Bisi Bele Millet Recipe [Video]

Spicy South Indian one pot main made by simmering millet with lentils (dal), mix vegetables and spice blends. Vegan and healthy.

So, here I am with another Millet recipe. As I mentioned in my last week's post, I'm all on the millet wagon. I'm enjoying discovering these grains and creating recipes with them. I made a Pulao last week with Millet that tasted awesome. Leave me a comment if you want me to post that recipe.

Apart from that, I had a super tiring Saturday and a totally relaxing Sunday, just as I had planned, or not. So the whole saturday was spent gardening. If you are new here, I should let you know I have a small balcony garden where I try to grow vegetables organically. More recently, I've acquired a few flowers and fruit too, but majorly focusing on herbs and vegetables. My okra and chilli plant from last month have germinated and are coming along fine. This Saturday, I've been ambitious and planted daikon radish, beets, french beans, and brinjals. And I'm so excited!!

Sunday was the day I turned a year wiser. I spent it doing absolutely nothing. Breakfast was at Gee's place and lunch at my in law's. Dinner was take out. So all I did was lie around and watch reruns of sitcoms all day long. My dream day, almost. It would be perfect if the day was 48 hours long.

What would be your dream birthday celebration?

So back to my millet wagon, this Bisi Bele Millet is a take on the Bangalore classic, Bisi Bele Bhaat. Bisi Bele Bhaat is a simple one pot main dish made by making a sambar - a curry with lentils and vegetables and adding rice to it and simmering the two together. In today's recipe, I have replaced the rice with millet. I used little millet or samai. Navane or Foxtail Millet can be used too. You can also use Quinoa.

Bisi Bele Millet is a spicy one pot comfort dish that is perfect for those lazy evening when all you are all worked up but cannot be bothered to get a take out. This dish is even easier when you have done all the prep work in advance. The lentils/dal can be cooked and stored in the refrigerator and so can the millet. The vegetables can be diced and stored in the fridge too. So on the night you want to eat the Bisi Bele Millet, just put one pot on the stove and get it going.

Bisi Bele Millet tastes delicious with the traditional topping of spicy boondi. If you aren't vegan, then I highly recommend stirring a teaspoon of ghee or serving it with a side of raita.

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook,  tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com I'd love to see what you are upto.

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

You can follow One Teaspoon Of Life on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+ or you can subscribe to One Teaspoon Of Life and receive all the latest updated via Email

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Bisi Bele Millet Recipe

Spicy South Indian one pot main dish made with cooked lentils, millet, mix vegetables and spice blends. Vegan and healthy meal.

Recipe Type:  Main
Cuisine:            South Indian
Prep Time:     15 minutes
Cook time:     30 minutes
Total time:     45 minutes
Yield:                Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

3 cups cooked Little Millet or Samai
2 cups cooked Pigeon Pea lentils or Toor Dal
2 cups mixed chopped Vegetables (Carrots, French Beans, Potato, Kohlrabi)
2 tsp Bisi Bele Bhaat Powder or Sambar Powder
1 tsp Red Chilli Powder
0.5 tsp Turmeric Powder
Pinch of Asafoetida (Hing)
Salt to taste
Water as required
2 tsp Oil
0.5 tsp Mustard Seeds
10-12 Curry leaves

Method:

1. Boil the diced vegetables until done. You can salt the water if you want.
2. Cook the vegetables until they are done, but not mushy.
3. Add salt, bisi bele bhaat powder, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and asafoetida. Mix well.
4. Add boiled lentils and mix well. Allow it to come to a rolling boil. Add a little water if it is too thick.
5. Add boiled millet and mix well. Allow it to cook on low heat for 5-6 minutes.
6. Heat oil in a small pan and add mustard seeds.
7. Once they splutter, add the curry leaves and immediately pour on the bisi bele millet.
8. Mix well.
9. Serve hot with raita.

