Millet And Chickpeas Sama Ke Chawal And Chana

About the recipe

Millet with Chickpeas is a complete vegetarian meal that is good for your weight loss diet and a delicious no onion, no garlic recipe that is perfect for Navratri, Ekadashi vrat, upvas, or fasting. Millet and chickpeas are both rich in protein and fiber, thus keeping you full for a longer time and controlling your appetite.

Ingredients

For Sama Ke Chawal (Millet)2 ½ cups Water1 cup Samo Rice (or any variety of millet )½ teaspoon Salt For the Chickpeas Stir Fry1 tablespoon Oil1 teaspoon Cumin seeds5 to 6 Curry leaves2 Dry Red chilies2 Green chilies (finely chopped)1 cup Dried chickpeas (or use 2 to 3 cups of canned cooked chickpeas)1 Carrot, boiled1 teaspoon Salt½ teaspoon Coriander powder¾ teaspoon Garam masala powder1 teaspoon SaltJuice of 1 lemon2 tablespoon Coriander leaves, finely chopped

How to cook Millet on the stovetop?

Bring water to boil in a pan. Meanwhile, nicely wash and drain the millet in water. Add the millet along with salt and cover the pan with the lid. Cook for 10 to 12 minutes or until the millet is cooked through completely.

Chickpeas Stir Fry

I soaked dried chickpeas in water overnight and pressure cooked for 3 whistles the following day. You can use canned chickpeas if desired. Heat oil in a pan on medium flame. To this, add cumin seeds and saute for a few seconds. Add curry leaves, red chilies, and green chilies, and continue to saute for a minute. Add the chickpeas, chopped and boiled carrot, salt, coriander powder, garam masala powder, and lemon juice, and mix. Cook this on a medium flame for 4 to 5 minutes. Finally, garnish it with coriander leaves and mix. Switch off the flame.

Serving Suggestion

This is a complete protein-packed meal under 500 calories. On a serving plate, add cooked millet, then top it with stir-fried chickpeas and enjoy.

Substitutes & Variations

I have used barnyard millet, also called sama ke chawal or varai in India. You can use any variety of millet like foxtail, pearl, ragi, kodo millet, little millet, or quinoa. The steps in how to cook millet remain the same. Chickpeas are my favorite bean variety. You can use Kabuli chana or Kala chana, kidney beans (rajma), white beans, great northern beans, black beans, navy beans, etc. As I have prepared it for Navratri fasting, I have limited the vegetables to only carrots. You can also add cauliflower, broccoli, green peas, corn, spinach, or capsicum. Use any variety of veggie combinations to make your dish more nutritious and colorful. If you prepare it on regular days, you can also saute onion and garlic at the beginning of the recipe.

Some more chickpeas and millet recipe

Healthy weight loss quinoa salad (popular on the blog)Chickpeas masala (Indian chole or chana masala)Barnyard millet pulao or khichdiAloo Chana Chaat (Potato Chickpea salad)Chana Pulao (one pot rice)

Video

Full video recipe on making Samak chawal (how to cook millet) and stir-fried chickpeas.

How to cook millet on your instant pot

Add millet and 2 to 2 ¼ cups of water to your instant pot (IP). Secure your IP’s lid by ensuring the steam valve is sealed. Cook on high pressure for 10 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes, then release any remaining pressure. Carefully remove the lid once the steam has escaped. Fluff millet with a fork and serve it with chickpeas stir fry. For chickpeas stir fry in your IP, follow the same steps given above for the stovetop method, but remember to choose the SAUTE mode in your IP.