Kudhiraivaali Arisi Saadham / Barnyard Millet Rice
Millets are a store house of nutrients. They are rich in iron, calcium and other minerals. In old times these were used predominantly compared to the regular paddy rice. They are the reasons for the strength and immunity of the previous generations. Most of the millets have a low glycemic index and can give you a sense of satiety. They reduce the possibility of getting diabetes. They are also gluten free. They are short term crops and give a quick yield even with less water supply. They can easily survive droughts. But nowadays the farmers have given up millet production because of the low demand.But nowadays I read a lot of articles in magazines about the health benefits of millets. I also learned about other millets like barnyard millet(kudhiraivali), foxtail millet(thinai), kodo millet(varagu),little millet( saamai) etc.,Especially in kumudham health magazine.
For more info on milletes, check out…
http://www.innovateus.net/health/what-millet
My mom has regularly used ragi/finger millet from my childhood days. My MIL also uses ragi along with other millets like kambu/Bajra and Jowar/ Vellai Cholam. But I also wanted to try out the other millets. So when I went to Virudhunagar last month I got 1 kg of kudhiraivaali arisi and varagu arisi each. They both looked kind of similar to each other, small pale white grains similar in size to ragi. I have read that these grains can be cooked similar to rice and served with kuzhambu or rasam. Alternatively they can be ground to a batter and made dosa. I tried making kudhiraivali saadham and varagu dosai. Both turned out very good. Both these grains cooked very fast…like 5-7 minutes in pressure cooker.
Now to the recipe….
Kudhiraivaali Arisi Saadham/Barnyard Millet Rice
Ingredients:
1 cup kudhiraivaali rice
2 cups water
Method:
- Clean the rice.
- Cook it in a open pan or pressure cooker for 5-7 minutes. I added 2 cups water which yielded softly cooked rice. If you want the grains separate, you can reduce the quantity of water.
- Serve with curry of your choice. I served this with poruthanni and kothamalli thuvaiyal. I found that this was more filling to my tummy than the regular rice. I have planned to buy more and try other recipes with this.
Ulundham Paruppu Saadham/Urad Dhal Rice
This is again a recipe from the nellai saiva pillai household. Ulundham paruppu saadham is traditionally made when a girl attains puberty. The young girl is made to take oil bath and later fed this nutritious and tasty dish. I have already mentioned, in one of my older posts about the health benefits of urad dhal. Unhusked urad dhal reportedly strengthens the pelvic bones of a girl. So when a girl attains puberty, in the days following she is fed a lot of urad dhal recipes like ulundhu vadai, ulundhan kali, ulundhan kanji, ulundham paruppu saadham etc. Female relatives i.e. Athai, Chithi and Periamma of the young girl take turns to make such dishes in liberal quantities, which is then consumed by everyone and also distributed to the neighbouring households (I guess that the girl is just an excuse ). Ulundham paruppu saadham can be prepared and eaten on any occasion, but is typically made during above mentioned times and also during saturdays after taking an oil bath. It is typically served with ellu thuvaiyal and/Karuppati with gingelly oil, with aviyal and/vendakkai pachadi and appalam. The first course of the hot rice is mixed with gingelly oil and tasted with karuppati (palm jaggery). If you don’t like the sweet version you can straight away go to the second course ,which is rice mixed with ellu thuvaiyal and gingelly oil and eaten with aviyal/vendakkai pachadi and appalam. The third course is the same rice mixed with curd/buttermilk and tasted with ellu thuvaiyal. Try this recipe. It is definitely different, but worth it.
Linking this recipe to South Indian Cooking- Event #1 conducted by Anu’s Healthy Kitchen.
Ulundham Paruppu Saadham
Ingredients:
4 cups boiled rice
1 to 1 ½ cup split black urad dhal
½ tsp fenugreek seeds
10 -15 no garlic flakes
1 cup shredded coconut
Salt- a little less than required
Method :
- Wash and clean urad dhal and rice separately.
- In a pan dry roast the urad dhal and fenugreek till you get a nice aroma. Keep aside.
- Now roast the shredded coconut separately.
