Ragi Rotti (Finger millet flatbread)

Ragi Rotti is a simple and healthy traditional flatbread of Karnataka. The finger millet flour is mixed with a variety of colourful seasonal vegetables and formed into the dough to make delicious bread served with a variety of condiments on the side. I settled for uncomplicated Tomato Chutney tempered with mustard seeds swimming in the ghee with some aromatic curry leaves.

 

Ragi is one of the staple crops of Karnataka from the ancient era hence that explains the abundance of finger millet use in the cuisine of the state. Some of the conventional dishes of Karnataka has Ragi as the key ingredient like Ragi Dosa, Ragi Mudde, Ragi Idli and Ragi Ambli. While I was listing down recipes for the January month theme ‘Karnataka’ for #thekitchendivas (an endeavor to create a collection of recipes of Traditional Indian Cuisines in collaboration with a few bloggers who share the same passion of cooking) Ragi Rotti was one of the obvious choices to showcase the influence of local ingredients on the cuisine.

Sometimes dishes that are loaded with health benefits are greeted with furrowed brows on the breakfast table, the mere presence of any such dish that does not satisfy the family criteria of good food, drain out the appetite from the table. Such healthy mornings (I address them as healthy mornings) are a rare occasion in my kitchen but with some experience as a house maker any premature announcements about the ingredients is avoided, so that the food on the plate could be tasted without any preconceived notions and taste buds share their genuine verdict about the same. But Ragi Rotti is one exception to the above list, it has become a routine affair for the breakfast or lunch with humble Tomato Chutney and each bite of the flavoursome bread embedded with the sweetness of the carrot, freshness of coriander is dipped in radiant sloppy chutney with equal enthusiasm till the finishing line.