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Bajra Veggie Box Puffs
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Bajra Veggie Box Puffs

Bajra (pearl millet)ModernPan-IndiaSnackFlour (atta)VegetarianContains gluten

Prep 40 min · Cook 20 min · Servings not given in the source

Make

Ingredients

  • bajra (pearl millet) flour — 50 g
  • finger millet (ragi) rava — 20 g
  • wheat flour — 30 g
  • refined wheat flour (maida) — 20 g (for the sealing slurry)
  • salt (as required)
  • oil (as required: a little for the dough, 1 tbsp for the filling, and oil for deep frying)
  • water (enough for a soft dough, plus a little for the slurry)
  • onions — 2 (chopped)
  • cumin seeds — 1 tsp
  • carrot — 1 (boiled and grated)
  • potato — 1 (boiled and grated)
  • chaat masala — 1/2 tsp
  • coriander powder — 1/4 tsp
  • garam masala — 1/2 tsp
  • coriander leaves — 1/4 bunch

Method

  1. Make the filling: heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan, add the onion and cumin seeds and fry. Add the grated carrot and potato, the chaat masala, coriander powder and coriander leaves and saute. Stir in the garam masala, cook briefly and leave to cool.
  2. For the pastry, put the bajra flour, ragi rava, wheat flour, salt and a little oil in a bowl and rub them together until crumbly. Add water gradually and knead to a smooth, soft dough. Cover with a moist cloth and leave for 15 minutes.
  3. Meanwhile whisk the maida with a pinch of salt and some water into a thin slurry for sealing.
  4. Dust the worktop with flour, roll the dough out evenly into a thick sheet and cut it into rectangles.
  5. Spoon a little filling onto each rectangle, enclose it, press the edges together and coat them with the maida slurry so they stay shut.
  6. Heat plenty of oil in a wide, heavy pan and fry the puffs until golden brown. Serve with tomato or chilli sauce.

Tips

  • General practice: let the filling cool before it goes into the pastry, or the dough softens and tears.
  • General practice: fry over a medium flame so the pastry cooks through before it browns.

Fresh atta: grind small, use soon

  • Millets keep for months as whole grain; flour is best ground as it is needed, because it turns rancid. (FAO, Sorghum and millets in human nutrition (1995))
  • Bajra changes fastest: its grain stores for months, but its milled flour has a very short shelf life. (ICAR-IIMR scientists, Food Chemistry Advances (2023) (DOI 10.1016/j.focha.2023.100190))
  • In an Indian study, untreated bajra flour stayed within the quality limit only about 2 days at room temperature. (ICAR-IARI, Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences (2016))
  • Ragi flour keeps better than foxtail, barnyard or bajra flour (it carries less fat). (Planta (2024), review)
  • Keep atta closed and cool: bajra flour kept best in polythene and worst in gunny sacks; grains should be dry and in airtight containers. (Chaudhary & Kapoor, J Sci Food Agric (1984); ICMR-NIN Dietary Guidelines (2024) (DOI 10.1002/jsfa.2740351113))
  • Going off shows first as smell and taste — sour, musty or dusty, then bitter. (Lai & Varriano-Marston, Cereal Chemistry (1980))

So: buy the grain, grind a week’s worth at a time — less for bajra in summer.

Recipe from ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research, Millet Recipes (2021), PDF p. 54 (printed p. 52), written in our own words.