- Put rice, roasted coconut, roasted urad dhal and fenugreek, garlic flakes, salt everything together along with triple the quantity of water( 15 cups) and pressure cook till the rice is well cooked. Alternatively the rice can be cooked in the traditional method of cooking in a big open pan.
- Taste ulundham paruppu saadham with ellu thuvaiyal, aviyal/vendakkai pachadi and appalam.
Mango Rice
I learnt this recipe from my dad. Didn’t know from whom he learned this. It is a simple and tasty dish. We used to make this in mango season. But nowadays most of the vegetables are available in supermarkets through out the year. The hybrid type of mango is preferred ( ottu mangai/kili mooku mangai ).
Posting this recipe for Rice Recipes event hosted by Sameena Prathap of My Culinary Creations.
Mango Rice
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup raw rice
1 medium size raw mango
salt as required
1 tsp gingelly oil
For tempering:
3 tsp oil
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 green chilly cut into small pieces
1 red chilly broken into pieces
1 tsp mustard
2 tsp urad dhal
2 tsp bengal gram
a pinch of asafoetida
2 sprigs curry leaves
Method:
- Cook rice with 3 cups water.
- Mix a tsp of gingelly oil with the cooked rice and spread on a large plate to cool.
- Grate the mango and keep aside.
- In a pan heat the oil. Add mustard seeds, urad dhal and hing. Next add the chillies, gram dhal and curry leaves.
- Now add the grated mango and turmeric powder and saute till the raw smell is gone.
- Add this mix to the cooled rice and mix thoroughly.
- Tasty mango rice is ready.Have it with your choice of papad.
Dum Biriyani
I learnt this Dum Biriyani recipe from some recipe book long time back. Comes out perfectly every time. My husband does not like spicy food very much, but this is one of his favorites.I made this last weekend for lunch and served this with Brinjal raita.We had the leftover biriyani at night and it tasted even better.
I am reposting this recipe for Dish name starts with:D hosted by Akila of Akila’s kitchen.
Dum Biriyani
Serves 3-4
Ingredients:
For biriyani rice:
3 cups basmati rice
3 no. Cloves
3 no. Cardamoms
1 bay leaf
Salt as required
1 tsp ghee
1 tsp oil
Whole spices:
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp saunf
1 bay leaf
2 no. cardamom
2 no. cloves
1 no. star anise
1 inch cinnamon
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
2 green chillies slit
3 tbsp ghee
3 tbsp oil
For marinade:
3 cups chopped vegetables( potatoes,carrots,green peas,beans,cauliflower )
1 cup sour curd
1/2 cup mint leaves
1 medium sized onion – sauté in oil and grind into paste
3 medium sized tomatoes pureed
1 tsp chilly powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
Salt as required
For dum:
1/2 cup mint leaves
3 medium sized onions
Method:
- Soak the basmati rice for 15 minutes.
- Mix all the ingredients for marinade and allow them to marinate.
- Chop the 3 onions for dum into long slices and fry them in ghee till they are browned nicely, without burning.These fried onions give a special flavor to the biriyani.
- Boil 6 cups of water in a heavy pan.Add the spices given under biriyani rice.Add the required salt.Now add the soaked basmati rice and cook till it is half-cooked.Drain the excess water.Spread the biriyani rice in a large plate with 1 tsp oil and 1 tsp ghee.
- Heat 3 tbsp ghee and 3 tbsp oil in a heavy pan. Add all the whole spices and fry till you get a nice aroma. Add the slit green chillies and ginger-garlic paste and sauté.Now add the marinade mixture to the pan.Cook till the vegetables are half-cooked.Now the gravy is ready.
- Now we will go to the dum procedure.I use an electric rice cooker for this.In the pan given for electric cooker spread one layer of biriyani rice. Sprinkle some fried onions and mint leaves. Cover it with a layer of gravy. Add the next layer of rice and repeat the procedure. The top most layer is again rice. For the above quantity I get around 3 layers. Switch on the electric cooker and keep in cooking mode. It will automatically change to warming mode after the biriyani is ready.
