Ragi Halbai: Tamil Nadu's Healthy Dessert Has Our Heart

India is known for its rich culture and the diverse variety of food every region of the country boasts. As much as we are known for spicy food, Indian sweets and desserts are also tempting and a must for any and every occasion. We celebrate all our good deeds and start our new beginnings with sweets. Right from Jammu Kashmir to Tamil Nadu, each state has its own significant sweet dish and is a must try for everyone.

Ragi Halbai, also known as Ragi Halubai, is a traditional delicacy prepared in most Karnataka families and you must try this creamy and delicious Karnataka Style Ragi Halbai Recipe, which is a ragi-based Halwa fashioned like a cake or fudge. It's packed with simple flavours from coconut, jaggery, and ghee making it a very festive sweet.

This ragi-based sweet is rich in calcium, helps in weight loss, has a high fibre content, battles anaemia, reduces blood cholesterol and also regulates blood sugar levels. Because of its low glycemic index, it helps reduce food cravings and slows down absorption of starch, thus helps in regulating the blood sugar for diabetic.

Here’s the recipe for Ragi Halbai.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup ragi seeds
• 1¼ cup jaggery
• 1 tsp cardamom powder
• 3 cups milk
• 3 cups water
• 50 gms cashew nuts
• 3 tbsps ghee

Method:

• Soak ragi for at least 12 hours in water and get ready with the other ingredients.
• In a saucepan, cook jaggery and 1 cup of water until it is melted.
• Now strain this through a sieve to get rid of any impurities within.
• In a tadka pan, heat 2 tablespoons of ghee and fry the cashews until golden and set aside.
• Drain the water from the ragi through a sieve and remove excess water.
• Add Ragi and 1 cup of water in a mixer/blender and blend until very smooth and fine, this helps in extracting as much ragi milk as possible.
• Slowly add another cup of water into this and blend further, this process should take about 7-10 minutes depending on the power of your mixer/blender.
• Now, pass this liquid through a fine muslin cloth/cheese cloth and separate the ragi milk from the meal.
• Grease a thali/rimmed steel plate with some ghee and keep it ready.
• In a wide and deep pan add 2 cups of the extracted ragi milk, jaggery water and 3 cups of milk and bring this to a boil by mixing with a wooden flat spoon.
• Cook this mixture on medium to high heat, whilst stirring continuously.
• After about 20 minutes of cooking and continuous stirring, add 1 tablespoon of Ghee and continue to stir for about 10 minutes.
• You will notice thickening and start to coat the back of the wooden spoon. 
• Wet your hands lightly and touch the surface of the halwa, it shouldn’t stick to your wet hands
• Cook for a further 5-6 minutes and whisk in the cardamom powder and fried cashews.
• Pour the mixture onto a greased thaali and let it cool to room temperature.
• Run a freshly washed Knife to cut the halwa into squares or diamond shaped ragi halwas.