Thinai Thakkali Sadam Recipe (Foxtail Millet Tomato Rice)

Millets are the ancient grains mainly grown as fodders earlier have found a beam of light in this new age as super foods. Foxtail Millets are one such variety of millets, which are also known as Thinai in Tamil. This foxtail is rich in smart carbohydrates, which doesn't let the sugar level shoot up drastically, and is also rich in dietary fibres and minerals. Hence, it is beneficial in reducing the bad cholesterol in our body. Course : Lunch Ingridients : 1/2 cup Foxtail Millet 2 Onions , thinly sliced 5 Tomatoes , roughly chopped 4 cloves Garlic 1 teaspoon Ginger , roughly chopped 2 Green Chillies , slit 1 teaspoon Fennel seeds (Saunf) 1-1/2 teaspoon Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder 1/2 teaspoon Turmeric powder (Haldi) 1 teaspoon Mustard seeds (Rai/ Kadugu) 1 sprig Curry leaves 1 tablespoon Oil Salt , to taste Instructions To begin making Thinai Thakkali Sadam Recipe (Foxtail Millet Tomato Rice), we first start with cooking the foxtail millets. Wash the foxtail millets under running tap water nicely, drain and transfer it to the pressure pan. Add around 2 cups of water, season with salt and pressure cook for 4 whistles and keep aside. Once cool, fluff up the cooked millets with a fork.Now to prepare the tomato rice, heat oil in a pan, add the mustard seeds and let it crackle.Add in the curry leaves and let it splutter.Roughly pound the garlic cloves, ginger and fennel seeds using a pestle and mortar and add it to the pan, let it cook for a minute.Add the sliced onions and saute until it turns translucent.Now, add the tomatoes, green chillies, kashmiri red chilli, turmeric powder, season with salt and mix well.Let this tomato mixture cook until it turns soft and mushy, this will take around 10 minutes.Once the tomato mixture is cooked well and is thickened to a paste consistency, add in the cooked foxtail millets and gently toss everything together.Close it with a lid, cook for 5 minutes and let the foxtail millet absorb all the the tomato mixture flavour into it.Serve the Thinai Thakkali Sadam Recipe (Foxtail Millet Tomato Rice) along with Tomato Onion Cucumber Raita Recipe and Elai Vadam Recipe for lunch.