Little millet protein per 100g: calories, carbs, fibre and GI

The table below holds the little millet nutritional value per 100 g of raw grain as IFCT 2017 reports it, with raw milled rice from the same tables for company. Energy is 347 kcal, a shade under rice at 357 kcal; the numbers worth studying are protein, fibre and the minerals.

Two reading notes. These are raw values, not cooked ones: samai takes in a lot of water as it cooks, so a 100 g helping of cooked grain carries only part of each figure, and the katori section below works out a real serving. And one cell stays empty by design: IFCT 2017 records no vitamin C for little millet, so this page quotes none.

Per 100 g raw, edible portion. Composition: IFCT 2017 (ICMR-NIN). GI: University of Sydney GI database. — means not reported. These are average values for the food; the label on a pack gives the values for that product.

Little millet calories stand at 347 kcal per 100 g of raw grain, which is 2.8 percent under raw milled rice at 357 kcal — a saving too small to build a diet on by itself. The serving maths matters more. Indian kitchens portion cooked millet by the katori, and a katori of cooked samai starts from 40 g of raw grain: that plate comes to about 139 kcal, with 4.1 g of protein, 3.1 g of fibre, 26.2 g of carbohydrate and 1.6 g of fat.

Wash the grain, cover it with roughly two and a half times its volume of water, then simmer until every grain turns soft; leftovers belong in the fridge, where they stay good for up to two days. The foxtail millet khichdi recipe turns kangni into a soft one-pot khichdi with split moong dal, and its kodo sibling does the same with varagu — either shows how a small millet behaves in a pot.

Little millet protein per 100 g is 10.1 g, and the same weight of raw milled rice carries 7.9 g, kodo millet 8.9 g and pearl millet 11.0 g. Among these four, only bajra beats it, and samai leads rice by about 28 percent. A grain is not a dal — a katori of cooked samai (40 g raw) adds about 4.1 g toward the day's total — and the Dietary Guidelines for Indians spell out the pairing that completes it: cereals run short of lysine while pulses hold plenty, and the two, taken three parts cereal to one part pulse by raw weight, can supply every essential amino acid. Samai beside dal follows that recipe.

Fibre tells a matching story: 7.7 g per 100 g, against 2.8 g in rice (about 2.7 times more), 6.4 g in kodo and 11.5 g in bajra. A 2023 review of minor millets (Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture) places such grains at 7 to 13 percent protein, 60 to 70 percent carbohydrate, 1.5 to 5 percent fat and 2 to 7 percent fibre; samai's IFCT 2017 figures sit inside the protein, carbohydrate and fat bands, and its 7.7 g of fibre clears the top of the fibre band the review quotes. What each nutrient does in the body is on the little millet benefits page.

The little millet glycemic index reads 89. That figure is one entry, and the only one, in the University of Sydney database — an Indian test of unpolished grain cooked plain; the database scores 70 and above as high, and 89 lands there, with no second entry to soften it and none for the flour.

The study behind the entry, published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research in 2020, measured 88.6 in 12 healthy volunteers and looked at the shops too: across 100 Chennai stores it counted 48 brands, found most samples highly polished and called the labels misleading. Its verdict ran against the swap: for blood glucose, the benefit of trading white rice for millets might be limited. A 2021 systematic review and meta-analysis of millet GI studies slots little millet into its intermediate group alongside pearl, finger and kodo millet and sorghum, a group that came in 13 to 35 percent under the high-GI controls, and marks samai as the millet whose data were inconsistent; foxtail sits in its low group. The same review reports that diabetic subjects who ate millets long term showed fasting and post-meal glucose 12 and 15 percent lower — a finding about millets as a family, not a promise for samai.

In portion terms, the 26.2 g of carbohydrate in a katori multiplies out to a glycemic load near 23. The practical line stays short: one katori, dal and vegetables beside it, whole grain rather than polished — and with diabetes, the portion is your doctor's or dietitian's call. The millet-wide reading sits on is millet atta good for diabetes.

Minerals are where samai outpoints rice. Per 100 g of raw grain (IFCT 2017): iron 1.3 mg, zinc 1.8 mg, magnesium 91.4 mg, potassium 105 mg, calcium 16.1 mg and folate 36.2 mcg, against 0.7 mg of iron and 19.3 mg of magnesium in the same weight of raw milled rice. Sodium is 4.8 mg, so the salt in a samai meal is almost all the cook's. The ICAR-IIMR bulletin sums up the family in one line: fibre, minerals and B-complex vitamins are what millets offer in plenty.

One honest note on absorption. Phytic acid in cereals holds minerals back, and the Dietary Guidelines for Indians record that boiling or pressure cooking brings its level down sharply, which frees up iron, calcium, magnesium and zinc. The same guidelines advise a vitamin C fruit with the meal — guava, pineapple or a citrus fruit — or a coriander and green chilli chutney on the side, to lift plant-iron absorption, and they want tea kept an hour away from meals because tea binds iron.

Names, storage and buying for the grain are on the little millet hub page; the nutrient-by-nutrient reading is on little millet benefits.

Does little millet have protein?

Yes: 10.1 g per 100 g of raw grain (IFCT 2017). Rice brings 7.9 g to the same weight, kodo millet 8.9 g and bajra 11.0 g, so samai sits second in that group. A katori of cooked grain, starting from 40 g raw, contributes about 4.1 g. The grain's protein works best beside a pulse: the Dietary Guidelines put the cereal-pulse mix at three to one by raw weight.

Is little millet good for diabetes?

The University of Sydney GI database entry is 89, one India-tested reading on plain cooked unpolished grain — the high band. A 2021 millet GI review places the grain in the intermediate group and flags its data as inconsistent, while long-term millet eating brought fasting and post-meal glucose down in diabetic subjects. If you have diabetes, fix the portion with your doctor or dietitian before the grain becomes a staple; the family view sits on is millet atta good for diabetes.

Can little millet be eaten in fast?

That depends on the rules of the fast, not on the grain: each tradition allows its own grains on vrat days, so follow the rules your family keeps. Where it is allowed, cook it plain, using two and a half times the grain's volume in water, and keep the day's portion sense — a katori runs about 139 kcal from 40 g of raw grain.

How to make kutki millet?

Kutki cooks the way rice does. Rinse the grain, cover it with two and a half times its volume of water and simmer until the grains are soft; that plain pot becomes a rice-style plate, an upma or a khichdi base. The foxtail millet khichdi and kodo millet khichdi recipes on this site show the one-pot khichdi method with a small millet, and cooked grain keeps up to two days in the fridge.

How much zinc is in little millet?

1.8 mg per 100 g of raw grain (IFCT 2017), above the 1.2 mg that raw milled rice carries. Raw cereals keep zinc behind phytate, and the Dietary Guidelines note that cooking — boiling or pressure cooking — drops phytic acid sharply, which leaves the zinc easier to absorb. A katori of cooked grain, starting at 40 g raw, carries about 0.7 mg.

What is the glycemic index of little millet?

89 in the University of Sydney database: a single entry, tested in India, for unpolished grain cooked plain. That places it in the high band, 70 and above. The 2020 study behind the entry measured 88.6 in 12 healthy volunteers and found most shop samples polished, and there is no second entry to give a range.