Millets with Tomato

Millets have become like the ‘in thing’ these days. Everyone is trying to include them in their diet. I too purchased a pack of them thinking I should start including it in my diet. Not that I have not had them till now, but it has been an occasional thing, ragi dosa or roti sometime, bajra or jowar roti for the novelty sometime. But now I hope to include it in my diet more often. So here begins my millet journey with a tomato rice kind of dish but with millets. I have used barnyard millet for this recipe, but I guess it can be made with other millets too.

Ingredients

1 cup barnyard millet (or any other you prefer to use),

1 medium sized onion, chopped,

1 cup ground tomato,

2 green chillies,

1 heaped teaspoon sambar powder,

A large pinch of powdered turmeric,

½ tbsp groundnut oil,

½ teaspoon mustard seeds,

Few curry leaves

Method

Check the millets for any small stones or dirt. Wash it well, as they are very small grains it is better to wash it in either a sieve or a muslin cloth.

Place it in a pressure cooker with 2 cups of water and cook. After one whistle, lower the heat and cook for about 7-8 minutes on low heat. Switch off the heat and let the steam release on it’s own.

Heat the oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. Once it crackles add the chopped onion, curry leaves and chopped green chillies. When the onion is transcluent add the ground tomato and cook for about 2-3 minutes. Then add the sambar masala, turmeric and salt. Cook till oil separates.

In the meanwhile, mix the millets gently and remove any lumps. Add this to the prepared masala and mix well.

You can have this just as is or if you want you can serve it with any sabzi or even raita and papad.