Tamrind rice Foxtail millets /Thinai

Thinai puliyogare /Tamrind foxtail millets

Tamrind Foxtail Millet is nothing but Tamrind rice preparation using millets. Am not sure how to name it so I call it Tamrind Foxtail millet/Thinai.
Thinai is incidentally one of the most ancient food or grains used in olden days especially in traditional homes in Tamilnadu.
It ranks as one of the most preferred grain in traditional Tamil cooking households. Then with the advent of rice and various varieties of rice , these grain or millets seemed to lose out , yet rural folks were still embracing them on account of the quick cultivation and yield, being cost effective.

With modern life and the ailments that followed , there has been a turnaround and everyone is making a rush to go back to healthy eating and seeing millets with more respect.It is also cooked and offered to Lord Muruga as a prasad./neivediyam.

Thinai puliyogare/foxtail millet tamrind rice

Foxtail millets /Thinai

Image from india mart

Millet varieties

I have given in my blog the recipe for instant Puliyogare mix which you can follow to make this delicious dish. The puliyogare mix recipe is given below in this post as well .

Millets are highly nutritious, non-glutinous and not acid forming foods. Hence they are soothing and easy to digest.

They are considered to be the least allergenic and most digestible grains available.

Compared to Paddy rice, especially polished Paddy rice, millets release lesser percentage of glucose and over a longer period of time. This lowers the risk of diabetes.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Foxtail millets/Thinai  ( can be broken to sooji like consistency)

• 1 tsp sesame oil.2-3 tbsp or as preferred Tamrind rice powder mix ..

• Some curry leaves.

• As the mix has everything like the seasoning, peanuts , salt, no need to add them.

Direction:

• Cook the millets just as you would cook rice either by pressure cooker or in rice cooker.

• I used the rice cooker , by adding 1 cup  foxtail millets and 2 1/2  cups water.After  the millets are cooked, fluff with a fork to separate grains. 

• Let it cool well.Heat a pan, add the oil, add some Tamrind rice powder.Mix the millets well.

• Garnish with some curry leaves.

• Serve with papad or fried chips or wafers.Except for the fact that Foxtail  millets appear smaller than rice grains in appearance , there is no difference to taste or texture so you can very well avoid rice and switch to millets. 

• Simply substitute  rice with millets in all rice based preparations.

Puliyogare mix

Ingredients:

1/2 cup coriander seeds ( dhaniya)

10 red dry chillies, ( long thin variety or the small round ones or a mix of both .Reduce the no of chillies if you feel it may be spicy, instead you can add some Kashmiri chili powder after the mix is ground and ready, after tasting you can add the powder to the mix.Your choice.)

1/2 tsp pepper corns.

1/2 tsp methi ( fenugreek seeds )

4 tsp white sesame seeds or even black will do.

1 tbsp chana dal , 

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 medium lime size tamrind + 1 tbsp ( to mean slightly more than 1 medium lime)

salt to taste

A handful of curry leaves.

3 tbsp desiccated coconut ( optional ) I skipped this .

1 tsp asafoetida powder or in crystal form .

 2-3 tsp sesame oil ( preferred) for roasting ingredients.

For tempering

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp split udada dal

1 tsp chana dal 

2 tbsp roasted peanuts

some broken cashewnuts ( optional ) 

1 tsp sesame oil for tempering.

Method

Take a wide pan, add the oil and first roast the sesame seeds , as it gets darkened easily, let it pop and then remove , keep aside, .

If adding desiccated coconut ( kopra) , roast that separately till golden, remove  and set aside to cool,  ,also separately roast the tamrind till it becomes brittle or keep in microwave to make it crisp. remove and  keep aside.

Then roast rest of ingredients  except the tempering ingredients, turmeric powder, .on a very low flame, constantly stirring the ingredients in the pan to avoid blackening.

Towards the end add the curry leaves, let it become crisp , remove from pan.

Let all ingredients cool well.

Make sure you have added the turmeric powder, salt in the end.

When the mix ingredients have all cooled well, grind to a slightly coarse powder , including tamrind, desiccated coconut, sesame seeds , curry leaves.

Remove the powder , keep aside.

The tempering 

In a small pan ,add some oil around 1 tsp , , heat  it, add the mustard seeds, let it crackle, add the split udad dal,chana dal and when they turn golden remove.

Roast the peanuts, cashewnuts if adding them.

Let all these tempering ingredients also cool well.

Now mix all the tamrind mix and tempering  ingredients well.

Store in a cool dry bottle.

Your Instant tamrind rice powder is ready.

To prepare the tamrind  rice.

Heat a pan, add a tsp of sesame oil , add the required quantity of the mix, add some cooked rice, mix well.

Remove and enjoy with papad.

Puliyogare mix

Puliyogare mix

Puliyogare mix

Puliyogare mix

Puliyogare mix

Check this recipe also for making Karnataka style puliyogare mix

Watch the video below for making another version of puliyogare mix podi with small changes

Watch the video below for making Tamilnadu pulikaachal paste