If you liked this, you may also like:

Millet Lemon Rice

Raw Mango Rice

Healthy Millet Salad

Read more ...

Millet Lemon Rice | Samai Chitranna

South Indian style Lemon Rice made with little millets or samai.

I've newly discovered my love for millet - those ancient grains.

Off late I have been trying to eat healthier at night. My best friend lost a lot of weight by just avoiding eating rice at night, and I am inspired. I decided to give it a try. Although I'm not much of a rice person, there are nights when all I want is some rice and curry for dinner, you know, comfort food. Especially when I've been stressed out at work and the night is unusually chilly, which it kinda is with the monsoons setting in. In my bid to avoid rice, I've found a best friend in millet. 

Millet 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. And right now, they are a rage.

With an entire society reeling with obesity and health issues, everyone is trying to eat healthy, organic, seasonal and local. And millet have gained a large following thanks to that. They are also very nutritious and full of fiber. There are several varieties of millet available with Foxtail millet and Little millet being the closest to rice (according to me). They can also easily replace Quinoa in a recipe, they are much cheaper than quinoa, and close to its nutritional value. Millets are also gluten free. You can read more about millet here.

Now, to my recipe - Millet Lemon Rice. Lemon rice is a very common and popular way to use leftover rice in South India. I have replaced the rice with little millet in my recipe. Just like the regular Lemon Rice is best made with a day old rice, millet lemon rice is best made with cooled cooked millet, preferably a day old. I used half day old millet and it turned out perfect. To cook millet either follow the directions on the packet or cook it the same way you would cook rice. I cooked mine in the pressure cooker, you can cook it in a pan on the stove top or in a rice cooker. 

While tempering the lemon rice, you can add peanuts or cashew nuts to add crunch to the dish. You can also skip the onions and capsicum and just make it plain. 

Millet Lemon Rice can be served as breakfast or meal. It is easy to carry in a lunch box. It can be accompanied with Indian Pickle, Raita or crispy fried papads.

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook, tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com. I'd love to see what you are upto. 

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

You can follow One Teaspoon Of Life on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+ or you can subscribe to One Teaspoon Of Life and receive all the latest updated via Email

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Millet Lemon Rice

Little millets or Samai are cooked and tossed in a tempering of mustard seeds, lentils, curry leaves, turmeric powder and lime juice. This is the perfect way to use left over millets.

Recipe Type:  Main
Cuisine:            Indian
Prep Time:     30 minutes
Cook time:     40 minutes
Total time:     70 minutes
Yield:                Serves 2

Ingredients:

0.75 cup uncooked Little Millet or 3 cups cooked Little Millet
1.5 cup Water
3 tsp Oil
1 Onion
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
0.25 tsp Asafoetida (Hing)
1 Tbsp Chana Dal (Optional)
8-10 Curry leaves
0.5 tsp Turmeric Powder
1 Lime
0.5 tsp Sugar
0.5 Capsicum
Salt to taste

Method:

1. If using uncooked millets, soak them in water for 30-45 minutes. You can soak them overnight as well.
2. Drain out the water and pressure cook with 2 cups of water and a pinch of salt until done (2-3 whistles). If you don't have a pressure cooker, just cook it the same way you cook rice.
3. Fluff it with a fork and keep aside to cool. Lemon rice works best with a day old millet, so you can prep this a day in advance.
4. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds.
5. Once the mustard seeds splutter, add the chana dal. Allow it to brown slightly.
6. Add the curry leaves and chopped green chillies.
7. Add finely chopped onion. Saute until the onions are browned.
8. Now add roughly chopped capsicum and saute for 3-4 minutes. You can add Cashews or peanuts too.
9. Add the turmeric powder, salt and juice of half lime. Mix well.
10. Add the millet and mix well.
11. Now as per taste, add in more lime juice, sugar and salt.
12. Garnish with the chopped coriander leaves.
13. Serve hot with raita.

