Pearl Millets Vegetable Balls

Millets are easily digestible food, it is a wonder food for kids. It can be a great substitute for the every day grains like rice and wheat. Also called sorghum or bajra it is a gluten free source of calcium and is packed with iron, protein, and antioxidants. If you want a healthy and wholesome meal for you kid, then this recipe is a must try.

Pearl millets appe can be enjoyed for breakfast or as a snack. You can enjoy it with tangy tomato chutney, green chutney or even healthier coconut or peanut chutney.

You can also prepare the batter in advance and refrigerate it, in case you are looking for a quick breakfast. All you need is the humble appe pan. Though many non-stick teflon coated appe pans are now becoming available – it’s always better to stick to the original!

How to sneak in nutrition:

Add in lots of veggies! If making for a toddler, you can also try using ghee instead of oil so that it becomes more nutrition dense.

Ingredients

For the Appe Batter

• Pearl Millet – 1 Cup
• Par boiled rice or Idly Rice -1 cup
• Whole skinned urad dal -1/4 cup
• Fenugreek seeds- 1 teaspoon
• Salt to taste

For the seasoning

• Shallots 2 cups, finely chopped or 1 medium onion
• Ginger 1 inch piece, grated
• Coriander leaves 1/2 cup, finely chopped
• Mint Leaves 1/2 cup, finely chopped
• Curry Leaves 2 sprigs, roughly chopped
• Mix Vegetables (Finely chopped cabbage, capsicum, beans and grated carrot)
• Oil – 2 Tablespoon
• Mustard seeds- 1 teaspoon
• Urad dal – 2 teaspoon
• Bengal gram dal – 2 tablespoon
• Peppercorns – 1 teaspoon (Roughly crushed)
• Cumin Seeds – 1 Teaspoon (Roughly crushed)
• Asafoetida- a generous pinch
• Oil/ Ghee for making appe

Special Equipment – Cast Iron Appe pan
Method to Prepare

Wash and soak the pearl millets, rice, urad dal and fenugreek together for 7-8 hours. Grind it into a smooth paste in a blender by adding a little water. The consistency of the batter should be similar to the idli- dosa batter.
Add required salt to the batter, mix well. Allow it to ferment for 7-8 hours or overnight.
Once the batter is fermented, the appe batter is ready to use.

For the seasoning, take a pan heat oil or ghee, add mustard seeds allow it to splutters, add urad dal, bengal gram, add crushed peppercorns, cumin seeds and saute until dal turns golden. Add asafoetida at the end.
Now, add finely chopped onion, ginger, mint leaves, mix vegetables, coriander leaves, curry leaves and salt as per the requirement. Saute on medium flame until all the vegetables are cooked.  Add this seasoning to the appe batter.

Preparation of Appe
Heat the appe pan , add ghee or oil in all the holes. Fill all the holes with the seasoned appe batter, make sure you will only 3/4 of the hole.

 

Cook covered over medium heat, flip the appes to the other side after 3-4 minutes.

 

Once flipped, cook the appes uncovered on medium flame.

 

You can enjoy this tasty appe with chutney of choice!