JYOTI SONI, MANISHA MALIK, AASTHA DEWAN, SONIKA BANYAL AND ANKUR LUTHRA*
Department of Food Technology, Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar-125 001 (Haryana), India
*(e-mail: ankurluthra11@gmail.com, Mobile: 89014 26966)
(Received: April 7, 2025; Accepted: May 29, 2025)
ABSTRACT
The present investigation aimed at optimizing the idli preparation replacing rice with teff millet (Eragrostis tef) flour using response surface methodology (RSM). Preliminary trials indicated that 100 g flour mix comprising rice, black gram flour and teff millet in 2:1:1 ratio (50, 25 and 25 g, respectively) was appropriate for idli preparation. Thus, keeping black gram as constant at 25 g, teff millet was added as rice substitute from 20 to 50 g and fermentation time varied from 9 to 12 h. Effect of these two independent variables (teff millet: 20-50 g and fermentation time: 9-12 h) was studied on hardness and overall acceptability of idli for obtaining an optimized idli. Increasing the level of teff millet reduced the hardness and overall acceptability of idli. However, with the increase of fermentation time, hardness was decreased and overall acceptability was found to be increased. Therefore, idli made by adding 34.26 g teff millet fermented for 12 h exhibited the highest RSM acceptability. Moving ahead, based on the sensory results, 3 samples (2, 3 and 12) were selected out of 13 combinations for further analysis. Run 12 scored the highest in terms of overall acceptability (7.92), whereas run 2 had the highest nutritional value in terms of protein (2.83%), crude fat (1.98%), ash (3.75%) and crude fiber (4.45%) as compared to runs 3, 12 and control. Thus, it was interpreted that teff millet (up to 35 g) improved sensory and nutritional quality of traditional rice idli and had the potential to be processed and incorporated especially in fermented food product and thereby utilizing underutilized teff millet for food security and sustainability.
Key words: Fermentation, Idli, rice, RSM, teff millet, texture