Meals, snacks and desserts could be ready from completely different sorts of millets
| Photo Credit: RAMAKRISHNA G
If you might be planning to change over from cereals to millets, head to Pathayam – Millets Café, the first millets café within the Thiruvananthapuram district, which can open on April 26.
The initiative comes within the wake of 2023 being declared the International Year of Millets. The cafe is being launched by Millet Mission-Kerala, a ‘people’s marketing campaign for selling millets and wellness’, began by a bunch of voluntary organisations and establishments with the help of the National Bank For Agriculture And Rural Development (NABARD). The Mission was launched at a the state-level declaration of the International Year of Millets held at Mitraniketan within the metropolis on December 31, 2022.
2023 is the International Year of Millets
| Photo Credit:
GP SAMPATH KUMAR
“There is an unprecedented focus on millets now. However, most people are still ignorant about the varieties of millets and their benefits. So we took it as a challenge to create that awareness,” says Sreelatha S, chairperson, Millet Mission-Kerala.
Kodo millet pulao
| Photo Credit:
Ok R Deepak
According to Pankajakshan, director of Santhigram, one of many promoters of Millet Mission, the Mission has performed a number of programmes to take millets to extra folks and the millets café is a brand new step in that path. “Many people don’t know about the range of dishes that can be made with millets; this café will get them to experience that,” he says.
Sreelatha mentions that on the launch of Millet Mission, a millet lunch had been organized. “We had ragi (finger millet) soup, chama kanji (little millet gruel), varagu (kodo millet) pulao, payasam made with thina (foxtail millet) and pineapple, and a curry using manicholam (sorghum) and jackfruit,” she explains.
Dosas made utilizing millet varieties
| Photo Credit:
M PERIASAMY
The millet café will probably be managed by Gangadharan, who used to run Pathayam Naturopathic Organic Restaurant close to the Secretariat. “There will be dosa, idli, puttu or chapathi made with millets. We have a special millet lunch, which will have Pathayam’s usual spread of fruit payasam, sprouts, salad, and curries like aviyal and thoran with millet soup, millet chapathi, millet rice and millet payasam. Then there would be steamed snacks ada and kozhukatta made with millet flour. Millet puttu and kanji will be served for dinner,” says Gangadharan.
Millet dosa
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Special Arrangement
The cafe has the area to conduct occasions and coaching programmes. The 48-seater café, open from 8am to 9pm may even have books, uncooked millets and millet-based merchandise.
On April 24 and 25, the cafe will host a coaching session on cooking with millets from 10am to 5pm. Seats are restricted to 20 and the payment is ₹500. Contact: 9072302707.
Pathayam-Millets Café within the Housing Board Building, Government Press Road will probably be inaugurated on April 26 at 9am. Contact: 9387391082
