Millet dish
Neelima Nitin talks about her experience with millet cooking.
I hail from a place of Maharashtra which shares its borders with Karnataka and Telangana. So, obviously the impact of the geographical location was not just on the language but on food and culture.
I believe I was a born foodie as all my childhood memories are around food and food stories.
However, I never realised it until I turned it into profession .
Though my upbringing was in a small town I was frequently travelling to cities like Mumbai, Pune , Hyderabad, etc. I used to observe variety of food I was exposed to in the cities and try to replicate it back home. As not all ingredients were available at home, it made me experiment with the locally available ingredients. And that’s how my cooking experiments started and most of them worked well so I was inspired to cook more.
My experiments with new and old recipes made my friends curious to try it for themselves. This made me think of the need to have a platform where they can get easy access to my recipes. This led to my Facebook page and YouTube channel “Cook with Nilima “.
As a Maharashtrian, millets are a staple in our lives. In most of the houses jowar /bajri roti is preferred daily over wheat chapati .
Our Thalipeeth bhajni is an excellent concoction of millets and pulses which is again added with fresh leafy vegetables making it super healthy and tasty .
Also using barnyard millet on fasting day is a tradition from ages .
Ukad shengole is one of my personal favourite recipes of millets using minimum ingredients served as a soupy consistency.
All we need to do is do small changes on how to present it well and attract the younger generation to our own food culture which is very rich and scientific.
For example I created Thalipeeth canapes with hung curd. Not just it looks beautiful but is way more healthy. It turned out to be an perfect tiffin and party option .
A lost recipe known as Nankya /ghugni made from bajra is a sure shot way to introduce and make anyone like millets .
Looking at the number of benefits millets has to offer I believe it should be a part of our daily lives and for that reviving old traditional recipes along with creating new one is really important. Also Making cooking it easy will attract many Health conscious people and younger generation who don’t want to spend hours in kitchen.
Similarly it would be a great boost to the farmers and economy too .
The creative chefs fraternity can play a big role in crafting recipes that can please eyes and tastebuds equally
Thalipeeth canapés
Every home has a unique Thalipeeth bhajni /flour recipe. Thalipeeth flour has mainly jowar , bajra , Bengal gram , rice flour, etc however the list can go to around a mixture more than 21 ingredients . These days Thalipeeth bhajni is easily available in the market which makes it more easy for the beginners. Also Thalipeeth gives you the flexibility to add veggies of your choices. So you may add veggies that you like or those you don’t like too which gets covered beautifully in this .
Ingredients
Thalipeeth bhajni
– 1 bowl
– Chopped fresh spinach 1 bowl (or veggies of your choice)
– Salt accordingly , chilli powder(optional )according to your taste
– Oil to grease the paniyarm pan ,
– 1tbsp ginger, garlic and green chilies paste .
– Hung curd + beet juice for the colour
– Few fresh mint leaves.
Method
– In a big bowl add the Thalipeeth bhajni /flour.
– Add the vegetables and spices and mix them well . Now add water carefully to make it a soft dough.
– Remember the spinach leaves water so you need to careful about the water .
– Keep this dough aside for 15 minutes.
– Grease a paniyaram/appe pan with oil
– And take small portions of dough and shape it like canopies . Cover it with lid and let it cook on minimum flame .
– You didn’t need to flip these .
– Once cooked keep them said to cool for few minutes.
– Meanwhile mix the hung curd and addbeet root purée just a little to make it look beautiful.
– You may add salt and finely minced garlic if you want.
– Pipe this hung curd in the cavities of the Thalipeeth canopies.
– Garnish it with fresh mint . And a gorgeous looking starter is ready. No one would realise that this fancy canopies are actually a millet based health food.
About the Author
Neelima Nitin is a columnist for one of the top Marathi newspapers. She has been part of television shows. She has won best blogger award for 3 consecutive years. She has been part of the Republic Day celebration, representing the culture of Maharashtra.
