Top Healthy and Tasty Millet Recipe

Millets are ancient grains that have been known to mankind for their nutritional value for centuries. Being gluten-free makes them the alternative to wheat. It is healthier than rice and is often used in millet recipes or as a side dish.

Types of Millets:

The most prevalent millet is pearl millet (bajra), which is produced extensively across Southeast Asia and Africa. One of the top producers of millet is India, which accounts for 36% of global production. Ragi, jowar, and bajra, the three most well-known and major millets, belong within the category of naked grains.

Millet is often divided into two types of millets: husked grains and naked grains. After being harvested, they may simply be washed and utilized, which is why they are so well-liked. Foxtail, Little, and Kodo millet, on the other hand, are husked grains because they have an inedible seed coat (husk) that must be removed before consumption.

Millets are easy to incorporate into your diet due to their extraordinarily rich nutritional profile. In addition to being a great source of fiber, copper, calcium, iron, manganese, phosphorus, and magnesium, millets are free of gluten and readily absorbed by the body. They are advantageous for diabetics since they digest slowly and do not raise blood sugar levels quickly.

Some of the ways to adopt millets in daily lives are by consuming millet based food products for example, you can buy jowar idli rava online or make idlis from multi millet idli rava.

In addition to their many health advantages, millets have a distinctive flavor that raises the flavor intensity of any cuisine. Major millets like ragi, bajra, and jowar are utilized to make hearty snacks and millet meals like ragi dosas, khichdi, and bajra tarts as a result of contemporary culinary innovations.

These are some of the best millet recipes that are the ideal combination of nutritious, delicious, simple, and quick to prepare at home.

Can Millet Be Cooked Without Soaking?

While it is not required, there are several advantages to soaking millet before cooking. Some of them are:

• All nutrients will become soluble after soaking, which also makes digestion simpler.
• The millet porridge gets its creamy texture from soaking. You may feel the millet’s hard outer shell in the cooked millet’s texture. A creamy porridge will result after soaking.
• Millet will get fluffy after soaking. If you wish to use cooked millet for a salad or pilaf, it should have a smooth texture.

How to Get Fluffy Millet

1. If you have the time, soak the millet for at least an hour or more in hot water to make fluffy millet.
2. When cooking the millet, add a teaspoon of oil along with the water.
3. While it may be tempting to mix it frequently, doing so can shatter the grains and make them lumpy.
4. The millet should be set aside for 10 minutes after the flame has been extinguished. The millet will be completely cooked by that lingering steam.
5. After 10 minutes of cooking, fluff it with a fork and allow it to cool before using. The millet will be fluffier after cooling.

Foxtail Millet Porridge

The best breakfast choice to make at home is porridge. It is simple, fast, light, and incredibly nourishing. This is the best millet recipe for weight loss for porridge that includes foxtail millet for added health benefits. To prepare a tasty porridge, soak milk, cashews, bananas, figs, amaranth, and lotus seeds with foxtail millet, which is high in iron, minerals, proteins, and fiber.

For cooking millet for the porridge, use 3 cups of water for every cup of millet. The millet may be cooked using any method.

Add the sweetener of your choice, fruits, and nuts to the millet porridge once it has warmed up. To change the consistency to your preference, use any milk. Moreover, you may prepare creamy millet porridge by boiling the millet in coconut milk.

Breakfast porridge made with leftover millet is another option. Take cooked millet and milk into a cooking pot and simmer it over medium heat for 5 to 10 minutes to create porridge using the remaining millet.

To get the right consistency, add more milk. Turn off the heat, stir in your preferred sweetener, and have warm millet porridge topped with fresh seasonal fruit and crispy almonds.

Storage

For around 8 to 12 hours, cooked millet stays nicely at room temperature.

The cooked millet can be kept in the fridge for two to three days.

Moreover, it may be frozen for up to three months. Although the millet’s texture will change if you freeze it, you can still use it to make soup or porridge.

To take out and use the required amount of millet, store it in portion-sized containers.

The thawed millet should not be put back in the fridge.

