Ragi-Akki Roti

Ragi-Akki roti is a pretty conventional dish from Karnataka, though not very often used together in a roti. (Akki roti is the roti made purely out of rice flour.) I have been fond of Ragi rotis ever since my days in Chennai. My aunt who used to live in the apartment below ours used to make them almost weekly for Uncle, her granddaughters and me of course! Auntie as I have always called her, is one of the best cooks that can ever be and her penchant for maintaining a clean house and kitchen at all times used to have me flabbergasted. To my eyes, her kitchen resembled one of those clean rooms in hospitals even if you sneaked a peek in the midst of a feast preparation for 10 people. Of course I was a shabby teenager back then but then life is all about learning after all. My subconscious had been covertly absorbing what it observed in my mom's and auntie's kitchens and today it manifests itself in every tiny bit of housekeeping I do. Another interesting observation about those times is that I had no knowledge of my own about nutrition. But I did trust Auntie about the glowing reviews she gave Ragi. Well...as the story goes, I loved this dish and never had the chance to eat it, much less make it since I moved here to the land of opportunities in 2000. That sounds dramatic but the truth is that in the university town called Rolla (read middle-of-nowhere) where I lived until I graduated last year, we were 100 miles away from the closest form of civilization. Since my move to California, two things changed - 1) Indian grocery stores here stack everything that you can ever think of (except one of my favorite veggies - plantain stem) and they do flaunt at least 5 different brands of Ragi flour. 2) My discovery of the umpteen Indian foodie blogs led to stumbling upon lots of recipes for Ragi rotis. But I still didn't dare to attempt it because I was too apprehensive that I'd make a mess of the whole thing. The wait ended in a surprising manner sometime in February this year. On one of our weekend skiing trips at Tahoe, we stopped enroute at Folsom at our friend Pavan's place. His parents were visiting and needless to say they were charming hosts. It sure was heartwarming to get back from the cold slopes to a lovely home-cooked dinner. After the nice meal and a good night's sleep, Vee and I were all set to hurry back but Pavan's mom (Auntie) wouldn't hear of it. She insisted to send us only with breakfast in our stomachs. The usual polite refusals and the persisting insisting were happening in full swing but only until I heard what was for breakfast. As you can imagine, Ragi rotis it was! I acquiesced only too willingly and Auntie gladly agreed to teach me as well as share with me the recipe for making them. We set to work immediately and oh boy what fun we had together! And Vee, who hadn't been too sure if he'd like them in the first place had a ball gorging on them.

Ingredients -
1) Ragi Flour - 1 cup
2) Rice Flour - 1 cup
3) Onion - 1 medium sized - finely chopped
4) Green Chilies - 2 (julienned)
5) Cilantro - a few sprigs (cut up into bits)
6) Dill leaves - a few (roughly chopped)
7) Salt - to taste
8) Water - for the dough
9) Oil - for frying

10) Few cooked corn kernels - (optional)

Method -
1) Take a big bowl, sturdy enough to withstand the kneading and add the dry ingredients (ragi flour, rice flour and salt) and mix well.
2) Make a well in the center and toss in all the remaining ingredients except water.
3) Mix with a light hand and then add water a little at a time and knead well until a soft and pliable dough is obtained.

The dough (after a ball was torn off)

4) Cover and leave aside for 10 minutes.
5) Take a non-stick, flat griddle and grease with little oil but make sure it spreads all over.
6) Tear off a big lemon-sized chunk of the dough and shape into a rough ball and place it in the middle of the griddle. Start patting it from the top and continue doing so until you see it metamorphosing from a ball to an egg and then to a disc and finally into a thin roti. The patting can seem tricky but in reality it isn’t because the dough is very forgiving and easy to manage. It helps to smear some water on your fingers time and again during the patting.

Roti being patted by Auntie

7) Place the pan on a medium flame and cover and cook after drizzling a wee bit of oil along the circumference.

Roti before covering

8) The roti will lift off easily for turning over once the underside is cooked through. Flip and cook for a few more minutes.

Ragi roti with blobs of butter (x-()

9) Serve piping hot because this one tastes great when hot along with any kind of chutney you like!