It is so customary that as a garnish for meat or fish usually served the usual mashed potatoes or pasta. But after all, as an addition to the main dish, you can use cereals, which are much more useful. And cooking them is pretty simple. Consider, for example, how to cook millet in the water. But before you start cooking, you need to purchase quality cereals in the store with the required properties. To do this, this article provides some recommendations. Several recipes are also provided.
Useful properties of millet
It is mistakenly believed that wheat is used to produce this cereal. In fact, the raw material is the so-called "bread of the East" - millet. Our ancestors appreciated its beneficial properties and considered a natural pharmacy. By its protein content, millet is superior to buckwheat and rice; it is rich in fiber and healthy fats. Due to this, the regular consumption of food from it helps to eliminate toxic and other harmful compounds. Doctors recommend including millet in the diet after taking antibiotics to “reanimate” beneficial microorganisms and restore flora. But it turns out that it’s not so easy to cook this healthy product. You need to know how to cook millet. And for this, going to the store for cereals, get acquainted with its various varieties and their corresponding properties.
Such different millet
How to cook porridge from millet of different types and consistencies? For this, it is important to purchase high-quality cereals.
Type of packaging. In order to be able to immediately visually evaluate the cereal “by eye”, it is better to choose millet packaged in transparent bags.
Shades of cereals. The color of the grains can range from whitish yellow to almost orange. The brighter and yellower the cereal, the tastier the porridge will come out of it. Dark grains will make the dish crumbly, and the lightest ones are ideal for lovers of overcooked "mess."
Varieties:
- Wheatgrass. These are whole grains that are practically untreated, only color films are removed from them. Millet has a characteristic luster. The taste has a very tangible bitterness. The most useful of all types, since all the necessary substances are maximally preserved.
- Polished. The nucleoli are freed from the films and partially from the fruit membranes. The yellow color is more saturated, the grains have no brilliance. Such cereals are boiled faster, easier to digest. Ideal for making cereals and casseroles.
- Crushed. The nucleoli are cleaned and crushed. Minimum cooking time required. Suitable for children's dishes.
Why appears and how to remove the bitter taste of millet?
As mentioned above, coarse grits - dranets - have the property to be slightly bitter. But this is easily eliminated by washing dry raw materials several times in cold water. This step should not be missed, even if the cooking technology is very simple and eliminates the use of additional components. But how to cook millet on the water is delicious if it is not about varietal accessories? It turns out that you need to pay attention when buying cereals in a store for its shelf life and, accordingly, do not stock up on too much of it. Millet, unlike other similar products, quickly cakes and begins to be bitter. In addition to soaking in cold water, there are two other ways to eliminate an unpleasant aftertaste:
- Pour the cereal after washing with boiling water;
- fry dry grains in a pan for 3-5 minutes, and then pour water.
How to cook millet in water so that it turns out friable?
To make the porridge tasty, follow these rules and recommendations:
- the usual proportion of products is 1 part dry cereal to 2 parts water;
- be sure to rinse it several times before laying even if there is no bitterness in the cereal;
- the main secret, how to cook millet in water to obtain a friable mass - the use of butter or a mixture with vegetable;
- most often the "fat" component is introduced into the porridge at the beginning of cooking, while it is advisable to add a small piece of butter on top of each in a serving plate to each;
- salted cereals can be seasoned with vegetable, meat or mushroom overcooking, and sweet cereals can be seasoned with raisins, dried fruits, syrups, etc.
Ready porridge after cooking for 25 minutes. let it brew without opening the pan lid. You can even wrap it up for better languishing.
Cooking millet porridge in a slow cooker
From a practical point of view, kitchen assistants are especially useful when using ingredients that require additional attention, such as milk. Therefore, there are no special secrets on how to cook millet in a slow cooker. This miracle machine will do everything for you: it will keep track of the milk "does not run away", and will withstand the right temperature to get friable and melting porridge in your mouth. The proportions, in comparison with the preparation of millet on water in the usual way, are somewhat different. Although they can be used not only when cooking milk porridge. Pour 3 cups of water or milk into the bowl and pour 1 cup of millet washed several times. Immediately put a slice of butter (approximately 50-70 g), sugar or salt to taste. You can also add raisins, dried apricots, prunes, pumpkin, candied fruits and spices - vanillin, cinnamon. There are many options. Choose your recipe by experimenting. Then set the mode "Milk porridge" and the time is 50 minutes.
How to cook millet for fishing? Porridge recipe
“Sunny”, fragrant millet is also an excellent fish food. Large individuals of the cyprinid family especially love her. Consider the recipe for cooking millet for fishing. Take one part of the cereal and two parts of water. Combine them together in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir and reduce heat. Next, the porridge should boil itself, languishing languishingly. It is not necessary to disturb her. After about 15 minutes, when the grains are swollen, you can check with a spoon if our millet has burned. If a film is felt at the bottom while stirring, turn off the heat. Porridge is almost ready! Let her brew for about an hour. It would seem that there are no secrets how to cook porridge from millet for fishing. But no! As the last stage of cooking, you need to grind the mass with a wooden rolling pin for the dough directly in the pan. Then the porridge will get the desired viscosity and then it will be good to keep in shape and molded into balls. In conclusion, flavor it with your choice of anise, hemp, boiled corn, honey and other goodies.
Good luck to the fishermen, and to all the rest of the fragrant millet porridge on the table!