Wash the foxtail millet thoroughly atleast twice and soak it for a minimum of 45 to 60 minutes.
Chop the onion and tomatoes.
Clean the mint leaves and remove the stiff stems.
Heat a heavy-bottomed saucepan or kadai. I used my Dutch oven for making this. Add the oil and ghee and when the oil is hot, add the fennel seeds, green cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, and slit green chilies.
Let it sizzle for 30 to 35 seconds and then add the chopped onion, ginger-garlic paste, and mint leaves. Let it cook for five to seven minutes or until the onions turn soft and shiny.
Now add the chopped tomatoes, salt, garam masala, and red chili powder. Cover and cook until the tomatoes are soft and mushy for about 4 to 5 minutes.
Add 1.25 cups of water, 1 cup of thin coconut milk and bring this mixture to a boil.
When it boils, add the drained millet and 1 tbsp of cilantro. Mix well.
Reduce the heat to medium-low and cover and cook for 7 to 8 minutes. Check in-between for water content. If required, add ¼ to ⅓ cup of water. Gently drizzle the water. By now, the millets should have softened and 70% cooked. Now reduce the heat to low and cook for five more minutes. (Overall cooking time is 13 ~15 minutes depending upon the millet quality and soaking time)
Turn off the heat and let it sit covered for 5 minutes. Remove the lid and gently fluff it with a fork. Garnish it with remaining cilantro and serve warm.
Notes
Like rice, each millet pack is different, but this water measure should work well for all. If you prefer softer and mushy millet, then add one more cup of water extra. For 1 cup of millet, I used 1.5 cups of liquid. For 1.5 cups, I used 2.25 cups of liquid.
Wash and rinse the millet atleast three times and make sure you soak the millets for 45 minutes atleast.
If you cannot soak the millets, then add more water while cooking, and cooking time will also increase. You can use any millets of your choice. I have tried this recipe with barnyard millet, and the same water measure worked well. But I soaked the millet only for 20 minutes.
Adjust the salt and spices as per the preference.
My green chilies were super spicy, so I reduced the red chili measure. I have tried this recipe by pulsing the green chilies and mint leaves also.
If your tomatoes are sour, add a tsp of jaggery.
Skip ghee and two more tsps of oil instead of a vegan version.
As it's tomato biryani, I did not add any other veggies. But you can add 1 cup of veggies of your choice and make it more like veg-tomato biryani.