Ragi Porridge is a great nutritional food for babies and toddlers. It is easy to make and you can make the ragi porridge extract and store in refrigerator for 3-4 days. This means only adding jaggery and cooking for a while and your ragi porridge is ready.
The health benefits of ragi are so many that lately it is often referred to as a ‘Wonder Millet’. It is highly rich in iron and calcium which is required for bone growth and overall development of infants. It is also known to boost lactation. Hence it is considered a must food for infants and lactating mothers.
In Goa, ragi porridge (satva) is one of the most common foods given to babies once weaning has been started.
I included ragi porridge in my babies diet at 8 months. Initially I made the ragi porridge thin and watery and gradually increased the thickness as my baby got adjusted to it. Also I hadn’t included cows milk in my little ones’ diet till she was 10 months.
So 10 months onwards, I started using milk to thin down the porridge. Basically if I have to feed her with spoon, I keep the ragi porridge thick and thin it down if I want to feed her using a bottle( this is helpful when we are traveling).
Note : Like with any food you would introduce in an infants diet, follow the 3 day rule – i.e. introduce only one new food at a time. Try it for 3 days to check for any reactions or allergies.
Serves: 1
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients:
Ragi : ¼ cup
Jaggery : 2 tsp
Water : 2 cups
Method of Preparation:
- Wash ragi and soak in water for at least 5-6 hours.
- Grind the ragi using a mixer, adding water(around 3/4th cup) as required.
- Using a sieve, filter this to collect the extract. You can press the contents with the back of a spoon or with your hand to collect the ragi extract.
- Add this back to the mixer, add half cup water and repeat till the you have extracted the ragi juice completely. The remains left on the sieve should be brown only consisting of the cover of the ragi grains.
- This extract can be stored in the fridge and the final porridge can be made at the time of serving.
To make the porridge:
- Take one cup of ragi extract in a thick bottomed pan. Add jaggery, 3/4th cup water and and keep on low flame.
- Keep stirring continuously as it tends to form lumps if left unattended. Gradually it will start thickening. Remove from flame once the desired consistency is reached. Keep stirring for 1 more min.
- You can directly use the thick porridge or thin it down with ½ cup milk and give it in a baby bottle or glass (makes around 300 ml).
- I think the ragi extract can be safely stored in the fridge for upto 1 week. I typically make the extract using one cup of ragi- which makes approximately 4 cups of extract. So i store it in an airtight container in the fridge and use it for the next 3 days.
So the wonder millet ragi is a part of my little ones breakfast almost everyday 🙂
Ragi Porridge recipe
- Ragi : ¼ cup
- Jaggery : 2 tsp
- Water : 2 cups
- Wash ragi and soak in water for at least 5-6 hours.
- Grind the ragi using a mixer, adding water(around ¾th cup) as required.
- Using a sieve, filter this to collect the extract. You can press the contents with the back of a spoon or with your hand to collect the ragi extract.
- Add this back to the mixer, add half cup water and repeat till the you have extracted the ragi juice completely. The remains left on the sieve should be brown only consisting of the cover of the ragi grains.
- This extract can be stored in the fridge and the final porridge can be made at the time of serving.
- Take one cup of ragi extract in a thick bottomed pan. Add jaggery, ¾th cup water and and keep on low flame.
- Keep stirring continuously as it tends to form lumps if left unattended. Gradually it will start thickening. Remove from flame once the desired consistency is reached. Keep stirring for 1 more min.
- You can directly use the thick porridge or thin it down with ½ cup milk and give it in a baby bottle or glass (makes around 300 ml).
- I think the ragi extract can be safely stored in the fridge for upto 1 week. I typically make the extract using one cup of ragi- which makes approximately 4 cups of extract. So i store it in an airtight container in the fridge and use it for the next 3 days.
- So the wonder millet ragi is a part of my little ones breakfast almost everyday 🙂
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