Make it a Meal with Barnyard Millets

Everyone, the world over, are waking to the power of millets. To me, there are two benefits of eating with the 'small' grains. They are not only good for us, but they can in a small way help the climate change. They do not need a lot of water or fertile land to grow. Very hardy and can grow in different and difficult climatic conditions. As a bonus, they are power houses of nutrition too.

Here is a meal with millets, dal, rasam and a curry. The traditional rice meal replaced with barnyard millets. Just cooked it similar to rice with 1 millets to two water in a rice cooker. Let us do our bit to the environment by slowly incorporating millets into our diet.

Spinach and Corn Uttapam - Classic Combo in a new avatar

Slightly sour dosa/idli batter mixed with onions, chilli's is the way we usually make the uttappams. I am trying different combinations to increase the intake the vegetables and spice up the regular dishes. Spinach and corn compliment each other perfectly in many dishes. Tried to get them into the uttappam batter and the resulting dish was quite tasty. In many ways, it can be a one pot meal with all the necessary protein, vegetable and carbs together presented in a tasty combo.

Cabbage jowar roti with spring onions and left over rice

A cup of left over rice, a cup of jowar flour and add a lot of cabbage and spring onions with some ajwain. There is a lot going on in terms of ingredients, but the taste is excellent and is the best way to incorporate more millets like jowar into the dinner. This is not rolled like the normal roti's or chapathi's but must be patted on a banana leaf. Kannadigas are very proficient at making this kind of rotti.

Lacy Millet Coconut Neer Dosa

Neer Dosa is quite popular in coastal Karnataka. Rice and coconut are the main ingredients for this lacy and tasty dosa. We were first introduced to this on a trip to Sringeri at Coffee Shop Bhadra Stop. White lacy dosa was served with peanut onion chutney on the banks of river Bhadra in a coffee plantation. What is there not to like in it. Came back and searched for the recipe and tried it out. It took some turns to get the recipe right. 

With my quest to have more of millets, I tried to replace the rice with Little Millets and followed the same process resulting in quite tasty but brown dosa. Served with a dollop of butter for a tasty meal.

Ragi Khakra Pizza - Guilt free and tasty snack in minutes

Just take a khakra, spread some tomato sauce, few basil leaves, sprinkle a handful of cheese and grill for 2-3 minutes until the cheese just melts. Absolutely tasty after school snacks. I have used off the shelf khakra's available in most stores now.

Kodo Millet/Arikelu Idli and Chutney Podi, Health in a Plate

Rain washed banana leaf, hot idli with chutney podi. Health on a vibrant green plate. 

They are no different in taste or texture from rice idli. Inspiration for this from the fellow blogger Aarthi.

Kodo Millet and Pursalane Kichidi, Healthy One Pot Meal

Common purslane (Portulaca oleracea) is the most frequently reported “weed” species in the world and a nutritious one too. It can grow anywhere that has at least a two-month growing season. It is called by various names in Telugu - Payala kura, Gangavalli aaku, Gangabayila aaku. Called by any name, it is quite hardy and grows easily. It is mostly a foraged leaf and is never grown exclusively. It is one of the green vegetables that people today are ignoring and are falling for the hype around spinach. We should realize that this is a leaf that is not only good but also for earth, because it is easy to grow and does not require any attention. We ate a lot of it growing up and I am slowly incorporating this. 

Pursalane tops the list of plants high in vitamin E and essential omega-3 fatty called called alpha-linolenic acid (ALA). It provides six times more vitamin E than spinach and 7 times more beta carotene than carrots.

Kodo millet is a nutritious grain and a good substitute to rice or wheat. The grain is composed of 11% of protein, providing 9 grams/100 g consumed. Very high in fiber compared to rice or what. The kodo millet can survive well on marginal soils and requires very little water in order to grow. It can be cultivated without an irrigation system. Farmyard manures provide adequate nutrients in terms of adding fertilizer, but kodo millets can still survive on low-nutrient soils. Low maintenance and drought tolerance is another reason in addition to nutrition as to why we need to incorporate them more into our diets.

We have lost touch with our ancient food systems in the last few generations. It is time we get them back into circulation for the good of the planet and the humans too. This is a dish that incorporates both millets and a forgotten leafy vegetable.

Kodo Millet and Pursalane Kichidi

Recipe for Kichidi

2 servings

Ingredients

• 1 cup kodo millet

• 1/2 cup moong dal
• 1 cup Pursalane leaves
• 1 inch ginger grated

• 4 Cloves Garlic diced  optional (more or less depending on you preference)

• 1/2 tsp pepper powder

• 1/2 tsp  sea salt 

• 1/4 tsp turmeric optional ( use it only if you believe in the goodness)

• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 2 -3 green chillies (Optional)
• 1 sprig of curry leaves

• 1 tbsp Desi Ghee or Oil ( Tadka with ghee takes the dish to another level. )

Directions

• Cook the millets and moong dal along with turmeric in the pressure cooker with double the quantity of water on medium high for 3 whistles. 
• Heat the ghee in a pan, add the cumin, chopped garlic, grated ginger, diced green chillies, pepper powder, curry leaves. Saute them for a minute and when garlic is slightly brown,  add the pursalane leaves. Cook for couple of minutes and add into the cooked kichidi.

• Add salt and stir the kichidi. Depending on the consistency you like, add more water if desired and heat through.
• Serve with a pickle and/or papad for a complete meal.