It seems that the time has come when you have to learn to cook porridge, which for hundreds of years has been the basis of Russian cuisine. Rice, buckwheat and semolina still firmly hold the consumer market, and are present in our diet as the main types of cereals. Undeservedly forgotten millet porridge is now in demand mostly among fishermen who use it to feed fish to get a rich catch, or farmers who grow chickens.
Millet is one of the first crops that people learned to cultivate. Despite the fact that ancient China is considered to be the birthplace of millet, millet porridge was one of the main dishes of Russian cuisine in the pre-Christian period. The huge selection of products and dishes that we have today, given the modern information and technical capabilities of world culinary, is not a reason to refuse the time-tested, simple and healthy dishes from millet groats.
How to cook millet on water: about the benefits of the product
Porridge from any cereal is a rich and full breakfast, quickly and permanently saturating the body. This is facilitated by plant protein, which is also found in millet, which is quickly and easily absorbed by the body without transforming into fat deposits in problem areas of the body. In addition to B vitamins and PP vitamins, essential amino acids that play an important role in the body, millet contains magnesium, iodine, bromine, phosphorus, potassium, and zinc.
Millet is considered the best product for building muscle mass. Since ancient times, traditional healers use millet porridge in the fight against diabetes, swelling, atherosclerosis, and liver diseases. It is proved that millet helps the body weakened by diseases to cope with the removal of antibiotics and toxins.
True, there are some restrictions on the use of millet porridge for people with low acidity of gastric juice and in the presence of hypothyroidism (thyroid disease).
How to cook millet on water: choose cereals
Without high-quality cereals, you cannot cook good porridge. This primarily refers to millet. But in order to make the right choice, you need to know what requirements are presented to the quality of millet, and what kind of porridge you are going to cook, crumbly or "smear".
Millet - polished core of millet. Depending on the quality and method of cleaning the core, the croup has a light or bright yellow color. The millet is ground, freeing the solid yellow core from the surface mealy layer. This layer contains oils that give millet groats a characteristic taste and some bitterness. The yellow kernels of millet have a solid texture and they make a delicious friable porridge. For a porridge of viscous consistency, crushed millet is suitable, which is crushed millet kernels. The millet of the highest, first and second grade comes to the distribution network. Premium millet should contain 99.2% benign solid kernels. Accordingly, the first and second grades of cereals - 98.7% and 98%.
Good to know, that millet, poorly cleaned from the surface mealy layer that contains oils, has a short shelf life. The fat-containing shell gains bitterness, even during short-term storage, which reduces the taste of millet porridge.
It is better to buy packaged millet groats in transparent packaging, be sure to pay attention to the date of manufacture. Pay attention to the moisture content of cereals, which should not exceed 14%.
High-quality millet is half the success in making tasty and healthy porridge.
How to cook millet on water - basic technological principles
Nowadays, the profession of cook is a rarity. Sometimes a cook is called a cook. But the cook is a profession of a wider specialization, which provides the ability to cook any dishes, unlike a cook, who knew all the details of making porridge from any cereal and was responsible only for this work. But the invaluable experience in cooking porridges was still preserved, and millet porridge still occupies an honorable place in the menu of the Cossack cuisine.
After choosing the best millet, we proceed to the preparation of millet. The main secret of delicious porridge is rinsing cereals and preparing for the direct preparation of the dish.
The remains of the amniotic film on the already peeled kernels of millet are still there. Therefore, millet must be thoroughly washed, because it is powdery dust, accidentally falling into the porridge, can spoil it with its bitterness.
How to wash? Some recommend washing millet in seven waters, apparently following the recommendations of old cookbooks written at a time when water was being poured into buckets from a well. In such recommendations, it is worth paying attention only to the fact that millet groats should be washed with special care until the water flowing through a sieve becomes completely transparent.
Second moment, which also should not go unnoticed: it is recommended to wash millet with hot water, and steam after washing. Thinking about this, one can easily understand that the same effect is obtained in the process of steaming - the nucleus warms up in both cases in order to get rid of bitterness. Therefore, it is enough to choose one of the listed actions: either rinsing with hot water or steaming (in a dry heated pan).
Millet is boiled quickly enough, so after steaming it in a pan, throwing it into boiling water, you need to cook no more than five minutes. It is better to add salt to the water before boiling.
Next moment which needs attention - the ratio of water to cereals. In fact, the volume of water required for cooking millet is only relevant for special methods of heat treatment.
