Millet and lentil pancakes-A great way to use millets!

This one i fermented overnight.The batter. Fermentation helps pancakes rise too.
I had them, They tasted better than i had anticipated.
Worked well with a cuppa.
No recipes, not yet. If you need a recipe for these, place a request on the comments section .If 20 or more people place requests, I shall post a detailed step by step picture recipe for ya.

OCT 2013 UPDATE
Way back in 2008,when I started this vegetarian blog, I did so to make TINY records of my food diary..Just for myself.
Since then,the blog has expanded to include visitor requests,answering food and nutrition queries for readers and such.
This particular blog entry about MILLET and LENTIL PANCAKES basically was made for myself-food diary purposes,but then,this blog entry is ONE OF MY MOST VISITED blog entries on this blog...So, I figured I EXPAND IT FURTHER and add a wee bit more nutrition information for the benefit of the eager readers.

Again,basic questions first
WHAT ARE MILLETS?WHAT ARE LENTILS?
As many regular readers of this blog already know,I studied food biochemistry and biotech BEFORE i suddenly transfered during my final year in grad school to MED SCHOOL.Then i proceeded to complete my med school successfully and then NOW I AM A KICK-ASS medical doctor.
What my years in grad school prior to med school have done is,EQUIP ME to combine my medical knowledge and my intricate knowledge about food TO qualify me to provide a more EXPANDED AND SENSIBLE view of foods to my readers.
Anyways,each time I write specific food information,I LOOK THE RESPECTIVE WIKIPEDIA ARTICLES on those topics,NOT ,so that i can plagiarize from those entries onto my blog entry(much like so many ignorant parrot food-bloggers seems to be doing these days),BUT ,in order to read what is written there and then CORRECT any popular MYTHS or incorrect information THAT IS DOING THE INTERNET ROUNDS.
I also will then proceed to write nutrition info on those topics THAT IS NOT ALREADY there on the wikipedia page,SO THAT ,readers can get something extra from my page.

PEOPLE ASK ME,why not go and correct and edit the wikipedia page then?why write blog entries..
Well,FOR ONE,there is no gaurantee that someone else will not come and RE-EDIT what I painstakingly write there and more than anything,SINCE I AM A QUALIFIED expert on the subject of health and also nutrition,I MUST TAKE RESPONSIBILITY and credit for what I WRITE AND post blog entries, WHICH CAN THEN BE QUOTED on a wiki article later.maybe?

GOSH,
Anyways,COMING TO topic on hand,

MILLETS,WHAT ARE THEY?
millets are seeds of grassplants.AGain,WHEAT is also a seed of a grass plant,rice is also a seed of grass plant
And all the above are cereals.

What are cereals now?
Cereals are a category of food that we humans eat as chief sources of energy and calories.
Contrary to the nutritional FADS of the 90s ,where calories were considered the ENEMY,I insist,
our body runs on calories.WE NEED CALORIES.

it is only when we consume TOO MANY CALORIES,much more than what an average human body requires per day,that the consumed calories then get converted into fat and are stored as fat in the body, to be accessed for LATER USE.

WHAT IS FAT NOW?
FAT is a type of compound,that on breakdown yield MORE calories per gram than carbohydrates.

What are carboyhdrates?
gosh,look how the TRAIN OF QUESTIONING GOES?
again,carbohydrates are compounds made of carbon,hydrogen and oxygen.They are seen in large amounts in cereals and are great as an energy source .

so,yeah,coming back to MILLETS.

LET US COMPARE MILLETS versus rice and wheat
how do millets fare against wheat and rice
Actually,millets fare quite great.

Amongst the three,rice has the highest amount of calories per equal weight consumed.But,wheat and millets come a CLOSE second..and yeild considerable amounts of calories too.

REMEMBER,calories are GOOD for the body.We need calories.(i am a doctor, and I am telling you that,so ,you have to trust me)

Again,WHEAT FARES HIGHEST in protein content amongst the three.Most of wheat protein comes from GLUTEN..
millets fare on par with wheat when it comes to protein content,but NATURALLY, the protein in millets is NOT gluten.Gluten is specific to wheat.

sO,YEAH,

When it comes to searching for a cereals which have both carbohydrates and protein,BOTH ,wheat and millets FARE BETTER THAN RICE.

For people with gluten intolerance,millets are a great cereal choice.

again,BOTH Wheat and millets have comparable quantitites of calcium,so,really,can't choose one over the other..

BUT,,
HERE IS WHERE MILLET SCORES over wheat.

MILLET HAS AMAZING QUANTITIES OF B VITAMINS....much more than any other cereal food.

And millet,especially SORGHUM millet,HAS HIGHER QUANTITIES OF IRON than even wheat..
So GREAT SCORING POINT FOR MILLET THERE.

does millet score environmentally and agriculturally over other cereals?
aCTUALLY,damn yes,

Rice requires extremely MOIST waterlogged conditions to grow especially after sapling planting..once a field is chosen to grow rice paddy,it should be reserved for it forever..

wheat is relatively better when it comes to being able to grow it in DRIER conditions..

But MILLETS SCORE big time when it comes to being able to grow well in Arid to semi arid conditions.
Since,water is such a scarce commodity these days,thanks to the EXPLODING POPULATION,millets can be our ANSWER for our future....
so little watering is needed, with nutrition comparable to wheat or rice and better in vitamin content too..YAY!SCORE.

IT APPEARS that millets were FAR MORE USED than rice or wheat in ancient times.Maybe,our ancestors were agriculturally WISER than us..:))

how do millets taste?
Because we are so used to the taste of wheat and rice,we might take some time getting used to the taste of millets.
In my personal taste opinion,THEY ARE NUTTIER IN TASTE..and once you eat them ,over time,you develop a CRAVING for this nutty taste.

are millets easy to cook?
I think,once you cook them a few times USING DIFFERENT METHODS,you get the hang of it....
FERMENTED MILLET AND LENTIL BATTER PANCAKES ARE once such experiment of mine..
i didn't invent this method,but i have experimented and modified designing recipes for today's time
populations have been eating a VERSION of this idea for centuries now.
again,MILLETS, can sometimes take longer to cook.but,processes like PRE-FERMENTATION overnight, CAN , pre-digest then enough, to make them EASY TO COOK and easier to digest.
Since the water percentage in each grain of millet is FAR LESS than a grain of rice or wheat,THEY WILL REQUIRE more water per weight than rice or wheat,get it?

now coming to my millet and lentil pancakes
When I set out to update this article, i was planning to write about lentils too..but judging from how long this article already is,I SHALL reserve the lentil information for a seperate blog entry,k?
So,yeah,lentils are a great source of protein.
and when you combine a cereal with a protein and add in some vegetables, your diet BECOMES BALANCED.

enough said,
go to a cereal and grain place,
get your whole millets and lentils,
soak them,
for hours ,
then wet grind them,
then set them aside to ferment,
preferably overnight or longer (depending on if it snows in your city or town)
and then just lay them out as pancakes like you would breakfast pancakes on a griddle,
voila,
UBER TASTY,UBER TASTY...

TAGS: #millets, #lentils, #pancakes, #millets_vs_wheat, #millets_vs_rice , #millets_and_cereals, #recipes_with_millets_and_lentils,#fermenations,#fermented_batter , #nutrtional_information_about_millets,


For information about fermentation, please examine my tagcloud and click on fermentation..I have written more than one article on fermentation.
If you have any other specific question,please email me, and I shall get around to writing a blog entry based on your request.
cheers and good eating please!~