Ragi halbai recipe | How to make ragi halubai | Finger millet halwa recipe | Ragi kilsa
By Latha on February 8th, 2017
Ragi halbai or halubai recipe explained with step by step pictures and a video. Ragi halbai is a kind of halwa or cake prepared using finger millet, jaggery and coconut. Ragi halbai is a very tasty and healthy recipe. Ragi halbai or halubai is an authentic and traditional food of Karnataka. Ragi halbai or halwa is also familiar by name "ragi kilsa" or "ragi kilisa"
In my family we prepare akki halbai or rice halubai quite often. And I learnt this ragi halbai recipe from a Facebook food group. This recipe was in my "to be tried" list for long time and I prepared it few days back. Ragi halbai tastes so good and is very healthy also. Moreover my Son loved it so much. Altogether I was very happy.
Ragi has numerous health benefits. You can find many ragi or finger millet recipes on this website like ragi unde or laddu, ragi rotti, ragi mudde or ragi ball, ragi malt or ragi health drinkand ragi dose recipes.
This is a very easy recipe. But extracting the ragi milk is bit time consuming as in this recipe whole finger millet is used. I have posted many Karnataka style sweet recipes like roasted gram laddu, carrot halwa, rava kesari bath, banana halwa, coconut burfi and badam puri recipes. Also I have posted one easy and quick peda recipe for kids. Do read, try and enjoy!!
I have made a video on this ragi halwa recipe with Kannada narration and English subtitles, which I have embedded it below. Kindly have a look.
Preparation time: 4 hours
Cooking time: 30 min
Serves: 3
Ingredients: (measuring cup used = 240ml)
- 1/2 cup ragi or finger millet
- 1/4 cup grated coconut
- 1/2 cup jaggery (can vary depending on your taste)
- 1 tbsp ghee
- 1.25 cups water
- A pinch of cardamom powder
Instructions for making halbai or halubai:
- Rinse the soak the ragi or finger millet for 3 - 4 hours.
- Now to begin with to prepare ragi halbai take powdered jaggery and 1/4 cup of water in a container. Bring it to boil and switch off the stove. We will be using this later.
- Next drain the water from soaked ragi and grind it along with grated coconut. Grind until fine batter. Do not add too much water. Add only required water.
- Now we need to filter this. You can also use a cloth to filter.
- Filter it with the help of a spoon. Now to the residue add in the water and grind it again.
For gridning you can use only a cup of water (for 1/2 cup ragi) as we have used 1/4 cup for dissolving the jaggery.
- Repeat the filtering process. This is the image after final filtering. I repeated it twice means I filtered it 3 times.
- Pour the batter into a thick bottomed wok or pan. Filter and add in jaggery water. Also add in remaining water. Please note altogether you need to use 1.25 cup of water for 1/2 cup of ragi (for 1 cup 2.5 cup water).
- Now before proceeding grease a plate with ghee and keep it ready. Keep the pan on the stove top and cook the batter until you get a thick mass by stirring continuously. When it becomes thick add in 1 tbsp of ghee and a pinch of cardamom powder. Continue cooking or mixing under medium flame by stirring continuously.
- After around 5 minutes you can see the halbai will start leaving the pan and you can also observe the gloss. At this stage it is done. switch off the stove.
- Pour the hot halbai or halwa onto the greased plate.
- Take a spoon or a piece of banana leaf greased with ghee and flatten the halbai or halwa. Once it is warm cut it into pieces and serve.
Dear reader, We have a Kannada version of this recipe. Click here to read this recipe in Kannada.
Dear Reader,
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