Dense, smooth finger millet balls cooked in boiling water — the everyday staple of rural Karnataka eaten with saaru (thin lentil soup).
Ingredients
1.5 cups ragi (finger millet) flour
3 cups water
1 tsp oil
1/2 tsp salt
Method
Bring 3 cups water to a rolling boil in a heavy pot. Add oil and salt.
Add ragi flour all at once. Stir vigorously immediately with a heavy wooden spoon — the flour will clump initially.
Reduce to medium. Cook stirring continuously and vigorously for 5 to 7 minutes.
The mixture will come together as a very thick, smooth, dark purple-brown dough that pulls away from the sides.
It is ready when the mixture no longer sticks to the spoon and has a smooth, uniform consistency throughout with no lumps.
Wet both palms. Take a portion of the hot mudde and shape into a smooth round ball between wet palms — the ball should be smooth and dense, not cracked.
Serve immediately with saaru (thin tamarind-tomato lentil soup) or any Karnataka curry.
To eat: tear off a small piece of mudde, roll into a small ball, dip in saaru and swallow without chewing — the traditional method.