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Recipe: Getting A Millet-Rich Kickstart – Jowar Khichdi

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Millets have made numerous appearances on this blog. They were, traditionally speaking, widely consumed across India and have in recent years made a comeback among the health-conscious. When it comes to jowar (which you may know as sorghum), the fibre, protein and essential minerals it provides – along with the fact that it is relatively light to digest – make it an excellent choice. This jowar khichdi is a great dish to put a little energy boost into your day, and is ideal for either lunch or dinner.

In the last post, I shared the recipe for jowar roti. I had said then that the winter variant of jowar roti is bajra roti, which uses the heavier pearl millet. It is important to note that millets are not universally interchangeable. A jowar dish made for breakfast, such as for example a jowar upma, cannot become a bajra dish through mere substitution. Bajra tends to be heavier on the stomach and takes more effort to chew. One does not want to tax the system so early in the day. If at all I want to have bajra in the mornings, I will have it in roti form.

That said, you can certainly use some other millets in lieu of jowar in this khichdi form. The method will remain the same, but the cooking and soaking time (if required), will vary. A millet with smaller grains, such as little millet or foxtail millet, will cook faster and without pressure cooking. Jowar, on the other hand, benefits from a few hours of soaking. Keep these factors in mind whenever you select a millet, for any kind of dish.

When my children were younger, millets weren’t part of our regular meals. We weren’t familiar with them, and there was hesitation around the unfamiliar taste and texture. I myself only started experimenting with them a little over a decade ago. At this point, the entire family also began to enjoy them. Since then, I’ve been a strong advocate for incorporating millets into daily meals. Each kind satisfies certain nutritional requirements, and has its own taste. As with any grain, flavour pairings also make a difference. For instance: jowar is known for a subtle, slightly sweet taste, while little millet has a hint of nuttiness. My recommendation is to keep experimenting in the kitchen, always. Even when working with very traditional recipes, the learning never has to stop.

Jowar Khichdi
(Yield: Serves 2)

1 cup coarsely ground jowar
Water as required for soaking
2 cups water (for cooking)
Salt to taste
1 tablespoon ghee
½ teaspoon cumin seeds

Soak the jowar for 6-10 hours. Rinse well.

In a pressure cooker, add the soaked and rinsed jowar along with water and salt.

Cover and cook for 4 whistles. Allow to cool, then open the lid.

Heat a small tempering bowl. Add ghee and then cumin seeds. Once the seeds splutter, pour the tempering over the khichdi. Serve immediately.

Hot khichdi is a comfort food that has had other iterations on this blog, and I’m glad to share this one with you too. I hope this jowar khichdi becomes one of your preferred variants too.

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Recipe: Just Right, Just Easy – Jowar Roti

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Time and again, I have spoken on this blog about how eating seasonal produce is the best thing for our bodies. We are a part of Nature, and it is intrinsic in us. We cannot look at it from the outside, or even objectively, because we belong to it. We cannot go against its flow, which is what we often try to do today. However, I believe that even as the world changes and decentres Nature, in our own lives we can actively choose – at the very least – to listen to our bodies. When we do, we will quickly realise that our hunger cravings have a rhythm with climatic cycles. Here in India, while the peak of summer is behind us, the winter is still far enough away that lighter grains are what we need. Hence, jowar (known in English as sorghum) is something I am making meals from these days. This jowar roti is an excellent use of the same, incorporating the ingredient into a daily staple.

I am fortunate to have access to very good quality, homemade jowar flour through my sister. She has a small mill in her kitchen, which she uses to prepare her own flours and powders. I have observed many other households in Mumbai doing the same. When I visited her recently, she was making jowar flour. What intrigued me was that she added a handful of soyabeans to it. I found this an interesting, and very healthy, combination. I don’t have a mill of my own back in Chennai yet, but as I teased my sister, I don’t need to, as I can just keep asking her for homemade flours. She gave me a kilo of jowar flour on that visit, and it’s being used liberally – and I’ll soon need more, as I’ve already warned her!

If jowar is used in warmer months, it is bajra (known in English as pearl millet) that is preferred in winters. Jowar is not only lighter on the digestion, but in flour form also easier to fold into roti dough. It really is so simple to make, requiring no pre-prep. All you do is add warm water, which brings out a glutinous consistency, then make the dough and roll it out immediately in order to fry it up. Bajra flour, on the other hand, tends to break apart as you roll it out due to a complete lack of gluten.

Both jowar and bajra rotis are eaten in my home. Depending on the season, one or the other will be served at lunch – except during the height of summer, when rice replaces roti altogether. Other than during that time, these two are staples, even though a wide variety of other flatbreads are brought into our meals too. I have been rolling out rotis since I was a young girl, and am able to handle different flours, but it does take practice. The trick is in the hand, and in being patient.

