Millet Banana Breakfast Muffins

Yes, it's muffins again, but this is not so much a recipe as it is an idea that opens up to several recipes for the imaginative. So, we all know muffins, cakes and most bakery are best enjoyed when you don't make them yourself i.e. you don't see the amounts of white flour, fat and sugar that goes into them. We try to add some healthy things in them such as vegetables or fruits and try to step down the fat by substituting milk but alas these are tricky options as the gluten in the flour begins to develop when in contact with water (in the vegetables/fruits/milk) yielding a bread like chewy consistency. So we keep the healthy stuff to a minimum, step up fat and the vicious circle repeats.
Enter - the millet. If you have already jumped onto the gluten free bandwagon, you have probably started experimenting with millets. Millets are perfect if you are aiming at a gluten free diet. Considered among the most ancient of grains, millets provide you with a healthy alternative to rice, wheat and corn. They don't grow big and fat with starch like other main grains, but this is the very trait that makes them an healthier option. India is almost the top producer of millets in the entire world. If you are in India you can add 'responsible eating' to your portfolio while consuming locally grown millets.

Millet muffins

Ingredients (yields up to 7-8 muffins):

- 2/3 to 3/4 cup mashed bananas
- 1/4 cup fat: butter (or oil)
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 egg or equal volume of thick non-sour yogurt
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla or nutmeg
- 1 1/4 cup millets *
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup or 2 tbsp white flour.

* options are: foxtail millet, barnyard millet, amaranth or a mixture of these.

Here's how you make it.
Whisk butter and sugar until fluffy followed by other wet ingredients i.e. egg/yogurt, milk, bananas and vanilla.

Run the millet(s) in a blender to make a fine powder. It can be made coarse if you like some extra texture in the final product. Experiment varying the coarseness to find out what you like.

Mix salt and baking soda to your millet powder and add this dry mixture to the wet and mix. This is the step where you would truly appreciate the gluten free nature of the millets. Were this white flour, you would have to be extra careful not to over mix and your cook book will advise you to "gently fold in the flour". With millets however, there is no fear of turning the batter bready due to over mixing. Give it a good whisk until the millet powder is thoroughly incorporated.

Finally add in the two tablespoon of white flour by sprinkling it evenly over the mixture and gently folding in until just moist. This small amount of white flour is to provide some binding, else the cakes would be too crumbly.

Divide batter among muffin cups and bake at 180 degrees C for 20 mins or until the cakes pass the toothpick test.

Cornbread breakfast muffins

Though we do not make muffins as often as we would like to, we are all for the simplicity of muffins. Especially the savory ones. It is - just throw in the flour, oil / butter and some vegetables and mix it and spoon it into the tray - simple. When I found this recipe for Jalapeno Cornbread Muffins at Damn Delicious, I knew it was a must-do. As you can see, I used her entire recipe (down to the styling of the dish) but made it savory by skipping honey.

The challenge though, will be the availability of cornmeal in India. What we did was simple. We bought dried corn from the supermarket (not the frozen ones, but you get dried ones in the pulses section) and ground it coarsely. That became an effective cornmeal for this recipe. Don't let the unavailability of ready cornmeal deter you from making these little beauties. Just make your own!

Here's how I made it.

Your dry ingredients

Your wet ingredients

whisk together to form a spoon-worthy batter

Pour the batter in muffin trays and bake

This recipe yields 4 large muffins. Good enough for a breakfast for two.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup of corn flour
1/2 cup of plain flour (maida / all purpose)
1/2 cup of buttermilk
1/4 cup of cooking oil (we use rice bran)
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
Salt, according to taste
1 egg
1 block of cheddar cheese
2 green chillies 

Here's how you make it:

1) Combine the dry ingredients - flour, soda and salt
2) Combine the wet ingredients - buttermilk, egg and oil
3) Pour the wet over dry mixture and whisk gently to combine
4) Add shredded cheese, chopped green chillies and combine
5) Spoon the batter into greased muffin trays and bake in preheated oven for 200 F for 15 minutes or until it passes the toothpick test (poke a toothpick and see if it comes out clean, if it does, your muffins are ready)
6) Serve hot over coffee.