Resisting the urge to consume some form of crispy food when taking tea at night or watching movies can prove to be extremely difficult. This becomes problematic as most commercially available snacks have been either fried, oily, or consist mostly of processed ingredients. Making snacks out of puffed millet at home would provide more control over flavours and seasoning.
Once you get the millet puffed right, the whole procedure becomes fairly simple. It is entirely up to you whether you would like to keep the seasoning mild, spicy, or even sweetened a little. The benefit of preparing your own puffed millet snacks is that they are easy to store and hence perfect for your lunchbox snacks.
What Is Puffed Millet?
This is formed when millet seeds are subjected to very high temperatures, causing the moisture contained in them to swell. The result is crunchy millet that appears to resemble puffed rice to some extent, though depending on the kind of millet being used, there are variations in size, colour, and texture.
All kitchens' pans cannot ensure even puffing of raw millet. The kernels should have the correct moisture content and require very high temperatures for puffing. As an alternative for easy cooking at home, one can buy puffed millet from a reputable dealer. Those preferring this method can simply season the puffed form.
Ingredients You Will Need
For a simple savoury version, gather:
-
Puffed form of millet - 2 cups
-
Oil/Ghee - 1 teaspoon
-
Roasted peanuts/Chana - a handful
-
Curry leaves
-
Turmeric
-
Chilli powder or black pepper
-
Cumin powder
-
Salt
-
A sprinkle of asafoetida
Other things which you can add to your snack recipe include roasted seeds, nuts, grated coconut, and chaat masala. This will help in adding some more texture to the recipe without making the recipe very complicated.
Step 1: Check the Millet for Crispness
Before any kind of seasoning can be added, go ahead and test a few grains first, just to be sure they’re dry and kind of crispy. In case the millet ends up taking in a little amount of water while storing it, the puffed form should be placed in an empty pan and cooked gently for two to three minutes.
During this process, it is important that the millet is stirred so as to avoid burning. The millet becomes crisp, and therefore, it can now be transferred to a plate so as to allow it to cool down.
Step 2: Preparing the Seasoning
The ghee or oil must be warmed in a flat vessel. Add a few cumin seeds, curry leaves, peanuts, or roasted gram, then fry everything until the curry leaves turn crisp and the other bits are well toasted, sort of golden and fragrant.
When adding turmeric, red chilli powder, pepper, and asafetida, the heat must be reduced as these items tend to burn easily in a heated pan. So just stir them for a couple of seconds to form the base flavour for your puffed millet snacks.
Step 3: Add the Puffed Form
Now add the fluffed rice grains to the pan and mix them gently using a large spoon without letting any millet grains escape outside the pan; otherwise, it becomes a mess. Keep mixing gently while maintaining the temperature low until all ingredients are well blended.
Now it’s time for you to taste the dish and then use salt, or even some extra spices if required. But you should never try adding any water to it because this will certainly affect the crispiness of your dish. You can use mango powder or chat masala in order to make it slightly tangy.
Step 4: Cooling and Storing Correctly
Put your snack on a dish, which helps your snack cool. It would be improper to keep the millet in any airtight box right after the popping process due to the generation of steam, which softens the millet.
Once it cools down, put it in an airtight jar. Popped millet will remain crunchy for some days if stored in dry and cool surroundings. If you happen to be living in a very humid region or if you wish your popped millet to remain really crunchy, prepare less at one time.
Easy Flavour Ideas to Try
Several variations can be made to the basic recipe. A variant of the recipe suitable for South India will consist of curry leaves, peanuts, turmeric and chilli powder. If one wants a chaat recipe, it can comprise cumin powder, black salt, dried mango powder and red chilli.
As far as children are concerned, it is best to make sure that the seasonings used are light in terms of spices, and use cheese, seasonings or herbs. One sweet option is made using the millet with jaggery and nuts. It is allowed to cool down in small clusters.
Such modifications belong to the puffed millet benefits, since a single basic recipe can be modified to cater to varying preferences.
When You Want a Ready-to-Eat Crunch
Making snacks at home may turn out to be very interesting, but there are times when you simply want to grab a packet of snacks that don’t need any preparation. At Sabala Millets, our millet puffs are made with 30% millets, and these are made from Sorghum, Pearl Millets, Finger Millets, whole wheat atta, Bengal gram, rice, corn grits, and barley. Honestly, it just comes together in a simple way, without all the hassle.
Our Pani Puri Puffs, Peri Peri Puffs, Pizza Puffs, and Tangy Tomato Puffs have never been fried, are free from palm oil, and are rich in fibre content. Each unique taste brings about a completely different experience, be it the spicy taste of pani puri, the hot chilli garlic taste, the cheesy pizza taste, or the tangy tomato spices.
Such ready-to-eat products can prove helpful in situations where you don't have enough time to make puffed millet snacks. They are also available in 70g packages that can be handy during your tea time breaks from work.
What to Check Before Buying the Puffed Form
When purchasing organic puffed millet online or selecting a millet-based snack, do not forget to read about the contents of such products. Find out what kind of millets were used, if it was fried, and which oils and seasonings were added to it.
Puffed form without additives will allow you to make more experiments in cooking, whereas the flavoured version will be more convenient for you. The right decision is yours, depending on your desire to cook something or just snack.
Make Everyday Snacking More Interesting
A little bit of planning can help make even the most basic grain a crisp and tasty snack food. Through understanding how to properly toast, flavour, cool, and store the millet, a variety of snacks can be made without relying on the same commercial snack every day.
No matter whether you are making it yourself, when you buy puffed millet for cooking up a meal, or purchasing Sabala Millets puffs when you do not have time to make anything, there is a great deal of variation possible when it comes to making millet snacks.
