Cookbook:South Indian Millet Swallow (Mudde)

| Indian recipes

Mudde is a compact ball swallow made from finger millet. It is a lunchtime staple of rural communities in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh in South India, and an important source of long-lasting energy among the rural poor.

Serving immediately is preferable, but the balls can also be packed and eaten cold later. Before eating, if desired, poke a hole in the ball with your finger and pour in a little ghee. Dip pieces of the ragi dough in a watery sauce like upeseru broth and swallow; do not attempt to chew. Eat along with the solid upeseru for a complete meal that will keep you going all day.

Ingredients

 * 2 ½ cups ragi (finger millet) flour
 * 5 cups water
 * Ghee

Procedure

 * 1) Boil the water in a pot, add a little of the flour to make a paste, then add the rest of the flour.
 * 2) Stir once with the handle of a wooden spoon and leave it in the pot.
 * 3) Keep on low heat for about 10 minutes until it smells cooked.
 * 4) Stir until the mixture turns dark reddish-brown. Once it begins to leave the sides of the pot, remove the pot from the fire and stir vigorously for 5–10 minutes—it's hard work, but the longer you keep at it, the lighter it will be.
 * 5) Pull the mixture out and form into balls of about fist size.