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Get on a diet coarse

Is rising food price making you shrink your dinner spread? Don't. Why not try your hand at some millet recipes? That may not only bring down your food budget, but also enhance the nutritional value of your meals. But there is a small catch. You will have to visit the weekly village haat to buy millets. Not all millets are easily available in grocery stores, and those available will cost you between Rs 25 and Rs 40 a kg. Poor cousins of wheat and rice, millets are now the new exotics in urban culinary culture. At village haats you will get them at throwaway prices of Rs 7 to Rs 10.

The tribal communities of central India, especially Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, could cushion themselves against the soaring food prices thanks to millets and other coarse grains."If it is promoted well in cities, it is not just a cheaper alternative but also a healthy one,' says Rajnish Awasthi, director, Agricon Agropreneurs Public Limited, a farmers' company in Chhattisgarh that encourages farmers to grow millets and sell them in cities.

Millets, like kodo and kutki, are high on fibre and low on calorie. They can be a good choice for diabetes patients

Many are familiar with bajra, the most common millet, but there are many others you may not have tasted

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