- You can also do the dum in the pressure cooker. After layering allow steam to escape from pressure cooker. Now put the weight on and keep stove in sim mode and switch off after 7-10 minutes. Biriyani is ready. Serve it with raita of your choice.
Bisibelabath/Sambhar Saadham
I just love the sambhar saadham served in weddings. It has an unique flavor and taste.I have tried it so many times from recipes from different sources and voilà! I have finally perfected it.It has lot of vegetables and dhal and the the ghee adds to the flavor.It serves as an one pot meal packed with nutrients.I served this with pomegranate raita.
Bisibelabath/Sambhar Saadham
Serves 3-4
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups raw rice
3/4 toor dhal
2 cups cut vegetables of your choice
( drumstick,carrot,potato,beans,plantain,green peas,chow-chow,brinjals,pumpkin, ash guard etc)
1/2 cup sambhar onions
A big marble size tamarind
a pinch of hing/asafoetida
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
2 tsp oil
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
salt as required
For powder:
4-5 red chillies ( adjust according to taste )
1 tbsp coriander seeds/dhaniya
1/2 cup shredded coconut
2-3 sprigs curry leaves
1 cardamom pod
1/2 inch cinnamon stick
2-3 cloves
For tempering:
1 tsp mustard seeds
1tsp urad dhal
2-3 sprigs curry leaves
2 tsp oil
handful of cashewnuts
2 tsp ghee
Method:
- Pressure cook the rice and dhal separately.Add salt and turmeric powder to the dhal and keep aside.
- Extract around 1 cup of juice from the tamarind.
- Dry roast all the ingredients for powder one by one and grind into powder.
- Heat 2 tsp oil in a pan and add hing and fenugreek seeds.Now add the sambhar onions and saute well.Add the tamarind juice and the cut vegetables and boil them with 1/4 tsp turmeric powder and required salt.(alternatively you can pressure cook this veg-tamarind juice mix for 2 whistles).
- Add rice ,dhal and cooked vegetables together along with required salt and pressure cook for two whistles.This allows for the mushy consistency of sambhar saadham.
- After opening the cooker add the ground powder and mix well.Fry the cashewnuts in 2tsp of ghee and add to the rice.
- Do the tempering with mustard seeds, urad dhal and curry leaves. Serve hot with papad and any raita of your choice.
Royal Tomato Pulav
Hi friends ,this is my first post.
This recipe is a modification of the dish coconut milk pulav (will post recipe later), which i learnt from a friend. My MIL had got a kg of tomatoes from the market , since since she got them very cheap. I thought of making tomato pulav first, then thought of adding coconut milk to it to give a rich taste. The result was good. I served this mild pulav with spicy vegetable kolhapuri and onion raita.
I am sending this recipe as an entry to ‘Healing foods’ event started by Siri and hosted this month by PJ of ‘Seduce your tastebuds’.
Royal Tomato Pulav
serves 3-4
Ingredients:
3 cups Basmati rice
1 big coconut,- grate and extract milk ( about 4 cups )
6 medium size tomatoes
1 big onion finely sliced
3 green chillies slit into two
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
1 tsp jeera
1 tsp saunf
2 no. cardamom
2 no. star anise/annasi poo
5 no. cloves
1/2 inch cinnamon stick
1 tbsp ghee
salt as required
Method:
- Grate the coconut and extract about four cups of coconut milk.
- Blanch the tomatoes in hot water for 2-3 minutes. Remove the skin and make a puree in the mixie.
- Wash and soak rice for 10 minutes.
- Heat 1 tbsp of ghee in a kadai. Add the whole spices one by one. Then add the ginger- garlic paste and saute for a minute.Now add the slit green chillies and onions. Saute till the onions turn transparent. Transfer this to the electric cooker. Add the rice.Add 4 cups of coconut milk and 2 cups of coconut puree.Add water if necessary (so that the total of coconut milk+tomato puree should be six cups ).Add required salt and cook. If you are using a pressure cooker, then put the weight after steam is released and keep the stove in sim mode for 10 minutes. Royal tomato pulav is ready to serve. Since this pulav has mild taste, you can serve it with a spicy gravy of your choice and raita.
