Good Food Guide: Kodo Millet Cutlets

[Every Thursday, we feature recipes for wholesome meals that use climate-friendly foods such as millets, fresh seasonal produce, and native grains from across India.]

Kodo millet is a flavourful grain that can be eaten as rice of turned into a variety of rice dishes such as pongal, pulao and coconut rice. It can also be used to replace paddy rice while making idlis and dosas, and to replace wheat when turned into flour and rava. Kodo millet is known as harka in Kannada, varagu in Tamil, arikelu in Telugu, and kodra in Hindi, Gujarati and Punjabi. Millets are high-fibre foods rich in micronutrients.

With its bran intact, kodo millet rice has a slightly brown colour. Kodo millet can be cooked in a pressure cooker like paddy rice either in a pressure cooker or in an open utensil.

Here's a recipe for kodo millet cutlets. You can substitute kodo with any other variety of millet.

What you'll need

• 1 cup cooked millet
• 2 onions finely chopped
• 3 medium sized potatoes boiled and mashed
• 1/2 cup each of peas, chopped cauliflower and chopped carrots 
• 1 green chilli finely chopped 
• 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
• 1 teaspoon each of red  chilli powder, garam masala, and coriander powder.
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric  
• Salt to taste
• 1 tablespoon chopped cashews and raisins
• 2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves.

Directions

In a pan, heat 2 tablespoons of oil. Add ginger garlic paste and chillies and fry for a few minutes until the raw smell disappears. Stir in the cashews and raisins. Add the onions and fry till translucent. Mix all the other vegetables and cook until almost done. Once the vegetables are soft, add the dry spices and fry for a few minutes. Now, stir in the millets, mashed potatoes, chopped coriander and salt. Mix well, cover and cook for a few minutes.

Once the mixture is ready, take it off the flame and set it aside to cool. Make golfball-sized roundels of the mixture and flatten them in your palm. Shallow fry or dry fry the cutlets with a few drops of oil. Serve hot.

Tip: Coating the cutlets in powdered cornflakes before frying gives them a crunchy exterior.

(The Good Food Guide brings you weekly recipes for wholesome meals that you can easily cook at home. The guide is published in partnership with My Learning Game. Have a recipe to share? Mail it to us at editor(at)earthamag(dot)org together with your name and a picture of your dish.)