Millet is regarded as the new super food and there is lot of print devoted to its recent resurgence. Quinoa had a similar following sometime back. I have not tried quinoa yet, so any chance of my encounter with millet also remains bleak.

We are what people call a two grain household – rice and wheat are the everyday staples. Hailing from Kerala, we prefer the Matta rice variety. Love the coarse, reddish colour rice compared to the plain white rice. The long grained Basmati rice is used only for biryanis and pulaos. And we love chapatis (made from wheat flour) equally if not more than rice. Rice for lunch and chapati for dinner is the ideal menu😊.

My goto brand for atta (wheat flour) is ITC’s Aashirvaad Select Atta. Every homemaker has her unique combo for the flour mix she uses to make the chapatis. My mom-in-law used to add equal parts atta and maida (refined flour) for the chapati dough and her chapatis were super tasty; the maida in them gave a parotta like feel and taste😋.

One of my friends add powdered oats to the atta while making the dough, her secret for healthier chapatis. I have so far kept my chapati dough mixture plain and simple – atta, salt, olive oil and water. No extra health boosting components. And then I ran into this multi millet mix from ITC Aashirvaad; the mix has 3 grains –  bajra, ragi and quinoa – gluten free, high fibre and rich in essential nutrients. Am not sure about quinoa, but bajra and ragi have been around in India for ages.

Come to think of it, following my mother’s instructions, we add ragi powder with the rice flour to make the Kerala breakfast staple puttu; the use of ragi gives the otherwise white puttu and slight burgundy brown shade and adds taste too. I didn’t know that ragi was part of the millet family. So I withdraw my initial statement that I have not eaten millets😋.

These powdered grains used by themselves have a strong taste and may not be to everyone’s liking, but added in parts to the everyday staples like wheat and rice flour, they bring in colour, taste and nutrients. And so I now add the millet mix to to my chapati dough; the texture is coarser but love the taste and thrilled with the nutrients that tag along😘.

Till next post, take care !!