Important of our forgotten Rice Mabilai Sambha Rice.

Mappilai samba Rice

In our ancient days a Man would be fit for marriage only if  does some bravery activities like  controlling the ox and lifting a rock etc. He used to get necessary strength to do all these from  Mapillai samba rice.  
Mappilai Samba Rice contains vitamin B6 and magnesium.  This rice is not a like usual rice it is grown using our traditional method of agriculture. They have  different names in each places Sigappu kamuni, kattu yanam, kuruvai thondi, thavalai kannan. Places like Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra pradesh have been using this rice routinely.  
Mappillai Samba or also known as “Bride Groom Rice” is a native variety of rice, which is red in colour and is grown predominantly in Tamil Nadu. It’s well suited to organic farming because it requires hardly any fertilisers or pesticides. It is a 160 days crop. Unfortunately, along with other native varieties of rice, mappillai samba has disappeared from our farms and markets, instead, people are going for highly processed, nutritionally inferior white rice. Very few passionate traditional farmers still grow such rice now. This rice comes from a place in Tamil Nadu in Thiruvannamalai.

Mappillai Samba Rice has high nutritional value:

1.      a) Increases Haemoglobin Content

2.      b) Increases Brain Strength

3.      c) Reduces Body Heat

4.      d) Good for Diabetic person

5.      e) Fibrous in Nature

6.      f) Fight against Cancer

Even though the name of the rice is “Bride Groom’s Rice”, it is meant for all who wants to get good energy and strength. Here are the benefits:

·         a) The high fibre content present in the rice eases digestion.

·         b) The vitamin B1 present in the rice aids in healing stomach and mouth ulcers.

·         c) Improves immunity and stamina

·         d) Strengthens muscles and nerves

·         e) Makes the blood flow faster so that our body gets instant energy

·         f) Increases Hemoglobin content

·         g) Good for diabetics since it is has a low Glycemic Index.

·         h) Children will achieve better growth

How to Cook – 

It can be cooked like rice or made as Idli, Dosa, upma, Pongal, etc.
How to prepare a gluten-free mapillai samba rice
1. Rinse the rice in water & soak it for 90 minutes.
2. Keep a vessel on the stove and add water (quantity should be 3 times of the rice)

And let it boil.
3. Add washed and soaked rice to boiling water, keep the stove in slow speed.
4. Optional – Add a pinch of salt
5. When all the water has absorbed, check whether the rice is cooked, if not add little quantity of water.
6. Repeat step 5 of adding a little quantity of water until the rice is cooked. Usually, it takes about 30 to 45 minutes for Mappillai samba rice to be cooked well, there will still be some water left over with the rice.
7. Drain the remaining water in a separate vessel and serve it.

For making Idly & Dosa, it is as similar to any other rice
1. Take a 4:1 ratio of rice & urud dhal, soak for 4 hrs.
2. Drain the water and Wet grid them individually to achieve a fine paste.
3. Mix the batters while adding 2 teaspoons of salt.
4. Allow it to ferment overnight.
Now you are ready to make idly/dosas out of it.

We started preferring only white polished rice for our cooking and started neglecting that nutrition based on traditional kinds of rice. So, the commercial market demands only common rice varieties and hence they are forced to cultivate these polished counterparts.

But, awareness of other rice varieties and millet varieties are spreading, giving way for organic farming and organic outlets.

These are traditional rices we have come far from all these more then 40 years ago.  Now days we using the rice which is grown in just 30 days but, actual time to grow was 90 days.  We forced to have 30 days grown rice and get  new disease daily with different names.
Luckily we going back to our traditional cultivation method we have speed up to live healthy lon g life and teach our future generation some good things