Ragi Idli and Dosa using Whole Grain | Kezhvaragu Idli and Dosai

Ragi Idli and dosa, a healthy breakfast / dinner item made from finger millet, rice and urad dal. Finger millet(Ragi/Kezhvaragu) is one of the staple and ancient grains used in many parts of India. It's a  gluten free whole grain, rich in fibre and packed with so many nutrients. Adding ragi to your diet regularly would give immense benefit to your health. 

 

I had been wanting to try the ragi idli and dosa with whole ragi grains for a very long time now. But somehow, I find that my ragi dosa recipe with flour is super easy to make and didn't bother much with whole grains. Ever since the start of the pandemic, Indian store in our place carry the ragi flour on & off .

Most of the time when we visit the store, it's out of stock, so without much choice, i had bought the whole ragi grains and made the batter for idli and dosa. As expected, it turned out so good, it tastes great with both sambar and chutney. Now I have been making this batter regularly at home for the past couple of months.

Before moving on, to the recipe, let's see the FAQs.

How long can I store the batter ?

After fermentation, it stays well in the refrigerator for 2 or 3 day maximum. Unlike regular idli/dosa batter, it can't be stored for a long time. I highly recommend finishing the batter within 3 days.

Why can't I store it for a longer time?

Unlike regular dosa batter, millets tend to ferment faster even in the refrigerator . After around 3 days, it becomes very sour and has a stingy smell, so it's advisable to make the batter in less quantity and  finish with 3 days.

Related: How to make ragi dosai with ragi flour

Why haven't I used the fenugreek seeds ?

Usually fenugreek seeds help to ferment the batter. In all kinds of millet batter, millet itself takes care of that job, so no need to add ferment seeds otherwise it becomes too sour easily.

Ok, now let's check out on how to make this healthy & tasty ragi idli and dosa.

Related: How to make Jowar dosai/Solla dosai

Ragi Idli and Dosa using Whole Grain

Preparation Time : 12 hr | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Serves : 6 
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Ragi idli,Ragi dosai, Ragi idli using whole grain, finger millet idli,finger millet dosai, kezhvaragu idli,kezhvaragu dosai Ragi Idli and dosa, a healthy breakfast / dinner item made from finger millet, rice and urad dal. Finger millet(Ragi/Kezhvaragu) is one of the staple and ancient grains used in many parts of India.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients

Ragi - 1 cup
Idli Rice - 1 cup
Urad dal - 1/2 cup
Salt - 1 tsp
Water - 1 to 1.5 cups(for grinding)

Related: How to cook millets in open pot

Procedure

In a bowl, add the ragi, idli rice and urad dal, wash it thrice and soak it with enough water for at least 8 hrs/overnight. 

In the next morning, drain the soaked water and put it in the mixie jar/grinder  along with needed water and grind into smooth batter.

Pour into a large vessel and add the salt. Mix it well with your hand.

The batter should be in free flowing consistency. Cover with lid and keep it in a warm place for 4 to 6 hrs to ferment. 

Once the batter is well fermented, mix it well with the ladle. For idli, crease the idli plate with oil and pour the batter in each mould. 

Place the idli plate on the steamer basket and steam it for 8- 10 mins. 

Remove the idli plate from the heat and let it sit aside to cool a bit, then gently remove the idli with a spoon. Soft and fluffy idlis are ready. 

For dosa, if needed add little water and adjust the batter consistency and make dosa as regular batter. 

Spongy idli and crispy dosa are ready.  Serve it with chutney and or sambar. For more breakfast recipe, check out here 

Related : How to make Instant Ragi Dosai 

Notes: 

• Don't over cook the idli, it becomes dry. 

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Oatmeal with Chia Seeds | Oatmeal with dried nuts & fruits

Oatmeal bowl, a healthy & quick to make breakfast from oats and topped with dried nuts & fruits or fresh fruits. The topping options are endless here and you can use whatever the seasonal fruits available in your pantry or any dried fruits. I knew that the whole blogging world had already tried various oatmeal bowl options and the internet is filled with so many amazing recipes, guess i'm too late for the oatmeal party now :-) ,nevertheless it's better late than never, right?? . In addition to the dried fruits & nuts, i have added the soaked chia seeds in the oatmeal bowl. Chia seeds are rich in antioxidants and omega 3 fatty acids, adding them make the oatmeal bowl more nutritious and fulfill.
The main reason for sharing the oatmeal bowl now is that I have developed the taste for oatmeal bowl recently, how can i share some recipe before without me liking first? Few months back, when we traveled because of ST's work, we stayed in hotel for around 10 days, that's when i tried this oatmeal bowl from the hotel's breakfast. It had wide variety of topping options and i started to play around with the toppings and i liked it very much then, in the past i would have sticked with the bread & peanut butter, but that time, i wanted to explore the other options !!! So after that, i have included this kind of oatmeal bowl in my breakfast once in a week when i'm out of dosa/idli batter or too lazy to prepare any other breakfast. 