Jowar roti, despite being made of a lighter flour, is very filling. Just one piece, with a cup of dal or two cups of vegetables, is a perfect lunch. You don’t need anything else for hours after.

This may be why my mother would have some jowar roti during days on which she performed certain kinds of fasts, for instance. I am not entirely sure because the truth is that I paid very little attention to some of the items that my parents ate when I was a kid, and jowar roti was one of them. My siblings and I would screw up our noses when we saw it, so our mother always prepared regular whole wheat rotis for us instead of these healthier ones. I regret not having eaten jowar roti back then, but I am grateful that I learned how to make it.

Exposure plays such an important role in what we reach out to – or return to – in terms of food as we grow older. What we saw being prepared or consumed as children, whether we appreciated it or not, stays with us and informs our choices later on. Sometimes, I think about whether my kids – now grown and with homes of their own – will ask for these recipes when they have children of their own, whom they will of course want to provide the best of everything to. That is one of the core reasons behind this blog: it is my legacy to my loved ones, just as much as it is my offering to anyone in the world who seeks the comfort of a well-made meal.

Jowar Roti
(Yield: 3 pieces)

1 cup jowar flour

1/2 cup water

A pinch of salt

In a bowl, add the flour. To this, add water and salt. Mix all the ingredients with your fingertips and massage well, binding them all together. Make 3 balls of the dough and set aside.

Using your palms, roll out the balls. Sprinkle some flour onto the rolling board, and add some flour on top of each ball as well. Gently roll out the balls into flat discs. 

Heat a roti pan and add 1 disc at a time. If the roti is thick, then keep your flame on low or medium and cook the roti on both sides.

Now, with the help of tongs, place the roti on the stove or directly on the flame and allow to cook until spots appear. Set aside.

Repeat with the remaining balls.

Serve with hot ghee and/or along with subzi or pickle.

Stay tuned for another jowar-based recipe that I’ll share here soon. You may also wish to explore other millet dishes that I’ve shared over the years.

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Recipe: Soothing The System – Simple Bajra Khichdi

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Here in India, with Diwali having just gone by, we are now officially post-festive. Having eaten all the yummy goodies we can – which included, I hope, some of the recipes I have shared here, alongside your own family specialties – it is now time for a bit of detoxing. Leaning towards lighter meals after the festivities, as well as fasting beforehand, are parts of our culinary traditions too. A simple bajra khichdi is exactly the kind of dish that tends to be preferred at this time, soothing the body after all the feasting, and it is what I’m sharing today.

It is necessary after festivities to streamline one’s diet so as to give one’s digestive system a rest. In general too, eating mindfully is a sensible choice. I want to emphasize here that detoxing is not about shedding weight. To me, that is not important. What is important is listening to one’s body, removing from one’s consumption habits what doesn’t suit it, and maintaining one’s health. Season-based eating habits are obviously a part of this.

Even up to my mother’s generation, the cycle of fasting first so that the body is prepared for feasting, feasting during the celebrations, followed by eating very simple food, was just a part of the rituals and traditions. They didn’t give it much thought, even though to us today it seems to be highly intentional. Perhaps it will help to remember that the concept of detoxing is nothing new. The only difference is that so much is available to us 24/7 nowadays that restraint becomes a choice, and moderation was not a way of life as it was earlier. That said, one definite improvement is that more and more of us are learning how to use the right bins when disposing of kitchen and other waste, aware that our consumption doesn’t end with eating or tossing.

I want to linger on the subject of detoxing, not only in terms of food but taking a more holistic perspective. It is something I think about a lot myself, and try to inculcate in various aspects of my life. Now that I am older and more conscious of the surroundings – and here I mean especially about pollution and the planet, a topic that I’ve written about before – the necessity for curbing excess and being mindful feels stronger than ever. I believe I speak for many of us, for I know from conversations I’ve been having that a desire for more simplicity and less consumption is something that we have been feeling collectively.

I’m thinking therefore of detoxing as a sort of umbrella term, encompassing one’s body, one’s home, one’s relationships, one’s schedule – life itself, really. Let me use a small and practical example here: I have been detoxing my wardrobe. This means removing items I don’t require, and learning how to purchase wisely so that fewer pieces that have more longevity and can be valued over time are selected over quantity. I want to buy less and hoard less. I tell my family, some of whom have big shopping habits, “You must enjoy and appreciate beauty, but that does not mean you should own all the beauty you enjoy.”

This thought applies equally to nature, and how we operate as travellers. When we visit a place, we must remember that preserving it is more important than simply taking it in for our own pleasure.

Then there is shedding negativity, both within ourselves and in terms of whom we choose to have in our circles. This can be quite complicated, but it is also an essential part of well-being, for we do absorb others’ energies.

