• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Indian Veggie Delight logo

  • Home
  • Recipes
    • Kids Lunch Box
    • Instant Pot
    • Air Fryer
    • Rice & Grains
    • Lentil & Beans
    • Millet
    • Vegan
    • Keto/Low Carb Recipes
  • Instant Pot
  • Kids Lunch Box
  • Subscribe
  • About Me
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
menu icon
go to homepage
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • Recipes
  • Instant Pot
  • Air Fryer
  • Kids Lunch Box
  • Shop
  • About
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
  • ×
    Home » Recipes » Millet

    Little Millet Lemon Rice (Samai Lemon Rice)

    Nov 2, 2023. by Bhavana Patil. 3 Comments | This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Jump to Recipe

    Little Millet Lemon Rice (Samai Lemon Rice) is a South Indian-style lemon rice recipe made with little millets. Little millets or Samai are cooked and tossed in a tempering of mustard seeds, lentils, curry leaves, and turmeric.

    Fresh Lemon juice makes it slightly tangy, which further enhances its taste and gives it a distinctive flavor. The lemon millet recipe is perfect for office lunch boxes and picnics.

    Little Millet Lemon Rice served in a bowl garnished with cilantro

    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.

    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.

    You can also check my other millet recipes like Little Millet Upma, Bajra(Pearl Millet) Khichdi, Kodo Millet Pulao

    Benefits of Millets?

    For humans, they release glucose slowly into the bloodstream 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.

    1. Prevent diabetes
    2. Healthy heart
    3. Prevent cancer
    4. Anti-aging properties
    5. Balance cholesterol level
    6. Strengthen bones
    7. Assist digestion

    How to Make Little Millet Lemon Rice

    Cooking Millets

    • Pressure Cooker Method: Rinse little millet thoroughly 2-3 times and add 1 cup of water for ½ cup of little millet/Samai and pressure cook for 1 whistle. Let the pressure/steam release naturally.
    • Once cooled, fluff it up nicely with a fork, so there are no lumps, and the grains stay separate.

    Here is the detailed recipe, How to cook Millet in the Instant Pot.

    Method

    • In a Kadai, add oil once it's hot, add in the peanuts, and fry them until they turn slightly golden brown.
    • Secondly, add mustard seeds, urad dal, jeera, hing, green chilies, curry leaves, and fry for 30 secs till the dal turns golden brown.
    • Then add turmeric powder and onion. Saute for a minute or two till the onion turns slightly brown.
    • Turn off the flame and, add cooled millets, salt, and squeeze the juice of a half lemon. Mix everything well.
    • Garnish with Coriander leaves and serve hot with papad or pickle.
    samai lemon rice served in a bowl garnished with cilantro
    Little Millet Lemon Rice

    Tips to make Lemon Millet Recipe

    1. You can make this samai lemon rice recipe without onions too.
    2. If you don't have a pressure cooker, then in an open pot, add 1.5 cups of water, bring water to a boil, and add ½ cup of little millet. Close the 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.

    More Lemon Recipes

    • Lemon Rice
    • Quinoa Lemon
    • Lemon Coriander Soup
    • Lemon Idli

    More Rice Recipes

    • Vegetable Biryani
    • Spinach Rice
    • Beetroot Rice
    • Coconut Milk Pulao
    • Peas Pulao
    • Ghee Rice

    If you’ve tried this healthy little millet lemon rice recipe or any other recipe on Indianveggiedelight, then don’t forget to rate the recipe. You can also follow me on Instagram and Facebook to see the latest recipes!

    Tried this recipe?Don’t forget to give a ★ rating below
    Little Millet Lemon Rice served in a bowl garnished with cilantro

    Little Millet Lemon Rice (Samai Lemon Rice)

    Bhavana Patil
    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.
    4.80 from 5 votes
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Servings: 2
    Calories : 205
    Course: Breakfast, Main Course
    Cuisine: Indian, South Indian
    Diet: Vegan, Vegetarian
    Method: Stovetop
    Prep Time : 5 minutes minutes
    Cook Time : 20 minutes minutes
    Total Time : 25 minutes minutes

    Ingredients
      

    • ½ cup Little millet(samai) uncooked
    • 1 cup water
    • 1 medium onion finely chopped
    • 2 green chilles finely chopped
    • few curry leaves
    • ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
    • 2 tablespoon peanuts(groundnut)
    • ½ teaspoon mustard seed
    • 1 teaspoon urad dal
    • ¼ teaspoon jeera(cumin)
    • a pinch hing (asafetida)
    • 1 tablespoon coriander leaves finely chopped
    • juice of half lemon
    • 2 tablespoon oil
    • salt as per taste

    Instructions
     

    Cooking Millets

    • Pressure Cooker Method:Wash little millet throughly 2-3 times and add 1 cup of water for ½ cup of little millet/Samai and pressure cook for 1 whistle.Let the pressure/steam release naturally.
    • Once cooled fluff it up nicely with a fork, so there are no lumps and the grains stay separate.

