It was magical to watch my grandmother pat a ball of bajra dough to make a perfect roti on a hot griddle. She flattened it smooth, applied water, expertly flipped, sprinkled some sesame seeds, and pressed lightly to embed them.
It then landed on the plate with a generous blob of homemade butter. To say it was delicious or yummy would be an injustice to its taste. The warm roti with roasted sesame seeds drizzling with butter made us smile, laugh, and happy, a heartsome experience of wholesome food.
A few years back millets formed an important part of the Indian diet. Bajra or pearl millet was an essential part of the winter diet. Other millets like jowar, ragi and sama were also consumed regularly.
Often these got replaced by the dominant production of rice and wheat and totally disappeared from the Indian urban platter. Sadly, this resulted in compromising our varied and nutrient-rich diets in favour of refined grains. It also ignored the importance of eating local food for optimum health. Slowly, the indigenous foods were neglected and were forgotten.
Millets are grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for food and fodder. Evidence has been found that millets were cultivated in the Korean Peninsula around 3,500–2,000BC.Yajurveda mentions foxtail millet (priyangava), Barnyard millet (aanava) and black finger millet (shyaamaka) which indicates that millets were a common food in those times.
Scientific research has proved that millets are healthy. Regular consumption of these grains can help you to maintain good health and safeguard you from lifestyle diseases. Recently, The U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution, sponsored by India and supported by more than 70 countries, declaring 2023 as the International Year of Millets.
Kinds of Millets
Millets are divided into two categories—major and minor millets.“The major millets are grown in abundance and more widely used”, explains Certified Nutrition Coach and co-founder of Naturally Yours, Priya Prakash.
“Sorghum, Jowar (Great millet) Bajra (Pearl millet) and Ragi (Finger millet) are Major Millets.Navane (Foxtail millet), Saame (Little millet), Haraka (Kodo millet), Baragu (Proso millet) and Udlu (Barnyard millet) are the Minor Millets.” She adds.
Millets are rich in protein, essential fatty acids, dietary fibre, B-Vitamins, minerals like calcium, phosphorous, iron, zinc, potassium, and magnesium. They reduce blood sugar, thyroid problems, cardiovascular and celiac diseases and regulate blood pressure. These grains are also gluten-free.
Including a variety of millets is beneficial. Finger millet is a rich source of calcium, while jowar contains potassium and phosphorous. Foxtail is rich in fibre and Kodo has iron.
How to Start?
The problem with our diet today is that by imitating the West we have removed traditional foods like dosa, idly, poha upma and dal, roti, sabzi from our plates.
Instead, we opt for a cheese sandwich for breakfast, pasta for lunch and pizza or burger for dinner. In between when hunger strikes, we gorge on packaged and processed food like chips and deep-fried food.
Well-known nutritionist Dr Anjali Mukherjee, says in her book ‘Healing with Food’ – “If only eating wholesome Indian foods like jowar, bajra, vegetables, fruits and nuts become trendy, we’d soon have a healthy teenage population.”
Introducing millets to kids at a young age helps to acquire a taste and liking. However, it should be a gradual process. “Food diversity should be your basis for healthy eating. Completely replacing rice and wheat with millets is not advisable,” explains, Priya.
Substituting rice with little or foxtail millet, twice or thrice a week works because the texture and cooking properties of these two millets are like rice, she adds.
Millet rotis were quite common in the past. You can try including ragi, jowar or bajra rotis once a week. However, making these rotis needs some practice.
This post has been originally written for The Quint. You can read the rest of the post here
Leave a Reply