There are so many aspects of our lives that could do with occasional detoxification, and food just happens to be one of the more obvious ones. Coming back to this simple bajra khichdi, it is a satisfying dish that is full of goodness and nutrients. It contains bajra or pearl millet, which is a preferred grain in Indian winters as it takes longer to metabolize and therefore helps keep us warm. It is also high in iron. I have spoken about these facts before, and encourage you to explore more bajra and millet recipes on this blog. For now, this one is just right for this time of year, both in terms of season and in terms of our social calendars!

 

Simple Bajra Khichdi

(Serves: 2-4)

1 cup broken bajra grains (pearl millet)
½ cup yellow mung dal
3 cups water
2 tablespoons ghee
½ teaspoon turmeric powder
Salt to taste
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
¼ teaspoon asafoetida
1 green chilli

If you’re unable to find broken bajra, just blend coarsely or even hand pound the grain. Rinse and soak the bajra along with the yellow mung dal for at least 4-6 hours.

Change the soaking water, then pressure cook, adding the salt and turmeric, along with 3 cups of water. Use less if required. Cook until the grains are tender and the consistency is soft.

Heat a kadai. Add ghee, cumin seeds and asafoetida. Once the cumin seeds splutter, add the green chilli and the cooked bajra. Stir until the ghee is well mixed.

Your khichdi is now ready to be served hot. I would pair it with kadhi. This will make for a very filling lunch or dinner, and it definitely in the comfort food category in every way!

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Recipe: Festively Nourishing – Foxtail Payasam

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There are numerous milk-based sweets that are very popular in India, and several have made appearances on this blog over the years, as you can see here. While they are all fantastic, for this Deepavali I was thinking about making something that doesn’t require milk. This recipe is great for lactose-intolerant people, and can be tweaked and made vegan (all you have to do is to replace the ghee with your usual alternative). Additionally, the dessert I came up with is millet-based, so it is extra nourishing. Here it is: foxtail payasam.

Foxtail payasam, strictly speaking, is not quite my own recipe, even though I’ve substantially played with the basic ingredients. As a payasam, it can be said to be traditional in South India, where they are a well-known category of dessert, eaten often and not just on festive occasions. Here in Tamil Nadu, foxtail millet is known as thinai and is a widely-known native produce. Like all millets, it is nutritious and versatile.

Many of us have become conscious about our eating choices and have brought millets into our diets over the last few years as a white rice replacement. Even the Tamil Nadu state government has been promoting their use, and so has the United Nations. This is something that I’ve advocated for as well, across many recipes.

In terms of payasam, I think the paruppu payasam (made with dal) is probably the most common. I always reach out for it whenever I have a banana leaf meal at a South Indian restaurant. It uses dried coconut bits and also contains jaggery, which is healthier than sugar yet satisfies my sweet tooth. Drawing inspiration from it, but adding my own twist, I have opted to use coconut milk in my foxtail payasam. The coconut milk, along with a cashew garnishing, adds a richness to it. You may also wish to use raisins, and reduce the jaggery quantity accordingly. Or you may want to use coconut sugar instead of jaggery. You may even want to replace the millet itself, just as you can also replace the moong dal with toor dal.

If you are a young adult making festive goodies for the first time, this is an ideal recipe for you to try wherever you are. It is simple and utilizes easily available ingredients. The world has become a smaller place, and I have no doubt that you’ll be able to find them even if you’re spending Deepavali away from home.

I have a South Indian daughter-in-law now and I wanted to prepare something this year that is familiar to her and the region she comes from. Thus, this foxtail payasam serves as a welcoming sweet for her as she enters our family. It is her first Deepavali with us, so it is really special. This recipe is for her, most of all. It is also for my sister, who always asks me to show her something new from South Indian cuisine whenever she visits me, and is very curious about what I am making at this time of year. It goes without saying that it is also for you: I wish you and your loved ones a blessed festive season, and much joy ahead!

Foxtail Payasam

(Serves 4-5)

25 grams moong dal (green gram)

60 grams thinai millet (foxtail)

¾ cup jaggery

2 + 1 cups water

1 cup coconut milk

1 teaspoon ghee

A handful of cashews

Rinse and soak the moong dal in water for at least an hour. Strain the water and set aside.

Roast the thinai in a pan for a few minutes or until it releases an aroma.

Next, add the thinai to the strained dal and add two cups of water. Place these in a pressure cooker and cook until tender. Remove the pot once cooled.

In another bowl, add jaggery and to it add one cup of water. Boil this mixture until the jaggery has melted. Strain this liquid and add it to the dal-thinai mixture.

Allow to cook until it all comes together. Finally, add the coconut milk, mix well and turn off the flame.

To garnish: heat the ghee and add the roasted cashew nuts. Toast until golden. Sprinkle over the payasam. Serve hot.

