Ragi Porridge /Kezhvaragu Kanji / Finger Millet Porridge for Toddlers

Raagi porridge is another healthier recipe for the toddlers. We can start this from the month of 4. Though doctors advice only mother's milk for first 6 months, many babies do not fully utilize the mother's milk, for such cases, Ragi porrodige is a boon. This porridge will not upset the baby's stomach and we can trust it fully. Many of the elderly woman advice us to soak the ragi over night and then allow it for another 12 hours till we get sprouts. But for those who are in abroad and where they cannot find rice mill, then we can use this alternate method.

Ragi Porridge | Kezhvaragu Kanji | Finger Millet Porridge for Toddlers

Preparation and Yield:

Preparation time	4-5 hours
Cooking Time	15 mins
Yield	1/2 Cup

Ingredients:

Ragi (Finger Millet/ Kezhvaragu)	3 teaspoon
Palm sugar / Cane sugar	1/2 teaspoon
Ghee	1/2 teaspoon
Milk (optional)	1 Cup
Water	As needed

Ragi Porridge | Kezhvaragu Kanji | Finger Millet Porridge for Toddlers

Method:

1. Soak the Raagi in water for atleast 4-5 hours. Drain the water and grind it in mixer along with water little by little.The Raagi will not be ground nicely, it will be coarse. We just need the milk which we get when we grind the raagi with water.



2. Filter the Raagi milk using  strainer and take the milk aside in a bowl.



3. Keep the filtered milk aside. Also soak the palm sugar  in the hot water to melt the sugar. Once the sugar melts, filter the mixture to remove any dust particles. The main purpose of this is to remove the dust from the palm sugar and also, the raagi milk will get cooked very quickly and if we add the palm sugar as cubes, the palm sugar will not get dissolved in the porridge. This porridge is mainly for the toddlers and infants and hence we need to take atmost care to take our the dust from palm sugar and also to ensure the porridge is smooth without any lumps



4. Heat a heavy bottomed pan, add raagi milk and stir continuously, add water little by little and stir till the raagi milk is cooked completely and its consistency reaches the porridge consistency.Finally add palm sugar/cane sugar syrup and mix well and keep stirring till it becomes to a porridge consistency

We can give this as a semi-solid by adding little ghee and feeding it with a clean spoon or we can dilute this with milk and give it in feeding bottles using the nipples for thicker liquids

Give this in smaller quantities and increase it little by little once it suits the baby