Effect of cooking methods on nutritional components and quality attribute of pearl millet flour porridge

In this study, the functional properties of pearl millet flour and nutritional components, quality characteristics of uncooked, conventionally, pressure, microwave, and machine-cooked porridge were analysed. The functional properties showed pearl millet flour exhibits good hydrating properties and dispersibility (71±1%) contributing to the even mixing and preparation of high-quality porridge. The result showed that machine-cooked porridge consists of high crude protein (5.085±0.04%) and fat (5.498±0.14%) content. The content of ash (2.551±0.03%) and crud fibre (3.109±0.05%) were highest in microwave-oven cooked porridge sample. The machine-cooked porridge sample showed high phenolic (70.807±2.97 mg GAE/100 g), flavonoids (58.412±2.38 mg RE/100 g) content, and DPPH radical scavenging activity of (75.677±0.49%). The pressure-cooked porridge sample consists of low moisture (71.184±0.09%) and water activity (0.980±0.03), indicating low available free water for bacterial and yeast proliferation. There was no microbial load for machine-cooked porridge samples due to high-temperature treatment, stirring mechanism, and closed environment that prevents cold, hot spots with uniform heating. The results obtained from optimized cooking methods recommended that machine and microwave cooking techniques are ideal for the production of good quality porridge with high nutritional and polyphenolic content.