Millet porridge: Moreish, modern and the perfect breakfast for monsoon

Gurgaon-based Anjali Ramaswamy is a chef, food stylist, food consultant and researcher. She started out working in commercial kitchens with the Taj Group and went on to run her own restaurants before pivoting to TV. (She was on 3 seasons of MasterChef India as their food head and judged a Malayalam cooking reality show called Dhe Chef.) And now, she’s working on a book.

Anjali’s food philosophy is low-key: keep it simple, fresh and local. After being diagnosed as diabetic, Anjali had to make lifestyle changes and was introduced to millets by her mother, Lata. Now, it’s a staple on her plate. She’s reversed her diabetes and helped dozens of other diabetics with her millet-centric recipes. 

Recipe

“Ambali is a gluten-free, probiotic fermented porridge that is an excellent breakfast option. In fact, I believe it's better than overnight oats. It's brilliant for diabetics, weight loss, gut health, hormonal balance and what not. It can be made with any of the millets available to us—foxtail, barnyard, kodo, browntop, ragi. I have made it with millet grains, you may even make it with rava (semolina),” says Chef Anjali.

Ingredients

•    25 g Barnyard millet

•    250 ml water

•    2 tbsp thick yoghurt from A2 cow’s milk

•    2 green chillies

•    1/2 tsp roasted garlic

•    4 pieces walnuts

•    1 stem curry leaves

•    Salt to taste

•    A pinch red chilli powder

•    A pinch roasted cumin powder

•    A pinch asafoetida

•    1 tsp coconut oil

Simy is a self-taught cook whose love for food is truly international: she grew up in Dubai, has travelled the world, and now calls Belgrade home, where she is the CXO of an international relocations company.

The move to the Serbian capital was a challenge since many Indian spices aren’t available—so she started making authentic Indian food with locally available produce and meat. She began cooking for Indian expats and word spread. Now, in addition to her full-time job, Simy curates Indian menus, trains chefs in Indian cuisine and holds pop-ups in Belgrade, under Simy’s Curry Tales.

She’s also appeared on multiple television shows. A season on Dhe Chef—the same cooking show Chef Anjali judged—helped Simy hone her culinary skills. A diabetic, she was introduced to millets by Chef Anjali and now eats them regularly to keep sugar levels in check.

Ingredients: Fermented millet

• 1 cup Foxtail or Barnyard millet
• 8 cups water

Method

• Wash and soak millet in 8 cups of water overnight. The next day, transfer to a clay pot and cook it in the same water till the millets are fully tender. (I like to cook till the water has almost evaporated.)
  
• Turn off the heat, cover the mouth of the pot with a cloth and place a lid tightly on top. Leave it overnight or at least 10 hours to ferment. You can now store this in the fridge and use it to make sweet or savoury dishes.

Simy says: “Do not use the microwave to reheat or you will lose the nutrients, just take it out of the fridge and bring to room temperature.”

Ingredients: Porridge

• 1 cup fermented millet
• 1.5 cups coconut milk
• As per taste honey or sweetener of choice
• A pinch salt

Sweet ragi kanji by Sumi Subbu

Sumi Subbu is a YouTuber based out of Toronto and shares Indian recipes that are naturally vegan and gluten-free. She draws inspiration from her mother and grandmother—women who have cooked for and fed thousands of people at spiritual events and charities and continue to do so. The aesthetic of her videos matches the food she prepares: simple and soothing with bold colours and flavours!

She started cooking at 17 when she moved to Toronto from Bahrain, which is also when she developed food sensitivities. Born and raised vegetarian, she embraced veganism to take care of her gut. She experienced the power of native vegan and gluten-free foods from her childhood that took care of her health and helped the planet—and there’s been no looking back.

Ragi porridge is a popular weaning food for babies, especially in South India but here, Sumi alters it for the adult palate with warming spices and a variety of garnishes.

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp Ragi (finger millet) flour
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup plant-based milk of choice
• 2 tsp powdered Jaggery (increase quantity if you want your porridge to be sweeter)
• ⅛ tsp cardamom powder

Garnish:

• Chopped strawberries, raw cacao nibs (or dark chocolate chips) and shredded coconut. 
• For a protein-rich option, top your ragi kanji bowl with sliced bananas, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, chia seeds and a sprinkle of cinnamon.