Varagu Arisi Pudhina Sadham /Kodo Millet Mint Rice (Mint-Lemon Millet)

Category: Rice Varieties
Preparation Time: 15 mins  
Cooking Time: 20 mins
Servings: 2 servings

Millets are very nutrient rich grains. These super grains were forgotten for a while and now they are making a coming back. 

Varagu Arisi Pudhina Sadham

This is a very easy recipe and we can call this as mint-lemon millet. For this I have used Kodo millet / Varagu Arisi, but we can use any of the millets. 

Mint Kodo Millet with Moongdal-Carrot Salad

I prefer soaking millets for atleast 2 hours so that it would help with digestion and also will get cooked faster. If we have time, we can soak for about 6 to 8 hours.

Ingredients:

• Kodo Millet / Varagu Arisi - 1/2 cup
• Raw Peanuts- 2-3 Tbsp
• Lime / Lemon juice - as needed
• Oil - 1/2 Tbsp
• Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Channa dhal - 1/2 Tbsp
• Urad dhal, Split - 1/2 Tbsp
• Curry leaves - few
• Red chillies, broken - 1-2 nos (adjust as per spice level)
• Turmeric powder - a generous pinch
• Asafoetida - a pinch
• Salt - to taste
• Water - as required

To Grind:

• Mint leaves - 1 cup
• Ginger - 1/2 inch
• Green chilly - 1

Method:

• Cooking Millets: Wash and soak 1/2 cup of the millet for atleast 1 hour. Take 1 to 1  1/2 cup of water in a pan (if we want more grainy, we can use 1:2 ratio and for softer rice we can add 1:3 ratio) and bring to boil. Once it started to boil, add the drained millet and cook until most of the water gets absorbed. Then cover and cook in low flame for few mins and switch off. Once its done, fluff it up and spread it in a plate to allow it to cool down

• Wash the mint leaves, ginger and green chilly and grind to a fine paste with 1-2 Tbsp of water and keep it ready

• Heat oil in a wide pan, once it becomes hot add the raw peanuts and saute until they get roasted well

• Then add mustard seeds followed by Channa dhal, Urad dhal, red chillies, asafoetida and curry leaves; saute for a min till the dhals turn golden brown

• Now add in the mint paste and saute in low to medium flame for 2 mins
  
• Add turmeric powder and mix well, add required salt 
• Saute for few secs

• Add in the cooked and cooled millets

• Mix gently until combined and switch it off

• Then drizzle the lemon / lime juice over the rice and mix gently so that they get combined

• Serve with fresh veg salad

• Perfect for lunch box too:)