I hope you’ll enjoy this delicious, nourishing sweet this Deepavali and for many years to come!

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Recipe: Another Tasty Tradition – Bajra Ni Puri

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Bajra ni puri is a traditional Gujarati snack that is mostly eaten in the monsoons or when the climate is cooler. This is because bajra is heavy to digest, as I have shared in prior recipes that feature it, and also to coincide with the winter harvest of this particular millet. I often talk about how Nature tells us what we should be eating, and how and when; it was a wonderful science indeed that our ancestors followed. However, if consumed in moderation, bajra ni puri can of course be eaten year-round. Since this is the last stage before the summer heat sets in, and hence our last chance for a few months to gorge on this dish as per traditional logic, I thought it was the perfect time to share it.

Bajra, also known as pearl millet, is a millet rich in iron. You can infer this because of its darker colour, as I learned while studying Macrobiotics some years ago. Speaking of seasonal consumption, lighter grains are usually had in the summer. Funnily enough, cravings for heavy food are not often there in the hot season anyway. Our bodies naturally adapt to Nature, and we should become more conscious of these needs and put them first.

There are different methods of making bajra ni puri. I like this one as it has a bit of tanginess, created by the yoghurt that is added to it. It is also spiced up by ginger-green chilli paste.

My mother used to make the puris a bit bigger, and they would be fluffy – soft in the centre and crisp on the edges. My sister makes it this way too, and I love hers perhaps because it reminds me of our mother’s.

My version is a small and crispy one, which goes well with masala chai. To create this perfect pairing, you can check out my recipes both for the masala and the chai itself.

When my daughter who is away studying came home recently, she took back with her the entire batch of bajra ni puri that I had made then. She loved it that much. So even though my own favourite version is what my sister learned from my mother (which she must have learned from her own mother), my daughter’s is probably mine. I am happy to share with her not just this snack but also the traditions that come with it.

What I am reminded of in some way is of how when a Gujarati bride gets married and leaves her home, she is given a pot full of goodies to take back with her. My understanding is that she would need the sustenance as she left her village and crossed into her new one, be it by road or by train, and items that would provide energy (like millets) would be included. Today, the tradition is continued in the form of fancy silver trays laden with sweets and nuts.

My mother must have brought with her the pot that is now an heirloom of mine when she got married. It was the only thing that I asked from her before she passed on. It is a beautiful round brass pot with a small mouth and a small lid; I imagine this was to ensure that only a little air got in and the items within remained fresh. It adorns my kitchen, and maybe I’ll share a photo of it in future.

Bajra Ni Puri

(Yield: 40 tiny pieces)

 

¾ cup bajra flour

¼ cup wholewheat flour

2½ tablespoons curd (use lime juice – optional)

2 tablespoons oil

Salt to taste

1 teaspoon sesame seeds

¼ teaspoon asafoetida

½ teaspoon turmeric

2 teaspoons green chilli+ginger paste

½ cup finely chopped fresh methi leaves (optional)

2 tablespoons water (optional)

 

In a bowl, add the flours, salt, turmeric, asafoetida, curd, oil, sesame and green chili-ginger paste. Mix, then add the methi (fenugreek) leaves if you wish to. Now, gauging the quantity of water required, add it slowly – 1 tablespoon at a time – making sure the dough is thick.

In the mean time, heat the oil for deep frying. Once it has heated, gently add a few puris at a time and lower the flame. Turn them over frequently so that both sides cook well and become a golden colour. Fry on a low to medium flame.

Remove and drain on a paper. Once cooled, store in an airtight container. Enjoy with your chai. You’ll find it tangy, spicy and yummy.

I love how this bajra ni puri contains the significance of my mother’s wedding pot, and also the simplicity of an afternoon snack.

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Recipe: Bites of Paradise – Ragi Paniyaram

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We talk about leftovers in all of our homes. How to store them, how to repurpose them and so on. You may have remembered from my Second Helpings series a while back that certain traditional dishes, like rotli na ladoo, are in fact innovations that deliberately use leftovers. This ragi paniyaram recipe is similar in nature. It basically uses up the leftover batter from ragi idly, and becomes a whole new savoury snack of its own.

You would already have learned the recipe for the batter used here, as linked above, so we can head straight into how to make paniyaram. They are amazing: pillowy soft on the inside and crisp on the outside. Dip one in chutney and it’s heavenly. I really feel like ragi paniyarams are bites of paradise!

The recipe below is my go-to. It is very easy to prepare and uses only readily available ingredients. You can add a flavouring of your choice as well. One special way that I like to make it is by dropping half the required batter in the paniyaram mould, adding a dollop of pickle in the centre, and then layering it with more batter. Mango or lemon pickle work perfectly for this, and add a piquant taste when you bite into the paniyaram. That’s the thing about many traditional staples – they are so flexible that you can add whatever you want within your reach. Be innovative, be creative, do you. Enjoy the process and the taste will come on its own.

