How to Boil Millet Rice

Rajan loves cooking dishes from his native Indian cuisine. He likes to share his favourite recipes with his online readers.

Millets are ancient grains that were eaten for thousands of years all over the globe before wheat and rice became popular after the Green Revolution. Millets are gluten-free, low glycemic index grains better known as bird feed—although they are only not that. They have much to offer in terms of health and nutrition to humans, as well.

Recently millets have enjoyed a revival, especially the five millets which have been named "Siridhanya millets" by Dr Khadar Vali of India. These five millets are believed to be particularly healthy because of the unique way their high fibre content in these grains is interwoven with their carbohydrate, as well as their amazing nutrient profile. The five Siridhanya millets are:

• Foxtail millet
• Little millet
• Barnyard millet
• Browntop millet
• Kodo millet

Today I am going to show you how you can boil these millets, using foxtail millet as an example. The process is the same for all the Siridhanya millets.

Do try this method and share your experience.

Cook Time

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup any siridhanya millet (I used foxtail millet)
• Water, for washing the millet
• 1 1/4 cups for soaking and cooking the millet
• 1/4 tsp sendha namak (rock salt), optional
• 1 tsp any cold-pressed oil (I used cold-pressed groundnut oil)

Instructions

1. Wash the millet once in water and drain.
2. Add the washed millet to a bowl, pour in enough water to cover the grains and cover with a lid. Let it soak overnight.
3. The next day, drain the millet but reserve the soaking water.
4. Set a steel kadahi (wok) on low heat. Add the soaking water, oil and optional salt. Raise the heat to medium. Let the water come to a boil, then add the soaked millet and stir a few times.
5. Once the water again comes to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover with a lid and cook until the water dries up. Check a few times in between. This should take about 10-12 minutes.
6. Remove from heat and let the millet sit, covered with the lid, for 5 minutes.
7. The millet rice is ready to serve or for its further preparation into fried millet rice or any other type of rice needing boiled millet rice.

How to Boil Millet Rice

© 2021 Rajan Singh Jolly