Soft Millet Paniyaram Recipe: Bajra Breakfast, Not Hard Idli

Many people give up on millets because the idlis come out hard, dense and rubbery. Daisy says that is not the millet’s fault. She says you just need to know how to soak it and follow the right process.

Her answer is a bajra (pearl millet) paniyaram: crisp at the edges, soft and spongy inside, and easy enough for a working morning. By her count, the effort comes to about 10 minutes of soaking, 10 minutes of grinding and 10 minutes of cooking. The rest is waiting.

Why Daisy chooses bajra

Bajra is called sajje in Kannada. Daisy describes it as a very high-fibre millet. She also points to its vitamin B12 story. She says the plant absorbs cyanocobalamin, a form of B12, from the soil through its roots and stores it in the seeds. If you have a healthy and varied gut microbiome, she adds, your gut microbes then make the B12 your body needs.

That is why she links this recipe to two other videos on her channel. One is her talk with Padma Shri Dr. Khadar Vali on how millets work. The other is her millet ambuli recipe, which she recommends for improving gut health. She says the gut is tied to your brain, your focus and your decision making.

How to soak and grind the batter

Daisy’s quantities serve two people who eat small portions: half a cup of bajra, a quarter cup of white whole urad dal and half a tablespoon of methi (fenugreek) seeds. Double it for a bigger family.

Wash the bajra two to three times. She says millets are usually dirtier than other grains. Then soak it for at least 6 hours. Soak the dal and methi together, in plenty of water, for at least 6 hours as well. Eight is better.

Keep the soaking water. At grinding time, add it a little at a time so the batter never turns watery. Grind the dal and methi first until the paste is smooth, soft and buttery to the touch. Then grind the millet on its own. Because millet is high in fibre, it will feel a little grainy, and Daisy says that is perfectly fine.

Mix the two pastes well. The batter should flow without being thin or stiff.

Fermenting the batter

Cover the batter and leave it overnight. Daisy ferments for about 8 hours in a hot, humid climate. In colder weather she suggests 9 or even 10 hours.

By morning, the batter should have risen almost into a dome. She also says the kitchen smells pleasantly sour, which tells you it has fermented well.

Tempering and cooking the paniyaram

Before you mix the batter, make a simple tadka. Fry finely chopped onion, green chillies and curry leaves with a little urad dal and a pinch of salt. Chop everything very fine, she says, so you do not bite into chunks.

Add salt to the batter, then a pinch of baking soda if you like. Daisy uses soda only about once in six months. Stir in the tempering and some chopped coriander.

Now the mold. Daisy would not advise a non-stick mold “if you love your health, if you love your family’s health”. She uses cast iron. Used correctly, she says, it is as easy to flip as non-stick. Her steps:

1. Grease the cold mold with less than 1/4 teaspoon of oil per mold.
2. Heat the empty mold on a medium flame until it is very hot.
3. Switch the flame to low, then spoon in the batter.
4. Leave a little room at the top of each cup, because the batter will puff up.
5. Cover with a lid and cook 15 to 20 minutes.
6. Flip one to check that it is golden brown, then turn them all and cook 10 minutes more, covered.

She eats hers with onion chutney.

What research says

Daisy’s B12 point is worth pairing with a medical check. A review of 18 studies found B12 depletion or deficiency among vegetarians and vegans of every age and background. The authors advise preventive steps, including regular B12 supplements (Pawlak et al., 2013). If you eat little or no animal food, ask your doctor whether to test your B12 level.

On blood sugar, a 2021 meta-analysis found that millets have a lower glycaemic index than milled rice and refined wheat. Glycaemic index (GI) measures how fast a food raises blood sugar. Pearl millet fell in the intermediate range, with a GI 13 to 35 percent lower than high-GI control foods. The review also found that long-term millet eating lowered fasting and post-meal blood glucose (Anitha et al., 2021). These are pooled results across many millets and study types, not a trial of this paniyaram recipe.

If you take medicine for diabetes, keep your doctor in the loop when you change your breakfast.

Daisy’s tips

• Wash millets two to three times before soaking, since they tend to carry more dirt than other grains.
• Time your soak so it lasts at least 6 hours before you grind, such as 3 pm for a 9 pm grind.
• Add the saved soaking water slowly while grinding, so the batter stays thick enough to flow.
• Grind the dal fully smooth, but expect the millet to stay grainy.
• Ferment longer in cold weather.
• Use cast iron rather than non-stick, and keep the oil very light.
• Do not fill the molds to the brim.
• Chop the tempering fine so the paniyaram stay soft and even.

Daisy shows every step in the video above. It takes about 8 minutes.