After 3 days of heavy meals because of Deepavali, I wanted to try something new, easy to make and somewhat light on stomach kind of meal. Two of VKN’s, My Dhaba recipes – Ragi Dosa and Orange-banana yogurt&honey drink (HOBIY) have caught my eye.
I have all the ingredients including fresh coconut (puja offering) and oranges. So I tried out these two recipes today for lunch and they turned out spectacular tastewise.
I Loved the chewy taste of ragi dosa and the smell is incredible; it’s like the smell of earth when it is raining. I had the fresh ragi flour, perhaps that may be the reason for the incredible aroma.
(You can find ragi flour in almost all Indian grocery shops here in US. Ragi (finger millet) is one of the ancient grains and very healthy source of Calcium. )
3 cups a href=”http://www.patelbrothersusa.com/show_item_details.asp?item_id=163″>ragi flour
1 cup coconut- fresh and finely grated
Onions, green chillies and cilantro – finely chopped, to taste
Salt to taste
I mixed all of the above ingredients with water in a bowl, thoroughly (like dosa/pancake batter consistency) and poured ladleful of batter onto a hot griddle. Adding few drops of oil, cooked the dosa on both sides till brown and crispy. I made four of these dosas (utappams). We had them with coconut chutney.
I also made the HOBIY. When I first read about this drink, I was little bit skeptical. First of all it’s orange and banana, then it’s yogurt. I wondered about the combination. Vijay often makes himself a drink with soya milk, banana and honey. Thinking, he may like this new drink, I prepared the VKN’s signatory HOBIY drink, by blending half cup of home made yogurt, freshly squeezed juice of one naval orange, one small banana and two tablespoons of honey and few ice cubes. Again, turned out to be one refreshing drink. There was no overpowering smell of banana. Orange juice and yogurt completely masked the smell and taste of banana. I, who normally don’t like the taste of banana in drink form, also enjoyed it.
Our meal today ~ Ragi Dosa with Coconut Chutney and Banana-Orange Yogurt Smoothie.
Thanks VKN for sharing these two wonderful, traditional, tasty family recipes with us.
well ragi dosa sounds good but i dont know aboutthe drink ,well i ll try on my 4yr old who is a excellent taste tester if he likes it well then it is good no doubt.
Comment by lakshmi — November 3, 2005 @ 5:35 pm
Hello Lakshmi,
Ragi dosa is really good, try it and let me know. Orange-banana smoothie is big surprise to me. I was, like you are very skeptical about it but it turned out very good. I am glad I tried this drink, really liked the taste.
About your request for non-veg recipes, you can find them in Bawarchi, or in other foodblogs listed on the side of the this blog. ‘My Dhaba’ and ‘Hooked on Heat’ have some meat recipes, check them out, if you are interested.
Thanks for your comments.
Comment by Indira — November 3, 2005 @ 5:43 pm
I would like to try ragi. Never eaten it. Do you have a specific favorite brand for ragi flour?
Comment by mika — November 3, 2005 @ 8:48 pm
Both Nirav and swad brands are ok, Mika. Again depends on luck, sometimes they are good, sometimes very stale. Try big stores like the ones in NJ, you’ll have more chance of picking a fresh packet.
Comment by Indira — November 3, 2005 @ 9:15 pm
Fantastic recipes! I am looking for Ragi Ganji recipe.Sweet,Salty/spicy or all 3 kinds.Trying to eat and live healthy.
Thank you for the great pictures-treat for the eyes.
Comment by padmini tirupati — November 4, 2005 @ 7:51 pm
Hello Padmini,I received your email. We remember the Deepak lodge on Byrumal street. Happy to get in touch with someone who is familiar with Nandyala and Mahanandi. Thanks for all your comments and email.
I posted Ragi malt (ragi ganji) recipe few months ago. You can find the link here(also in “Recipes blogged sofar” page on the side of this blog). Thanks.
Comment by Indira — November 4, 2005 @ 8:02 pm
Thank you very much Indira for trying out both Ragi dosai and HOBIY at your home and for giving a remarkable feedback by featuring it at your blog. I am quite thrilled to note that you liked it very much.
Lakshmi – have you tried HOBIY with your 4-yr-old taste-tester? 🙂
Comment by VK Narayanan — November 5, 2005 @ 10:07 am
We really enjoyed our lunch, thanks again for sharing these two wonderful recipes with us, VKN.
Comment by Indira — November 5, 2005 @ 6:35 pm
no i havent tried hobiy yet quite busy and he is got quite some request these days he is a very busy bee and he keeps me also busy,i do want to try this and if u have any other fruit drinks which are good even they are welcome .
Comment by lakshmi — November 11, 2005 @ 11:59 pm
Hi Mam,
I am wondering by seeing your ragi dosai picture in food section under the name “banana dosa” published in murasu dated 21 Jan 2006. Please refer to tamil evening daily page no. 18. Here is the link:
http://epaper.tamilmurasu.in
Whether u feel proud or sue the daily is your decision !!!!
Comment by shajith — January 21, 2006 @ 6:21 am
Hello Shajith, thanks for taking time and sending me the link.