I would describe paniyarams as being the South Indian version of Gujarati dhoklas, which are a quick fix for sudden guests. All you have to do is add some chopped veggies and seasoning to your regular idly batter and you have everything you need. They are a great snack at tea time and mid-morning, and I would say they are versatile even as dinner or breakfast items.

 

Ragi Paniyaram

(Yield: Serves 2-4)

 

1+½ cups ragi batter

1 small onion (finely chopped)

1 green chili (finely chopped)

1 tablespoon coriander leaves

1 teaspoon urad dal

½ teaspoon mustard seeds

¼ teaspoon cumin seeds

2 teaspoons sesame oil +oil for cooking

 

Pour the ragi batter into a bowl and set aside.

Heat a pan and add the oil. Once it’s hot, add the mustard seeds. When they splutter, add the cumin seeds. Now, add the urad dal and heat until golden. Next, add the onions, green chili, coriander leaves and curry leaves. Sauté for a minute.

Add all of this to the bowl of ragi batter. Mix well.

Prepare and heat the paniyaram plate (I use a seasoned iron grid for the same; you can use non-stick to be safe or if you’re new to the game). Add a few drops of oil to each mound (I like to use ghee for its flavour; since it’s no longer considered one of the evil fats, I’d suggest trying it out, or use either as you prefer). Once heated, add a tablespoon of batter into each mould. Cover, reduce the flame and allow to cook. In a few minutes, with the help of a sharp knife, turn each paniyaram over and allow to cook on the other side until golden.

Remove and serve. There you have it – ragi-rich bites of paradise! Paniyarams are best paired with chutney. I always have grated coconut at home from my trees in the backyard, and make a fresh chutney with it pretty much every day. I sometimes throw in some coriander leaves to make it green. This aside, there is an amazing tomato chutney that I feel works beautifully with ragi paniyarams, and that will be my next recipe on this blog. Stay tuned!

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Recipe: Millet-Enriched And Indispensable – Ragi Idly

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I believe that South Indian breakfasts are probably the healthiest ones prepared pan-India. I may be biased, of course, as I live here. But my belief comes from how they tend to contain some amount of protein and probiotics, and are centred on something as basic and easily digestible as rice. Rice is used in the batter for idlys and dosais, which are breakfast staples. If you travel across Tamil Nadu, especially by road, you’ll see just how prevalent these items are across all communities and economic backgrounds. Naturally, I grew up eating them too. Nowadays, I like to boost the protein quotient, as I get very hungry immediately after my morning workout and crave more of it. This is why I decided to substitute rice with ragi – finger millet – in my idlys. They are high in both protein and iron, and provide an even more nutritious start to the day.

We grow ragi on our farm, and making these idlys is a great way to put it to use. During harvests, I have quite an abundance of ragi in my kitchen, and versatile ways to consume it were introduced to me by my household staff, Vijaya. I was fortunate that she came into my family when my daughter was only a few months old. Now, my daughter is an adult, and whenever she visits, Vijaya is always so happy to see how she’s grown and how she looks after herself. It’s a joy to share these moments, as we raised her together. Over the years, we have also exchanged many recipes. Among them is this ragi idly.

I’m currently hooked to this dish, and have it at least twice a week. I alternate it with other protein-rich breakfasts such as overnight oats, quinoa porridge, moringa leaves omelette and so on. As far as eating preferences go, I tend to have a “flavour of the season”, and just as I was hooked for each of the prior recipes for a spell, the ragi idly is my current favourite breakfast. It is satisfying, filling and ticks all the boxes for a post-workout meal in a healthy and traditional way.

It’s also on-trend, as the United Nations has declared 2023 to be the International Year of Millets. I’ve been enthusiastic about millet usage for years, and have shared numerous recipes that are based on a variety of them before. I’ll be sure to share more in this category over this coming year. Please let me know if there are any millets or millet-based dishes you are curious about.

Coming back to this dish: all kinds of idlys are usually served either with a chutney, or a sambar. I will share the recipe for sambar, as well as for homemade sambar powder, in upcoming posts – so do stay tuned. The recipe below includes the traditional process of preparing and fermenting the batter.

As I said earlier, idlys are available anywhere in Tamil Nadu, but the difference when they are homemade is that they somehow feel lighter on the stomach. You can eat many idlys and not feel too full, yet you’ll have plenty of energy all the way into the afternoon. This is all the more true when it’s a millet idly, like this one.

Ragi Idly

(Yield: 20 pieces)

2 cups ragi (finger millet)

½ cup urad dal (split black gram)

¼ tsp methi (fenugreek)

½ cup water to grind dal

½ cup water to grind ragi

 

Soak the urad dal and the methi together. In a separate bowl, soak the ragi. Allow the grains to soak for between 4-10 hours, as required.

