*2.1. Product Preparation*

In the initial trials, FMF was used either as a powder (after roasting in an open pan with continuous stirring till a toasty aroma emanated) or as a cooked paste (by cooking the flour in four times water to obtain a thick gruel here called finger millet paste (FMP)). It was found that the addition of finger millet as a cooked paste gives a product with better handling, binding, pliability, and texture, and the paste was hence chosen to be added in

the final formulation. Sensory experiments showed that the finger millet paste (FMP) can be substituted with up to 50% of PF to ge<sup>t</sup> the best sensory scores [19]. A mixture was prepared containing 30% finely chopped onion, 15% crushed ginger, 10% crushed garlic, 10% green chili, 15% green coriander, 15% salt and 5% garam masala spice mix and it was added in each formulation. The base formulation of the RTC-GF snack contained FMP and PF in equal proportions. This represented the control sample (T1) in which there was no addition of TPP, but the spice mixture was added. Further experiments were done to standardize the addition of TPP to ascertain its maximum utilization without impairing the quality of the product. The TPP was substituted in the mix at 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25% levels to obtain sample T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, and T6, respectively. The various treatments and their formulations are tabulated under Table 1.


**Table 1.** Formulations of the various treatments for one kg mix of RTC-GF snack.

The product was prepared by following the procedure as given by Rehal et al. [19] and the pictorial representation of the same is given in Figure 1. The RTC-GF snack was analyzed for its various cooking attributes and sensory evaluation (as per details given in the Sensory Evaluation section). The formulation which was found most acceptable by the panelists and which would enable the maximum utilization of TPP was selected for conducting storage studies and nutritional status. The most acceptable formulation was then prepared, flash-fried, cooled, and packed in LDPE and HDPE pouches, and stored at −20 ◦C. These were analyzed for various quality characteristics like free fatty acids,peroxide value, and sensory evaluation after 0, 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, and 90 days of frozen storage by finish-frying the product immediately after taking it out of frozen storage as conducted by Rehal et al. [19].
