Learn to cook perfectly fluffy and non-sticky millet every time you cook. Plus I have shared a recipe for lemon millet.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 1 minutes
  • Cook time: 25 minutes
  • Total time: 26 minutes
  • Yield: 2
  • Category: Main Course
  • Cuisine: South Indian

Ingredients

  • ½ cup millet (kodo millet/ varagu / arikelu)
  • 1½ cups water
  • Salt as needed
  • 1 ½ tbsp oil ((use as needed))
  • ½ tsp mustard seeds
  • 1 to 1 ½ tbsp bengal gram ((chana dal))
  • 1 to 1 ½ tbsp skinned black gram ((urad dal))
  • ¼ cup peanuts (or cashews split (use as needed))
  • 1 pinch asafoetida ((hing))
  • 1 green chili (slit)
  • 1 red chilli broken
  • 1/8 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp ginger (grated)
  • 1 sprig curry leaves
  • 1 lemon (Medium to large (use as needed))

Method

How to cook millet

  1. Add ½ cup millets to a pot and wash thoroughly. Drain completely. Add 1 ½ cups water, salt as needed to the pot and allow to soak for a while. You can also skip soaking.
  2. Cook them on a medium flame until all the water is absorbed, but slightly soggy. Cover the pot and simmer on the lowest heat until completely cooked. Fluff gently with a fork and cool completely.

How to make lemon millet

  1. Heat a pan with oil. Add mustard when they begin to splutter, add chana dal, urad dal, cashews and red chili, green chili.
  2. When the dals turn slightly golden, add curry leaves, ginger and green chili.
  3. Curry leaves turn crisp very soon. Then add turmeric and hing. Pour 3 to 4 tablespoons water and cook until all of the water evaporates. This will soften the dals and bring out the aroma of spices. Turn off the heat.
  4. Add the cooled millets and squeeze in the lemon juice. Mix everything well.
  5. Serve lemon millet rice with curd, veg sald, papad or pickle.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.