"Cucumber-Rava- Nachani Bhakri’ served with Coriander-Mint- Coconut Chutney ... I love these simple bhakri's and keep trying them out in various combinations and by now I have plenty of them in diff. combos ... you can relish them with any chutney of your choice or simply have it with homemade butter ... here is another combo, that can be had for breakfast as it gives full nutrients required for the day long activities or you can also have them for lunch during upvas/ fasting on single meal days ... either way they taste ... Yummilicious ...
** Somehow I never tire of prepare Bhakri for breakfast or otherwise when I observe upvas/ fasting and I often make them with lots of variations. In my home we love this dish very much and I have lost the count of combinations in which I have prepared them. It is Adhikamasa now which falls around once in 35 months or so period, ie once in 4 years which we call leap year too, about which too I have already mentioned so will not write the same again, but during this month many days like Tuesdays, Saturdays, Chatruthi, Ekadashi day we observe fasting and we Konkani Saraswats avoid rice and rice items, some do observe the whole month. Rava is an Ingredient that is not forbidden in our community and many people prepare dishes out of the same while elsewhere some even do not have Rava.
To cut short, to each one their own rules I guess, as for me, I enjoy these experiments in my kitchen, which most of the time gives me surprises past my expectations. I have already posted a few methods before. Here I am posting another healthier version of bhakri that includes the addition of cucumber along with nachani/ finger millet that is a rich source of calcium and those who follow my Blog must have noticed that I use it in plenty, trust me you should too as it is a store house for good for health. Do try this out this awesome bhakri’s and enjoy them with your family, you can serve them with any chutney of your choice or dal or butter/ loni which is one the best combo with bhakri. This time I served with Coriander- Mint- Coconut Chutney and it was simply fantastic to taste.
** Here is my simple method for preparing "Cucumber-Rava- Nachani Bhakri”… my style ….
** Ingredients :
Rava/ Rulav/ Bombay Rava : 2 cups
Nachani/Ragi/ Finger Millet Flour : 1 cup
Curds/ Dahi : ½ cup.
Coconut/ Soyi/ Nariyal : 2 tblsp gratings (Optional)
Cucumber/ Taushe’/ Khakdi : 1 medium sized peeled and grated.
Green Chillies/ Tarni Mirsanga/ Hari Mirchi : 5-6 cut into pieces
Ginger/ Alle’/ Adrak: 1 inch grated
Hing/ Asafoetida Powder : 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil (Tel)+ Ghee(Toop) mixed in 1:1 proportion for frying the bhakri.
** In a bowl add in the Rava (Bombay rava, but NOT the fine chiroti rava), nachani flour, curds, green chillies, ginger, hing, coconut gratings and salt to taste and mix well adding another say about approximately 2 cups of water.
** Note : Addition of coconut gratings is optional and you can leave it out if you do not like it, however, we Konkani Saraswats are partial toward coconut be it grating, in milk form, oil or prepared into masala and we simply love its taste, so try it out once.
** Do not add in too much water in one go. Addition of water depends more or less upon the rava and cucumber grating too. So keep adding little by little while you keep mixing. Once it has been mixed well into a thick bhakri mixture, keep this aside covered for 15-20 mins.
** It is very important to give a resting period as rava soaks up water and swells up in size which softens it and turns out a bit drier. If too dry you can add in a little bit of extra water, mix and then use the batter, this turns the bhakri soft within and crispy outside.
** The mixture must be smooth and there should be no lumps in them. The texture should be that of bhakri/ thick batter, a balling consistency. You should be able to take a lump of it on your hands and pat it on the hot tawa into a nice round shaped bhakri.
** For Making of Bhakri : Heat a Iron/ non stick tava to smoking point and then reduce the heat to minimum. Take small amount of the mixed batter and pat it on a hot tava directly to form small bhakri. Be careful while doing this to prevent your hand from getting hurt.
** Keep dipping you hand in water before you pat the bhakri, this is necessary to avoid the bhakri paste from sticking your palms and also give it a nice round shape, but see to it that there is not water dripping or it will splutter when it falls on tava, so take care.
** OR ... The same can be done on a banana leaf/ butter paper if one is not confident on making the bhakri directly on tava. Use a clean leaf/ sheet, rub it over with little bit of water/ oil and proceed as written above for tava. Once you get nice small round bhakri gently invert it over the tava and remove the sheet/ leaf.
** Pour some oil+ ghee on all sides of the bhakri. Let cook on medium heat uncovered till evenly cooked on the bottom side and the paste on the upper portion does not stick to your hand when you touch gently on top side.
** Sprinkle some oil+ ghee on top side, loosen the bhakri and slowly flip it over on the tava and let cook on the other side too for a few minutes.Do not overcook as the bhakri should remain soft but firm and not too crisp nor should it get burnt on any side.
** Repeat the process with remaining batter till all the batter is consumed. This bhakri should be served hot, so in order to avoid serving cold, you can prepare the batter and keep it in the fridge and prepare and serve the same as and when required.
** Bhakri should always be served hot with butter, curds, pickle, chutney, chunda or any other accompaniment of your choice. Usually bhakri is usually served with fresh homemade butter and it tastes best that way specially to children but you can serve with chutney too.
** Again, the size of the bhakri depends on individual liking. You can make bigger bhakri say about 6 inches in dia too or smaller one of say 3-4 inches. Just take adequate amount of mixture and prepare the same into desired size.
** I have a pan with 7 slightly made dents of round shape which I use to make uniform bhakri or small dosas, these non stick tavas are easily available in the market and is definitely a good investment if you are making a lot of bhakri or small dosas.
** "Cucumber-Rava- Nachani Bhakr” is done and ready to be served. I prepared this for Ekadashi Upvas so we had this as our only meal with chutney. You can prepare these for breakfast or dinner as it can be relished any time of the day.
** Nachani/ Finger Millet is good for all specially growing up children, so make it a point to include them in plenty into your diet. They are high in calcium and other nutrients and in southern parts of India we make many dishes out of these, which you can search in the Blog.
** I am sharing a common link to all the “Chutney” dishes posted in the blog, you can browse through and choose that which you would like to try out and serve with the bhakri ….
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