Foxtail Millet Payasam (Korrala/ Thinai Payasam)

Blogging Marathon# 42: Week 1/ Day 1
Theme: All about Millets
Dish: Foxtail Millet Payasam (Korrala Payasam/ Thinai Payasam)

We are getting ready for our upcoming summer vacation to India. My son's been talking about this trip for weeks now and he definitely wants to go to McDonald's and get his Happy Meal toy. I'm excited too to visit my family and spend time with my mom. Shopping is also on my to-do list.

So for the final day of this week's marathon, I made a dessert with foxtail millet. This dish is the millet version of paravannam or rice pudding. I cooked the millet in water and added some whole milk to give some richness to the dish. I used jaggery and a little bit of sugar to sweeten it.

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Ragi Dosa (Finger Millet Dosa)

Blogging Marathon# 42: Week 1/ Day 2
Theme: All about Millets
Dish: Ragi Dosa/ Finger Millet Dosa

For day 2 of blogging marathon, I have a very simple and nutritious breakfast made with finger millet/ ragi. I saw the recipe on a Telugu cooking show. The original recipe was actually for 'Pullatlu'or sour dosa. Dosa has to be very well fermented and should turn sour to make these dosas. My batter got very foamy and fermented well but it didn't get very sour, so I'm calling these dosa instead of pullatlu.

Using ragi flour in a dosa batter increases its nutrition and adds an earthy taste that is best enjoyed hot. I rarely make dosas because I'm forgetful in soaking the dal/ rice and I'm very lazy to pull out my stone grinder. But I recently found out that my American blender grinds both dal and rice to a nice smooth consistency, so now I have no excuse for not making idlis or dosas more frequently.

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Bajra Methi na Thepla (Pearl Millet/ Sajjala Thepla)

I'm sticking with the theme of the week, All about Millets and made these theplas with bajra flour (pearl millet flour) and methi. This year I planted only a few greens in my backyard because with the India trip I didn't want the plants to suffer while we were away. I harvested most of them and gave some away to family and friends.

I had half a pot of methi leaves that needed to be used up. I bookmarked this recipe from 'India: The  Cookbook' by Pushpesh Pant. I borrowed this book from the library, but had to return it since ran out of my renewals. I think I renewed it about 6 times, but finally had to return the book before they snatch my library card permanently from me. Even with all the renewals, I couldn't get through most of my bookmarked recipes. So I took pictures of the recipes on my phone, this way I can get to them whenever I want to.

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Bajre Ki Khichdi (Pearl Millet/ Sajjala Khichdi)

Blogging Marathon# 42: Week 1/ Day 1
Theme: All about Millets
Dish: Bajre Ki Khichdi

Yet another month rolls by and today we are starting this month's blogging marathon. Big difference for me is I'm joining the lovely BM gals only 2 weeks this month, because it is vacation time and we are packing for a month long trip to India --- yay!!!!!! I wanted to skip this month altogether, but Valli's themes pulled me in.
So for the first week, I picked up a relatively easy theme, All about Millets. I have started cooking with millets about 5~6 years back and interestingly I tried foxtail millet for the first time in a Mexican dish. It wasn't until later that I found out that they are very commonly used in India too.

Millets are an ancient cereal cultivated in the dry climates of Africa and northern China. Interestingly millets were the staple food of Indian, Chinese and Korean civilizations. There are about 6000 varieties of millet throughout the world with grains varying in color. Foxtail millet is one of the oldest varieties.

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