Varieties of Millet-fish Fusion Dishes Attract Food Lovers at Millet-Fish Fest

KOCHI:
Varieties of fusion dishes of millet-fish combination took centre stage at the three-day Millet-Fish festival that got underway at the ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) on Thursday. It showcased a delightful array of millet-fish dishes such as kodo millet-shrimp biryani, little millet-seafood sadya, octopus fry, seaweed halwa, pearl millet smoothie, millet sweats etc. drawing food enthusiasts from all walks of life. The sumptuous sadya included a mix of little millet with shrimp, squid, clam, and three types of fishes, creating a rare delight for food lovers.

A special highlight of the festival is the Karnataka vegetarian millet food stall, run by a team of 12 farmers, including women, from north Karnataka. Their offerings included mouthwatering dishes like cholappam (bread with sorghum), finger millet poori, and sweets prepared using various millets.

The sale of live fish is another major attraction. Seabass, pearl spot, red snapper and tilapia, all farmed in cages, are available live for purchase. Adding an exciting competitive edge to the festival on Thursday was a recipe contest that featured a wide range of diversified millet-fish combo dishes. Innovations like fish nirwana, millet khawa and multi-millet steam cake, different varieties of millet biryani were the highlight of the contest that brought out creativity as well as culinary expertise of the participants.

The festival also features a variety of activities, including a buyer-seller meet, sale of millet and millet-based products, nutrition and health talks and seminars. Farmers, farmers’ producer organisations (FPOs), self-help groups, agri-startups are attending the festival to exhibit their products, offering an opportunity for consumers, traders and distributors to foster business deals.

The festival was inaugurated by Dr C Tara Satyavathi, Director of ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research, Hyderabad. Dr A Gopalakrishnan, Director of CMFRI presided.

Fruit saplings, vegetable seeds and meat products procured from the Kerala Agricultural University and the Veterinary University are also available at the festival.

A millet cookery show by culinary experts from Karnataka will be held on Friday.