Nachni Satva or Ragi Pudding is a rich source of iron, calcium, fibre and proteins. Ragi extract combined with coconut milk and jaggery and cooked to form a halwa that can be cut into pieces.
Ingredients:
Nachni/Ragi – 1 cup
Grated Coconut – 1 cup
Jaggery – 1 and 1/2 cup (see Tips)
Salt – 1 pinch
Cashew nuts, broken into small pieces 10-15 nos. (optional)
Cardamom powder – 1/4 tsp (optional)
Ghee – 1 tbsp + 1 tsp for greasing
Direction:
Grease a flat-bottomed steel plate with a tsp of ghee.
Wash nachni in water a couple of times till it is clean. Soak nachni for 5-6 hours.
Grind the nachni with a little water till you get a smooth and fine paste. Add 1 cup water to the paste and strain the nachni through a fine sieve strainer and extract the juice.
Again, add a little more water to the residue to extract any leftover juice. Discard the residue. Keep this juice aside covered for about an hour to let the ‘satva’ settle down.
Meanwhile, grind coconut with water to a fine paste. Extract coconut milk using a strainer. Add a little water to the residue to extract any extra coconut milk. Discard this residue also.
Add jaggery to this and keep it aside.
After about an hour, the nachni satva will settle at the bottom. Slowly discard the water above it.
In a thick bottomed pan, take the ragi extract, coconut milk and jaggery mixture; and mix well to combine. Add a pinch of salt.
Keep the pan on medium flame and keep stirring continuously. After sometime, you will see small lumps forming in the mixture. Keep stirring to avoid large lumps forming. Use a whisk to stir, as it breaks the lumps and stirring becomes very easy. Add cashew nuts at this stage.
It will thicken further and small bubbles of steam will start escaping from the slurry. Be careful as it might splutter on your hand. Keep the flame low and keep stirring. Add a tbsp of ghee to give it a nice glaze.
After about 15-20 mins, the steam bubbles will stop. Switch off the gas, add cardamom powder and mix well.
Slowly pour the mixture in the greased thali. Apply some ghee to the base of a steel cup and gently spread the mixture in the thali. Allow it to cool.
Once cooled, cut into square or diamond shaped pieces.
Notes
For best taste, use 1 cup regular jaggery and ½ cup coconut jaggery. This gives a impressive dark color and a distinct taste and flavor to Nachni Satva Pudding. Coconut jaggery is called ‘madache god’ in Goa and is dark brown with a unique taste.
Rest the ragi juice and separate the extract and water. This process takes a long time for the water content to evaporate and thicken the mixture.
Using a whisk makes stirring easy and prevents burning at the bottom.
