After our first attempt at Raagi Bhakri it is a favorite in our home. It’s easy to prepare and both of us love it. During this past visit to Kumta I replenished our stock of Raagi flour.
A few blocks from our place in Kumta is a little “girNi” (or mill) which grinds various types of flour. It is run by a distant relative ours; apparently everyone in Kumta is related to each other! And fortuitously for me, he was milling raagi flour that day. So here’s a little tour of the making of Raagi Flour.
Shanbhag maam (in Kumta I call all elders by this honorific ~ we are all related, you see) poses with a bag of Raagi flour.
Raagi comes in these 110 lb bags and Shanbhag maam hauls these on his back!
My first look at whole raagi (Red millet or African millet).
In this simple contraption, the millet is ground. Through the homemade bellows in the foreground, the ground raagi collects in tin cans. The husk blows up through the pipe at the top and collects in the cloth bag in the back.
To cool, the ground raagi is heaped on newspapers on the floor, then hand filled in plastic bags and sealed. For a pittance I bought a couple of bags of raagi flour and carried them to our home here. On our dining table, raagi bhakri will appear more often. Yaay!
A closer look at the owner/manager/laborer/bag filler/cashier/cleaner/load hauler!
[...] on April 30, 2008 at 7:19 pm19 Fresh Raagi Flour « Arun Shanbhag [...]
What beautiful eyes he has.
Thank you kindly, Jennifer -
and a very distant look, which tells me he has ‘experenced’ a lot in this life.
Best!
Ooh I’ve never actually seen red millet. What kind of things do you normally make using red millet?
I get the feeling it’s used in Kerala too…but I’m not entirely familiar with it.
hi Saroj:
When spending hot summers in rural karnataka, our grandmother used to make “raagi – neru” (raagi water) consisting of grinding roasted raagi with coconut and jaggery. supposedly a very ‘cooling’ drink. On my last visit to Kumta, I found it is even served in some of the local restaurants!
In marathi it is called “nanchana” and I have seen recipes for laddoos too.
My favorite is the Raagi Bhakri I have linked to above, and here:
http://arunshanbhag.com/2007/11/13/raagi-bhakri/
Very easy to make! and VERY FILLING!
see the link for some nutritional info at the end.
It is a common staple of the poor and hardy!