Foxtail Millet Tomato Biryani | Thinai Thakkali Biryani

Here is one-pot delicious tomato millet biryani that’s perfect for a weekend brunch or a weekday lunch with the goodness of foxtail millet.

Call it thinai thakkali sadam or biryani or tomato biryani with millet; this recipe will make you get acquainted with the millets and make you crave more!

I am back with another millet recipe after the instant ragi idli. But this time, it’s with the whole grain and not with the flour. Here is my foxtail millet tomato biryani or thinai thakkali biryani. Thinai means foxtail millet in Tamil, and thakkali means tomatoes.

I put my homegrown cherry tomatoes to best use and made this lip-smackingly good tomato rice. (PS – I also made a big batch of tomato-onion relish and tomato thokku with it)

Millet Tomato Rice or Millet Tomato Biryani?

India is known for its biryani varieties. You will find coconut milk and coconut-based biryani recipes in the South, especially in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. And I love those coconut-based veg biryani recipes. 

Ok, I know many say veg biryani is not biryani, and I don’t want to get into nitty-gritty details and techniques. And when it comes to food, it’s to each their own. 

Now coming to this recipe, I have already shared tomato rice without garam masala, and this is another variation with mint and whole spices. It has that biryani flavor because of the garam masala, whole spices, and the mint. Also, the thin coconut milk gives that mild touch of brinji rice flavor. Simply put, it’s just delicious. 

So should I call this as tomato rice with mint or tomato biryani or plain or empty biryani? I can’t call it kuska biryani as I am using a lot of tomatoes here. So I am going with simple tomato biryani. 

You can call it however you prefer but do try this with millets, and I am sure you will love it. 

Which millet to use-

I have tried and tested this recipe with barnyard millet and foxtail millet, and today, I have shared it with the foxtail millet. You can use the millets of your choice. But make sure to rinse well and soak your millets for 45 minutes atleast. 

Depending upon the brand and variety, the cooking time and water required might vary. Check the instructions once in the millet pack and if you have time, try cooking the millet alone in the open-pot method. That gives you the correct estimate of water and cooking time. I used the “Telugu Foods” brand pearled foxtail millet for this recipe. (Not Sponsored)

If I am using millets for “variety rice,” I always use 1.5 cups of water for 1 cup of millet, and it has worked well so far.

Open-Pot & One-Pot Biryani-

If you follow my blog regularly, you might have noticed that I make most of my biryanis in a pressure cooker or Instant Pot. But this time, I decided to go with an open pot method as I got quite a few requests for open-pot recipes. Personally, with millet biryani, I prefer the open-pot version.

The recipe is simple and straightforward. We first temper the whole spices in oil and ghee. Then saute the onions along with mint. We then add tomatoes and spice powders and cook until the tomatoes are soft and mushy. Finally, we add the water and cook the millet. 

Vegan Option-

This millet biryani recipe is gluten-free by nature, and you can make it vegan by skipping the ghee and use oil instead. 

Now without any further ado, let’s see how to make this millet biryani.

Prep-work:

• Wash the foxtail millet thoroughly atleast twice and soak it for a minimum of 45 to 60 minutes. 
• Chop the onion and tomatoes.
• Clean the mint leaves and remove the stiff stems. 

One-pot tomato millet biryani with detailed step-wise pictures-

• Heat a heavy-bottomed saucepan or kadai. I used my Dutch oven for making this. Add the oil and ghee and when the oil is hot, add the fennel seeds, green cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, and slit green chilies.
• Let it sizzle for 30 to 35 seconds and then add the chopped onion, ginger-garlic paste, and mint leaves. Let it cook for five to seven minutes or until the onions turn soft and shiny.
• Now add the chopped tomatoes, salt, garam masala, and red chili powder. Cover and cook until the tomatoes are soft and mushy for about 4 to 5 minutes.
• Add 1.25 cups of water, 1 cup of thin coconut milk and bring this mixture to a boil.

• When it boils, add the drained millet and 1 tbsp of cilantro. Mix well.
• Reduce the heat to medium-low and cover and cook for 7 to 8 minutes. Check in-between for water content. If required, add ¼ to ⅓ cup of water. Gently drizzle the water. By now, the millets should have softened and 70% cooked. Now reduce the heat to low and cook for five more minutes. (Overall cooking time is 13 ~15 minutes depending upon the millet quality and soaking time)
• Turn off the heat and let it sit covered for 5 minutes. Remove the lid and gently fluff it with a fork. Garnish it with remaining cilantro and serve warm. 

Recipe Notes-

• Like rice, each millet pack is different, but this water measure should work well for all. If you prefer softer and mushy millet, then add one more cup of water. For 1 cup of millet, I used 1.5 cups of liquid. For 1.5 cups, I used 2.25 cups of liquid. 
• Wash and rinse the millet atleast three times and make sure you soak the millets for 45 minutes atleast. 
• If you cannot soak the millets, then add more water while cooking, and cooking time will also increase.
• You can use any millets of your choice. I have tried this recipe with barnyard millet, and the same water measure worked well. But I soaked the millet only for 20 minutes. 
• Adjust the salt and spices as per the preference. My green chilies were super spicy, so I reduced the red chili measure. 
• I have tried this recipe by pulsing the green chilies and mint leaves also. 
• If your tomatoes are sour, add a tsp of jaggery. 
• Skip ghee and two more tsps of oil instead of a vegan version.  
• As it’s tomato biryani, I did not add any other veggies. But you can add 1 cup of veggies of your choice and make it more like veg-tomato biryani. 

