MILLET SAKKARAI PONGAL ~ Samai Sakkarai Pongal ~ Little Millet Sweet Pongal

Millet Sakkarai Pongal – How to make millet sweet pongal- Samai Sakkarai pongal recipe – Little Millet Sweet Pongal Recipe

Millets can replace rice in various dishes like idli , dosa, kheer, pongal etc.. Nowadays for any festive or special occasion, I’m trying out sweet preparations with different millets that i could find. This time I tried sakkarai pongal / sweet pongal which tasted good, in fact equally good like regular sakkarai pongal. Little Millet  / Samai taste similar to varugu, they also kind of look like…and the preparation also is quite the same. During my last India visit, I had a chance to get  few millet varieties… little millt is one of them. These millets are very easily available in most of the grocery stores/ departmental stores in India. Got mine from Waitrose Supermarket which even carried few other organic varieties too.  Millets can be used to make upma, dosa, idli, vada, bajjis/pakoras, murrukus/chakkli, nipatlu, pongal, mudda (dumpling), khichdi, pulav/biriyani, kheer/payasam, baked products such as bread and biscuits, or just boiled as rice. It can be easily substituted for rice and wheat. Cooking them plain will be the easiest of all preparations … to make it a little appetizing Khichdi/Pongal would be a good place to start with. This time I made sweet pongal with Samai arisi(Little millet) which taste similar to varagu arisi (kodo millet).

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Little millet: Samai in Tamil / Kutki in Hindi / Sama in Telugu.Millets are known as “Small Grains” or “Siru Thaaniyangal” in Tamil. (Hindi: Kutki; Tamil: Samai; Telugu: Sama; Kannada: Same; Malayalam: Chama) Millet sweet pongal is equally tasty and delicious as the regular sakkarai pongal.Most millets can be cooked like rice. Millets can replace rice in various dishes such as idli, dosa, payasam/kheer. Millet flour can be used to make rotis. Click here for some recipes.

Why Little Millet / Samai  or Saamai arisi ?

Samai rice is gluten-free and packed with vitamins and minerals, high fiber content, helps in controlling blood sugar and Cholesterol, digestion friendly, ease constipation, helps in reduction of cancer risks.

Where to buy LittleMillet / Samai Arisi?

You can find this millet in most of the grocery stores in India, Nilgiris Supermarket / Waitrose Supermarket  / Any Departmental Store / Organic Stores -Dhanyam Supermarket / even ordinary maligai stores carry these millets. I have not seen this in USA so far, if you happen to see this variety pls share the info. Finger millet, Foxtail millet, Pearl Millet and Sorghum are available in Indian Stores (Patel Bros), USA and some online stores like http://www.bobsredmill.com/

How to cook Plain Little Millet / Samai Arisi ?

You can cook Samai either by pressure cooking or over stove top.

For 1 cup Samai / Little millet its 2 & 3/4 cups of water for slightly grainy consistency.

For 1 cup Little millet / Samai its about 3 cups of water for mushy texture.

Stove top method:  Soaking not necessary for Little / Samai Millet. Wash & rinse the millet in cold water and clean all the dirt. Keep aside. Bring water to a boil, reduce the flame to sim, add the millet, cover and cook for 10 minutes over low flame. Once done switch off. Let it rest for 5 minutes to cook additional in that steam. Now fluff up the cooked millet using a fork and its all ready for serving. Serve warm with sambar / rasam/ curd.

Pressure cooker method: Soaking not necessary for Little / Samai Millet. Wash & rinse the millet in cold water and clean all the dirt. Using the above measure cook the millet with water upto to 2 whistles.

1. Rinse samai arisi in water and clear all the impurities and then add moong dal to it along with water and salt.
2. Pressure cook for upto 2 whistles and switch off.
3. Meanwhile heat little ghee in a pan, fry cashews till golden and keep aside.
4. Once the pressure settles, carefully open  the cooker and mash the cooked millet & dal.( Add milk at this stage)
5. Now add grated jaggery and cardamom powder and mix well.
6. Cook the mixture over low medium flame, you will see the jaggery melting and blending well wit the mixture.
7. At this stage add little ghee, fried cashews and mix well.
8. Switch off and serve hot drizzling with some more ghee.
   Print Recipe

   

   Millet Sakkarai Pongal

   Millet Sakkarai - South Indian traditional Sweet Pongal made with little millet / samai arisi.

   Prep Time15 minutes mins

   Cook Time30 minutes mins

   Total Time45 minutes mins

   Course: Breakfast

   Cuisine: Indian, southindian

   Keyword: dessert, littlemillet, millet, pongal, samai, sweetpongal

   Servings: 2 people

   Author: Mullai Madavan

   Ingredients

   • 1/2 cup Littlet millet / samai arisi
   • 2 tablespoon Yellow moong dal / pachai paruppu
   • 3/4 cup Jaggery
   • 1 each Cardamom powdered
   • 6 whole Cashews halved
   • 3 tablespoons Ghee
   • 2.5 cups Water
   • 1 pinch Salt
   • 6 each Raisins
   • 1/4 cup Milk
   • 1 pinch Edible camphor / pachai karpuram

   Instructions

   • Rinse samai arisi in water and clear all the impurities and then add moong dal to it along with water and salt.
   • Pressure cook for upto 2 whistles and switch off.
   • Meanwhile heat little ghee in a pan, fry cashews till golden and keep aside.
   • Once the pressure settles, carefully open the cooker and mash the cooked millet & dal.( Add milk at this stage)
   • Now add grated jaggery and cardamom powder and mix well.
   • Cook the mixture over low medium flame, you will see the jaggery melting and blending well wit the mixture.
   • At this stage add little ghee, fried cashews and mix well.
   • Switch off and serve hot drizzling with some more ghee.

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Notes

• Same recipe can be used for Varagu(Kodo Millet) & Kuthiraivali (Barynyard Millet). Other millets will work too but he water measure has to be little more.
• I have used light colored jaggery for this recipe as i ran out of dark mandai vellam. Pongal color will vary with the type of jaggery used.
• The ingredients listed as optional – Salt always highlight the sweet taste to any dish adding this is optional, raisins can be fried along with cashews and added to the pongal, its just a personal preference- we at home don;t like it., Edible camphor adds nice earthy touch to the taste is optional too.. Milk – adding milk is to make the pongal stay soft. Cooked millets gets soaked up fast and becomes dry and hence little milk which can help it to stay soft & creamy.
• If you adding milk, then add while mashing the millet & dal before adding jaggery.
• Adding more ghee obviously keeps the pongal rich and shinny. Adjust according to your preference.
• For more tasty pongal dry roast moong dal until light golden and then proceed with the recipe.
• Jaggery can be melted in little water and strained to remove impurities, I have added directly which also works.
• Millets don’t need to be soaked for this recipe.

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