Then, grind the urad dal, adding the water only as needed, at approximately a ¼ cup at a time. Grind until it’s smooth between fingers. Set aside in a bowl.

Grind the ragi, along with water as required, until coarse. Add the ground ragi to the urad dal. Add salt to taste and mix with your hand. Set aside overnight and allow to ferment.

The following morning, the ragi batter would have risen for fermentation.

Prepare the idly mould by spreading a drop of ghee into each mould. This will help you remove the steamed idly with ease later. Set aside.

With a ladle, stir the batter gently and pour it into the prepared idly trays. Steam for 10-15 minutes. Remove from the cooker and allow to cool a little. Gently remove the idlys individually from the mould.

Serve topped with ghee, along with chutney and sambar, or both. There you have it: a traditional staple, superpowered by ragi!

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Recipe: Whipped Right Up – Whole Wheat Halwa

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Every time that I had whole wheat halwa while I was growing up, it was mostly made in a jiffy. This was because whenever unexpected guests landed up at home and my mother had to make something sweet to serve them, this was her go-to recipe. Most people of that generation who cooked were extremely versatile. They knew what would work quickly, based on the ingredients they had on hand. It was also a time when those of my generation literally grew up in each others’ homes. So unexpected guests were always aplenty, and the Indian courtesy of feeding them was never forgotten, no matter how much of a surprise they may have been!

The base of this recipe is wheat, jaggery and ghee – items which would invariably be in any Indian kitchen. The additions like saffron and cardamom may not always be available, but the essential ingredient list is one that was quite reliably in every home while I was growing up, and most likely still is today. These are inexpensive ingredients. Not many could afford refined sugar back then, so the accessible and healthier jaggery was used, along with affordable staples like wheat and ghee.

Wheat-ghee-jaggery is an age-old combo, as can be seen in the auspicious sukhudi, which uses the same base. Sweets that utilise this combo are offered to the gods in many Indian homes, and it’s easy to see how the accessibility of the ingredients make them a logical choice for many.

The simplicity of such offerings is part of their beauty. In fact, aside from them being offered in worship, they were also the key feature of birthdays. Back when I was a kid, a birthday cake was not always guaranteed. What we would offer to the gods on that day, and then consume for ourselves, was the big question. “Birthday? Big deal. Get up and go to school!” was a refrain many of us heard! Still, our mothers would usually prepare our favourite Indian sweets that day. My brother liked rava kesari, so that’s what he would receive. As for me, it was this whole wheat halwa that was usually my birthday treat.

I loved birthday parties, and had been to a few of my friends’. There was one year when I decided to throw myself a surprise party – meaning, it was a surprise for my mum! I went back home after school with my whole class, with absolutely no advance notice, and announced that they had all come to celebrate with me. I knew that if I had asked her earlier, she would just have said No. But with all my friends already there, she obliged so very sweetly. Looking back, it could not possibly have been easy to muster up a party immediately. But the feast contained this whole wheat halwa, some standards like toasted sandwiches – and even some McRennett’s cake which she somehow managed to organise last minute. You may recall that I’ve never quite been a fan of what I call that smelly vanilla cake, but it is cherished by my generation. It was a hit at my party too, of course. But that whole wheat halwa was what shone in my mind, and still does, all these years later.

Whole Wheat Halwa

(Yield: 5)

¾ cup whole wheat flour

¼ cup jowar flour

½ cup ghee

½ cup jaggery

A pinch of saffron

1 tablespoon milk

A pinch of cardamom powder

1½ cups hot water

½ cup jaggery

 

Soak the saffron in the milk and set aside.

Heat a kadai and add the ghee. Once it has melted, add the flours. You will notice that I use jowar, or sorghum. This is my addition to the recipe, and another way for me to bring healthy millets into my desserts.

Stir on a medium flame. Stir continuously, else the flour will stick to the bottom. This will take approximately 12-15 minutes.  Stir until the mixture turns a dark golden colour. You never want a dull-looking halwa! Even if you skip the saffron or cardamom, you absolutely cannot skip the continuous stirring when it comes to this dish. The secret to it rests entirely in doing that well.

Then, add the jaggery and keep stirring until the jaggery melts.

Lower the flame and add the hot water slowly, continuing to stir continuously. Be careful as the mixture will splutter. Stand away from the kadai at this point. Once the water mixes well with the flour, then bring it back back to a medium flame – while mixing non-stop.

The mixture will thicken and the ghee will separate. Add the cardamom powder and saffron. Mix well again. Serve.

When I think back about my mother stirring constantly over the stove while a gaggle of hungry schoolgirls waited, I am filled with love. That love continues to be passed on in this recipe. I hope you’ll enjoy it too, and please do check out the various Indian sweets I’ve shared earlier on this blog as well.