Likewise, if the millet seems or smells terrible, avoid using it.

Little Millet Upma

Little Millet Upma is a nutritious breakfast or millet meals that only requires a few ingredients and can be prepared in less than 30 minutes.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup little millet 
• 1 cup water
• 1 medium onion
• ½ cup mixed vegetables (peas, beans, carrot, capsicum)
• 1 tablespoons coriander leaves chopped
• 1 teaspoon lime juice to taste
• salt to taste
• ½ teaspoon mustard (to temper)
• ½ teaspoon jeera (cumin)
• a pinch hing (asafoetida)
• 2 green chilies finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon ginger grated, optional
• few curry leaves
• 2 tablespoon coconut oil

Method

1. The little Millet should be washed and soaked in water for at least 15 minutes.
2. Add oil to a Kadai, then add the jeera (mustard seeds), and let them splutter. After that, add the hing, green chilies, optional ginger, and curry leaves, and sauté for a little while.
3. Add onion next. Sauté the onion for one to two minutes, or until it starts to develop a light brown color.
4. Afterward, add a mixture of finely chopped vegetables, and just little salt, and cook for 2–3 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.
5. Bring it to a boil after adding 1 cup of water.
6. Add the soaked millet to the boiling water after draining the water from it. Mix thoroughly. Adjust the salt.
7. Cook on a medium-low flame for around 8 to 10 minutes with a lid on. The cooking time was shortened since we soaked the food for 15 minutes.
8. Turn off the burner and mix in the coriander leaves, and lime juice after the tiny millet has cooked (when all the water has been absorbed, the millet is well cooked, and it appears grainy).

Serve hot little millet upma with coconut chutney or chutney powder after thoroughly mixing.

Ragi Malt

Ragi Malt makes for delicious millet meals, both due to its tremendous millet power and taste alongside its varieties of combining with different ingredients.

Ingredients:

• Ragi (finger millet) flour: Use either regular or sprouted ragi flour for making this millet recipe.
• Water: Water helps to cook the ragi flour to a smooth and creamy texture and is used to make the ragi flour mixture or slurry.
• Milk: Milk is added to the malt to make it creamy and rich. Almond, soy, or cashew milk are examples of non-dairy options for whole milk.
• Sweetener: Jaggery, which is high in iron, is used to enhance the flavor. Other sweeteners, like sugar, coconut sugar, or stevia, are also acceptable additions. This is the best millet recipe for diabetics, omit the sweetener.
• Powdered cardamom is optional. The malt has a great taste thanks to the cardamom powder.
• Nuts: not required. For more crunch and nutritional benefits, you may garnish with chopped cashew nuts or diced almonds.

Making Ragi Malt at Home (Method)

1. Add two teaspoons of ragi flour, to 12 cups of water. Be careful to properly mix to avoid lumps.
2. Add a cup of water and make it boil on high flame in a different pot.
3. While the water is boiling, gradually add the ragi mixture (slurry).
4. Cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring continuously (preferably with a whisk), over low heat, until the mixture thickens.
5. The mixture begins to get glossy and boil fiercely for another 2 to 3 minutes. The ragi flour is thoroughly boiled at this point.
6. Stir in the organic jaggery powder until it melts. When required, adjust the sweetness to your liking.
7. Add the milk and whisk well for one minute.
8. Mix well while adding cardamom powder. Turn the heat off. Ragi malt often gets thicker as it cools. If necessary, add additional milk to adjust the consistency.

Pour into a serving glass, if preferred, garnish with nuts, and serve warm or hot.

Tips for Serving:

Serve it warm or heated with a garnish of finely chopped nuts, such as almonds.

Storage:

It just takes a few minutes to make Ragi Malt, therefore I highly suggest doing it that way. Nevertheless, you should move any leftovers to an airtight container and keep them in the fridge for up to a day if you have any.