If you liked this, you may also like:

Ghee Rice

Raw Mango Rice

Methi Rice

Read more ...

Super Tasty Millet Cutlets

TGIF!! Right? Weekend officially begins for most of us.

Well not so much for me this week. I'm working tomorrow. Not a happy feeling, I have to admit. Saturday is my favorite day of the week. I like that happy feeling that there is another day of holiday left. By Sunday, I'm usually sad that the weekend is "almost" over. Now all my plans for Saturday are out of the window and pushed to next Saturday. I wanted to go get some fresh mud to plant the variety of seeds I got free at an Organic Terrace Gardening workshop conducted a few weeks ago. 

I am looking forward to some fresh vegetables in the near future, but those plans have to wait until I get an entire weekend to dedicate to my balcony garden. 

More about that later.

So what else happened this week for you guys? 

I baked my first Vegan chocolate cake for Gee and Raj's birthday on Wednesday.  I have baked vegetarian cakes, but never vegan. It was super delicious, but so wrong in texture. I hope to keep trying to perfect it and hopefully will have it soon on the blog. 

So, none of that on top had anything to do with either my recipe for today or my new found obsession with millet. I'm beginning to use millet extensively these days, remember this post on Healthy Millet Salad? Since then I've tried out a few more recipes with Millet, but these Millet Cutlets have to be my favorite. I secretly love the fact that they are healthy too. Well not so much of a secret anymore, is it?

Usually vegetarian cutlets use potato as the base as it binds well. But this recipe, just like my Curried Brown Rice and Zucchini Fritters recipe, uses the starchy grain as the binding agent. And the good thing is, just like potato and rice, millet in itself is bland, so it absorbs all the flavor of the spices.

I used simple vegetables I had at home - frozen peas, beans and carrot. Feel free to use other vegetables like Zucchini or Beets. Next time I'm definitely adding Beets. Beets will give it lovely color and that earthy sweetness which I absolutely love in cutlets.

If you liked this, you may also like:

• Vegetable Cutlets - Mix vegetable cutlets with coriander and mint chutney
• Healthy Millet Salad - Protein packed salad made from millet, kidney beans and fresh vegetables and herbs.
• Curried Brown Rice and Zucchini Fritters recipe - My most popular recipe of fritters or cutlets made with brown rice, zucchini and spices.

Super Tasty Millet Cutlet

Shallow fried cutlets made from foxtail millet and mixed vegetables.

Recipe Type:  Appetizer
Cuisine:            Indian
Prep Time:     30 minutes
Cook time:     30 minutes
Yield:                Makes 13-15

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Foxtail Millet or Navane
4-5 Green Beans
3 Tbsp Green Peas
1 small Carrot
1-2 tsp Green Chilli-Ginger paste
1/2 tsp Garam Masala
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
1 Tbsp Coriander leaves (finely chopped)
1-2 tsp Lime Juice
1/2 tsp Jaggery or Sugar
Oil to fry
Water
Salt to taste

Method:

Wash and soak the millet in water for 30 minutes
Finely chop the green beans and the carrot.
Boil the green beans, carrot and green peas until done.
Drain the millet, and pressure cook it in 1 cup of water until the millets are cooked. Cook it for 1 whistle or for 3-4 minutes after the pressure builds up. If not using a pressure cooker, cook it the same way you would cook rice regularly until the millet is well done.
Allow it to cool until you can work with it.
In a large bowl, combine the cooked millet, cooked vegetables and mash slightly.
Add the coriander leaves, green chilli-ginger paste, lime juice, garam masala, turmeric powder, jaggery or sugar, salt and mix well.
Shape into cutlets and keep aside.
Heat 3-4 Tbsp of Oil in a frying pan and place the cutlets on it. Once the first side is golden brown, flip and cook until the other side is browned.
Serve hot with ketchup or mint chutney.

Read more ...

Healthy Millet Salad

This Healthy Millet Salad is made from Foxtail Millet, kidney beans, sprouts and mix vegetables. It is very healthy, very tasty and very filling. 

