Of the millets my parents gave me, samai (Little millet in English, Kutki in Hindi, Sama in telugu, Same in Kannada, Chama in Malayalam) is the last one to try. One day I was craving to have pongal, but wanted to try with millets. So tried my hands with samai. It came out really superb. I used to make our regular pongal this way, i.e; temper directly in pressure cooker and cook all together for pongal – my mom’s way. Its been a long time since I made this way. My mom never adds turmeric anyways. But I added. If you want to replace rice in your diet, this is one of the best option to make pongal. You hardly will know its not rice.

Samai/ Little millet pongal recipe

Recipe Cuisine: Indian | Recipe Category: Breakfast
Prep Time: 5 mins | Cook time: 20 mins | Serves: 2

Ingredients

Samai / Little millet – 1/2 cup

Moong dal / Payatham paruppu – 2 tblsp

Ginger – 1/2 inch piece, crushed

Turmeric – 1/8 tsp

Ghee – As needed

To temper

Ghee – 2 tsp

Pepper (Black whole pepper) – 1 tsp

Jeera – 3/4 tsp

Green chilli – 1

Curry leaves – 1 sprig

Asafoetida/ Hing – A pinch

Method

Heat a small pressure cooker with ghee, first pop pepper, add jeera the other ingredients together (green chilli slit) and give a stir. Add ginger, moong dal and fry for a minute. Wash samai, add it into the cooker. Mix well.

Add 2 cups water, salt and mix well. Bring to boil and close the cooker, give 4 whistles in medium flame. Once done, let the pressure release by itself. Open and mash well.