What "unpolished" actually means
Polishing is a mechanical step that scrapes the outer bran layer off the grain. It makes millet whiter, faster to cook and longer-lasting on a shelf — and it removes the fibre and much of the mineral content along with the bran.
A lot of what sells as millet is polished, sometimes heavily, because it looks cleaner and cooks quicker. Ours isn't. That's why our grain has a slightly warm, uneven cream colour rather than a uniform white, and why it takes a few minutes longer in the pot.
Why customers choose ALAI
- Unpolished, bran intact. No polishing to make it look whiter.
- Cleaned and hand-sorted. Destoned and sieved before packing, so it's ready to rinse and cook.
- Sourced from Tamil Nadu growers. Millet that's grown where it's always been grown.
- Packed in small lots. Unpolished grain is best fresh — we don't hold long stock.
- No additives, no polish, no colour. Just the grain.
How to cook it
This is the part most people get wrong the first time, so here it is plainly.
Rinse and soak. Rinse twice, then soak for 20–30 minutes. Skip the soak and it cooks unevenly.
Pressure cooker — 1 cup millet to 2.5 cups water, 2 whistles, then let the pressure drop naturally. Comes out like soft rice.
Open pot — 1 cup to 3 cups water, simmer 15–18 minutes until the water is absorbed, rest covered for 5 minutes, then fluff.
For upma or pongal — 1 cup to 3.5 cups water. You want it softer here.
For idli or dosai — substitute kuthiraivali for the rice in your usual batter, keeping the same rice-to-urad ratio. Ferment as normal.
What to make with it
Kuthiraivali sadam with any kuzhambu · Millet upma · Millet pongal · Curd millet · Lemon millet · Millet idli and dosai · Millet biryani · Millet kheer
The simplest starting point: cook it plain, eat it with the same sambar and rasam you'd have with rice. If your family doesn't notice, you're set.
Product details
| Brand | ALAI |
| Grain | Barnyard millet (Echinochloa frumentacea) |
| Also known as | Kuthiraivali, sanwa, jhangora, oodalu |
| Processing | Dehusked, unpolished, machine-cleaned |
| Ingredients | 100% barnyard millet. Nothing added. |
| Available in | 500 g / 1 kg |
| Packaging | Food-grade sealed pouch |
| Shelf life | 6 months from packing |
| Storage | Airtight container in a cool, dry place |
| FSSAI Lic. No. | 22426306000092 |
A note on colour and shelf life
Unpolished grain varies in shade between batches and won't look uniformly white — that's the bran. It also keeps for less time than polished millet, because the bran carries natural oils. Six months in an airtight jar is the realistic window. If you're buying 5 kg, decant into two or three jars rather than opening one big pack repeatedly.