For example, if porridge is cooked in portioned ceramic pots in the oven, then the amount of added water should be calculated: 2 parts of water should be added to one part of millet. If the cereal is pre-steamed, then it is better to reduce the amount of water to get friable porridge. When pumpkin, apples or other ingredients containing a significant amount of juice are added to the ingredients, the volume of water should be reduced proportionally.
According to the advice of the famous Russian cuisine researcher Pokhlebkin V.V., millet can be boiled in a large amount of water, such as pasta, then drained and added water and add oil and other ingredients according to the recipe.
How to cook millet on water: chemistry and physics of good taste
To make the porridge friable, making it half-ready, add the butter: the fat envelops the grains, preventing them from sticking together. That is, initially, during cooking, water is absorbed by the grain, but millet still remains solid, not swollen. At the stage of semi-preparedness, added fat envelops the core, repels water from the outside, and millet grains absorb it in a smaller amount, while maintaining its density and elasticity. Next, you need to remove the porridge from the fire and let it "reach" to readiness on its own. This method of preparation provides for the strictly metered use of water for cooking porridge, since it is a waste to drain excess water with the oil dissolved in it.
So, are we reviving the traditions of Russian cuisine? Try to cook millet porridge according to one of the suggested recipes to make sure of its unsurpassed taste, satiety and benefits.
Recipe 1. Millet porridge with mushrooms in pots in the oven
Ingredients:
Honey mushrooms, boiled 400 g
Onion 200 g
Carrot 120 g
Spices to taste
Sour cream (25%) 150 g
Millet 150 g
Water 250 ml
Salt
Dill leaves 50 g
Butter, sweet 75 g
Cooking method:
Finely boiled mushrooms cut finely. Peeling and washing the carrots and onions, chop and passer in butter with mushrooms, in a preheated stewpan. Add spices, sour cream, salt.
Lay out washed and steamed millet in portioned pots, add cold boiled water to each pot so that it barely covers the cereal. Top with mushrooms stewed in sour cream. Cover the pots with lids or foil, place on a baking sheet and put in the oven, preheated to 170С. After 10 minutes, turn off the oven, but leave the pots in it, another 20 minutes. Before serving the millet porridge with mushrooms, put the pots on plates, remove the covers and sprinkle the dish with fresh chopped herbs.
Similarly, you can cook millet porridge by adding smoked sausages and poultry to the mushrooms.
Recipe 2. How to cook millet on water for children
Millet porridge is good for children, but they are often capricious, preferring sweets to any healthy food. A compromise is porridge millet with vanilla syrup and strawberries.
Ingredients:
Millet, steamed 80 g (1/4 tbsp.)
Water 100 ml
Granulated Sugar 30 g
Salt 1 g
Vanilla extract 2 ml
Oil, peanut 10 g
Strawberries (fresh berries) 150 g
Almond flakes 10 g
Chocolate Chip 15 g
Powdered sugar 5 g
Order of preparation:
Cut two medium strawberry berries into plates to decorate the dish; combine the remaining berries with sugar and vanilla, beat with a blender. In boiling water, put strawberry puree, a small pinch of salt, prepared millet. Simmer for 5 minutes, add oil, mix and remove from stove. Soak under the lid for 10-15 minutes and put on a plate. Garnish millet porridge with strawberry slices, almond flakes, chocolate chips and powder.
Recipe 3. Millet porridge on the water (side dish)
Product Composition:
Water 500-600 ml
Millet 180 g
Salt
Ghee 80 g
Cooking method:
Boil salted water. Pour the washed and steamed millet into a pan and, bringing to a boil, cook for no more than five minutes. Drain the water through a sieve and again put the boiled cereal into the pan. Add ghee to it, mix well and cover. After 10 minutes, porridge can be served.
How to cook millet on the water - useful tips and tricks
It is better to store millet in a dry glass container with a tight-fitting lid for no more than six months. Before laying it for storage, it is recommended to sort and heat millet to 40-50 ° C on a baking sheet in the oven. When storing grain, periodically check. The second storage method is a sealed plastic container placed in the freezer, if space permits.
Given the valuable mineral composition of millet and the fact that millet porridge has lost its former popularity, it can be used as additives in meat and fish mincemeats (for binding) to enrich food with vitamins and minerals found in cereals. Millet groats can replace breading. A good combination is cottage cheese and millet, which can be used in cottage cheese casseroles.
