Marvelous Millets

Marvelous Millets

Super foods are vibrant, nutritionally dense foods that have recently become widely available and which offer tremendous dietary and healing potential.

Millets qualify to be one of the best super foods that mankind can ever have. Packed with loads of nutrients like, fibre, iron, vitamins & minerals, these super foods must be part of our daily diet. Some of the inherent benefits include, heart protecting , diabetes control & cancer fighting properties. Being rich in fibre, these superfoods also help in weight management.

Check out for some of the popular millets that are available today in any of the super markets .

Image Source :http://www.chitrasfoodbook.com/2014/07/milletstypes-of-milletshealth.html

 

ENGLISH	HINDI	TAMIL	KANNADA	TELUGU	MALAYALAM
Finger millet	Nachani /mundua	Kezhvaragu	Ragi	Ragula	Panji pullu
Kodo millet	Koden/Kodra	Varagu	Harka	Arikelu	Koovaragu
Foxtail millet	Kangni/Rala	Thinai	Navane	Korra	Thina
Little millet	Kutki	Saamai	Saame	Sama	Chama
Barnyard millet	Jhangora	Kuthiravali	Oodalu	Odalu	Kavadapullu
Pearl millet	Bajra	Kambu	Sajje	Sajjalu	Kambam
Sorghum	Jowar	Cholam	Jola	Jonna	Cholam

Barnyard millet & Vegetable Kichadi (Serves 2)

Preparation time: 15mts  Cooking time: 10mts

Ingredients required:

·         Barnyard Millets- 150gms

·         Toordal-50gms

·         Mixed Vegetables - 150 gms (Carrot,beans, yam,yellow pumpkin,raw banana cut into cubes )

·         Boiled lentils of your choice- 50gms ( I use chickpeas, green peas or groundnuts)

·         Tamarind pulp- 1 Lemon sized ball soaked in luke warm water & pulp extracted.

·         Turmeric

·         Jaggery- a  small piece

For flavoring:

·         Dry coriander seeds- 2 Tb spoon

·         Gram dal- 1Tb spoon

·         Red chillies- 2

·         Scrapped coconut- 2 Tb spoon

·         Curry leaves

Seasoning:

·         Mustard seeds- 1 Teaspoon

·         Gram dal- 1 Teaspoon

·         Asfoetida- 1 Teaspoon

·         Curry leaves & corriander

·         Salt to taste

·         Gingely Oil for seasoning & frying vegetables

·         Ghee- 1 tb spoon

Method:

·         Wash the barnyard millets & dal in running water and pressure cook them with 2 glasses of water (like normal rice)

·         For flavoring, in a pan add 1 teaspoon of oil and fry the dry coriander seeds with gram dal, chilly & curry leaves. Grind this into a fine paste with coconut and keep it ready in the consistency of a chutney

·         In a frying pan, heat 1 tb spoon of oil, add all the cut vegetables and toss them for 5 minutes, until the vegetables are half cooked. Add required salt for the vegetables & ½ teaspoon of turmeric and cover the pan with a lid until the vegetables are fully become soft.

·         Now add the boiled lentils and gently stir the vegetables and cook them for 2minutes, so that the salt is fully absorbed into the lentils & vegetables

·         It is time to add the tamarind pulp and little bit of water to adjust the consistency

·         After bringing it to a boil, add jaggery, asfoetida  and salt required for the boiled millets & dal and allow it to cook for 5 minutes .

·         Now its time to add the ground paste of coconut with spices and the cooked millets with Dal

·         Give it a nice stir and cook it for 3 minutes so that the spices merge with the lentils

·         After 3 minutes you can add a tablespoon of ghee to enhance the aroma and add finely chopped coriander

·         Finally, its time for seasoning. Heat oil in a small pan and add the seasoning ingredients along with curry leaves and pour this on the kichadi.

·         Gently stir the kichadi and serve it hot with Papad/Fryums & cucmber raitha!!

Mint rice (Pudhina)

This morning, tried my hand at a very humble recipe of Pudina (mint) rice with simple ingredients available at home. It’s a perfect comfort food for lunch/dinner and I loved its earthy flavor. Takes you less than 10 minutes to prepare this!

 

Ingredients

·         I bunch of pudina leaves

·         Soaked tamarind – (very small lemon-sized ball)

·         3 green chillies

·         Ginger – 25 gms

·         Cooked rice- 2 cups

·         Salt to taste

For seasoning

·         Mustard, broken urad and gram dal

·         Sesame oil

·         Asafoetida- 1 tea spoon

·         Turmeric powder- 1 tea spoon

·         Curry leaves

For garnishing

·         Roasted peanuts (de –skinned)

 

Get started

·         Grind the pudina leaves, chilly, ginger, tamarind & salt into a fine paste

·         Heat oil in a pan, add the seasoning ingredients and allow them to crackle

·         Add turmeric, asafoetida & curry leaves and the ground paste

·         Keep stirring for about 3-5 minutes until the moisture in the paste evaporates

·         Finally add the cooked rice and roasted peanuts for crunchiness

 

As I was finishing, it struck me that the same recipe with broken poha or dalia (instead of rice) would be more nutritious and taste interesting too. Tamarind can also be replaced with lemon juice (to be used after turning off the heat to avoid bitterness). Got to try these alternatives the next time!

Oats Laddu

I am sure all of us are aware of the benefits of Oats and would have come across numerous recipes using Oats. Here are a few reasons to include oats in your daily diet.

