Samai Paruppu Saadam | Little Millet Lentil Rice | Kongu Nadu special

Arisi Paruppu sadam or the lentil rice is one of the popular recipes from the Kongu Nadu Region of Tamil Nadu. It’s a quick one pot meal prepared with rice which I replaced with little millet and toor dal. It’s a prefect weekday dinner or lunch box recipe which can be prepared easily. We love this with appalam or chips. But this can be served with pickle or raita or with your favorite veggie. This recipe is a complete meal by itself.

The blogging marathon them for this week is regional recipes and as you would have guessed it by now I went with Kongu Nadu recipes from Tamil Nadu. Earlier this year, I posted Madurai based recipes and when I did the Journey through cuisine marathon, I realized that I haven’t explored a lot of cuisines in Tamil Nadu itself. So I tried to pick regional cuisine from TN and here I am with kongu nadu recipes. Kongu Nadu is the western part of Tamil Nadu and according to wiki, Kongunadu comprises the modern day districts of Coimbatore District, Nilgiri District, Tirupur District, Erode District, Namakkal District, Salem District, Karur District, Dharmapuri District, Krishnagiri District, parts of Dindigul District in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu and also parts of South-western India including parts of Palakkad District in the Kerala state and parts of Chamarajanagar District in Karnataka state.

I would like to thank my friend S who is from Udumalaipet (Kongu region) for sharing these authentic and traditional recipes.  Arisi Paruppu sadam is quiet popular and famous one but the next two recipes are very distinct and unique.  She suggested few recipes  for April BM but then with the alphabetical order  I had to skip. When I saw this theme, I immediately pinged and asked for the recipes. Even though she was busy with packing for her India trip, she called me and explained all the recipes in details. Thank you so much S :-) 

Starting the Kongu Nadu special theme with Arisi Paruppu Saadam errr saamai paruppu sadam. You can read about millets in my previous posts. (Here and Here)

Ingredients:

• Samai Arisi / Little Millet – 1 cup
• Toor Dal – 1/2 cup
• Water – for soaking + 4 cups
• For Seasoning:
• Oil – 2 tsps
• Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp
• Cumin Seeds – 2 tsps
• Hing – 1/2 tsp
• Cloves – 2
• Cinnamon – a small piece (approx 1/2 inch piece)
• Garlic Cloves – 2
• Curry leaves – 1 strand
• Onion – one half of medium sized onion.
• Tomato – 1
• Turmeric Powder – 1/2 tsp
• Red Chilly Powder – 3/4 tsp
• Green Chilly – 1
• Salt – 1 tsp
• Ghee as required for serving

Prep-Work:

• Wash the little millet and toor dal and soak them in water.
• Slit the green chilly into halves
• Peel the garlic cloves and chop them into small pieces.
• Chop the onions and garlic

Steps:

• In a pressure cooker or pressure pan, heat the oil.
• Once the oil is hot add mustard seeds, cumin seeds.
• As they start to splutter, add the hing, cloves, cinnamon and fry for a minute.
• Now add the chopped garlic, onion and curry leaves.
• Cook until the onion turns translucent.
• Now add the chopped tomatoes, turmeric powder, red chilly powder and salt.

• Mix them well and cook until the tomatoes are semi soft. (As we are going to pressure cook, we don’t need to cook until they turn mushy)
• Now add the soaked little millet and toor dal.
• Add 4 cups of water. This is the ratio I followed -> For one cup of rice-lentil mix, I used 2 cups of water + 1 cup. As I had 1.5 cups of millet and toor dal I added 3 cups + 1 cup, so 4 cups of water.
• Check for salt and spice. If required adjust accordingly and pressure cook this for up to 3 to 4 whistles.

Let the pressure cool down and that’s it. Quick and healthy, Samai Paruppu Saadam is ready. Serve hot topped up with dallop of ghee and with raita or pickle or with any roast (potato or yam) or with papad.

Notes:

• Instead of little millet, you can use rice or any other millet like kodo, foxtail or barnyard.
• Adjust the salt, green chilly and red chilly powder according to your taste.
• For this proportion, up to 5 garlic cloves can be added. But as per our preference I went only with 2 garlic cloves.
• Cinnamon and cloves are optional.

Samai Paruppu Saadam | Little Millet Lentil Rice | Kongu Nadu special

Arisi Paruppu sadam one of the popular recipes from the Kongu Nadu. It’s a quick one pot meal prepared with rice which I replaced with little millet &toor dal.

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Prep Time: 15 mins

Cook Time: 30 mins

Total Time: 45 mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: KonguNadu

Keyword: Little Millet Lentil Rice, Samai Paruppu Saadam

Servings: 4

Author: Srividhya G

Ingredients

• Samai Arisi / Little Millet - 1 cup
• Toor Dal - 1/2 cup
• Water - for soaking + 4 cups

For Seasoning

• Oil - 2 tsps
• Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
• Cumin Seeds - 2 tsps
• Hing - 1/2 tsp
• Cloves - 2
• Cinnamon - a small piece approx 1/2 inch piece
• Garlic Cloves - 2
• Curry leaves - 1 strand
• Onion - one half of medium sized onion.
• Tomato - 1
• Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
• Red Chilly Powder - 3/4 tsp
• Green Chilly - 1
• Salt - 1 tsp
• Ghee as required for serving

Instructions

Prep-Work

• Wash the little millet and toor dal and soak them in water.
• Slit the green chilly into halves
• Peel the garlic cloves and chop them into small pieces.
• Chop the onions and garlic

Steps

• In a pressure cooker or pressure pan, heat the oil.
• Once the oil is hot add mustard seeds, cumin seeds.
• As they start to splutter, add the hing, cloves, cinnamon and fry for a minute.
• Now add the chopped garlic, onion and curry leaves.
• Cook until the onion turns translucent.
• Now add the chopped tomatoes, turmeric powder, red chilly powder and salt.
• Mix them well and cook until the tomatoes are semi soft. (As we are going to pressure cook, we don't need to cook until they turn mushy)
• Now add the soaked little millet and toor dal.
• Add 4 cups of water. This is the ratio I followed -> For one cup of rice-lentil mix, I used 2 cups of water + 1 cup. As I had 1.5 cups of millet and toor dal I added 3 cups + 1 cup, so 4 cups of water.
• Check for salt and spice. If required adjust accordingly and pressure cook this for up to 3 to 4 whistles.
• Let the pressure cool down and that's it. Quick and healthy, Samai Paruppu Saadam is ready. Serve hot topped up with dallop of ghee and with raita or pickle or with any roast (potato or yam) or with papad.

Notes

Instead of little millet, you can use rice or any other millet like kodo, foxtail or barnyard.
Adjust the salt, green chilly and red chilly powder according to your taste.
For this proportion, up to 5 garlic cloves can be added. But as per our preference I went only with 2 garlic cloves.
Cinnamon and cloves are optional.

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Sending this recipe for the Blogging Marathon 66. Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#66