Murungai Keerai Ragi Adai Recipe

Recipe for murungai keerai ragi adai. Healthy, nourishing and tasty adai made with ragi flour, moringa leaves and veggies. Recipe with step by step pictures.

This recipe for Ragi Adai with moringa leaves is from SKP Karuna Anna. I am a great fan of his writing. I have devoured his tamil short stories which have a simple yet compelling story line of everyday life. In Tiruvannamalai and surrounding regions, Ragi adai is made during the rainy season. Someone even commented funnily, அதனாலதான் அடைமழைனு பேர் வந்திச்சோ?! – Its called ragi “adai” because its made during “adai” mazhai (heavy rain). This is a very simple recipe to put together and makes for an excellent after school snack or even a dinner. This recipe is from his family.

Here is how to do it.
Heat Indian sesame oil in a pan and add in the chana dal and urad dal. Let the lentils brown a bit. Add in the mustard seeds. Let the seeds crackle.

Add in the finely chopped onions, green chillies and red chillies. Saute till the onions are soft.

Add in the murungai keerai / moringa leaves. Let it cook for 3-4 minutes. Add in the salt and remove from heat. Set aside to cool.
Note: Adding salt in the beginning will make the moringa bitter. So when cooking moringa, always add salt in the end.

Take 1.5 cups of ragi flour in a bowl and add in the cooled onion-moringa mixture. Mix well.

Add in the water little at a time and continue mixing. We are looking for a soft and loose dough.

The dough should be soft and sticky.

Shaping the Adai
Wet your hands in water and take a golf ball size dough.

Place the dough on a parchment sheet / plastic sheet or banana leaves. Start patting the dough to form a circle. If the dough is very sticky, apply little water to your hands to prevent sticking.

This can also be done by having a parchment on top while spreading the dough so the dough does not stick to the hands. Gently pat the dough and spread it to form a 3 inch circle. Do not spread it too big as handling the dough will be difficult if big.

Make a small center hole in the middle. This will allow for better cooking later. Gently remove the adai from the paper.

Place it on a hot griddle.

Sprinkle oil on the adai and cover the griddle with a plate. Let it cook on a medium flame for about a minute and a half.

Turn the adai and cook for a minute more until well roasted. I like to have two griddles while cooking adai as it takes time to cook.
The adai is ready. Its served with coconut chutney and jaggery.

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