Foxtail Millet Biryani

Millets are delicious and nutritious. For most people however, cooking with them is still a bit of a mystery. This recipe is part of a series by Slurrp Farm that takes all the guesswork out of cooking with millets and help you make easy, creative dishes that will become a staple in your home.

Ingredients
1 ½ cup foxtail millet
2 onions, sliced
2 carrots, chopped
15 French beans
1 cup green peas, shelled
8 green cardamoms
1 black cardamom
10 cloves
1-inch piece cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
½ tsp caraway seeds (shahi jeera)
1 ½ tsp ginger-garlic paste
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 cup tomatoes
1 tsp garam masala powder
1 tsp lime juice
2 tsp coriander leaves, chopped
2 tsp mint leaves, chopped
Salt to taste

Method
Boil foxtail millet in 4 cups boiling water with salt, 1-2 green cardamom, 1-2 cloves and ½ inch cinnamon, until the millet is three-fourth way cooked. Drain excess water and set aside.
Chop all the vegetables into ½ inch pieces. Blanch them and keep aside.
Roast the remaining green cardamoms, cloves, black cardamom and cinnamon along with bay leaf and caraway seeds in a thick-bottomed pan.
Add tomatoes, ginger-garlic paste, deep fried onions, carrot, French beans, and boiled green peas.
Sprinkle salt, cover and cook on medium heat for 2 minutes.
Add turmeric powder, rec chilli powder, coriander powder, garam masala and mix well. Simmer for 2 minutes.
Arrange a layer of millet at the top over that arrange half the cooked vegetables.
Sprinkle fried onions, lime juice, coriander leaves and mint leaves.
Cover with a lid and cook. Let it stand for 5 minutes. Serve hot.

Tip: Substitute the vegetables with chicken or prawns for a non-vegetarian version.

Read about the different kinds of millets and why we need to be cooking more with them here. 

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