I don’t know,what’s wrong with these newspapers, they think its ok to steal images without permission and giving any credit. Recipes, that’s ok, but images, I get really outraged about that.
Comment by Indira — January 21, 2006 @ 7:59 am
Lovely recipes as always, Indira! So is ragi the same as millet found in the United States, or is it a particular variety? Also, can I substitute Indian ragi flour with US millet flour?
Comment by Verdant — February 3, 2006 @ 4:53 pm
That sounds yummy, tho’ I’ll sub molahipodi for the chutney to keep the cholestorol down. BTW, any Dosai/Adai/Oothappam recipes using organic Soy Flour, Flaxseed and such protein rich stuff ?
RK
Comment by Ram Radhakrishnan — March 14, 2006 @ 2:21 pm
Hi Indira,
I’m a fan of your blog. I tried this Ragi dosa y’day.Top side of the dosa was coarse and dry(alpmost white in color). But the other side was ok.I don’t know if I have to apply more oil or if it’s because of the flour. Did you face any problem like this when you tried at first? Please pass on some tips if you have.
Comment by Hema — April 20, 2006 @ 2:31 pm
Hi Indira,
As many of the bloggers here, I am an ardent fan of yours. I recently found your website and ever since, reading all your recipes has become an obsession to me. Keep up the great work! I bought Lakshmi brand ragi this week end and tried it according to your recipe. Similar to Hema, top side of dosa was ok, but the bottom side almost cracked and white on color. I also tasted stones in the dosa and did not want to eat the stone ladden dosa! Do you think that only Nirav brand is good? Your advice is greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
-Uma
Indira replies:
Hi Uma, I brought mine from home, India. Mine is freshly milled, good quality ragi flour, so I didn’t had or have any problems like you described.
I’ve tried Nirav brand before and the dosas and ragi malt I have prepared with the flour tasted good.
See if changing the brand and cooking the dosas little bit longer would solve the problem. For stones, try the flour sifter.
Comment by Uma — April 23, 2006 @ 6:12 pm
Hi, I made ragi dosa in little different way and it turned out to be great! I personally like spicy taste and so I added grinded mixture of chillies (green chillies + salt + jeera). Grind them together for few seconds (we dont want a paste) and mix it with the ragi flour.
I always liked the recipes and pictures on mahanandi. This is the first website I visit whenever I want to try some recipe.
Thanks,
Gopi
Comment by Gopi — January 10, 2007 @ 11:37 am
Indira, i can’t describe how glad i am to see this post…..so thrilled that someone else shares the appreciation for ragi dosai.
i love ragi (mudde and dosai and everything else) :).
Thanks a lot for this post.
Comment by musical — March 31, 2007 @ 5:24 pm
I make this by adding grating the onions, ginger, garlic, cilantro and 1/2 grren chils and grind it coarsely. adding bisquick/biscuit mix 0f1/2cup makes it crispy and great dosa texture. experimenting with these is our personal tastes. enjoy. jyothi
Comment by jyothi mcminn — June 18, 2007 @ 12:07 am
Hi,
I have become a great fan of this site after I started looking into it recently. I am from srinivasa nagar, nandyal. Thanks for all the recipies.
Malathi
Comment by Malathi — August 30, 2007 @ 10:43 pm
Hi Indra – can we make the raagi dosa without the coconut? Or can we add grated carrots, perhaps? Trying to avoid coconut. Thanks – love your website – amazing details and pictures!!
Hi Shobana,
I made it without coconut also few times. Like utappam, with lots of vegetables – onions, green chilli, finely chopped capsicum and grated carrots etc. We had it with peanut chutney. Even without coconut, ragi dosas tasted quite good. Adding little bit of rice, freshly ground like we do for dosa, and chapati flour would also work. for 1 cup ragi flour, about quarter cup rice or chapati flour.(This helps to spread the batter on tava easily.)
Hope this helps. Please do let me know how you like it, if you try.
– Indira
Comment by Shobana — October 23, 2007 @ 12:28 pm
I should have looked for this recipe before making ragi papads 🙁 Thats how my ragi dosa came out intitially… after reading the last comment of yours, I added some roti flour and some onions and now, it’s pretty good. 🙂 Thanks, Indira!
Comment by Kay — November 3, 2007 @ 9:23 am
I love tha way you write!!!!
You really have a talent in this and of course your dishes are mouth watery. I greatly appreciate the step-by step photos. love ur site.
I was never a fan of idlis and dosais, but after readding about raagi dosai and idly, now I make it every other day.Thanks a lot!!!!
Comment by Rakhi — February 6, 2008 @ 8:39 pm
I liked the questions and answers in your blog. I learnt some good tips on the ragi dosa.
Here is a recipe that my sis-in law uses.
1 cup of ragi flour mixed with 1 cup of rice flour mixed. Soak 1/4 cup of urid and grind after sooaking for a few hours. Allow to ferment overnite and make dosas. It comes out very crisp.
Comment by Malini Chetty — March 6, 2008 @ 8:46 am