Finger Millet- Wheat Flour Ukarpendi

Hi.

For this month’s JFI Ragi or Finger Millet has been chosen. Ragi is an extremely nutritional grain with high iron content. Finger millet is especially valuable as it contains the amino acid methionine, which is lacking in the diets of hundreds of millions of the poor who live on starchy staples such as cassava, plantain, polished rice, maize meal.

It is very popularly used in South India. Here, in North India people are not much aware about this. If cooked in a proper way it can be extremely tasty. Do not go by the colour of the finished product is what I will suggest….

At my place we all love ragi and do enjoy it’s health benefits. I make a variety of dishes using this wonderful grain and I am eagerly waiting for the round up to try more..

Today I am posting Ukarpendi. Ukarpendi is a Marathi term and is used for Upma’s made with flour by the process of steam cooking which we call Ukad in Marathi. This particular Ukarpendi can be made completely with ragi flour also but addition of wheat flour adds in more flavour. Ragi is a very bland grain and needs to be overly spiced to taste better, adding wheat removes the blandness and yields a better textured Ukarpendi. The Ukarpendi is filling and is an extremely good option for breakfast or a lunch box item.

Some precautions that one must take while making this dish are…roast the flours on low flame till they produce a nice aroma. This dish needs oil in a little extra quantity, else it turns out very dry and becomes very difficult to eat. The spices need to added more liberally to bring in the flavours..

So here’s the recipe of Ragi-wheat Ukarpendi…enjoy the health benefits

Ingredients

2 small katoris Finger Millet flour

1 small katori wheat flour

2 onions chopped

handful  of peas

7-8 green chilies finely chopped

3-4 large spoon curds

1/2 tsp turmeric

2 tsp coriander pwd

1 tsp cumin pwd

1 tsp red chili pwd

a pinch of asafetida

1-1/2 inch ginger grated

few curry leaves chopped

1 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp of urad-chana dal

salt to taste

about 8-10 tbsp oil

boiled water for steam cooking

Method

Roast the flours and keep them aside.
Heat oil and add mustard seeds, asafetida followed by urad-chana dal and green chilies.
Add the chopped onions and peas, saute. Now add grated ginger and curry leaves and mix. ( One can add veggies of there choice )
Once the onions are done add turmeric, red chili, coriander, cumin pwds and salt to taste.
Now add the flours and roast it for a few mins in the oil. Mix in the curds and sugar. The curds adds a mild sour taste.
Now comes the tricky part. Add boiling water gradually and keep mixing. This process has to be done very fast ensuring no lumps are formed. Add water till the flour absorbs water and comes to a state of slightly loose dough.
Cover the pan and steam cook for about 5 minutes.
Serve hot with a dash of ghee on top and garnish with fresh coconut and chopped cilantro.
Sending this to Hosted by Madhuram and is the brainchild of Indira of Mahanandi.