Ragi dose with vegetable ishtew

My girls like dose's at any time of the day. They loved the Ragi dose aunt L made a month ago. They named it brown dose and said that would be once a week from then on , provided I make it the same way. Not that I had any choice left but to get the recipe and make it as she did. But then I did not want to give the same chutney and thought will make it with something else and then the time came only today morning . I made kaikari ishtew (vegetable stew) as the side dish and it went very well with Ragi dose as it did with Neer dose ( I learnt that too... yummmm will update as soon as I get it right. )
Ragi Dose :
In Karnataka it is not Dosa,, it is DosE . It is true that I alsos got used to the word Dosa, and use that as others do not understand it. But I prefer to call it DosE instead of Dosa. Ragi is grown mostly in Africa and Asia.In India, finger millet (locally called ragi) is mostly grown and consumed in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra extensively. In Karnataka, ragi flour is generally consumed in the form of ragi balls (ರಾಗಿ ಮುದ್ದೆ ragi mudde in Kannada). The mudde which is prepared by cooking the Ragi flour with water to achieve a dough like consistency. Which is then rolled into 'balls' of desired size and consumed. Ghee with Huli,Saaru,sambar or another other curry is generally served along with these balls. The malt, made of malted Ragi is used as Ragi Malt is mixed with milk. The ragi powder is used for Rotti (Ragi Rotti) and Ragi Dose. Thi s one of the most nutritious cereal mankind has known. It is very rich in fibre and has about 328 k cal of energy.Today breakfast at my place looked like below pic...

RAGI DOSE WITH VEGETABLE STEW

Ingredients:

3 small cups Ragi flour

1 small cup Urad dal (Black gram dal)

1/2 tsp Fenugreek (Methi Seeds) (optional)

Salt to taste.

Oil to smear.

1 spoon yogurt /curds (optional)

Method:

Soak the urad dal and methi seeds for about 6 to 8 hours. Grind to a fine paste using as little water as possible. Mix the three parts of Ragi flour to the ground paste, add salt and the spoon of curds if the weather is cold. Mix thoroughly and allow to ferment for 12 to 14 hours.
The batter is ready to use.Add water if you feel the batter is very thick and spread on a hot tawa as usual dosas. Adding oil around the dosas to make it crisp is your decision. It is not necessary if you are using a nonstick pan.
Variation :Add finely chopped onion, green chillies, coriander and jeera .This adds a different flavour and is quite tasty.Enjoy with Vegetable Ishtew.


Vegetable Ishtew:
There are loads of authentic recipes of this Kaikari ishtew, a Keralite dish, Delicious with Appam. I had to change a little to suit our needs and taste. This is the modifed recipe I use regularly now. Today it is bit little colourless , as I ran out of Carrots which gives a lovely colour.
Ingredients:
2 carrots
Half of a small cauliflower
1/2 cup french beans
2 potatoes
1/2 cup green peas
2 medium onions
2 green chillies
1 inch ginger
A sprig of curry leaves
1 cup thick coconut milk ( I use dabur HOMMADE ready coocnut milk )
2 tblsp coconut oil
1 bay leaf
1 spoon cumin seeds (jeera)
2 cloves
1 star anise
one inch stick cinnamonsalt to taste.
Method:
Wash, peel and cut carrot, beans and potatoes into equal sized small cubes. Cut cauliflower into small florets and soak in salted warm water. Peel and slice the onion and wash and slit the green chillies. Peel the ginger and cut to fine pieces or to a smooth paste. Wash the curry leaves.
To make coconut milk (Soak about 4 cups of scraped coconut in 2 cups of warm water, grind and squeeze out thick milk. Repeat this process two more times but with only one cup water to get totally three extracts of varying density. ) Or easy to use the ready coconut milk.
Par boil the vegetables one by one, drain and keep aside.
Heat 2 tbsp of oil add the bay leaf, star anise, cloves and cinnamon and fry till there is a pleasant aroma. Add the cumin seeds ,onion, curry leaves and green chillies. Keep sauteing till the onion just starts becoming light brown, then add the par boiled vegetables with the salt to taste and saute for a couple of minutes.Pour half the coconut milk, add little water and boil . When well cooked add the remaining coconut milk and turn the heat off. Season with hot oil and curry leaves, and serve hot with Appam or Neer dose or Ragi dose.
Bye for now.Let me know if you have liked it. With Dasara coming in, Mysore is getting decorated in every nook and corner, we are also carried away by the enthusiasm. Have a great festival.