Showing posts with label Samai. Show all posts

Saturday, April 14, 2018

Samai Vegetable Biryani | Millet Biryani | Millet Recipe

Samai Vegetable Biryani, the delicious vegetable biryani made from Little millet. After seen lot of kanji,kali recipe with millets for the past 5 days, today let's make delicious biryani with millets that satisfy your taste buds also !!! Though i have been cooking millets for a while, still i'm not confident in cooking them in pressure cooker. First time, when i had tried this biryani in pressure cooker, it turned out so mushy(just like kali, i'm not exaggerating here), after we had a very little, the whole things went into trash. So the next time, i had reduced the amount of water and it turned out somewhat ok, with little bit of burned at the bottom. This was happening for next two or three times, either mushy or burned at the bottom, so i finally gave up pressure cooking the millets expect for pongal, curd rice or kanji for which i don't mind if it's too mushy!!

Here in the recipe, i have cooked the biryani in open pot method and it turned out super delicious with separate grains !!! I have prepared millet biryani this way for countless time and it turned out so good every SINGLE time. But i guess the pictures are not doing justice for what i had explained here. Sorry for the poor lighting in the pictures, let me explain the reason, in recent times, whenever i took the camera for the shoot, the sun started to play hide & seek, even though i checked the weather a day before and make sure that it will be sunny, nothing works :-( Actually it remind me of those days when amma used to make vathal, the rain would started to pour out even on Agni nakshartam days. Ok, enough with the stories, let's check out the recipe, but if you want to know what i have prepared for past 4 days under Whole Grains, here they are
Day 1 - Kambu Koozh
Day 2 - Millet/Samai Puliyodharai
Day 3 - Millet/Kuthiraivali Upma
Day 4 - Millet Paal Kanji
Day 5 - Ragi Mudde

Samai Biryani

Preparation Time : 30 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 2
Recipe Category: Millet | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients
Samai/ Little Millet - 1/2 cup
Mix veg - 1/2 cup(i have used carrot,potato,beetroot,capsicum & peas)
Onion -1(small)
Tomato - 1
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Coriander & mint leaves - a handful
Curry leaves - 1 spring
Water - 1 & 1/4 cup
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Cinnamon - 1 inch piece
Cloves - 2
Cardamom - 2
Bay leaf - 1
Cashew - 4

Procedure

Soak the millet in the water for 30 mins.
Cut the veggies & tomato into small cubes, cut the onions into thin slices. Heat a kadai with ghee, add cinnamon,cloves, bay leaf, cardamom & cashews. Roast it in the ghee for 30 secs.

Add the onions, saute till the onions becomes translucent, then add the veggies and saute in the ghee for 2 mins.

Add ginger garlic paste saute till the raw smell leaves, then add the tomatoes and spices(turmeric,red chili & garam masala powder) & salt. Mix the spices with the veggies well.

Add the water(1 & 1/4 cup) and coriander& mint leaves, bring into boil, cover cook the veggies for 5 mins in the low flame.

Now drain the water from the soaked millet and add into the boiling water, squeeze the lemon into it. Give a good mix.

Cover the kadai with lid and cook it in the medium flame till all the water absorbs, it may takes 7-9 mins. Switch off the flame and let it covered for 15 mins.

Tada, Samai Biryani is ready.

Notes:

If you want more flavor & richness to the biryani, just before serving, add a tsp of ghee in the biryani and give a good mix.
Soaking millet helps to cook it quickly.
I have soaked the peas for overnight, if you have fresh peas you can use that.
Cauliflower and beans can also be added.
You can make this biryani with any millet(like kodo) in the same way.

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Thursday, April 12, 2018

Samai Paal Kanji | Millet Milk Porridge | Millet Recipe

Paal Kanji, an easy to make delicious South Indian breakfast porridge. Usually, this kanji is made with rice, but in this recipe i have used millet(samai) and it tastes as good as rice porridge.

While i grew up, this kanji was a part of our breakfast mostly on weekend breakfast. Amma used to make this on weekend mornings especially on the days when afternoon lunch would be a non-veg feast.

It makes the morning breakfast as light as well as healthy. Whenever she asked us whether this kanji was ok for us and i was happily nodded 'yes' to every SINGLE time, on those days, i ran miles away from Idli which was the typical morning breakfast at our home !!! How time changes, right ? Now, idli is one of my favourites!

In our family, on the fifth month of a woman's pregnancy, this paal kanji(made with rice) is made by the girl's family to treat her. On one auspicious day, the girl's family and her close relatives visit the girl's in-laws place. All the close relatives from in-laws side and also the neighbours are invited to that day.

Together, they make this paal kanji along with paal kozhukattai on one auspicious day and distribute them to all the near and dear ones along with a piece of jaggery(achu vellam) to share their happiness !!

Ok, coming to today's recipe, i ditto followed the Amma's recipe but i have used millets instead of rice, that's all. In our home, we used to have this paal kanji with some jaggery/palm jaggery. One sip of kanji and one bite of jaggery, that's how we eat :-). But for the savory version, you can have it with pickles.

