Vrat Ke Chawal Recipe | Sama Rice Pulao | How To Make Samak Rice Pulao

Vrat ke chawal, sama ke chawal, or sama rice is most frequently made during Hindu festivals and auspicious periods of the Hindu calendar like Navratri, Ekadashi, Mahashivratri, Jaya Parvati vrat, and Janmashtami as a recipe for fast (vrat or upvas) when people abstain from cereal grains, and also avoid onion and garlic.

The name is misleading, however. Sama rice or samak rice, is not rice, but barnyard millet, a gluten-free, fibre-rich, and nutritious seed. It is a tiny, round, cream-coloured grain (sama seeds or samo seeds), smaller than the rice grain. It tastes similar to broken rice and has a texture like that of semolina (rava) and broken wheat (daliya), or even couscous. When cooked, it does not separate into individual grains like long-grained rice, but tends to clump together like upma. See our samak rice recipe method to see how to keep the grains separate.
 

Sama rice is known by different names in different parts of India: shyama in Bengali; moraiyo, moraiya, mario, and mordhan in Gujarati; vrat ke chawal, samak ke chawal, samo rice, samai, sanwa, samwa, samvat, swang ke chawal, vari rice, varai, and bhagar in Hindi and other north Indian languages; oodalu in Kannada; kuthiraivolly, kuthiravali, or kuthiraivali in Tamil; udalu in Telugu; and barnyard millet, small millet, and jungle rice in English.
 

Sama or samak rice (barnyard millet), sabudana (sago), kuttu atta (buckwheat flour), singhare ka atta (chestnut flour), and rajgir atta (amaranth flour) are the most popular non-cereals consumed during fasting days in India.

Samak rice is a healthy option and a perfect ingredient for religious fasting food because it resembles rice in some ways. It is filling and nutritious, very easy and quick to make, and delicious and versatile—all important considerations when one is fasting. Sama ke chawal is used not only to make plain rice, pulao, and khichdi, but also idli and kheer.
 

This bhagar recipe (samvat rice pulao or vrat ke chawal) is also a great choice as a light nutritious meal, so enjoy this gluten-free and wholesome millet even on non-fasting days.   

Follow our simple and easy vrat ke chawal recipe for a yummy, nutritious, and satisfying one-pot meal of samak rice pulao. This pulao of barnyard millet, potato, peanut, cashew nut, coriander, green chillies, and lime juice, flavoured with whole spices, has a savoury taste and creamy texture that both children and adults will enjoy. It’s so good that you will feel you are feasting while fasting!
 

Rules for vrat or fast (upvas meaning in English)  vary from family to family, so depending on your family’s dietary customs, you can customize the recipe accordingly.

For non-fasting days, you can add finely chopped seasonal vegetables like carrot, bean, capsicum, pea, cauliflower, or even tomato to samak rice. You can also add sautéed paneer cubes, dried mint leaves, slivers of roasted almonds, raisins, bay leaf, and curry leaves for a different flavour profile and to add texture and crunch to the dish.
 

Vrat ke chawal pulao tastes best when freshly made, so cook it just before you have to eat it. On cooling, it tends to dry out. If reheating, add 1 or 2 tablespoons of warm water and mix well.

For best results, do not soak sama rice for too long.

Because the sama rice cooks very quickly (in just a few minutes), make sure to cook the potato till tender before adding it to the pan. Otherwise, the potato will remain raw.
 

Drizzle some lime juice onto the pulao. This not only balances the flavours but also helps separate the grains.

Also, to keep the samak rice grains separate in the final dish, gently fluff the cooked grains with a fork (you can see how we have done this in our samak rice video).
 

Serve sama rice pulao hot or warm either as a standalone dish or as part of a larger meal.

And depending upon your fast restrictions, garnish with coriander leaves (cilantro), grated carrot (to add colour), fried cashew nut, and slivers of almond. Serve lime wedges along with the pulao.
 

Vrat ke chawal ka pulao can be had plain or with vrat chutney, plain curd or yogurt, raita with cucumber and green chilli, sabudana tikki, phalahari potato dahi vada, potato or arbi (colocasia) curry, vrat ki kadhi, vrat ke aloo, aloo tamatar sabzi, dahi aloo, dahi arbi, aloo palak, or makhana moongphali ki kadhi.

You may also like some of our non vrat recipes:

Paneer Biryani
Khaman Dhokla
Mango Shrikhand
Veg Tahiri
Besan Kadhi

Or take a look at all our Vegetarian Recipes right here!