Amaranth is known as a super food globally. Interestingly this gluten free pseudo cereal (it is actually a seed not a grain) has been grown and consumed in India since generations. Known as Chaulai and Rajgira colloquially, Amaranth is widely consumed during fasts due to its high nutritional value in the form of puris/rotis made with its flour and laddus made with puffed amaranth. We decided to spend our Saturday experimenting with amaranth seeds and trying out some contemporary recipes.
Amaranth Porridge
We loved this alternative to the regular oats porridge because of its unusual grainy texture. Make sure you try the porridge before adding honey as the combination of amaranth and cooked milk imparts a sweet flavour.
1/2 cup amaranth
1 cup water
1/2 cup milk
Honey to taste
Raisins and almond slivers
Lightly roast the amaranth seeds in a sauce pan till they smell toasty and start popping. Add the water, boil and let it simmer for 7-10 minutes. Add the milk, boil once and simmer covered for 10 minutes or till the amaranth is cooked. Keep stirring to make sure the amaranth seeds are not sticking to the bottom of the pan. Add honey to taste along with almonds and raisins.
(Recipe adapted from New York Times Cooking.)
Amaranth Patties
After a filling breakfast, we next tried to make some Amaranth Patties – two ways to have with our evening tea. We tried one recipe with egg and amaranth flour as a binder and one with just amaranth flour as a binder. Both turned out different and great. The one with egg stored better due to the viscosity of the egg while the other one started becoming dry within an hour of cooking.
1 cup amaranth
2 cups water
1/2 red onion finely chopped
3-4 cloves garlic grated
1/2 red capsicum chopped
1/4 zucchini chopped
2 tsp amchoor (dry mango powder)
2 tsp chilli powder
4-6 tablespoons amaranth flour*
1 whisked egg
Freshly ground black pepper
Salt to taste
Cook the amaranth in water – first boil the water and then simmer to cook. Once the amaranth is cooked, drain the water and let it cool. Heat some oil in a pan and add the onions and garlic. Once brown, add the capsicum and zucchini and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the mixture to the cooled amaranth along with amchoor, salt and pepper and mix well. Add the amaranth flour or flour and egg and mix well, ideally with hands. Add flour till you get a consistency that allows you to form round balls with your hands which can be pressed into patties.
Once the patties are made, add some oil to a flat pan and cook the patties on both sides till brown and crisp. Enjoy the crunchy amaranth patties with some freshly made coriander chutney made with fresh coriander, ginger, green chillies, lemon juice and salt.
*quantity of flour varies depending on whether egg is used. With egg you will need lesser flour.
(Inspired from a recipe on NDTV Smart Cooky)
Here’s to a health filled and delicious weekend! Oh and btw, here’s Original Indian Table’s Himalayan Amaranth on Amazon.
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