Millet has become quite the rage in our lives. After I met and made friends with Shanthi, the Director of Programmes at Bhoomi College in Bangalore and a millet lover and recipe developer, I have become taken by the benefits of millets. Millets have been around for thousands of years much before wheat and rice became prominent in modern agriculture. If you keep birds, the grains you buy for them are often millets.
Not only is their sheer variety exceptional – foxtail ( Tenai ), little millet ( Same ), kodo millet ( Varagu ) – the health benefits they offer are crucial in turning people into millet enthusiasts. Millets are found to have high mineral content of iron, magnesium, phosphorous and potassium. They are also packed with vitamins and dietary fibre with good source of protein. Consumption of millets is also found to keep lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, obesity and hypertension at bay.
I tasted a millet stew at one of the organic food festivals and was hooked to it immediately. Days later, when Nishil attended a millet workshop conducted by Shanthi, he received a handout of millet recipes and ideas. Sure enough, this one pot millet meal was part of it. This is a quick meal recipe but it is wholesome and healthy too. However, I must admit the meal is not photogenic and I am probably not going to persuade you to cook millet with my pictures! But try it; you won’t regret you did.
One pot millet meal with roasted vegetables
You will need
1 cup foxtail millet (you can use any millet)
1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 pods garlic, crushed
1 cup chopped vegetables (I used pepper, potato, pumpkin and chayote – Bangalore kathirikkai if you will)
1 cup coconut milk
1 tsp olive oil
1 cup hot water
1 tsp mixed spices (I used Italian spices but you can make it Indian and add spices of your liking. Or you could skip it if you do not want the meal spicy at all)
Salt to taste
Here’s how you make it
Wash the foxtail millet a couple of times or until the water runs clear and cook it with hot water and coconut milk. Reserve 1/3 cup of coconut milk for later.
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pan, sauté the onions and garlic and add the chopped vegetables. Add the spices of your liking.
Keep it covered and cook until tender (which will be in less than 10 minutes.)
By now, your millet would have cooked. Check if it has become tender and turn the flame off (if not, add more hot water and cook it).
Mix the roasted vegetables with the cooked millet. Add the reserved coconut milk.
Garnish the dish with generous helping of thyme and serve it hot.
Alternatively, you could add milk while cooking and garnish the finished meal with cheese if coconut milk is not handy.