All of us are aware of little yellow beads with mild corn flavor and naturally gluten-free with a lovely and light texture when cooked, and relatively quick-cooking because of their small size, but do you know #how to cook Millets perfectly to enhance their right flavor and texture.
Different ways to use millets in the kitchen?
Commonly cooked as a porridge to enjoy in the morning, there are many other ways to use millets. You can toss raw millet into cookies, muffins or quick breads for extra crunch. Use it to thicken soups, or as a base for warm grain salads of your choice. You can also buy millet grits that are extremely quick-cooking, and are wonderful in any preparation. All the millets are best eaten when they hot or warm after cooking.
But as millets cool they also tend to dry out and it is very difficult to even swallow if the cooked millets get cold.
So how do you cook Millets perfectly
When preparing millet, toast it in a skillet before adding any liquid to enhance the nutty flavor of the grain. There are two general ways that you can cook it. The first will result in a fluffy, whole-grain side dish much like quinoa and the second way is to use more water (3 cups instead of 2 cups) to result in a creamy, porridge with a polenta-like consistency — great for breakfasts. If you’re going this route, stir it much more frequently. This creamy version is also fantastic because you can pour it into a pan to cool, slice it as you would polenta, and fry it into croquettes or savory squares.
The water used will depend on the consistency and the choice of your recipe.
– If you are cooking millets as a replacement for rice for lunch or to make pulao, and prefer the grains to be separate, the ratio of millet to water is 1:2
– If you want the millets to be soft and not grainy or using them to make khichdi, the ratio is 1:3
– If you are going to make pongal or a thick porridge, then the ratio is 1:4
Where to buy Millets
Shastha Foods has put together a wide variety of Indian Millets, working directly with farmers in India. Our millet family includes Barnyard Millet, Kodo Millet, Little Millet, Foxtail Millet, Brown top Millet, Broken Sorghum Millet Grits, Broken Finger Millet Grits.
Check out the complete range and order individual or group packs:https://shasthaonline.com/collections/millet-grains
Also check out our Millets Recipe book for mouth watering recipes:
https://shasthaonline.com/blogs/news/millet-recipes?_pos=2&_sid=7c3c66431&_ss=r
