LITTLE MILLET AND BARNYARD MILLET SAMBHAR SADAM/ MIXED MILLET SAMBHAR RICE

Millets - these small grain plants are primarily produced in India, who cultivates over 8 million tons every year, followed by a number of larger African countries and China. Millet is gluten-free, so Celiac sufferers can turn to millet as their source of grains, instead of wheat. There are myriad health benefits of millets. Regular consumption of millets is beneficial to health.  

Millet is  rich in fibre and the breakdown of glucose is slower.  It benefits people suffering from respiratory ailment, digestive disorders and high cholesterol. They reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes because millets are rich in magnesium, which regulates secretion of glucose and insulin. 

Now, there's enough reason to include millets in our daily diet. This sambhar rice, prepared with barnyard millet and little millet is not only healthy but tasty and pretty simple to prepare. A good option for packed lunch too. Enjoy this healthy tasty one pot sambahar sadam with Yam fry, Potato fry, Carrot and roasted peanut raitha or Chena kilangu roast. 

Once you start cooking with millets, you'll never want to go back to eating rice. In this recipe, I've added 2 types of millet and 2 types of dhal along with vegetables, which makes it a healthy one pot meal. I've used barnyard millet and little millet, please feel free to use any millet with any combination or just one millet. The same applies to dhal, I prefer mixing 2 dhals in all that i cook. You may use only toor dhal or only moong dhal too.

 

INGREDIENTS

Barnyard millet - 1/2 cup
Little millet - 1/2 cup
Toor dhal - 3 tbsp
Moong dhal - 2 tbsp
Onion - 2 sliced
Tomatoes - 2 chopped

Beans - 10 nos chopped into 2 inch pieces

Carrots - 1 chopped into 2 inch pieces

Potato - 1 cut into cubes

Peas - 1/4 cup

Tamarind pulp - 3 tbsp

Turmeric pwd - 1 tsp

Sambhar pwd - 3 tbsp

Coriander pwd - 2 tbsp

Water - 5 cups

Green chili - 2 

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp

Asafoetida - 1 tsp

Curry leaves - 6

Salt to taste

Finely chopped coriander for garnish
Cashews fried in ghee or oil - 10 

METHOD

Wash and soak rice and dhal for about 30 mins. In a cooker, add 4 tbsp of oil, when hot add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, asafoetida, fenugreek, curry leaves and green chilies. Don't slit the chilies, chop the ends and add. Then add all the curry powders, fry for a minute. Add sliced onions, tomatoes and sauté well for 3 minutes. Add the vegetables, sauté and add tamarind pulp, rice dhal mix, salt, 5 cups of water. Check for salt and spice level. Let it boil now close the cooker and reduce the flame to low. Cook for 25 mins and open once the pressure releases. Garnish with cashews and coriander. Enjoy millet sambhar sadam with appalam/ papad.