Barnyard Millet Flakes – Kuthiraivali Aval

What barnyard millet flakes are

Whole barnyard millet is cleaned, steamed and pressed flat between rollers. Nothing added, nothing stripped. The same grain you'd cook from scratch, just pre-cooked and flattened so it softens in minutes.

The gentlest of our four flakes

Barnyard is the softest and quickest of the millets as whole grain, and that carries through to the flakes. They rehydrate faster than the others and finish softer, closer to a fine rice aval than to a hearty whole-grain flake.

That makes this the one for children, for older family members, and for anyone who has tried millets before and found the texture heavy going.

Where each of ours fits:

Why customers choose ALAI

• Made from whole kuthiraivali. Nothing stripped out in the flaking.
• No additives. No sugar, salt, colour, preservatives or flavouring.
• Processed in our own unit. Our grain, our cleaning, our flaking.
• Small batches. Flakes stale faster than whole grain, so we don't hold long stock.
• Unsweetened. You decide what goes in.

How to use it

Milk bowl — soak 1 cup flakes in warm milk 4 minutes, add jaggery or honey and chopped fruit. Softens faster than the other flakes, so watch it.

Poha — rinse briefly and drain. Temper mustard, curry leaves, green chilli, onion and turmeric, fold the flakes in, cover off the heat 2 minutes. Finish with lemon. Don't add water.

Upma — dry roast 2 minutes, then add to your tempering with hot water at roughly 1 cup flakes to 1.25 cups water. Less water than the other flakes need.

Porridge for children — soak in warm milk and mash. This is the flake best suited to it.

Curd flakes — soak in curd 8 minutes, salt, temper with mustard and curry leaves.

Sweet aval — soak in milk, add jaggery, grated coconut and cardamom.

Overnight bowl — cover with milk or curd at night, refrigerate, eat cold with fruit.

The one thing to watch: these go soft faster than any of our other flakes. Two to four minutes is usually enough. Leave them sitting in liquid and you get paste.

Product details

A note on storage

Flakes have far more surface area than whole grain, so they take up moisture and stale faster. Keep them sealed and use within a few weeks of opening. Two minutes dry roasting on a low flame restores crispness if they soften in storage.