Little Millet Lemon Rice|Samai Lemon Rice is a South Indian style lemon rice made with little millets. Little millets or Samai are cooked and tossed in a tempering of mustard seeds, lentils, curry leaves, turmeric.Fresh Lemon juice makes it slightly tangy which further enhances its taste and gives it a distinctive flavor. It is perfect for office lunch boxes and picnics.
Millets are the best replacement for rice, they taste like rice and they cook like rice. They just are smaller in size, more like broken rice.
What are Millets?
Millets are Ancient Grains. Mankind has known their nutrition value for centuries. They are naturally gluten – free. Millet can also be used as a healthier alternative to rice , as well as in salad recipes or as a side dish.
|Little Millet in English |Samai in tamil| Kutki in Hindi|Saame Akki in kannada|Chama in malayalam| Sama in telugu, is a very healthy variety of millet.
They get digested slowly giving sustained energy. Millets are ideal for diabetics looking for an alternative grain to rice. They also help increase the bio-availability of minerals and have strong antioxidant properties. Regular consumption helps in decreasing triglycerides and C-reactive protein.
Benefits of Millets?
For humans, they release Glucose slowly into the blood stream as against highly processed Rice & wheat which release it very quickly.Millets are highly nutritious and rich in calcium, protein, fiber and the list goes on. They are gluten free unlike rice and wheat.
- Prevent diabetes
- Healthy heart
- Prevent cancer
- Anti-ageing properties
- Balance cholesterol level
- Strengthen bones
- Assist digestion
If you are looking for more Millet recipes then do check
Little Millet Lemon Rice|Samai Lemon Rice Recipe Card Below
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South Indian style lemon rice made with little millets. Little millets or Samai are cooked and tossed in a tempering of mustard seeds, lentils, curry leaves, turmeric.
- 1/2 cup Little millet(samai) uncooked
- 1 cup water
- 1 medium onion finely chopped
- 2 green chilles finely chopped
- few curry leaves
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 2 tbsp peanuts(groundnut)
- 1/2 tsp mustard seed
- 1 tsp urad dal
- 1/4 tsp jeera(cumin)
- a pinch hing (asafetida)
- 1 tbsp coriander leaves finely chopped
- juice of half lemon
- 2 tbsp oil
- salt, as per taste
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Pressure Cooker Method:Wash little millet throughly 2-3 times and add 1 cup of water for 1/2 cup of little millet/samai and pressure cook for 1 whistle.Let the pressure/steam release naturally.
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Once cooled fluff it up nicely with a fork, so there are no lumps and the grains stay separate.
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In a kadai ,add oil once its hot ,add in the peanuts and fry them until they turn slight golden brown.
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Secondly add mustard seeds, urad dal, jeera, hing,green chilles ,curry leaves and fry 30 secs till dal turn golden brown.
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Then add turmeric powder and onion . Saute for a minute or two till the onion turns slight brown in color.
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Turn off the flame and add cooled millets, salt and squeeze the juice of half lemon.Mix everything well.
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Garnish with Coriander leaves and serve hot with papad or pickle.
1.You can make this recipe without onions too.
2.If you dont have pressure cooker, then in a open pot add 1.5 cups of water bring water to boil and add 1/2 cup of little millet.Close lid and cook on medium flame till all water is absorbed. It should be slightly soggy.Once cooled fluff it up nicely with a fork, so there are no lumps and the grains stay separate.
Note:Nutrition values are my best estimates. If you rely on them for your diet, use your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Great lemon rice !! That is a beautiful tart and a fantastic sounding recipe. Your posts are always easy to understand and Helpful. Thank You,