From the Pantry: Ragi

Ragi, the superfood even our ancestors ate, is every fitness enthusiast’s best friend

When it comes to healthy eating, ragi or nachani ticks all the boxes. It is gluten-free, paleo (food that our ancestors ate) and high on fibre. In this week’s edition, our expert chef’s recipe and the winning reader recipe give us two unique ways to make ragi pancakes.

Ragi pancake with tomatoes, basil and feta by Ayushi Shah of Icing on Top (Photo: Aalok Soni/HT)

Ragi pancakes with tomatoes and feta

Recipe by: Ayushi Shah, owner, Icing on Top

Serves: Two Preparation time: 20 minutes

INGREDIENTS

Ragi flour: 1 cup

Water: 1.5 cups

Lemon zest: 1 tsp

Basil (chopped): 3 tbsp

Baking powder: ½ tsp

Baking soda: ¼ tsp

Butter (at room temperature): ¼ cup

Cherry tomatoes (halved): 10

Feta cheese (crumbled): 100 g

Olive oil: 1 tbsp

Method

Sift the flour, baking soda and baking powder.

Add water, basil and lemon zest. Whisk well to form a batter.

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Lightly oil the baking tray.

Toss the tomatoes in the olive oil and place them on the baking tray, halved side up.

Bake for 25 minutes till the tops are charred.

Heat a griddle, melt a knob of butter and ladle about 1/4 cup of the pancake batter.

Cook the pancake on one side and then flip over to cook the other side.

Repeat for the rest of the batter.

Serve with warm tomatoes and crumbled feta cheese.

Supriya Arun’s ragi and brown rice pancake

Winning reader recipe

Ragi and brown rice pancakes

By Supriya Arun

Serves: Two

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

Ragi flour: 1 cup

Brown rice flour: 1/4 cup

Grated coconut: 1 tsp

Jaggery powder: 1/4 cup

Cardamom powder: 1/2 tsp

Grated almond: 1 tsp

Ghee: 1 tsp

Water: 11/2 cup

A pinch of salt

Method

Pour some water in the jaggery powder and place the mixture on the burner for a minute, or till the jaggery dissolves.

Mix all the flours and powders listed, including the jaggery mix.

Bring it to a batter consistency by adding water.

Pour a spoonful of the batter onto a preheated non-stick pan. Add a few drops of ghee to cook the pancakes.

For the next edition of From The Pantry, email us recipes made using WATERMELON along with a high-res photo of your dish, a photo of yourself, along with your name, address and contact number at 48hours@hindustantimes.com. The best recipe wins an exciting prize.