20-25 minutes

Serve

Ragi Dosa (Finger Millet Savoury Crepe)

Ragi Dosa


Sometimes when I think about the importance given to having a variety of fruits and vegetables in everyday diet, I wonder why there is not much importance given to a variety of grains that we should include in our diet. I am currently reading a book about food, diets and nutrition. I read about how people could have been eating something for decades and suddenly become intolerant to it. For this reason, it is suggested that we include a variety of food in our diet. Infact the book goes on to giving recommendations like say if you have wheat today, give 2-3 days time before you have wheat again. For most of us I would guess that could be quite challenging. As far as possible I try to avoid keeping my lunch and dinner common. Again to keep dinner light, it is usually tiffin as we call it. One of the regulars is a variety of savoury crepe, dosa. This dish recipe uses ragi, a grain which is suppose to have its origin from Ethiopia and is quite common in south India. I have written a bit more about ragi in my post on Ragi Kuzhi Appam. Most ragi dosa recipes are instant dosa type. However I somehow dislike that preparation (usually mixed with rice flour, maida and buttermilk) and prefer this fermented version. It keeps the consistency close to traditional dosa, which I love and still more nutritious.

¼ cup urd dal (black gram)
½ cup par boiled rice (idli rice)
½ cup ragi flour
1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
Salt to taste

Wash and soak the urd dal and fenugreek seeds together. Soak rice separately. Try to soak for 8 hours or overnight.

Grind the urd dal to a fine paste and then add the rice and grind fine. Now add the ragi flour and grind until the batter is uniformly mixed. The consistency of the batter should be such that it just starts to flow when spooned.
Add salt and allow to ferment overnight. Before making the crepe, mix the batter and if needed, add some water.

Pour a ladle of batter on a hot tava and spread to desired thickness. I usually make a thick (‘uthappam’ like for my son) and make thin crispy crepe for myself. Spoon some ghee or oil and cook both sides.

A wee cat dosa I made for my wee one!

Serve with nice chutney.

Lentil Ragi Adai (lentil finger millet crepe)

Lentil Ragi Adai

In my attempt to keep rice intake low, I have been trying to have rice only for one meal a day and eat some other grains for another meal. Easy option usually is chapatti, that way I get some wheat but sometimes I would love a change and fancy things like dosa or upma or kichdi. I used to make adai quite often as well but that was the conventional adai and I wanted something different. This recipe was almost created from the air as I had no idea what I would end up with. I would say it was a bold attempt and a good one. I was pleased with the results. It is also quite nutritious as it has a variety of lentils, to give protein and iron and also ragi and some rice. Ragi as you probably know is a very nutritious grain. It does not have the most appealing colour but has a lot more goodness than most other grains. It constitutes the main source of nutrition for the poor in India. It is quite popular among South Indians, especially among those who are involved in heavy physical labour like farmers. With that background, here is how I made it…


Little less than ¼ cup urd dal
Little less than ¼ cup moong dal
Little more than ¼ cup channa dal
¼ cup rice flour
¼ cup ragi flour
2 sprigs curry leaves
2 green chillies
1 inch piece ginger
Salt to taste
Cooking oil

Soak the dals together for about 3 hours

Grind them to a paste along with ginger, curry leaves and chillies. Keep the paste coarse.

Add the ragi and rice flour to the paste, add required salt and grind to more finer paste (do not make it too fine as it is not best for adai)

While grinding add enough water to maintain consistency slightly thicker than dosa batter

Heat a tava and pour a ladle full of batter and spread to make a crisp thin adai. Drizzle little oil over it. Once brown on one side, turn and cook other side for around a minute.

Serve with nice tangy chutney or aviyal.

I served (and ate) with tomato chutney and that complemented the adai well as the batter is not allowed to ferment thus lending some sour taste to the food. You could also sprinkle chopped onions just after you spread the batter.