Cooking millets: pot, pressure cooker or rice cooker

The most common message we get from new customers is that their millet came out mushy, or hard in the middle. Nearly always, the grain is fine and the water or the method needs a small change. Here is what works for foxtail, kodo, little, barnyard and browntop millet.

In an open pot, rinse one cup of millet twice, add two and a half cups of water and a pinch of salt, bring it to a boil, then cover and simmer on the lowest flame for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the lid on for another 10. This gives separate, fluffy grains for eating with sambar or making lemon or tomato rice.

In a pressure cooker, use less water: one cup of millet to two cups of water, and cook for two whistles on a medium flame, then let the pressure drop on its own. Kodo and barnyard can take an extra half cup of water if you like them softer, as most families do for curd rice.

In an electric rice cooker, use the same ratio as the pot and the normal white rice setting. If you soak the millet for an hour first, cut the water by a quarter cup and the time by a few minutes. For pongal or khichdi, where you want a soft, almost creamy texture, go up to three and a half cups of water with moong dal. Every pack we sell has the ratio printed on the back.