When i'm writing this post today, it's snowing here continuously from the time when i woke up. Despite the difficulties associated with snow weather, i love watching those falling snow for hours through my window. It's magical!! At the same time, even watching sunny weather in movies or in tv shows makes me longing for those sunny days, Ironic,it is !!!  Grew up in hot,sunny weather make me fascinate about the snow always, will i ever stop fascinating about snow ?? Don't know, wondering about the people who born and bought up in this weather for the whole life, do they feel like me? Having new sense of respect for them who hardly complain about this extreme weather and enjoy the life !!! Ok, now let's check out how i have prepared this oatmeal bowl.

Oatmeal with Chia Seeds

Preparation Time : 20 mins | Cooking Time : 6 mins | Serves : 1 
Recipe Category: Breakfast | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Oatmeal,chia seeds,dried nuts,dried fruits Oatmeal bowl, a healthy & quick to make breakfast from oats and topped with dried nuts & fruits or fresh fruits.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Oats - 1/2 cup
Milk - 1/2 cup
Water - 1/2 cup(for oats)
Salt - a pinch
Dried nuts & fruits - as needed
Chia seed - 1/2 tsp
Maple syrup - as needed 

Procedure

Take the chia seed in a bowl, add the water(1/4 cup) and set it aside for minimum 20 to 30 mins to bloom or until it becomes all gel like consistency.Next pour the water and milk into the sauce pan and bring into boil.In the mean time, chop the dried nuts & fruits as needed. Once the milk starts to boil, add the oats.Add pinch of salt and let it cook until all the milk mixture evaporates and oats gets soft.Remove from the flame and transfer into the serving bowl and topped with nuts, fruits, soaked chia seed & maple syrup.Healthy Oatmeal is ready to serve. For various topping idea, do check out my instagram page

Notes:

• You can add more or less of chia seed as per your liking.
• I have used pecans, walnuts & dates for serving, you can use whatever dried fruits & nuts you like.
• If you're having the habit of eating oats daily, then you can soak more chia seed & refrigerate and use as needed base.
• Soaked chia seed stays well in refrigerator up to a  week.
  

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Spinach and Corn Sandwich | Sandwich Recipe

Spinach and Corn Sandwich, a healthy and tasty sandwich made from spinach and corn. It's one of my recent favorite sandwich to make for our breakfast. It's quick to put together and also taste absolute delicious with gooey and cheesy stuffing inside. This recipe is also so versatile, you can add more or less of ingredients as per your liking. Here in the recipe, for the stuffing, i have used hung curd, but sometimes i had used sour cream also , both taste equally good. So use whatever available in your pantry. For extra cheesy texture, i have used mozzarella cheese here, but without cheese also, it tastes awesome. Now let's check out how to make this cheesy and tasty spinach corn sandwich. 

Spinach and Corn Sandwich

Preparation Time : 5 mins | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Sandwich | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients
Bread Slices - 8
Corn kernels - 1/4 cup
Spinach - 1 cup(tightly packed)
Hung Curd/ Sour cream - 2 tbsp
Garlic - 2
Italian seasoning - 1/2 tsp
Mozzarella cheese - 4 tbsp
Olive oil - 1 tsp
Salt & Pepper powder - to taste
Butter for toasting

Procedure

First finely minced the garlic and roughly cut the spinach into small pices and keep it ready. Heat a pan with olive oil,add the garlic saute till it fragrant, then add the corn and saute it in the oil for 2 mins.Then add the chopped spinach and mix it well. Let the spinach cook, then add the salt, pepper powder and italian seasoning. Mix it well. Switch off the flame and let it cool completely.In a bowl, take the hung curd,add spinach & corn masala into it ,mix it well.Take the bread slices, add the needed stuffing and spread it evenly and on the top add 1 tbsp of cheese and close it with another bread slice.Heat the tava, add the needed butter for toasting the bread, place the prepared sandwich on the tava and cook on both sides till it becomes golden brown. Slice and serve.Tasty and healthy Spinach & corn sandwich is ready to serve. 

Notes:

• Let the spinach mixture comes to room temperature before mixing it with curd/sour cream.
• Adjust the seasoning as per your liking.
• Serve immediately otherwise it becomes soggy.
  