    How to make Little Millet Lemon Rice

    • In a kadai ,add oil once its hot ,add in the peanuts and fry them until they turn slight golden brown.
    • Secondly add mustard seeds, urad dal, jeera, hing,green chilles ,curry leaves and fry 30 secs till dal turn golden brown.
    • Then add turmeric powder and onion . Saute for a minute or two till the onion turns slight brown in color.
    • Turn off the flame and add cooled millets, salt and squeeze the juice of half lemon.Mix everything well.
    • Garnish with Coriander leaves and serve hot with papad or pickle.

    Notes

    1.You can make this recipe without onions too.
    2.If you don't have a pressure cooker, then in an open pot add 1.5 cups of water bring water to boil, and add ½ cup of little millet. Close the 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.
     

    Nutrition

    Calories: 205kcalCarbohydrates: 41gProtein: 6.2gFat: 1.7gSodium: 3.5mgPotassium: 108mgCalcium: 52mgIron: 0.2mg
    Keyword dairy free, Easy and Quick Recipes, gluten-free, healthy, High Fiber, High Protein, indian, little millet, litttle millet lemon rice, lunchbox recipes, millet recipes, siridhanya recipes, south indian, under 30 minutes, vegan
    Tried this recipe?Share your photo and tag @indianveggiedelight or #indianveggiedelight

    More Healthy Millet Recipes

    • instant pot millets served in a bowl
      How to Cook Millets in the Instant Pot
    • indian millet recipes collage
      Indian Millet Recipes
    • millet curd rice served in a wooden bowl garnished with carrot and coriander leaves with pickle on the side
      Millet Curd Rice
    • millet chickpea salad served in a bowl
      Millet Salad with Chickpeas
    683 shares

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

      Leave a Reply Cancel reply

      Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

      Recipe Rating




    1. joseph says

      December 31, 2018 at 4:10 am

      Great lemon rice !! That is a beautiful tart and a fantastic sounding recipe. Your posts are always easy to understand and Helpful. Thank You,

      Reply
    2. GinnyB says

      September 02, 2022 at 7:03 pm

      5 stars
      This was very good. I didn't use the peanuts (didn't have any) and I doubled the lemon juice. Will definitely make again. Thanks for this lovely and different side dish.

      Reply
      • Bhavana Patil says

        September 07, 2022 at 6:41 pm

        Thank you Ginny for trying out the recipe and sharing your feedback 😊 Happy cooking, have a great day 😊

        Reply

    Primary Sidebar

    Hi, I am Bhavana! Welcome to my blog! Here you'll find easy recipes for your Instant Pot, Kids Lunch Box ideas, Keto/LowCarb, Air-fryer plus more wholesome, easy Vegetarian/Vegan Indian recipes that your family will love.

    More about me →

    Popular Recipes

    • 75 plus Healthy indian Kids Lunch Box Recipes collage
      Healthy Kids Lunch Box Recipes (Indian)
    • 40+ best easy indian dinner recipes collage
      40+ Best Vegetarian Indian Dinner Recipes (Easy Dinner Ideas)
    • indian breakfast recipes collage
      25+ Best Indian Breakfast Recipes
    • Creamy Avocado Pasta served in a bowl
      The Best Avocado Pasta
    • indian salad recipes collage
      15+ Best Indian Salad Recipes
    • collage of indian air fryer recipes
      20+ Easy Air Fryer Indian Recipes

    Footer

    ↑ BACK TO TOP

    ABOUT

    • ABOUT BHAVANA
    • CONTACT
    • PRIVACY POLICY

    RECIPES

    • COOKING 101
    • INSTANT POT 101
    • INSTANT POT RECIPES
    • AIR FRYER RECIPES
    • KIDS LUNCH BOX
    • WEB STORIES

    RESOURCES

    • SHOP
    • SUBSCRIBE

    AS AN AMAZON ASSOCIATE, I EARN FROM QUALIFYING PURCHASES.

    Copyright © 2023 INDIAN VEGGIE DELIGHT