Murungai Keerai Ragi Adai | Healthy Breakfast Recipes

Remember my post on Murungai Keerai Poriyal last week? With the left over batch of the drumstick leaves, I made Murungai Keerai Ragi Adai. Ragi or Finger millet is a power house of nutrients. It is rich in calcium and iron and has a lot of other minerals too. The fact that it is low in fat makes it perfect for weight loss as well as diabetes. I love to use Ragi in my food and the best way to incorporate it is in the form of ragi kanji/congee, multigrain dosa, ragi adai or ragi sevai. If you are pressed for time, adai is the best way to get going. Mix some ragi flour with finely chopped onions and green chillies, make a dough, roll it flat and cook it on both sides. Not only this adai is easy to prepare, its very tasty too. Adai is thicker than dosa and in this case, ragi adai has to be hand pressed to desired thickness. I added finely chopped murungai keerai or drum stick leaves to the ragi flour, there by combining two best ingredients into one great adai. It tastes best with something spicy on the side, I went for spicy coconut chutney.

To make Murungai Keerai Ragi Adai

Servings: makes 7
Time: 40 mins
Difficulty: Medium
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What I used –

Finely Chopped Drumstick Leaves, 2 cups (tightly packed)
Shallots, 10-12
Ragi Flour, 2 cups
Salt, as required
Warm Water, as required
Grated Coconut, 2 tbsp
Oil, 1 teaspoon + to sprinkle around the adai

How I made –

1. In a pan, heat 1 teaspoon of oil. Add finely chopped shallots. Fry until translucent and add finely chopped Murungai Keerai or Drumstick leaves. Add salt required. Fry until the raw smell is gone. Let it cool.

2. In a bowl, add ragi flour, salt, grated coconut and the sautéed shallots-drumstick leaves. Mix well. Add warm water little by little until everything is mixed well and comes to a dough consistency.

3. Make 6-7 equal sized balls out of the dough. In a polythene/plastic sheet or milk cover or banana leaf, spread each ball of dough into a thin circle using your fingers. Try to hand press as thin as possible to cook the adai easily and to get it crisp. Ensure there are no cracks at the edges. If the dough is cracking at the edges, apply few drops of water and fill the gaps/cracks.

4. Meanwhile, heat a nonstick tawa or pan. Once hot, reduce the flame to low or medium. Gently remove the adai from the sheet onto the hot tawa. Let it cook for 1-2 mins. Sprinkle some oil around the edges and gently turn it to the other side. Sprinkle some oil. Once both the sides are cooked, remove it on a plate. Repeat the same with rest of the dough.

5. Serve hot with any spicy chutney of your choice.

Note –

In case, drumstick leaves are not available plain ragi adai can be prepared.
Shallots enhance the taste, but ordinary onions can be used.
Additionally green chillies can be used for spiciness.
Adding warm water while making the dough would partially cook the ragi flour and hence it would cook faster on the tawa/pan.
Don’t make the dough too watery, it would be hard to press it down and to remove it. Similarly if the dough is too dry, edges would be cracked.
Need to be careful while removing the adai from the plastic as well as while flipping it for the first time. Give a minute before flipping it.
Slow cooking the adai ensures ragi flour is cooked well.
The initial sautéing of shallots and leaves is to get rid of the raw smell, the step is optional however.
Tastes best when hot with spicy chutney. I made red chilly coconut chutney as a side.