Recipe for millet sambar sadam made with thinai – foxtail millet. Healthy South Indian Tamil style sambar sadam made with millets and toor dal. With step by step pictures.
Thinai or Foxtail millet is one of the oldest and widely used millet throughout Asia for centuries. There is an old saying in Tamil. வினை விதைத்தவன் வினை அறுப்பான், தினை வினைத்தவன் தினை அறுப்பான். This is the English equivalent of “As you sow, so shall you reap”. Foxtail millet is one of the oldest millet to have been recorded since the sangam period. Foxtail millet is supposed to have been served to Lord Muruga.
Here is how to do easy sambar rice using foxtail millet – thinai and toor dal.
Boil millet and dal:
Soak the dal and millet in water for one hour. Drain the water. I have used half a cup each of toor dal and millet. Add 3 cups of water. I like to cook the millets and dal mixture in a pressure cooker using the pot in pot method. Add a cup of water to the cooker. Place the pot with millet-dal-water inside the cooker. Cook for 6-7 whistles. Cooking directly causes a lot of spewing and mess in the kitchen. This is easily avoided by using the pot in pot method. I always cook dal and rice / millet using pot in pot method only. After cooking for 6-7 whistles, remove from heat and wait for the pressure to settle. Set aside.
Putting the sambar together:
Take a 3 or 4 litre pressure cooker and add in the chopped onion and tomato. Top the veggies with home made tamarind paste, salt, turmeric powder and sambar powder. Add in the cooked dal and millet mixture.
Cook for 2 whistles. Remove from heat and wait for the pressure to settle. Set aside.
Note: We did not add any water at this stage. If using a bigger cooker, add half a cup of more water to avoid burning at the bottom.
Open the cooker and mix everything well to combine.
Tempering:
Heat ghee in a pan and add in mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and cumin seeds. Let the mustard seeds splutter. Add in the asafoetida and curry leaves. Once the curry leaves are crisp, add the tempering to the sambar rice. Serve hot!
Thinai Sambar Sadam, Foxtail Millet Sambar Rice Recipe
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 mins
- Yield: 3 servings 1x
Description
Recipe for millet sambar sadam made with thinai – foxtail millet. Healthy South Indian Tamil style sambar sadam made with millets and toor dal.
Ingredients
For Cooking Millet and Dal
- 1/2 cup thinai arisi – foxtail millet
- 1/2 cup toor dal
- 3 cups water
Other Ingredients
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 tomato, chopped
- 2 teaspoon sambar powder
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 tablespoon tamarind paste
Tempering
- 2 teaspoon ghee
- 1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 5 fenugreek seeds
- 1 sprig curry leaves
- 1/4 teaspoon asafoetida (perungayam – hing)
Instructions
Boil Millet and Dal:
- Soak the dal and millet in water for one hour. Drain the water. Add 3 cups of water and cook for 6-7 whistles. After cooking for 6-7 whistles, remove from heat and wait for the pressure to settle. Set aside.
Putting the Sambar Rice together:
- Take a 3 or 4 litre pressure cooker and add in the chopped onion and tomato. Top the veggies with home made tamarind paste, salt, turmeric powder and sambar powder. Add in the cooked dal and millet mixture. Cook for 2 whistles. Remove from heat and wait for the pressure to settle. Set aside. Open the cooker and mix everything well to combine.
Tempering:
- Heat ghee in a pan and add in mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and cumin seeds. Let the mustard seeds splutter. Add in the asafoetida and curry leaves. Once the curry leaves are crisp, add the tempering to the sambar rice.
- Serve hot!
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Category: main
- Cuisine: Tamilnadu
This turned out awesome. Thank you!
★★★★★
Thank you!
I am new to millet based food. Started trying them out since a month back after learning about their health benefits.
One of the very first recipes I tried out was this one. I have cooked it four times since then. Every time it comes out awesome. My family love it. Thank you for sharing.
★★★★★
Thank you!
Hi,
I tried this today it was awesome.
Thanks.
★★★★★
Have been following your recipes they are really excellent. Now our vists to restaurant’s have decreased. Thanks to your wonderful recipes.
A Need a little help , Can I soak 24mantra millets overnight and then after draining , and dry roasting them keep them stored for a month for further use, just like we do for rava .
Shall be obliged if you answer my query.
I have never tried. So not able to tell you if it will work!
Hey ? I tried making the same with normal rice with slight variations and it turned out to be really good! I also wanted to know if the foxtail millet and kodo millets varieties are available in Hong Kong? Love your recipes 🙂
Foxtail millet is widely avaialable everywhere as foxtail millet is a staple in china.
Thank you so much for such an easy and tasty recipe. I loved the taste and texture of the dish. I added a handful of peas and a carrot and made it a meal.
Thats nice Vidhya. Glad you liked it.