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Recipe: Even Better At Breakfast – Bajra Rotlo Cereal

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Still on the theme of post-festive millet-based goodness, after the previous post’s millet upma, I’m glad to share another recipe that I’ve been turning to frequently. This is another breakfast dish, and what’s even better is that it makes use of the previous day’s leftovers, maximizing resources and minimizing time. There’s a long tradition of innovative dishes that do this, as we’ve seen in my second helpings series from a few years back, and this bajra rotlo cereal fits beautifully into that category too.

Bajra, or pearl millet, is a long-fingered crop with hundreds of grains on the cob. It has been cultivated on the Indian subcontinent for thousands of years, and is a staple across different cuisines in this region. As a darker coloured millet, which indicates that it is heavier on the digestive system, it is perfect for monsoons and Indian winters. It keeps the body warm, since the digestive system is active for longer, working on those slow-release carbs, and thus reduces hunger between meal-times. I have noticed that it is one of the key ingredients consumed by farmers, such as the people I’ve met on my travels to the Rann of Kutch, where the salt-harvesting community eats bajra with chutney daily.  It has a high iron quotient, is gluten-free and is rich in amino acids, fibre and antioxidants.

Bajra rotlo is a flatbread, one of many varieties enjoyed by the Gujarati community. It is most often accompanied by a garlic chutney, but while I was growing up my mother would usually serve it to us with jaggery and ghee or else with homemade white butter. In those days, the milk quality of brands that are still around today was pure and excellent, which meant we could extract our own buttermilk from the curd, and from this the butter. I remember watching my mother churning the buttermilk, which would make the butter float on top. She would often ask me for my help. We would collect the white butter and set it aside. Having it with some bajra rotlo over dinner was one of my favourite meals.

Of course, the homemade butter no longer exists and the store-bought ones just don’t compare when it comes to this purpose. Which brings me to my second-favourite way of eating bajra rotlo: as cereal.

It’s funny how things come full circle. As a child, this was a dish that I scorned at the breakfast table. My mother would always prepare a few extra bajra rotlos, to be kept overnight for my father and her to have in the morning. She would crumble these with her hands, turning them into a cereal consistency, and my parents would eat this cereal with milk. It looked like cornflakes to us kids, which was interesting in theory, but we did not like the taste back then. I grew to love it, however. In fact, I now enjoy this deconstructed version more than I enjoy the previous night’s freshly-made, unbroken bajra rotlos themselves!

Now, when I prepare bajra rotlo cereal, the memory of my mother’s hands and the way she would crumble the rotlos always comes to me. The dish is all the more special because of this.

For the time being, no one else in my family likes bajra rotlo cereal. But they watch me eat it, just as I once watched my parents eat it. I’ve never forced it on my kids, but maybe somewhere later down the line, they’ll reach out for this comfort food on some mornings too. Fond memories really are what make food palatable, above all else. Besides, as parents we always set an example. The next generation, be they little or a little older, will make similar choices to ours. So the more healthily we eat, the better a model we set for them.

Bajra Rotlo Cereal

(Yield: 4 servings)

1 cup bajra flour

½ cup water

A pinch of salt

½ cup flour for rolling

 

Optional (non-cereal version)

1 tablespoon finely chopped onion

1 tablespoon finely coriander leaves

 

Put the flour in a bowl, add the pinch of salt and stir. If you plan on having the bajra rotlo as a bread, not a cereal, then make the savoury version and add the onion and coriander now. Skip these optional ingredients if you plan on having the cereal version.

Add the water. Leave a little bit behind in the cup – use just enough to make a malleable dough.

Once the dough is made you, don’t let it sit. You will have to roast the rotlo immediately.

Make four smooth balls with the dough. On a rolling board, sprinkle more flour. Place a ball of dough on it and use your palms to gently pat it out. Use your fingers to press down the edges of the rotlo. If you need the help of the rolling pin, you may use it, but very lightly and gently. Since there is no gluten, the dough will be soft and needs to be handled with care. Add more flour if necessary. Each rotlo needs to be ¼ inch in thickness. Keep dusting with flour at the bottom too. Make all four pieces.

On a hot griddle, place each rotlo individually. Use your fingers to wet the top of the rotlo with water.

Roast on one side and flip over. Cool on a medium flame. As it’s thick, it needs to cook well on the inside. Once it has spots on both sides, place the rotlo directly on the flame to cook further.

Remove from the stove and top with ghee. Allow to cool. You can now serve this bajra rotlo with chutney or dal, if you like.

To make a cereal, once it has cooled, either the same day or the next morning, simply crush or crumble the rotlo with your hands.

