MILLET CURD RICE

Curd rice completes a meal, at least for South Indians. This humble dish is a comfort food that we all love with or without any accompaniment. Thayir Sadam, as we call in Tamil is a delicacy and loved by all . We usually make curd rice with rice and sometimes with vermicille (bagala bath) and present it in different ways ~ we temper it with cumin and mustard, add fruits, veggies or consume as it is. 

Here, I've used millets to prepare the curd rice. Millets have a lot of health benefits and it's suitable for all age groups. I've already shared a millet recipe - one pot sambhar rice. Here's another simple and tasty one from my kitchen. At home, mom prepares curd rice by mashing the rice well and adds more milk than curd so it's never sour even if we have it late. It also gives it a rich and creamy taste. I've incorporated the same method here just that I've added milk while cooking the rice itself instead of adding it to cooked rice. 

This is made with Barnyard millet but you're free to choose the millet variety of your choice. If you're using rice instead of millet then cook it in a pressure cooker with water in 3:1 ratio i.e 3 cups water for 1 cup rice because we're looking for a mushy consistency. Once the rice is cooked, mash it further adding milk and temper!  

INGREDIENTS

Barnyard millet - 1/2 cup

Milk - 1/2 cup

Thick curd/yoghurt - 1/4 cup

Water (to cook millet) - 1 + 1/4 cup

Salt to taste

For Temering

Oil - 1 tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Urad dhal - 1 tsp

Dry Red chili - 2 

Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp 

Curry leaves - 6

Coriander - chopped finely for garnish

METHOD

Wash the millet in water for about 5-6 times. This recipe uses Barnyard Millet, feel free to use any variety of your choice. Add the millet, water and required salt in a vessel or boiling pot and keep it on high until it boils. After the first roaring boil, slow down the heat, add the milk and keep mashing until all the liquid is absorbed by the millet. This will take about 7 minutes. Switch off the heat, mash the millet further with a wooden ladle. Check for salt and add the yoghurt. Give it a good mix. 

In a small pan, heat oil, add mustard, cumin, urad dhal, dry chili and once the mustard splutters and the urad dhal has become light brown add the asafoetida and curry leaves. A quick stir and add to the curd rice. Transfer it to the serving bowl and garnish with chopped coriander. 

Note:

You can add grated carrots, pomegranate or chopped ginger if you prefer. It enhances the taste. 

BROWN CHICKPEA/CHANA PULAO

INGREDIENTS

Brown chickpea boiled - 1 cup

Basmati Rice - 1 cup

Water - 2 cups

Onion - 2 sliced

Green chili - 1 slit

Turmeric pwd - a pinch (optional)

Clove - 2

Green Cardamom - 1

Black cardamom - 1

Cinnamon - a small piece

Fennel seeds - 1/2 tsp

Cumin/ Jeera seeds - 1/2 tsp

Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp

Pudina leaves - about 7 leaves

Salt

METHOD

Wash and soak basmati rice for 10 mins. Drain the water and keep it aside. Heat oil in a pan (you can add ghee if you wish), add fennel, cumin, green cardamom, cinnamon, clove and black cardamom and saute for 2 mins. Now add the sliced onions and salt. Saute till it gets brown and add ginger garlic paste, slit green chili. Once the raw smell goes, add the boiled and cooled chana, turmeric and saute for 5 mins. Now add the drained rice, salt, water and boil in high flame till 80% of the water is absorbed, then add pudina leaves and cover the pan with a foil and close the lid airtight. Reduce the flame to low and cook till the water is absorbed completely, this will take about 10-15 mins ( it took 7 mins for me ). Once ready have it with raitha. It goes well with my Capsicum peanut gravy. 

HYDERABADI DUM BIRYANI

Here's the much awaited and most requested recipe! My Hyderabadi Dum Biryani! We all love biryani for its lovely aroma and taste. The taste and flavour of a good biryani comes from the use of spice, marination and also by the method of cooking. The traditional and popular way of cooking a biryani is called - dum method. This certainly gives it the excellent aroma. 

The original recipe (Taken from Times of India) calls for mutton but I have been doing this only with chicken with a little variation. All the mentioned ingredients should be added to get the authentic flavour and taste. It tastes great with any raitha.

INGREDIENTS

Chicken - 1/2 kg

Indian Basmati rice - 3 cups

Bay leaves - 2

Green cardamoms - 6

Black peppercorns - 23

Cinnamon sticks - 3

Onions (sliced) - 5

Caraway seeds/Shahi jeera - 1/2 tsp

Cloves - 9

Ginger paste - 2 tbsp
Garlic paste - 2 tbsp

Red chili powder - 1 tbsp

Yoghurt - one cup

Fresh coriander leaves (torn) - 1 cup

Fresh mint leaves (torn) - 1 cup

Black cardamoms - 2 

Saffron (kesar) mix in 1/4 cup lukewarm milk

Ghee

Chopped coriander for garnish.

