Ragi Mudde

Before you start

• Keep a bowl of cold water beside the stove — you shape the mudde with wet hands.
• Mix 2 tbsp of the ragi flour into 1/2 cup cold water to a lump-free slurry before you start; this goes in first and stops the whole pot from seizing.
• Have a heavy wooden spatula or a mudde kolu ready. A thin spoon will bend.

Method

1. Bring 4 cups water to a hard rolling boil with the salt in a heavy-bottomed pot.
2. Stir in the cold ragi slurry and let it boil 3 minutes until the water turns opaque brown and thickens slightly.This pre-thickened base is what stops raw lumps forming later.
3. Lower the heat to minimum and tip in the remaining ragi flour all at once, in a mound in the centre. Do not stir.
4. Cover and let it steam 5 minutes — the mound cooks through from the sides in.Stirring now is the classic mistake. Let the steam do the work.
5. Uncover and beat hard with the wooden spatula, pressing the dough against the side of the pot, for 4 to 5 minutes until it is one glossy, uniform mass with no pale flecks.
6. Cook another 3 minutes on low, folding the mass over itself, until it pulls cleanly away from the pot.
7. Wet your hands in the cold water, scoop out a fistful and roll it into a smooth ball the size of a small orange.Work fast while it is hot; a cooled mass cracks instead of rounding.
8. Serve immediately with hot saaru or bassaru, swallowing the pieces rather than chewing them.

Storage

Best eaten within the hour. Leftover mudde stiffens; steam it for 5 minutes to soften, or crumble it into hot saaru.