How to Make the Perfect Ragi Malt

• Ragi flour roasting: It’s not required to roast ragi flour while producing malt. Ragi flour’s nutty taste and fragrance are amplified by roasting. If you are roasting, cook it over a low temperature for 3 to 4 minutes to avoid burning the flour.
• Making consistency adjustments: Ragi Malt thickens as it cools, so dilute it before serving with water or milk.
• Time required for cooking: Ragi malt must be properly cooked over low heat; else, it would taste uncooked.
• Use ragi flour that has been sprouted: For the most health advantages, substitute normal ragi flour with store-bought sprouted ragi flour.

Variations:

1. While making chocolate ragi malt, you may add a tablespoon of cocoa powder along with the milk if you’re making it for children.
2. You may add any sweetener of your choice to sweeten the malt, including maple syrup, jaggery, sugar, and coconut sugar.
3. Add Fruits: To serve it as a ragi malt bowl, scatter chopped fruits like apples, bananas, or berries on top.
4. Vegans should use plant-based milk for the ragi malt, such as almond, soy, or coconut milk.

Foxtail Millet Pongal

Foxtail Millet is commonly used as a millet for weight loss. A traditional South Indian breakfast millet recipe called millet pongal uses millet grain rather than rice. Pongal is a hearty dish that is really simple to prepare and suitable for any meal of the day.

Ingredients:

• Millet: Here, foxtail millet is used, but you can also use Little millet, Kodo Millet, Proso, or any other millet for this recipe.
• Yellow Moong Dal: Use split yellow moong dal.
• Black Pepper: In addition to using entire black peppercorns, you may also use crushed black pepper if you prefer not to have whole black pepper in every bite.
• Spices and herbs: For this dish, be sure to include cumin seeds, hing, ginger, curry leaves, and green chilies. They improve the flavor and make the food delicious.
• Nuts: Optional; You can skip it if you have a nut allergy.
• Ghee: A significant amount of ghee improves the dish’s flavor and fragrance. But if you’re vegan, use oil in its stead.

Making Foxtail Millet Pongal at Home (Method)

1. In a pressure cooker, heat 1 teaspoon of ghee, then add the washed dal. Sauté thoroughly for 1–2 minutes, or until the dal turns light brown or is fragrant. Add millet afterward.
2. Mix well after adding 4 cups of water. Place the whistle weight on and then close the lid. Over medium heat, cook for 4–5 whistles before turning off the gas.
3. Open the lid when the pressure has been released, then gently stir the mixture.
4. In the meantime, heat the remaining ghee in a pan and add the jeera and black pepper. Saute for a couple of seconds.
5. Green chilies, ginger, curry leaves, cashew nuts, and asafetida should then be added. To get the cashews a light golden brown, sauté for an additional 30 seconds.
6. Add this tempered mixture to the boiling Pongal. Note: Add 1 cup of water and adjust consistency if Pongal is not mushy.

Serve with yogurt, raita, or coconut chutney, millet Pongal is now ready!

What To Serve with Millet Pongal?

Sambar or a spicy coconut chutney goes well with millet Pongal. Also, you may make fast millet meals of it by serving it with papad and pickles.

Tips:

The best way to enjoy Pongal is to eat it hot and fresh. Pongal slightly thickens as it cools. Leftovers may be stored in the fridge and reheated in a microwave or on the stovetop right before serving (adding water if necessary to adjust consistency). The leftovers can be kept in the refrigerator for up to two days in an airtight container.

Variations:

1. Ratio: The proportion of millet to dal is a matter of taste. In order to increase the level of protein in the diet, I used an equal amount of millet and dal. But you may also cut back on the dal.
2. Vegetables: To make this Thinai Pongal dish healthier, you may also include veggies like carrots, green peas, beans, and spinach.
3. Millets: Use any millet variety, including Small Millet, Kodo Millet, or Proso.
4. Alternative Grains: Other grains including quinoa, rice, sorghum, buckwheat, and broken wheat can be used in place of millet.
5. In this dish, split moong dal with husk (skin) also works nicely.
6. Vegan: Homemade ghee enhances the flavor of Pongal, however, people who follow a vegan diet can skip it and substitute any other type of cooking oil.