METHOD
Spice powder

Grind 1/2 tsp caraway seeds/shahi jeera, one cinnamon stick, 15 black peppercorns, 9 cloves and 1 green cardamoms to a fine powder and set aside.

Marination

Take chicken pieces in a bowl. Add ginger paste, garlic paste, salt, and mix. Add the spice powder, red chili powder, sliced and  fried onions (crushed), yoghurt, and coriander leaves, half of the mint leaves and one tbsp oil and mix.  

Let it marinate for about two hours or longer in the refrigerator. I usually marinate it overnight. 

Rice

Heat five to six cups of water in a deep pan. Add drained rice, salt, bay leaves, 5 green cardamoms about 8 black peppercorns, one cinnamon stick and cook until 3/4th done. Drain and set aside.  

Gravy

Heat sufficient oil in a kadai and deep-fry half the onion slices until golden brown. Drain and place on an absorbent paper. Heat 2 tbsp ghee in a pan, add one cinnamon stick and black cardamoms and saute till fragrant. Add the remaining sliced onion and sauté until light golden. Add marinated chicken, stir and cook on high heat for 3-4 minutes. Cover, reduce heat and cook until almost done.

Preparing the dum

Heat about a tbsp of ghee in a thick-bottomed pan. Spread half the rice in a layer and chicken over the rice. Sprinkle remaining torn mint leaves. Spread the remaining rice.  Sprinkle saffron milk. Cover and cook under dum (very low flame) until done. Garnish the biryani with fried onion.

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. 

POTATO POHA

Aval upma/poha is made with flattened rice (beaten rice) or aval as we say in Tamil. This dish is prepared with onion and potato and makes a wholesome breakfast or even a snack for kids. Its a healthy and tasty Maharashtrian recipe, popularly known as batata poha. Its mildly spicy yet flavourful and filling. A simple and yummy dish which doesn't require any curry powder or strong spices. 

INGREDIENTS

Aval/beaten rice - 1 cup

Potatoes - 2 medium (small cubes)

Onion - 1 big (finely chopped)

Green chili - 1 (slit)

Turmeric - 1/4 tsp

Mustard seeds  - 1/4 tsp

Oil - 4 tbsp 

Salt to taste

Lemon juice - 4 drops

Coriander leaves - for garnish

METHOD

In a kadai or non stick pan, add oil and let the mustard crackle. Now add the green chili and chopped onion along with little salt and turmeric. Saute for 3 minutes and then add the washed, peeled and cubed potatoes with salt. Cook in medium heat, till the potatoes have cooked well. This will take about 10 -15 mins. Meanwhile wash and soak the beaten rice in water not more than 2 minutes. Once the potatoes are cooked, lower the heat, check for salt and the add the drained beaten rice to the potato mix. Squeeze out all the water before adding it into the pan. Give it a stir, add the lemon juice and mix gently. Switch of the the heat and garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Serve hot. If you like peanuts, you can add some roasted peanuts to this.

PEAS PULAO

Peas pulao is very easy and pretty simple to prepare. This recipe is a simple one for people who're trying it out for the first time and who's looking for a quick and easy version. I'll be posting my version of peas pulao soon.

Ingredients

Basmati rice- 1 cup

Peas- 1/2 cup

Cinnamon- 1 (1/2 inch piece)

Clove- 1

Cardamom- 1

Black cumin/ shah jeera- 1/2 tsp

Ginger Garlic paste- 1 tbsp

Green chilly- 1 (small) 

Salt 

Method 

Wash and soak rice for about 15-20 mins. Heat about 2 tbsp of oil in a pan and add all the whole spices (i.e) cinnamon, clove, cardamom. Saute for about a minute or till you get the fragrance. Now add black cumin/Shah jeera, slit green chilly and saute for a minute. Next, add the peas with little salt. Fry for 3-4 mins. Add the soaked rice with ginger garlic paste and saute for 2-3 minutes. Add required salt and 2 cups of water (since the basmati rice and water ratio is 1:2). Close the lid of the pan and keep the heat on low and cook till the rice is fluffy and done. 

Note

If you're preparing this in a cooker, follow the same method by adding 2 cups of water and then close the lid of the cooker with the cooker weight. Keep on high flame and wait for a whistle. After the first whistle, reduce the heat to low and switch off the heat after 5 mins.