Organic Foxtail Millet honey balls recipe. This is most commonly called as “Thenum Thinai Maavum” in tamil. It is made and served as prasad or neivedhyam to Lord Muruga on auspicious days like “Sashti” during the tamil month of “Thai” and “Karthigai”.
Wild honey (malai thaen) and foxtail millet (malai nel) represent the most commonly used food by the ancient tamil people belonging to the “Kurinji”, one of the five forms of land. “Kurinji” represented the people residing in Hills and its surrounding areas.
My Granny would grind the millet coarsely in a hand grinder (endhiram) and mix in the honey and will distribute the mixture as such to all the elders as prasad after the pooja. She will make small ladoos out of the mixture to give it to the kids for eating.
These foxtail millet honey balls make a nutritious and healthy snack for the kids. It takes very little time to make using the ingredients that are already available in the pantry.
They taste mostly like the rava ladoo but with a more pronounced nuttier taste. If you do not like the coarse consistency, you can always grind the grits till you get a fine powder before making the ladoos.
Millets have been in the world for centuries, an ancient grain that is an excellent source of protein and is high in fiber. There are various types of Millets that I have experimented with over the past two months with the Organic Mantras Initiative.
What’s even better is that if you really follow the campaign it’s very easy to see that going organic is not at all difficult especially with organic products you can use throughout your entire day.
Check out all the Organic recipes and you will be in for a treat. Don’t forget to follow 24 Mantra Organic on Facebook and Instagram to stay connected.
Points to note while making Foxtail Millet Honey Balls:
1. It is important to use good quality honey.
2. Do not add all the honey at one go. If you do, you will end up with a sticky, gooey mass.
3. Make sure the mixture is at room temperature before you add in the honey. If you add the honey while it is still hot or warm, the ladoos will become chewy and hard.
4. If you do not want to add both sugar rock candy and honey, you can always substitute with either regular sugar or palm sugar.
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Foxtail Millet Honey Balls recipe details below:
- Organic Foxtail Millet (Thinai) - 1/2 cup
- Sugar rock candy (kalkandu) - 3 big marbles
- Cardamom - 1
- Organic Wild Honey - 3 to 4 tbsp
- Cashew nuts, broken - 2 tsp
- Ghee - 1 tbsp
- Heat a pan, add foxtail millet and dry roast over medium flame for 5 to 6 mins. Transfer to a plate to cool.
- Heat the same pan, add ghee, broken cashew nuts and roast till golden in color and keep aside.
- Add roasted foxtail millet, rock candy, cardamom and grind to a coarse powder. It should be like rava (sooji)
- Transfer to a bowl, add the roasted cashewnuts along with ghee.
- Rub it into the coarse millet powder till it resembles bread crumbs.
- Make sure this mixture is completely cool.
- Add 2 tbsp honey first and mix well. You can serve as such, else try to make small ladoo shaped balls.
- If the ball keeps crumbling, add the remaining honey little by little till it comes together and you are able to shape the ladoos.
- Foxtail millet honey balls are ready.
- Store in an airtight jar and use within a week. No need to refrigerate.
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