10 Healthy & Delicious Millet Recipes (2024)

FAQs

How do you make millet more digestible? ›

Soaking. Many cooks like to soak millet before cooking. Soak millet anywhere from 30 minutes to overnight to make it more tender and digestible.

Millet is available in pearled (unhulled) or hulled form. However, it is only prepared as food after being hulled since the grain has a naturally hard, indigestible covering that is removed before it can be considered ready for human consumption (much like Quinoa).

For a fluffy texture, it can be cooked with a 1:2 ratio of millet:water or broth. For more of a porridge texture, increase the water/broth component to 3. Millet has a nutty flavor, a little bit chewy, and fluffy texture. It's pretty light in weight when cooked, as well.

Millets are full of soluble fiber, which trap fat in your gut and can lower the cholesterol level in your blood. That can help reduce your chances of atherosclerosis, or heart disease. Millets are good sources of magnesium, too, which may prevent heart failure.

Millets are high in fiber and may cause digestive issues in susceptible individuals. If you have a sensitive gut, you might experience discomfort and other gastric symptoms such as gas and bloating after consuming millets.

Introduce these in your diet gradually and soak the millets before using them in recipes to avoid any digestive troubles. Soaking, sprouting or fermenting the millets before eating them is important, otherwise the phytic acid present in them could reduce the absorption of other nutrients.

Answer: Yeah, I typically do soak millets before I'm gonna cook it. I usually do it for at least 30 minutes, but you can do it overnight to be able to get it to kind of start out that process really early so it doesn't take as long to cook.

Millets must be avoided by people with thyroid issues

Menon says millets also contain goitrogens that may interfere with the absorption of iodine which could be reduced in the cooking process, yet not negated completely. Hence those with hypothyroidism must steer clear of millets.

Use cooked millet in grain bowls, frittatas, vegetable fritters, or salads. Popped like popcorn: Millet can pop like popcorn. Place a small amount in a dry skillet and shake the pan until you see a slight change in the color and shape. It's much smaller than popcorn, so it's a bit of a novelty to use popped millet.

Among the various millet varieties, foxtail millet (Setaria italica) is often considered to have a taste and texture that is somewhat similar to rice when cooked. It has small, round grains and a mild, neutral flavor that can make it a good rice substitute in many dishes.

What 4 things can millet be used in and why? ›

You can enjoy millets as a breakfast porridge, side dish, salad add-in, or cookie or cake ingredient. Shop for millet or millet flour online. Millets are not only available as a whole grain but also a flour. You can use it in a variety of dishes, including porridge, salad, and cookies.

Give millet a good rinse before cooking it. Rinsing whole millet helps to remove impurities and improves the texture of the dish. Use a heavy-bottomed pan for cooking millet to make sure it doesn't burn. Keep an eye on the millet at all times during cooking because it can spill over.

If you have cooked millet leftover, store it in the fridge, ideally, in an airtight container. It should be fine for a couple of days.

Millet has a natural, bitter-tasting coating called saponin that needs to be washed off before cooking. Once millet is cooked, it can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Unlike other grains, millet will become solid and dry when cold and needs to be broken up and reheated before using.

Finger millet (ragi) and kodo millet are generally considered easier to digest due to their smaller size and finer texture. Pearl millet (bajra) and foxtail millet (kangni) have larger grains and slightly higher fiber content, which might require adjusting to for some individuals.

Here are some ways to eat millets and include them in your diet without the fear of constipation: When introducing millets in your diet initially, limit eating them once a day. Continue doing this until your body gets used to them. Then increase the frequency to twice or thrice a day.

Soaking, fermenting or sprouting your grains before cooking them will neutralize the phytic acid and release the enzyme inhibitors, thus making them much easier to digest and making the nutrients more assimilable.

Kodo millet is easy to digest and contains a high amount of lecithin, which is good for strengthening the nervous system. You can consume millet at any time of the day, preferably in the morning, at noon, and at night. It is best to consume millet in moderate amounts, three or four times a week.