Ragi vermicelli .. a healthy choice for breakfast

Ragi vermicelli is made from ragi flour which has a very high nutritional value. It is very important to include ragi in our regular diet. I like to help my family getting the benefits of this millet by making simple and nutritious brakfast. We make this vermicelli upma or puttu, which the most regular way to consume ragi in our family, say once a week. Other than that I add handfuls of ragi flour in chapathi dough or dosa batter to get the goodness coming without it being explicitly noticed by little fussy eaters

I have no complains eating this vermicelli in my family except that some prefer the sweet puttu kind version and some like the upma kind version. So everytime its served it is made in both the ways

There is nothing special about this recipe but I have had friends asking me about what is this when we had a conversation last time. It is a simple post for them to let them know the ease of adding healthy bits to our lifestyle without sweating out much

Serves... 4 ppl

Serve option... Hot

This is what u'll need....

Ragi vermicelli -  1 packet
Sugar to taste
Mustard seeds - 1 tspn
Broken urad dal - 1 tspn
Green chilly - 1 
Curry leaves - 10-12
Onion - 1 small
Coconut - 2-3 tablespoons
Oil - 1/2 tablespoon
Salt to taste

Here is the stir....

• Empty a packet of ragi into a big bowl. Sprinkle some salt on it - just a pinch to boost the other flavors. Add a little water say few tablespoons at a time and swirl the vermicelli around with your hand. Just toss it around until the entire ragi has had a water touch. Make sure you are gentle when swirling it around as it breaks very quick. Dont add too much water else it turns soggy which is against my kitchen rules :)

• Let this sit covered for an hour or till the vermicelli gets soft

• Heat a rice cooker pan with 2 cups of water in it

• Meanwhile soak a clean cloth in water and squeeze out excess water. Place the soaked vermicelli in the damp cloth and cover it up gently. Place this in the rice cookers steamer

• Cook this in rice cooker for around ten minutes or until you can smell the aroma of cooked ragi

• Now ragi is ready to be eaten. To eat it as puttu, place some vermicelli in a plate and top it up with little grated or shredded coconut. Sprinkle some sugar on top as per taste and serve hot

• To make the savory version we need to work a little more than this

• Heat oil in a pan and add half tablespoon oil to it. Add mustard seeds followed by broken urad dal, curry leaves and roughly chopped green chilly

• Thinly slice onions and toss it into the pan with a pinch of salt. Stir it around for a few seconds till the onions gets a little soft

• Add ragi vermicelli to it and toss everything around

• Top with a little shredded/grated coconut to give the final touch

• Serve warm and enjoy a healthy breakfast

Note:

• When soaking vermicelli dont use too much water. Add littlt by little
• Dont toss the vermicelli around for too long when soaking, it breaks up fast
• If you dont have soaking time in the morning like me, you can soak it and leave it in the fridge overnight. It turns out perfect and soft