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Eggless Banana Pancake | Banana Pancake | Breakfast Recipe

Eggless Banana Pancake, an easy to make pancake recipe with bananas. We love to have pancakes as breakfast ,hence often make them and also i have tried quite few types of pancakes so far and you can see them here . For very long time, i had made only the butter milk pancakes. It was so fluffy & soft and we absolutely loved it. Later when i thought of including fruits in the pancakes and searched for some fruit based pancakes. That's when i came to know about this banana pancakes and the strawberry pancakes. Both are my favorites and both taste good in its own way. Addition of fruits in the pancakes actually reduces the amount of added sugar in it, that's a big plus for me to try out this kind of fruit pancakes. 

So if you're like me, looking for eggless pancakes that has less added sugar without compromising in the taste and texture, then this pancakes is for you.Adding banana gives nice aroma and softness to the pancake. This banana pancake is been in our breakfast menu for a while, whenever i have over ripen banana, without much thinking, either i make this pancake or banana bread,both are my favorite. With maple syrup on top, it tastes absolutely delicious and wanting to eat more and more.

This post is been in my drafts for over a year and somehow i'm too lazy to edit the old posts, today i keep myself motivated to edit the post, so here it is, soft and fluffy  Eggless Banana Pancakes !!!

Eggless Banana Pancake

Preparation Time : 1 hr | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Breakfast | Recipe Cuisine: International

Ingredients
Banana - 1 
All purpose flour - 1 cup
Sugar - 2 tbsp
Milk - 3/4 cup
Butter - 1 tsp
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Cinnamon powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - a pinch

Procedure

Keep all the ingredients for the pancake be ready. Peel the banana and mash it well with a fork.

Add sugar,salt and the melted butter, mix it well.Next add milk, baking powder and cinnamon powder into it.Mix it well and then add flour & whisk it with the wet ingredients.Now the batter is ready. Heat the pan and add the needed butter for cooking the pancake.Take a ladleful of batter and pour into the pan. Cook for a min in medium flame and then gently flip it on other side and cook till it changes its color. Remove it from the heat and it's ready to serve.

Serve it with breakfast syrup/maple syrup. 

Notes:

• If you're using small banana, you can use 2 bananas for the given measurement.
• Depends on the sweetness of the banana, you can add more or less of sugar.
• Serve hot for better taste.
  

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Oats Upma | Breakfast recipe | Oats Recipe

Oats Upma, a healthy and quick to make breakfast with oats and Indian spices.  Few years back oats was getting popular in India like anything and almost all the Indian dishes have an oats version like oats upma, oats dosa , oats khichdi and the list goes on.

As of now, the whole world had already tried everything possible with oats and moves on to the other grains. But here i'm sharing my first oats recipe now since i'm so reluctant to try instantly when something new comes into market, as usual i have taken my own phase of time to get to know about that and slowly started to use in my cooking. 

Now for last one year i have been cooking oats regularly at home and now i'm quite confident about how to handle the oats and out of all my experiments with oats, this upma is my most favorite breakfast recipe with oats. It's really very simple and delicious with mild flavors and comes handy on your busy mornings. Now let's check out the recipe.

Oats Upma

Preparation Time : 5 mins | Cooking Time : 10 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Oats | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Oats Upma, Breakfast Upma, Upma Recipe Oats Upma, a healthy and quick to make breakfast with oats and indian spices.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Quick Oats - 1 cup
Onion - 1/2(small)
Water - 1/2 cup
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Red chili powder - 1/4 tsp
Sambar powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - to taste
Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard & urad dal - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves - few
Coriander leaves - few

Procedure

First chop the onion into small pieces, measure and take the oats. Heat the pan with oil, add mustard and urad dal, let the mustard crackle.

Add the onions and saute it becomes translucent and then add the oats.

Add the spices(turmeric,chili & sambar powder) and salt, mix it all well together and then add the water on the oats little by little and mix it with spatula simultaneously.

Make sure that the oats is completely wet, keep the flame in low and close the pan with lid and cook it for 5 mins. Stir it between to avoid sticking at the bottom. 

Tada, non sticky, fluffy oats upma is ready. Add some coriander leaves on the top while serving. Serve it with your favorite drink, we had it with strawberry smoothie.

Related : How to make Oata Banana Pancake

Notes:

• Depends on the moisture in the onions and oats quality, you may need more or less of 1 tbsp of water as i mentioned here.
• Don't pour all the water at once. Slowly add the water and gently mix the oats. It helps to make sure that every grain of  oats is completely wet.
• Add the spices more or less as per your liking.
• Upma tastes good as it is, but if you like, you can serve them with chutney or sambar.
  

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