Raagi Porridge/ Finger-Millet Porridge

What do you give your growing child?

Is it just me or are there other moms out there that like me struggle to get breakfast into your kid every morning before rushing him off to day-care? Kochu loves to sleep in and never wakes up until its only 20 minutes left for us to rush out of door so we don’t get stuck in the morning traffic. So of late, breakfast is pretty much out of the question on weekdays.

Since this was a trend I started noticing in him while we were on holiday in India too, I tried to be smart and planned ahead. I came back from my holiday loaded with bottles of Horlicks and Complan Kesar Badam. Most of us have grown up drinking milk with one or the other of these beverage mixes and we have our favorites in continuing that tradition of a nutritious drink for our own children. Right? So that’s his morning and evening drinks sorted on the weekdays. But come weekend and I’m ready to fill him with delicious yet healthy food that would (hopefully) compensate for not eating brekkie 4 days a week.

And for this my power ingredient has been Raagi.

Ever since Kochu has been on solids, my mom has been going on and on about how healthy Raagi is and how good it is for kids and how I should be giving it to Kochu at least once a week. I did give Kochu loads of it while he was a baby and on soft solids but stopped when he started eating other foods. So this time Raagi made it onto my shopping list and I must say I’m glad it did.

It is quite easy to make and is surprisingly tasty too! Raagi is readily available to buy in medical stores in India but if you have the time and patience I would recommend preparing the Raagi powder traditionally at home for babies. Ideally, Raagi grains are washed, soaked, sprouted, dried and milled to fine flour, but since we did not have the time or patience to do this when we were home this time I had to settle for the store bought version.

Coincidentally Raagi is quite good for adults and kids alike so this has been my breakfast on weekends too and I must say I’d take a bowl of Raagi malt instead of Oats or any other cereal any day!.

This recipe is quite forgiving and you can adjust it according to your taste. This is how I’d prepare it for my son. Feel free to replace whole milk with the milk of your choice.

You’ll have to forgive me for the picture, but I was playing with the different modes on my phone and experimenting with it and so I didn't end up with the best picture. But I’ll take a better picture the next time I make this and post an update, but for now this will have to do. And of course here's a picture of my cheeky little monkey having his breakfast (on his own, I might add!)

So without further ado let’s get onto the recipe J

Raagi Porridge/ Finger-Millet Porridge

Ingredients
Whole Milk – 2 cups

Raagi Flour – 2 heaped tablespoons

Almond Meal – 2 tablespoons (optional)

Sugar – 1 tablespoon

Cardamom– 2 pods

Ghee – few drops (optional)

Method

• In sauce pan boil 1.5 cups milk.
• Meanwhile, in a small cup mix the Raagi flour and almond meal with the rest of the milk making sure there are no lumps. Add this to the boiling milk and let it cook for 5-6 minutes until nice and thick.
• Pry open the cardamom seeds from the pods. In a mortar and pestle, grind the cardamom seeds to a fine powder.
• When the milk comes to a boil, reduce heat to low and stir in the Raagi & almond milk and continue stirring intermittently to see that no lumps are formed, until cooked or about 5 mins. If you see any lumps, just smash them with the back of a spoon to dissolve.
• Turn off the heat, stir in sugar, ghee and the ground cardamom and mix well.
• Serve hot or warm

Notes

 It is important that you mix the raagi flour with milk before adding it to the boiling milk else lumps will form.

Feel free to substitute sugar with jagerry or brown sugar or even honey.