Millets, the Mysuru way

Ragi mudde

• Ragi
• 40 min
• 2 servings

Karnataka's soft finger-millet ball, made with just ragi flour, water, a pinch of salt and a little ghee.

Ingredients

• 1 cup ragi flour, plus 1½ tbsp extra
• 1½ cups water
• A pinch of salt
• 1 tsp ghee

Method

1. Whisk the water, salt, ghee and the 1½ tbsp of ragi flour in a heavy pan until there are no lumps.
2. Bring it to a full boil over low-medium heat.
3. Add the cup of ragi flour and stir hard with a wooden spoon until no dry flour is left and the mixture is thick.
4. Cover, switch off the heat and let it rest for 5 minutes.
5. Grease or wet your palms, take a portion at a time and roll it into a smooth ball.
6. Serve warm with bassaru, sambar or your favourite curry.

Adapted from the Amay India millet cookbook.

Barnyard millet pongal

• Barnyard (oodalu)
• 50 min
• 4 servings

Peppery, gheeful and comforting, with barnyard millet standing in for rice.

Ingredients

• 1½ cups barnyard millet
• ¼ cup moong dal
• 5½ cups water
• Salt to taste
• 6 tsp ghee
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 tsp black peppercorns, crushed
• ½ inch ginger, finely chopped
• A pinch of asafoetida
• 10 cashews
• A few curry leaves and coriander leaves

Method

1. Rinse the millet and moong dal together, then soak for 30 minutes.
2. Drain and put them in a pressure cooker with the water, salt and 1 tsp ghee. Cook for 3 whistles and let the pressure drop on its own.
3. Warm the rest of the ghee in a small pan over medium heat. Add cumin, pepper, asafoetida, curry leaves, ginger and cashews, and fry until the cashews turn light gold.
4. Pour the tempering over the cooked pongal, add coriander and mix well. Check the salt.
5. Serve hot with coconut chutney or sambar.

Adapted from the Amay India millet cookbook.

Foxtail millet payasam

• Foxtail (navane)
• 1 hr 45 min, includes a 1-hour soak
• 2 servings

A jaggery-sweet milk payasam with a nutty, toasted-millet note.

Ingredients

• ¼ cup foxtail millet
• 500 ml full-cream milk
• ½ cup liquid jaggery
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp ghee
• ½ cup cashews, almonds and raisins

Method

1. Rinse the millet, soak it for an hour, then drain well.
2. Bring the milk to a boil in a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat.
3. Meanwhile, toast the nuts and raisins in the ghee and set them aside. Roast the drained millet in the same pan on low heat for 2–3 minutes until it smells nutty.
4. Add the millet to the boiling milk, lower the heat and cook for 15–20 minutes, stirring now and then, until the grains are soft and the payasam has thickened.
5. Switch off the heat and let it cool for 2–3 minutes, then stir in the sugar and liquid jaggery. Adding jaggery off the heat keeps the milk from splitting.
6. Fold in the toasted nuts and serve warm or chilled.

Adapted from the Amay India millet cookbook.

Kodo millet idli

• Kodo (haaraka)
• About 16 hours, mostly soaking and overnight fermentation
• 5 servings

Soft, spongy idlis with kodo millet in place of rice. Start the day before: soak in the morning, grind in the evening, steam the next morning.

Ingredients

• 1½ cups kodo millet
• ½ cup urad dal
• ½ cup poha (flattened rice)
• 1 tsp methi (fenugreek) seeds
• Salt to taste

Method

1. Wash the kodo millet, urad dal and methi seeds well, then soak them together for 5–6 hours.
2. Soak the poha for 30 minutes just before grinding.
3. Grind everything into a smooth, thick batter, stir in salt, and leave it covered overnight to ferment.
4. Grease the idli plates, fill them with batter and steam for about 10 minutes.
5. Let the idlis cool for a minute before unmoulding. Serve with chutney.

Adapted from the Amay India millet cookbook.

Pearl millet jaggery cookies

• Pearl (sajje / bajra)
• 30 min
• 12–14 cookies

Crumbly, cardamom-scented cookies sweetened with jaggery. A good first millet bake.

Ingredients

• ¾ cup bajra (pearl millet) flour
• ¼ cup whole wheat flour
• ½ cup powdered jaggery or brown sugar
• ¼ cup ghee
• 1 tsp cardamom powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• A pinch of salt
• Chopped nuts for the top (optional)

Method

1. Beat the jaggery and ghee together until creamy.
2. Sift in both flours, the baking powder and salt, add the cardamom, and bring it together into a dough. Add a spoon of ghee if it feels dry; don't add milk.
3. Pinch off small portions, flatten them into cookies and press a few nuts on top.
4. Bake on a greased tray at 180°C for 12–15 minutes.
5. Let them cool on the tray so they firm up before you lift them.

Adapted from the Amay India millet cookbook.