Little Millet Pulao | Samai Millet Pulao

Little Millet Pulao is delicious pulao recipe made using little millet or Kutki millet as it is known in Hindi. It’s great grain to make pulao if you are looking to replace rice from your diet. Little millet is lower in GI as compared to rice and is a gluten-free grain. If you know how to cook this right Little millet can be substituted for rice in most of the dishes.

It’s Thursday again and I know many of you already know there will be a completely organic recipe on the blog from my 24 Mantra Organic Recipe series.

This week I chose 24 Mantra Little Millet for the recipe and I made a quick and Easy Punjabi recipe which is favorite with most people when they are in hurry. Yes! It’s Pulao. I find Pulao is one of the tastiest and convenient dish especially when you are having those too busy in life days. Keeping these one pot dishes healthy is another challenge so one should not feel guilty later. That’s why I keep trying such dishes which feel simple but are comforting and with few simple sides like chutney, papad or pickle they taste like absolute heaven.

In this little millet and vegetable pulao, I substituted the rice with this tasty grain Little Millet (Kutki in Hindi and Samai in Tamil). This came out tastier and even quicker than rice, because 24 Mantra little Millet come par boiled that means lesser cooking time. So, real food that can be cooked in few minutes, what will you call it? Real Fast Food May Be 😀

Add lot’s of veggies and may be nuts in the Little Millet Pulao to make it even more healthy and nuts add good fats if used in right quantity. I also added Kishmish/raisins which add a tad touch of sweetness in otherwise spicy pulao and add a lovely contrast in terms of taste in the millet pulao.

Coming back to nutrition why I choose Ancient Grains like Millet,  quinoa over rice in everyday meals is Rice has very high GI value, that means it is absorbed into our blood stream very fast and raises blood sugar level quickly whereas Millets have medium GI value that means they don’t affect sugar value that fast and metabolism works at steady speed and no sluggishness.

Initially, you may not like the taste of millet but once you start cooking them the right way and in your favorite dishes the taste grows on you. That’s why I suggest starting with your favorite dishes first and incorporate it gradually into your everyday diet. I feel that’s the only way to make a sustainable change.

With the availability of so many millet varieties, I am experimenting with a lot of millet recipes in my kitchen and will share them with you all soon.

Few of you asked me on social media if using organic ingredients makes difference in terms of taste? The answer is yes! It does, because organic produce/ingredients are grown pesticide free and with completely natural methods taste changes slightly. But it does make difference in terms of health factor considerably. You can read about How organic food is better than regular food here.

Personally, It has made a great difference for me in terms of increased immunity and taste and I feel better about lesser exposure from pesticides in my food when there are already too much here in terms of pollution around us.

You must definitely check out the Organic Mantras Initiative and follow them on Facebook and Instagram and join the organic movement.

As I said before, Little Millet pulao or Samai Millet Pulao is very quick (because parboiled), healthy and most importantly a very tasty way to start adding millet to your everyday diet. Do give it a try and if you already use millets I would be happy to hear about what are your favorite dishes that you make with millets in the comments section.

 You May Like To check the Recipes I created with 24 Mantra Organic

1. Ragi and chocolate Pancakes
2. FalaFel Waffles 
3. Gujrati Khatti Meethi Dal
4. Organic Ragi Flake Upma
5. Whole Massor Dal ki Tikki 
6. Little Millet Pulao
7. Rajma Galouti Kabab
8. Chole Aloo Curry  

Little Millet Pulao | Samai Millet Pulao

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Cuisine: Indian, indian cuisine

Ingredients

• 300 g Little Millet organic par boiled
• 100 g carrot chopped
• 100 g Peas shelled
• 100 g Potatoes chopped
• 100 g onion Chopped
• 100 g tomato Chopped
• 20 g mint leaves chopped
• 1 Tbsp Peanut Oil for pulao
• Some peanut oil for deep frying
• 1 tsp cumin seed
• 2-3 Star anise
• 1/4 tsp cloves
• 1/2 tsp ginger paste
• 2-3 green chilli chopped
• 1 tsp Red chilli powder
• 4 Tbsp Raw peanuts shelled
• 2 Tbsp Kishmish/raisins

Instructions

• Take a pan and dry roast the little millet for 2-3 minutes. Add 400ml of water, once water starts to boil and cook it covered on slow for 5 minutes.
• Switch off the heat, when water is absorbed fluff it with fork and use in the recipe.
• When Little millet is cooking in the side you can prepare a tempering or tadka for it.
• In a separate pan heat up the oil for deep frying and fry the chopped potatoes till light brown and drain them on to a kitchen napkin.
• Now take out all the oil from pan and leave just 1 tbsp peanut oil in the pan, add cumin seeds, cloves, star anise and bay leaf. Add chopped onion and ginger too.
• Fry them for 2 minutes on medium high heat and add finely chopped green chilli and tomatoes. Also add salt and red chilli powder.
• Cook the tomatoes till pulpy and add chopped carrot and peas, cook them for 4-5 minutes while covered and then add cooked little millet.
• Mix everything gently and add chopped mint leaves, cook for 2 more minutes and serve it hot.

Tried this recipe?Mention @RekhaKakkar or tag #rekhakakkar!