The Indian Barnyard millet or Sawa millet or Billion-Dollar Grass (Echinochloa frumentacea) is an ancient grain that tastes like broken rice and is known for its various health benefits. It is also called as Oodalu (Kannada), Bhagar (Marathi) and Kuthiraivali (Tamil).
The barnyard millet is very rich in iron, fiber and is gluten free. It is also low in calories with low glycemic index and is suitable for consumption for diabetics.
Generally, millets are small-grained, annual, warm-weather cereals belonging to the grass family. They are highly tolerant of drought and other extreme weather conditions and have a similar nutrient content to other major cereals. Millets are also popular bird and animal feed. While it is often called a grain because of it’s grain-like consistency, millet is actually a seed.
If you have never cooked barnyard millet, please try it one time and you will be hooked like me. Because of the texture and taste like broken rice, almost any dishes (pongal, payasam, upma, dosa, etc) that you cook with barnyard millet turn out to be very tasty, and this is one of my favorite millet.
My wife has become more health conscious in the recent years and she mostly prefers meals or desserts made using millets. She made this awesome Barnyard Millet Sweet Pongal for our son’s birthday over the weekend. I am sharing her recipe for the enjoyment of Senthil’s Kitchen family and friends.
Barnyard Millet Sweet Pongal
Barnyard Millet (Kuthiraivali) Sweet Pongal is a healthy twist to the popular South Indian rice sweet pongal and is cooked with the healthier barnyard millet (kuthiraivali), jaggery and garnished with ghee roasted cashews and golden raisins and flavored with crushed cardamom.
Ingredients
- 2 cups Barnyard Millet (Kuthiraivali)
- 2 cups Jaggery powdered
- 1/4 cup Ghee
- 1/4 cup Cashews
- 1/4 cup Raisins
- 4 Cardamom (Elaichi) crushed
- Salt to taste optional
Instructions
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Cook barnyard millet (kuthiraivali) with 4 times water in electric rice cooker or a pressure cooker.
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Boil powdered jaggery with 3 cups water for a few mins until the jaggery powder is fully dissolved (stir to accelerate this process). Filter using a colander to remove any residue. If you already have powdered jaggery that is free of residue, you can skip this step and directly add the jaggery powder to the boiled millet.
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Mix this jaggery syrup (paagu) with cooked millet and continue cooking on a pot in medium heat until you get the desired consistency.
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Heat ghee (good homemade ghee is a must) on a pan, fry cashews and raisins and add to the Pongal.
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Top off with more ghee, crushed cardamom (elaichi), mix well and serve.
Recipe Notes
There are many other popular variations to making this Barnyard Millet Sweet Pongal – you can add moong dal, chana dal, white/ rock sugar, milk, coconut, etc.
Hello, my name is Senthil. I am a passionate food blogger from Houston, Texas. This is my online kitchen, and I will be cooking delicious recipes for you, provide kitchen tips that I have learned over the years, and share personal stories and fond memories around food. Keep checking out for new stuff!
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