PS – If you try these tomato millet biryani, please don’t forget to comment and rate this recipe. If you have any questions, please leave a comment, and I will get to it asap.  Make sure to follow me on my Pinterest for more healthy and delicious ideas! Follow me on Instagram or join my Facebook Group for more gardening and recipe updates.

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5 from 7 votes

Foxtail Millet Tomato Biryani | Thinai Thakkali Biryani

A one-pot delicious tomato millet biryani that’s perfect for a weekend brunch or a weekday lunch with the goodness of foxtail millet.

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time40 minutes mins

Millet Soaking Time45 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr 35 minutes mins

Course: Entree

Cuisine: Tamil Nadu

Servings: 6

Calories: 288kcal

Author: Srividhya G

Equipment

• Saucepan or kadai or Dutch oven

Ingredients

Measurement Details: 1 cup=240ml; 1 tbsp= 15ml; 1tsp=5ml;

• ▢ 1.5 cups foxtail millet rinsed and soaked in water for 45 to 60 minutes and drained
• ▢ 1 tbsp oil
• ▢ 2 tsp ghee
• ▢ 1.5 tsp fennel seeds
• ▢ 2 green cardamom
• ▢ 2 cloves
• ▢ 1- inch cinnamon piece
• ▢ 2 green chilies slit
• ▢ ¾ cup onion chopped
• ▢ ½ tsp ginger garlic paste
• ▢ 1 cup fresh mint leaves loosely packed
• ▢ 350 grams tomatoes chopped
• ▢ 1 tsp red chili powder
• ▢ 1.5 tsp garam masala
• ▢ 1.75 tsp salt or as required
• ▢ 1.25 cups water divided
• ▢ 1 cup lite coconut milk thin coconut or use water
• ▢ 2 tbsp cilantro finely chopped, divided

Instructions

• Wash the foxtail millet thoroughly atleast twice and soak it for a minimum of 45 to 60 minutes.
• Chop the onion and tomatoes.
• Clean the mint leaves and remove the stiff stems.
• Heat a heavy-bottomed saucepan or kadai. I used my Dutch oven for making this. Add the oil and ghee and when the oil is hot, add the fennel seeds, green cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, and slit green chilies.
• Let it sizzle for 30 to 35 seconds and then add the chopped onion, ginger-garlic paste, and mint leaves. Let it cook for five to seven minutes or until the onions turn soft and shiny.
• Now add the chopped tomatoes, salt, garam masala, and red chili powder. Cover and cook until the tomatoes are soft and mushy for about 4 to 5 minutes.
• Add 1.25 cups of water, 1 cup of thin coconut milk and bring this mixture to a boil.
• When it boils, add the drained millet and 1 tbsp of cilantro. Mix well.
• Reduce the heat to medium-low and cover and cook for 7 to 8 minutes. Check in-between for water content. If required, add ¼ to ⅓ cup of water. Gently drizzle the water. By now, the millets should have softened and 70% cooked. Now reduce the heat to low and cook for five more minutes. (Overall cooking time is 13 ~15 minutes depending upon the millet quality and soaking time)
• Turn off the heat and let it sit covered for 5 minutes. Remove the lid and gently fluff it with a fork. Garnish it with remaining cilantro and serve warm.

Notes

• Like rice, each millet pack is different, but this water measure should work well for all. If you prefer softer and mushy millet, then add one more cup of water extra. For 1 cup of millet, I used 1.5 cups of liquid. For 1.5 cups, I used 2.25 cups of liquid.
• Wash and rinse the millet atleast three times and make sure you soak the millets for 45 minutes atleast.
• If you cannot soak the millets, then add more water while cooking, and cooking time will also increase. You can use any millets of your choice. I have tried this recipe with barnyard millet, and the same water measure worked well. But I soaked the millet only for 20 minutes.
• Adjust the salt and spices as per the preference.
• My green chilies were super spicy, so I reduced the red chili measure. I have tried this recipe by pulsing the green chilies and mint leaves also.
• If your tomatoes are sour, add a tsp of jaggery.
• Skip ghee and two more tsps of oil instead of a vegan version.
• As it’s tomato biryani, I did not add any other veggies. But you can add 1 cup of veggies of your choice and make it more like veg-tomato biryani.

Nutrition

Calories: 288kcal | Carbohydrates: 45g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 4mg | Sodium: 775mg | Potassium: 332mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 947IU | Vitamin C: 14mg | Calcium: 41mg | Iron: 2mg

I am not a nutritionist. The nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It varies depending upon the product types or brands.

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