Millet Upma/Kitchidi/Pilaf

I know of a person, who for logical and personal reasons, undergoes strict diet. Whenever I hear her diet, I start feeling hungry!! No not because she has some delicious meals as part of her diet, nor is it that she makes her diet sound appetising, its just that, the deprivation puts my mind into auto-hunger mode fearing that I would deprive my body the same way (and this even after a full meal!!!!!). All said and done, my hats off to her determination and discipline. To say it and do it are parallel lines and when I see one in flesh and blood actually doing it successfully makes me ashamed sometimes at my so called "will-power" or rather the lack of it - when it comes to dieting ( I suck at it - so finally I gave it up a year back! :) )



An acquaintance of ours, was telling us about how it is difficult for the body to process carbohydrates after noon. So, later the day, the more hard it is. He was telling us about how it would be a good idea to eat all carbs in the beg. of the day and nada during evening and night.umm! Ohn well...Too many calculations and planning as if the weekly Menu that I plan ( which incorporates all the essential nutrients from all quarters of the pyramid) is not enough! I dunno about you - but it takes close to an hour to write down b/f,lunch,snacks and dinner for 7 days keeping all this points in mind!!!!! Anyways, with all this health and balanced diet going on, I planned to cut down on rice (My body is made of rice- cutting it down is like taking out a vital part of the body- gotto tell you that ;-)). Anyways, so went for Millet Upma/ Pilaf - call it what you will - along with a hearty tomato and herb dumpling soup! Made a very hearty and nutritious meal and ya well, it dint make me miss rice at all.

Ingredients
1 cup millet
3 spring onions, chopped with white and greens seperated
1/2 cup peas (optional)
1 medium red onion
2 garlic, minced
approx 1 tsp grated ginger
1 bell pepper, any color ( go for red/yellow - preferable)
1 medium orange
1 tbsp pumpkin seeds
2-3 green chillies ( as per taste)
1 tsp cumin-coriander powder
salt n pepper to taste

Method

1.Dry roast the miller in a pan for 4-5 min until you get the toasted smell. Dont make it brown.Set aside



2.Saute the onions,bell pepper,spring onion whites until soft and then add the toasted millet to it.



3. Then add 2 1/4 cups of water/vegetable broth. Zest the orange and add it to the broth along with the juice of orange(and peas if using).Season with salt and pepper to taste and close the lid.



4.Cook until all the water has been absorbed-about 15-20min.



5.Now remove from heat and gently stir in the spring onion greens along with cilantro for garnish and serve. You can add any number of vegetables of your choice.



This goes to JFI - Whole Grains initiated by Indira and hosted this time by Suganya and to dear Aparna for her WBB - Grains ( thanks Aparna :) )