Millet Flours and Grains

Millets are small, hardy cereal grains grown across the drier parts of India, Sri Lanka and Africa, and each has its own regional names. Ragi is finger millet, called nachni in Marathi, kezhvaragu or keppai in Tamil and kurakkan in Sri Lanka. Jowar is sorghum, cholam in Tamil and jonna in Telugu. Bajra is pearl millet, known as kambu in Tamil. Samo, also called sama or barnyard millet and kuthiraivali in Tamil, is the small pale grain many families cook on fasting days. Foxtail millet (thinai), little millet (samai) and kodo millet (varagu) complete the group. Our millet flour shelf holds the ground versions, and whole millets are there for cooking like rice.

Every region has its millet dish. In Karnataka, ragi mudde is ragi flour stirred into boiling water until it forms a firm, smooth ball, eaten with saaru or bassaru. Ragi also makes thin, lacy dosa and a warm kanji for breakfast. Maharashtra pats jowar into bhakri for pithla or thecha, while Gujarat and Rajasthan make thick bajra rotla, eaten in winter with garlic chutney, ghee and jaggery. Tamil homes ferment kambu koozh overnight and thin it with buttermilk and shallots on hot days, and turn kezhvaragu into adai, puttu and kali. In Sri Lanka, kurakkan pittu is steamed in a bamboo or metal tube with grated coconut, and kurakkan rotti is cooked on a flat pan. Samo flour and grain for fasting sit in Navratri flours and grains.

Millet flours have no gluten, so the dough will not stretch the way wheat atta does. Use hot water: bring water to the boil with a pinch of salt, pour it gradually over the flour while stirring with a spoon, cover for five minutes, then knead with damp palms while it is still warm until it is smooth and free of cracks. Work one or two pieces at a time and keep the rest covered. Pat bhakri or rotla on a floured board, or between two sheets of baking paper, then cook on a hot tawa, brushing the top with water before turning.

Whole millets cook much like rice. Rinse them well, soak for thirty minutes to a couple of hours depending on the grain, then simmer covered in about two and a half to three times their volume of water until tender, and rest off the heat. Use them in pongal, upma, khichdi and curd rice. If you cook gluten free for the whole household, check each pack for a gluten free statement, since some flours are milled alongside wheat, and see gluten free Indian cooking for more.

Millet flours go stale faster than wheat flour and can turn bitter once they are past their best. Keep them in a sealed jar in a cool, dark cupboard, move them to the fridge in warm weather, and buy a quantity you will use within the date on the pack. Whole grains keep longer, provided they stay dry and airtight.