Top 6 Kodo Millet Health Benefits and How to Cook Guide

Kodo Millet one of the ancient small-seeded grains that are grown around the world.  In India, it has been grown and consumed in the southern part of India and also some of the arid regions of India for centuries. Kodo Millet is known as Varagu in Tamil, Haraka in Kannada,  Kodra in Hindi, Arikelu in Telugu.  The two main reasons for increasing demand to consume millets on a daily base is millets are nutritional and environmental. Their resilience makes them organic by nature and a storehouse of nutrients.

Top 6 Health Benefits of Kodo Millet 

•  Compared to polished white rice, millets release lesser glucose and over a longer period of time, that is millets have a low glycemic index, which helps in diabetes management. 
• Being gluten-free, they are also suitable for people with gluten intolerance/celiac disease. 
•  Kodo Millets are easy to digest, as it contains a high amount of lecithin and is excellent for strengthening the nervous system
• Kodo Millets are rich in antioxidants like polyphenols and rich in dietary fiber.
• Good source of vitamins such as Vitamin B6, Niacin, folic acid and minerals such as calcium, iron, magnesium and zinc 
• Regular consumption of Kodo millet is very beneficial for postmenopausal women suffering from signs of cardiovascular disease, like high blood pressure and high-cholesterol levels

Millets are environmental, by consuming millets, we will be encouraging farmers in dryland areas to grow arid crops that are best suited for those regions, which can be a step towards sustainable farming and biodiversity. 

How to Cook Kodo Millets 

Kodo millet is versatile cereal and can be cooked like rice and eaten along with curry/dal or can be used as a rice alternate in recipes like khichdi, biriyani, or any rice dish. It can also be used to make upma, dhokla, idlis, porridge and a falafel of sorts with the addition of tofu and vegetables. It can also serve as a salad base.

Kodo Millet Upma

Ingredients: Kodo millet grain - 1 cup, chopped onions, green chillies, carrot, beans, potato ginger, mustard seeds, black gram dal, Bengal gram dal, curry leaves, water, and oil – as required.

Preparation Method:

• Wash kodo millet two or three times, then drain the water completely and keep it aside.

• Chop onions, green chillies and veggies finely. Grate the ginger.

• Heat the oil in a pressure cooker, add mustard seeds when it splutters, add black gram dal, chana dal, curry leaves and green chillies.

 • When dal turns golden brown add onions, ginger, turmeric, saute till onions turn golden brown.

• Add carrots, beans, and potato saute for 2 to 3 minutes. Then add Kodo millet, saute for 1 minute, till everything combines.

 • Then add water and salt. When water starts boiling close the lid and cook in moderate flame for 3 whistles.

• When pressure subsides, open the lid and serve hot with any type of chutney or sambar.

 

Kodo Millet Pulao

Ingredients: Kodo millet - 1 cup, water - 1 & 1/2 cups, chopped carrot, beans, green peas - 1 cup, onion – 1, ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp, green chilli – 2, mint leaves – 12, salt - as needed; To temper: Ghee/ oil - 3 tsp, cinnamon - 1 inch piece, fennel seeds - 1 tsp and bay leaf - 1

Preparation Method:

• Heat a small pressure cooker and saute with oil/ ghee and add cinnamon, fennel and bay leaf.

• Stir and add onion and ginger garlic paste.

• Add the chopped veggies, mint leaves and salt

• Add washed, drained millet to it and mix well and cook.

• Add water, salt and bring to boil, mix well and cook for a whistle in medium or low flame.

• Serve hot garnish with coriander leaves. 

Source: cookingwithmillets.com

Kodo millet Payasam

Ingredients: Kodo millet – 150 g, sugar – 250 g, milk – 250 ml, saffron – 4-5 threads, dry fruits (cashew, almond and pista) – 50 g and ghee – 30 ml.

Preparation Method:

• Cook together Kodo millet, saffron, and milk on slow heat until the millet gets smashed.

• Add sugar and stir gently to cook payasam.

• Heat ghee in a pan add all dry fruits and roast until golden colour and add to the cooked payasam. 

• It can be served hot or cold.

Source: ICAR-CIAE, Bhopal

Kodo Millet Adai

Ingredients: (To soak) kodo millet – 1/2 cup, toor dal–¼ cup, channa dal – ¼ cup, moong dal – 1 tsp and urad dal – 1 tsp; (For seasoning)Red chillies – 2,fennel seeds - 1 tsp(optional), small onion - 1/4 cup chopped finely, curry leaves - few torn into pieces, coriander leaves - 1 tbsp, mint leaves - 1 tbsp finely chopped and salt- to taste

Preparation Method:

• Take soaking ingredients and soak for 4 hrs. Drain water and set aside.

 • Take red chillies and fennel seeds in a mixer, add little of mixed millet mixture and grind it to a coarse mixture.

 • Add chopped onion, coriander leaves and required salt. The batter should be slightly runny in between idli and dosa batter consistency.

• Heat the adai (or dosa pan) pan, grease with little oil, make round adai and cook till golden brown and crisp at the edges and add onion and ginger garlic paste.

• Add the chopped veggies, mint leaves, and salt.

• Serve hot garnish with coriander leaves.

• Serve hot with any chutney of your choice.

 Source: cookingwithmillets.com

Where to Buy Kodo Millets?

Now that you have understood the health benefits and some interesting recipes to get started, you can go ahead and purchase the best quality Nutrillet Kodo Millet online and if you are looking for organic millets then its recommended to try Fields of Gold Kodo Millet from Pristine Organics, 25 years old company is a pioneer in manufacturing organic and nutritional products using a wide variety of broad diverse crops. Their products range from the organic pediatric supplement to critical nutrition. 

Fields of Gold - Organic Kodo Millet

Nutrillet - Kodo Millet