You go to the supermarket and are immediately drawn to the shelf that holds these exotic ingredients that you've only heard of but never eaten. It looks nice in it's classy looking packaging. You start remembering that recipe you saw on TV or that food photo that featured in the Magazine, wondering which of them should you cook. You glance at the price, and that wonderful dream of cooking with something exotic just evaporates. Smile replaced by shock. Deja vu, anyone?

I replay this scene everytime I go to stores like FoodHall or Godrej Nature's Basket. And sometimes I do it knowing that it will be an anti-climax. By now I know I will never buy Quinoa because of it's insane cost. Quinoa is being touted as THE superfood. High in protein, not high in calories, it's kind of  a win-win for those who can access it easily.

Quinoa is not Indian. Although, recently, some farmers are toying with the idea of growing Quinoa, it is still not popular enough to replace any of our ancient grains and seeds.

I use Millet instead. India has been the home of millet for centuries. Millets are just as rich as Quinoa. It is rich in fibre and magnesium. It has a low glycemic index and is a rich source of protein. And it is very light on your pocket. In short, millet is affordable super food that are easily available anywhere.

There are various types of Millet:

• Pearl Millet or Bajra
• Foxtail Millet or Navane
• Finger Millet or Ragi
• Sorghum Millet or Jowar

There are so many more, but these are the famous ones.

Let's  get back to this super tasty and healthy Foxtail Millet Salad. I've had it two days in a row and I just cannot have enough of it !!! 

This is a super simple salad. The dressing is made with just Olive oil, lime juice, honey, salt and pepper. Everything you already have at home, so there is no excuse to skip making it. Use any oil you like if you have run out of Olive Oil.

Now, usually, I say that there are things that are optional in a recipe. But in this one, the beans are definitely not optional. They are one the major building blocks of this salad. I really don't believe this salad will taste as good if you skip them. Also really needed are the fresh ingredients - tomatoes, cucumbers and mint. Everything else in the salad can either be skipped or replaced. You can substitute the coriander with parsley. Skip the sprouts if you don't have any. I personally like the light sweetness of the carrots in the salad and would recommend keeping it in there.

This salad was pretty filling due to all the protein in it and the slowly digesting millet. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. 

If you liked this, you may also like:

• Kabuli Chana Chaat or Chickpea Salad - Street side style salad made with chickpeas, tomatoes, onions and spices. Hot and Tangy - explosive on your taste buds.
• Radish Salad - Fresh salad made from finely chopped radish or daikon (mooli) and it's leaves.

Healthy Millet Salad

Healthy salad made with mixed vegetables, beans, sprouts and Foxtail Millet. 

Recipe Type:  Salad
Cuisine:            Indian
Prep Time:     30 minutes
Cook time:     30 minutes
Yield:                Serves 2

Ingredients:

1/4 cup Foxtail Millet or  Navane
1 cup cooked Red Kidney Beans or Rajma
1/4 cup Sprouts
2 ripe Tomatoes
1 small Cucumber
1/2 Carrot
1/2 Capsicum
Handful Coriander leaves
Handful Mint leaves
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 tsp Honey
2-3 tsp Lime Juice
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
1/2 cup Water

Method:

Wash and soak the millet for 30 minutes.
Drain the millet and pressure cook it with 1/2 cup water until done. In a pressure cooker it takes around 1 whistle or 4-5 minutes after the pressure builds up.
If not using a pressure cooker, cook it the same way you would cook rice.
Allow the millet to cool to room temperature.
Finely chop the tomatoes, cucumber, carrot and capsicum and add to the millet.
Add the red kidney beans and the sprouts to the millet.
Roughly chop the coriander and mint leaves and add to the millet.
In a small bowl, mix olive oil, honey, lime juice, salt and pepper until completely blended.
Pour the dressing over the millet and vegetable mixture and mix well.
Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Read more ...