Without further delay, let's check out the recipes, but if you want to know what i have prepared for past 3 days under Whole Grains, here they are
Day 1 - Kambu Koozh
Day 2 - Millet/Samai Puliyodharai
Day 3 - Millet/Kuthiraivali Upma

Samai Paal Kanji

Preparation Time : 5 mins | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Serves : 2
Recipe Category: Breakfast | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients
Millet - 1/2 cup
Water - 1& 1/2 cup
Cumin seed - 1 tsp
Fenugreek seed - 1/2 tsp
Milk - 1 to 1&1/2 cup
Salt - to taste

Procedure

Take the millet in a pressure cooker, wash it twice and add the water. Put it on the flame.

Add the cumin seed, fenugreek seed and salt into the millet.

Cover the pressure cooker with lid and cook it for 3 whistles.Once the pressure released from the pressure cooker automatically, open the lid and slightly mash the millet with the ladle.

Heat the milk till it comes to boil and then add into the millet and mix well.

Tada, Samai Paal Kanji is ready to serve. Serve it with jaggery/palm jaggery or pickle.

Related: How to make Paal Kozhukattai

Notes:

Adjust the consistency of kanji as per your liking. The given measurement yield spoonable kanji, If you want drinkable kanji, add more water or milk as per your liking.
Cumin and fenugreek seed give great flavor to the kanji.
In addition to cumin & fenugreek, a few garlic gloves can also be added.
The kanji tends to thicken quickly, so add milk just before serving.
Since we like to have with jaggery, i have added only 1/2 the amount of required salt.

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Samai Puliyodharai | Millet Puliyodharai | Millet Recipe

Samai Puliyodharai, a spicy and tangy puliyodharai made from the little millet. Some millets(like little, kodo & barnyard millets) are used in the place of rice and taste very similar or even better than rice sometimes.

Making puliyodharai with millets is another successful experiment of mine. As expected, it turned out so delicious and tastes as good as rice puliyodharai. Since the millet grains are so little, the flavors blend so well and taste wonderful!!!

So far, i have tried this puliyodharai with the little & barnyard millet and both taste equally good.For this recipe, the millet should be cooked well and in the same time, it should be separate, even the slightest mushy millet would result in not so good puliyodharai(personal experience :-( .

So make sure that the millet shouldn't be mushy. Without further delay, let's check out the recipe, but if you want to know what i have prepared yesterday under Whole Grains, here it is
Day 1 - Kambu Koozh

Samai Puliyodharai

Preparation Time : 30 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 2
Recipe Category: Millet | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients
Cooked Millet - 2 to 2&1/2 cup
Tamarind - a small gooseberry size
Sesame oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard & urad dal - 1/4 tsp each
Chana dal - 1 tsp
Peanuts - 1 tbsp
Cashews - 3 to 4
Curry leaves - few
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Adafoetida powder - 1/4 tsp
Jaggery - a small piece
Salt - to taste
To roast & grind
Red chili - 4
Channa dal - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Fenugreek seed - 1/2 tsp

Procedure

Soak the tamarind for 1/2 hr. Heat the pan and add all the ingredients listed under "To roast & grind" and roast till nice aroma comes and also the dals became golden brown

Remove from the heat and let it cool a bit. Then put it in a mixie/blender jar and grind into coarse powder.

Heat the pan with sesame oil, add the mustard & urad dal, let the mustard crackle, then add the channa dal & cashews and roast till it the dal & nut becomes golden brown. If you're using raw peanuts,add this stage and roast along with other ingredients, since i have used roasted peanuts and i added it later.

Extract the tamarind juice from the soaked tamarind and add into the pan. Add turmeric and asafoetida powder also.

Add salt and the grounded powder , mix it all well together and let it boil for around 10 -15 min in the medium flame.

Finally add the jaggery, roasted peanuts and curry leaves and let it sim for another 2 mins and switch off the flame.

Keep the cooked millet ready(Check here on how to cook millets in open pot). Add the millets into the tamarind paste and mix it well together gently.

Tasty Samai Puliyodharai is ready. Serve it with your favorite curry. We had it with crispy arbi fry and coriander thogayal.

Related: How to make millet paal kanji

Notes:

For the given amount of chili, the spice level is moderate. Add more or less as per your liking.
Sesame oil gives great taste to puliyodharai,so highly recommend to use it.
You can drizzle some sesame oil on top while serving just to enhance the flavor.

Thursday, June 22, 2017

Samai Pongal | Little Millet Pongal | Millet Recipe

Pongal, the famous south indian breakfast made from rice & dal with some flavorful tempering. Here in the recipe,instead of rice,i have used little millet(samai rice) and it tastes exactly the same.Those who want to include millet in their diet yet bored of making regular dishes,then try this pongal.
Here in the recipe, i have used little less amount of water than the regular Ven pongal. The day that i prepared this pongal, i was planning to pack this for our lunch too. As i don't like mushy pongal when it's cooled,i reduced the water and make it as fluffy instead of mushy. But if you're planning to have immediately, then add extra one cup of water. It's really upto you how you want your pongal and adjust the water as per your liking.

Samai Pongal

Preparation Time : 1 hr | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 4 to 5
Recipe Category: Breakfast | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients
Little Millet/Samai - 1 cup
Moong dal - 1/3 cup
Water - 21/2 cups
Cumin Seed - 1 tsp
Pepper Corns - 1 tsp
Ginger - 1 tbsp(minced)
Curry leaves - few
Cashew - 6 to 8
Ghee - 11/2 to 2 tbsp
Asafoetida powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt - to taste