You can have this with cold milk, if you prefer that. I usually have mine with warm milk. Specifically, I enjoy it with almond milk, which I’ve been reaching for more and more in my quest to make my diet more vegan. You can also add some sugar, if you wish to sweeten the cereal. All in all, it makes for a complete and healthy breakfast.

The festive season also coincides with the wedding season, which means that there is a general period of celebration until February or so in most Indian communities, peppered with religious occasions as well as personal gatherings. Foods like this dish, which nourish the body and let it recover from the heavy, fried, sugary, buttery, ghee-rich foods that are eaten at special events, are welcome and appreciated after and between feasts. This isn’t to knock indulgent foods at all – in fact, I have noticed how traditional ingredients like gond or gum resin, which are used in laddoos, are a warming agent and boost immunity. There’s a culinary and seasonal logic to indulgence too. But the body really does feel better when some millets are in the mix, balancing out the treats.

I’ve got quite a repertoire of millet-based dishes in my recipe archive, if you are keen to bring this nutritious category into your kitchen more often. Having tried this bajra rotlo cereal, if you find that you’re a fan of pearl millet at breakfast, the traditional Gujarati bajra ghensh is also a fantastic option. Here’s to happy, healthy mornings!

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Recipe: Post-Diwali Downtime – Millet Upma

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After the abundance of sweets, treats and fried foods of Diwali and Navaratri, hopefully accompanied by equally large helpings of blessings and joy, it’s back to trying to eat clean and healthy. This month is all about giving the body’s systems time to settle down before the culinary excitements of Christmas and the New Year beckon again. In this part of the world, this is also a time of rains, which call for immunity-boosting and warming foods as well. With all of this in mind, and taking a cue only from what I’ve been preparing for my family and myself, I’m delighted to share the recipe for a type of comfort food that is ideal for this time of year: millet upma.

Upma is a kind of porridge that is consumed across South India, in several variations. Its base may be semolina, vermicelli, corn, whole wheat or rice. Here, I have chosen to use a millet as the base, specifically the little millet. Millets and soups are perfect for the current weather. While soups are not really a part of the local cuisine, millets have a very long tradition of usage here. I’m quite an advocate for cutting down on white rice consumption in favour of nutritious millets, and you can explore many more millet-based recipes in my blog archives if you’re interested in doing the same.

As well as being a great place to start if you’re new to millets, this dish is also just the perfect way to start your day. Now, the truth is that millets taste healthy, which you know means that the family will fuss over it and make faces – at first. But as I’ve observed from my own grown kids, a millet upma is most welcome at breakfast after a night of partying or feasting. It’s just the kind of thing that calms body and mind, and boosts energy levels at the same time. So I choose a millet upma at the right moment during other times of the year, but it’s whipped up quite frequently in my kitchen in the post-festive period. We also have it as a light dinner, with more vegetables added to the mix. It’s especially great if you’re like me and have dinner early, as the millet gives you energy for the remaining hours of the evening, while still being easy to digest at night.

When cooking millets, the amount of water you add will depend on the size of the grain. Heavier millets – bigger in size and darker in colour – are traditionally used in monsoons and winters as they take more time to digest, hence warm the body for a longer time. However, I’ve chosen a sort of in-between. The little millet, known in Tamil as samai, is a larger grain but has a lighter colour. Use the millet of your preference, and do remember that depending on the type, you may need to pressure cook it or soak it overnight. You will also need to figure out the water level so that the result is a dish that is tender and crumbly. The consistency of the cooked millet should not be sticky.

Millet Upma

(Yield: 2-4 persons)

¾ cup little millet

¼ cup finely chopped onion

¼ cup chopped beans and carrots

2 tablespoons oil

¼ teaspoon mustard seeds

¼ teaspoon cumin seeds

A few curry leaves

1 green chilli

1¼ cups water

A squeeze of lemon juice

Salt to taste

Rinse the millet and set aside. Heat a kadai and add the oil. Once the oil heats up, add the mustard and cumin seeds. Allow them to splutter and then add the remaining vegetables, green chilli and curry leaves.

Cook until the vegetables become tender and then add the water. Once the water has boiled, add the millet. Then add the salt and stir well. Keep the flame low, cover the kadai with a lid, and allow all the water to be cooked. The millet grain should be tender and not sticky.

Add some lemon juice and stir gently. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot, and enjoy the taste of a healthy meal that your body will thank you for!

As I said earlier, there is a long history of millet consumption both in India as well as in my household, as shared here on my blog. I hope this millet upma recipe intrigues you into exploring this food category further. I’ve got a whole range, from the traditional – bajra ghensh, seven-grain khichdo, ragi dosa with peanut chutney, chakkara pongal, ragi kanji and little millet rice with green beans poriyal – to the innovative or internationally-inspired – vegan millet thayirsadam, vegan chili and Indian veg millet salad. I’d love to know about your own journey with millets, too!

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