Oats, a byproduct of wheat is rich in fiber and helps lower bad cholesterol. It improves the insulin sensitivity, thereby reducing the risk of diabetes and also helps control blood pressure .Oats is also good for children as it increases the appetite control hormones & reduces the risk of Asthma and the benefits list goes on….

Being bored of the regular oats porridge & oats upma, wanted to try a sweet dish and that prompted me to try my hands on the Oats Laddoo.

Ingredients (to make 5- 6 laddoos)

Oats- 1 cup (100 grams)

Roasted peanuts – 1cup (100 gms)

Powdered Sugar- 1 cup (100 gms)

Cardamom powder-3-4 pinches

Dried Coconut- shredded -1/4 cup (25 gms)

Cashewnuts roasted in ghee &  broken into small pieces- 25 gms

Ghee- ½ cup (50 gms)

Method:

Dry roast the oats in a pan till they are golden brown.

Add the roasted oats & roasted peanuts in a mixer jar and make a fine powder

Transfer this powder to a bowl, add powdered sugar , cardamom powder, shredded dried coconut and roasted cashew pieces.

Mix the ingredients well and start making small laddoos using ghee that has to be used warm. This ghee helps in binding the ingredients together.

Make sure that your laddoos are firm, so that they can stay for a few days.

Tips:

Roasted peanuts (without skin) can also be replaced with roasted split Bengal gram (channa dal used for coconut chutneys) …choice is yours J

You can skip the coconut as well, in case you want to store these laddoos for a long time

You can also add Badam & Walnuts to make it as nutritious as possible

Sugar can also be replaced by powdered jaggery. While using jaggery, roast the Oats & Groundnut /Dhal powder in 2 spoons of ghee and mix the ingredients when they are a little warm ,as little bit of heat is required for the jaggery to meltdown & merge with the oats mixture.

Try making these wholesome laddoos and let me know if you liked them JJ

Protein Dosa

This is as nutritious as the name sounds and a must-try for those on a dieting spree. Also called the Non-Carb Dosa or Lentil Dosa, the main ingredients of this dosa are lentils and has no rice or wheat that are rich sources of carbohydrates.

For the batter ( 5 – 6 Dosas )

·         1 Cup soaked Yellow split Moong Dal (about 150 grams)

·         1 Cup soaked Urid Dal (about 150 grams)

·         2  small pieces of ginger

·         3 or 4 Dried chilies

·         Curry leaves & finely chopped coriander

·         2 -3 pinches of Asafoetida

·         ½ cup of sour buttermilk (optional if you like the sour taste)

·         2-3 Table spoons of Vegetable oil/Olive oil/ghee to make the dosas

·         Salt to taste

Preparation

·         Make sure that the lentils are soaked for at least 2- 3 hours in advance to make a soft and smooth batter

·         In a mixer jar, add the soaked moong dal, one small piece of ginger , curry leaves & 2 red chillies and grind it to a fine paste and keep it aside

·         Similarly make a fine paste of urid dal adding chilies, curry leaves & ginger

·         Take a bowl, add the moong dal paste & the urid dal paste . Add the sour butter milk if you like little bit of tanginess in your dosa. It also tastes good if you don’t add J …choice is yours

·         Add 2 or 3 pinches of asafoetida, curry leaves / finely chopped coriander and salt to taste. Add water to adjust the consistency of the batter

·         Mix them well, while you keep the tava ready on the gas stove to make the dosas

·         Grease the tava with few drops of oil/ghee, spread the batter on the tava like how you normally make a dosa. Make it as thin as possible, so that your dosas are crispy

·         Cook it on both sides till dosas are golden brown and voilà your crunchy, protein dosa is ready!

Tips

·         You can store the urid dal paste & the moong dal paste in your refrigerator for 4-5 days and make hot dosas whenever you want

·         This is a nice evening snack/an early supper that tastes best when it served hot

·         The dosa is a little bland by itself and so goes well with tangy Pudhina/Tomato/Coriander chutney

Do try this and let me know if you enjoyed it!!

Gol Papdi

A new start has to always be accompanied by a sweet and thats how it becomes a Subh Aarambh!!.This being my first blog,would like to write about a sweet dish that I prepare regularly at home.

Believe me!this is the easiest sweet that I have ever tried my hands on-courtesy my Mother-in- Law!!.This can be prepared with  wheat flour,which am sure everyone must be having at home at any point of time.
This can also be offered as prasad for Lord Ganesha as this is supposed to be one of his favourite foods!!

To make about 9- 10 pieces of Gol papdi (size of the piece as represented in the picture) all you need is
1 cup of wheat flour (about 100 grams)
1 cup of powdered jaggery (about 100 gms)
1/2 cup of desi ghee (about 50 grams)
Little bit of dried ginger powder & dried cardamom powder.

Heat a pan and pour the ghee .After the ghee melts,add wheat flour,keep frying till the flour is golden brown and starts smelling full of ghee!
Turn of the gas stove and add powdered jaggery, 3 pinches of dried ginger powder & 3 pinches of cardamom powder.
Start mixing them well with a ladle.The jaggery will just melt down when it is added to the hot flour that is roasted in ghee.Make sure that there are no lumps and the mixture is evenly mixed
Transfer this mixture in a plate greased with ghee and gently spread this out.You may cut in to the desired shapes and you can also add roasted almonds or cashews to these gol papdis!

I am sure all of us aware of the benefits of Jaggery that is rich in Iron.Dried ginger powder adds a nice flavour to this dish and also aids in digestion.

Please try this out and share your experience :)