At the table
Choose the crisp type to soak in milk tea; ask whether firmer grains need cooking. Let hot tea cool before eating.
Dry grains can be hard. Milk tea, butter, yogurt and milk curd contain dairy; meat porridge contains meat. Check the complete serving, not just the grain.
Plain roasted millet is plant-based and has no chili. Added dairy or meat changes dietary suitability; confirm additions when ordering.
GET TO KNOW THE DISH
What goes into it?
Explore some key ingredients below. Preparations may use additional seasonings and ingredients.
Crisp grains may be sand-roasted and sifted; hard grains skip soaking and sand.
Typical ingredients
Recipes vary by restaurant.
How does it taste?
Toasted grain
- Chili heat
- Texture
- Crisp or firm
- How it’s made
- Roast millet; the crisp form is first soaked or simmered, the hard form dry-roasted.
Crisp grains may be sand-roasted and sifted; hard grains skip soaking and sand.
A CONNECTION TO PLACE
Origin & regional roots
Associated with Inner Mongolia.
Ask if they have it first
请问你们有蒙古炒米吗？
Do you have this item?
A LITTLE SOMETHING TO READ
Story & history
Roasted Millet for the Tea Bowl
Mongolian chaomi is made from proso millet, not rice. Roasting makes a portable grain food used in daily life and travel. The crisp type is commonly softened in milk tea; the firmer type can be cooked into meat porridge or rice-like grain dishes. Milk, yogurt, butter or milk curd are possible accompaniments, not ingredients in every bowl of plain roasted millet.