Ancient Grains for Modern Meals - Maria Speck [126]
I have also made countless savory pancakes from leftover cooked millet. My favorites are thick, large, and golden from pan-frying, and sprinkled with a good dose of cheese for a deliciously rustic treat. If you cherish the mouthfeel of a stuffed Salvadorian pupusa, millet cakes are your ticket. I’m in good company: even renowned chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten fell for a butter–and egg-rich millet cake, for which he credits his colleague Didier Virot.
Similar to polenta or mashed potatoes, millet can also be dished up in gratins and savory casseroles, flavored with mushrooms, onions, carrots, or any vegetables of your choice and topped with a browned crust of cheese. German millet fans feast on alluring creamy desserts, reminiscent of chilled rice pudding, lightened with the traditional fresh cheese Quark. They will stir in fresh fruit and honey and sometimes fold in whipped cream, for the occasional indulgence. You can try a version with ricotta, as in the Ricotta Millet Pudding with Warm Raspberry Compote. Or would you prefer an airy almond soufflé with the tiny grain, accompanied by strawberries and softly whipped cream?
Comforting millet landed once more on my plate with a bang when I was in India. My husband’s family roots are in the western state of Gujarat. During a visit to the village where members of his extended family live, I was introduced to the staple of farmers: a plate-covering flatbread, darkish-gray in color and smothered with ghee, the tangy clarified butter. This hefty nourishing round, accompanied by little mounds of lentils and vegetables, was prepared entirely from dark millet flour and water, nothing else.
Unlike the golden millet seeds I knew from Germany and the United States, these bajra rotlas are made from locally grown pearl millet. They are dense and chewy, impressively sturdy, and sweet with a rich earthiness. In today’s India, bajra rotlas are quickly losing ground, the food of poor farmers. Many Indians in the cities will gladly leave them behind for lighter whole wheat chapatis or puffy naan breads. In fact, most of our friends and acquaintances found it amusing that a Westerner took to bajra rotlas the way I did.
Over the years, my husband has mastered the art of rotlo making, yet neither his nor mine rival my mother-in-law’s. Honed by decades of rolling this claylike dough, her flatbreads emerge in perfectly sized rounds of eight inches each, without fail. No cracks, no breaking. Ever. And this despite the fact that millet has no gluten and is thus hard to shape into a malleable dough.
During a visit, I once asked her to make millet rotlas to accompany a meal. While I simmered ginger- and spice-infused lentils and stir-fried hot, spicy beef strips, she quietly worked on a small counter behind me. Using a moistened handkerchief, she rolled the heavy unleavened dough with a light, determined hand and the speed and precision of a pasta machine. She then cooked each rotlo in a cast-iron skillet, skillfully sprinkling it with drops of water to prevent cracking. Pushing on the flatbread with a spatula, she coaxed it to puff and develop its signature burned spots on the bottom, all the while rolling out the next rotlo, assembly-line style. Our dinner was superb that night—yet what I remember best is the earthy-sweet taste of dark millet.
BROWN RICE
SOURCES
FOR WHOLE GRAINS AND WHOLE GRAIN FLOURS
Natural food stores and specialty stores carry most of the whole grains and whole grain flours used in this book. Below, I list online sources in case you can’t locate the products locally. Some are mainstream mills with national reach, others are smaller operations worth exploring. The more familiar you become with whole grains, the more you might want to check out local flour mills and farms. My selection is subjective and by no means inclusive, but designed as a starting point to pique your interest.
BOB’S RED MILL
Nationally known for its commitment to old-fashioned stone milling, this company offers a huge variety of whole grains and flours, many of them