Bajra Bakhri Stuffed With Moth Bean | Healthy Breakfast

Spicy Moth Bean (peethi) stuffed in Bajra Bhakri that's been liberally smeared with Gir cow ghee (prepared by Vedic curd bilona method) and slow-roasted on a heavy iron girdle. Accompanying it are, yogurt again made with indigenous cow's milk and almond & coriander chutney!

This lockdown has taken our kitchen to the 60s & 70s era. In retrospect, it's actually helped us to improvise our culinary skills by taking us back to the times when our moms used to make everything right from Besan ke Ladoos to Gol Gappas, Kachoris & Gujiyas at home & goodness of fresh, home-cooked food was stressed upon us, practically at every meal.

Let me take you back by another decade or two—to the times when millets were an integral part of the Indian kitchen. With western influence, our focus shifted to rice, wheat & refined flour and this yesteryear, must eat, staple diet was knocked out of our dietary habits. Today, one of the oldest food known to mankind, the tiny power-packed, nutrient-dense millets are perched on the cusp of revival and are resurging as superfoods. And there's a good reason for that. My subsequent posts will mostly be on our good old Indian millets and how or why they should be included in our daily diets. (Btw, many assume that millet is a single variety of grain, but there are over 500 varieties of millets within the main type.🤔😅)

Today's breakfast: Spicy Moth Bean (peethi) stuffed in Bajra Bhakri that's been liberally smeared with Gir cow ghee (prepared by Vedic curd bilona method) and slow-roasted on a heavy iron girdle. Accompanying it are, yogurt again made with indigenous cow's milk and almond & coriander chutney. I've skipped my morning cuppa coffee in lieu of the sheer indulgence of a rich and creamy bowl of yogurt.

A quick guide on how to prepare the moth dal peethi & bajra bhakri -
Soak moth dal overnight & drain all water in the morning.
Wash thoroughly & add fresh water to the dal and give one or two whistles.
When the cooker cools down, drain excess water and mash the dal with a potato masher.
Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds and asafoetida.
When cumin seeds start to crackle, add the mashed dal and sauté till it starts changing color.
Add green chili-ginger paste, dry mango powder, red chilly powder, turmeric, coriander powder, saunf powder, and salt to taste.
Roast well till the masala is thoroughly cooked.
Add little sugar and garam masala and stir for another 1-2 minutes.
The peethi is ready. Let it cool down.

For Bajra Bhakri:
Add a little salt to bajra flour and knead the dough just as we need 'Makki ka atta' but do it with lukewarm water.
Make a ball out of the dough.
While we are making the roti, keep the remaining dough balls covered with a wet cloth.
Flatten the ball concave on your palm and fill it with moth peethi.
Now make it like a tikki and keep rotating it from all the edges with wet hands, simultaneously pressing it and spreading it. Spread a wet cloth on rolling board and place your bhakri on it and again with wet fingers flatten it like a chapati till you've reached the right thickness or thinness.
Transfer on the hot iron girdle.

Few Tips:
Never cook bajra bhakri on high flame, as the roti will remain uncooked from within.
The flame should be medium while cooking them.
After transferring the bhakri on the griddle to cook, check if the top has dried up and no moisture remains. That's the indication to flip the bhakri and cook on the other side. Once cooked on both sides, spread ghee on both sides and roast well.

I would also like to stress on the importance of our cookware. Sometimes we can get so focused on what food we should or should not be eating that we lose sight of the bigger picture. It’s not just the food that matters, it’s how we prepare it. And the pots and pans we cook with are just as important as the food that goes in them.
Cast iron cookware tends to be quite thick and heavy, slow to heat up, and can retain and distribute heat evenly. This makes it a fantastic choice for browning, braising, stewing, frying, slow cooking, and baking. And most importantly, cast iron cookware releases iron in your food. If you have inherited any rusty old pans from your parents or grandma, you better hold on to them.

Coming back to our millets, Pearl Millet is one of the oldest cultivated crops since prehistoric times and ranks as the sixth most important grain in the world. It is known as Bajra in Hindi.
Consisting of complex carbs, bajra is absorbed slowly from our digestive tract, leading to greater satiety while ensuring a continuous flow of energy.
The protein content in bajra is gluten-free, making it a good change from the gluten heavy daily meals we consume.
Bajra is a rich source of insoluble fiber, which works as a pre-biotic in our gut, helping keep our digestive health in top form.
Bajra has a positive effect on diabetes because of its fiber content and the presence of slowly digestible starch, which takes longer to convert to glucose. This helps in managing diabetes and providing a sustained energy release for diabetics. Moreover, bajra is a good source of magnesium, which is associated with a lowered risk of diabetes.
Since bajra is a good source of magnesium, it is good for heart patients to add bajra to their diet.
The most abundant polyphenols present in bajra include flavonoids - tricin, luteolin, and acacetin. These have been shown to be anti-carcinogenic and antitumor, and may even help arrest the growth of breast cancer cells.
Flavonoids present in bajra act as antioxidants in our body and also help with boosting the immune system. Antioxidants are also associated with a positive effect on overall health, aging, and are a protection against metabolic syndrome.
Bajra is a better source of healthy omega-3 fats as compared to other cereals. Omega-3 oils have been associated with lowering BP, triglycerides, slowing plaque development in arteries, maintaining regular heart rhythm, and are known to be cardioprotective.
Bajra provides modest amounts of iron and phosphorus. Iron is a very important nutrient for cognitive thinking, memory, and also for energy.

I'd suggest, use pearl millet in one meal at least twice a week to reap the benefits of this amazing traditional food and yes, it's a myth that millets should not be consumed in summers. Just remember, moderation is the key!

The reason I've specifically mentioned A2 ghee & yogurt is because of the amazing nutritional benefits, A2 milk carries and that's actually the way our daily milk & dairy products should taste, look, and be enjoyed – just the way nature intended! It's the milk produced by our desi breeds like Gir, Sahiwal, Rathi, Tharparkar. (again going back to our roots)
The goodness of A2 milk, butter, curd, ghee calls for a separate post in itself!