Samai Upma/Little Millet Upma – Guest post to Maha’s lovely home

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breakfast recipes, Little Millet Upma, Little Millets Recipe, Millet recipe, Samai, Samai recipes, Samai upma, south Indian breakfast, South Indian Breakfast recipes, Upma recipes

This is a very long pending post from me. I have given this guest post to Usha of “Maha’s Lovely Home” long back. When I was planning to post it in my blog, I had to go to labor. After that I couldn’t get time to post. So here it is. When Usha asked me to send some recipes, I planned to give her millet recipe.

Do visit her page to find lovely recipes. A very dedicated and talented blogger for a long time now. You can check my recipe in her page too.

Millets have a lot of health benefits and they can be prepared similar to Rava. They are gluten free as well.

Ingredients: (Serves 2)

Little Millet/Samai : 1 ½ cup

Onion : ¼ of a large

Green Chili : 2 (adjust according to your taste buds)

Ginger : ½ inch piece grated

Mixed Veggies : ½ cup ( I have used frozen, you can use fresh veggies)

Salt : as needed

Water : 4 1/2 cups ( 1 cup samai requires 3 cups water)

Oil : 1 ½ teaspoon

Mustard Seeds : ¼ teaspoon

Urad Dal : ¼ teaspoon

Channa Dal : 1.4 teaspoon

Curry Leaves: Few

Cilantro : to garnish

Method:

• Soak Samai/Little Millet in water for half an hour. Drain and set aside.
• Chop onions, green chilies.Heat oil in a pan, when hot add mustard seeds, urad dal, channa dal.

  When they turn golden brown, add curry leaves.

• Next add onion, green chili and saute till translucent.
• Now add the frozen veggies, saute till half done. Frozen cooks faster than fresh.

  Next add water and let it boil. Add salt to it.When it hot enough, add the drained samai and mix well.

• Cover with a lid and cook till soft and water gets dehydrated.
• Garnish with chopped cilantro leaves.
• Serve with any chutney.

To check out some chutney recipes, see below

Peanuts Chutney

Celery Chutney

Onion Chutney/Vengaya Chutney

Ginger Chutney/Allam Pachadi

Coconut Chutney

Peerkangai Thol Thugayal/Ridge Gourd Skin Peel Chutney

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Samai Pongal/Little Millet Pongal

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Coconut Chutney, how to make samai pongal, Little Millet Pongal, Little Millet Recipes, Millet, millets, pongal recipe, Samai Pongal, Samai recipes, Samai Venpongal

In my childhood or even few years back, I never had the awareness to millets. The only millet which we knew was Ragi/Finger Millet which is quite popular in my place. But once I came to know the health benefits of different types of millets, I want to consume more of these and reduce rice which is the primary food for any south Indian. It also surprises me that millets have been used in ancient days a lot and in the passage of time, rice has taken the precedence and millets are completely forgotten. I am so glad we have got the awareness.

In our recent visit to Indian stores, I found a pack of samai(Little Millets) , I was so excited and grabbed it. We can easily prepare any recipe that is made with rava(semolina), replace with millets. Today I made this samai pongal and I absolutely loved it. I made it as a one pot meal, so it is easier and faster, you can follow the traditional method of making pongal.

It goes well with coconut chutney or peanuts chutney. Sambar is an ideal choice for pongal.

 

Ingredients: (serves 2)

Samai/Little Millet : 1 1/4 cup

Moong Dal : 1/2 cup(washed)

Ghee : 1 tablespoon(you can replace with normal oil)

Cumin Seeds/Jeera : 1/4 teaspoon

Black Pepper: 1/4 teaspoon

Ginger : 1 small piece chopped finely

Cashews : Few

Curry Leaves : Few

Water : 5 cups

Salt : as required

Turmeric Powder : a pinch

Method:

• Heat ghee/oil in a pressure cooker.
• When hot, add cumin seeds, black pepper. When they crackle, add curry leaves and ginger, cashews.
• Saute till cashews turn golden color.
• Next add the moong dal, saute for a minute.
• Next add samai as well and saute for 2 to 3 mins. Mix turmeric powder as well.
• Add the above mentioned water , salt.
• Cook for 4 whistles.
• Let it cool down, open mix well and serve with any chutney or sambar.

In case you fee it is very dry, you can add some hot water and mix. I like it dry and my hubby likes it watery 😉

Enjoy this healthy breakfast which is quite heavy!!!