Sathu Maavu | Homemade Health Mix

Learn how to make healthy & nutritious Sathu Maavu recipe with detailed step by step pictures. Homemade Health Mix is an easy and delicious multi-grain porridge recipe that can be served both sweet and savory.

Sathu Maavu is a multigrain, millet based homemade health mix that can be prepared ahead of time and can easily made into sweet or savory porridge. Traditionally it is made by dry roasting a number of grains, millets and nuts until golden brown & fragrant, before being ground into a fine powder. Although there are many popular ready-to-use health mix packets available in the market, nothing comes to the perfection of homemade goodness.

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Step by Step Instructions
• Recipe Notes
• Top Tip
• Substitutions & Variations
• Storage & Serving Suggestions
• More Healthy Recipes
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

With homemade health mix powder, it is very easy to customize the millets and grains to personal preference and availability. It is highly nutritious, delicious, and best served as a wholesome meal for breakfast. Better yet, it is highly recommended baby food too once your little one turns 12 months old, especially to meet all the nutritional requirements in one shot in a single meal during the day. It can also be used for making Millet Cookies!

Ingredients

Ragi/Finger Millet, Sorghum/Great Millet, Bajra/Pearl Millet are the three types of millets used in the homemade health mix recipe.

Corn, Barley, Red Rice (Sigappu Arisi), Wheat are the grains used for making Sathu Maavu.

Green Moong, Peanuts, Brown Chickpeas, Soya Beans, Roasted Gram Dal (Pottu Kadalai) are the lentils & legumes used.

Almonds and Cashews are the nuts used in making homemade satthu maavu powder.

For full list of ingredients and exact measurements, check the recipe below.

Step by Step Instructions

In a heavy pan, roast bajra/pearl millet, sorghum/great millet, soya beans, and wheat on low-medium flame individually until each ingredient is golden brown and fragrant. With wheat, roast until they begin popping up.

Next, roast barley, corn, red rice and brown chickpeas until golden brown and fragrant. Roast the corn until they begin popping into popcorn for added taste.

Now roast ragi/finger millet, green moong dal, peanuts, roasted gram dal, cashews and almonds until golden brown and fragrant. Roasted gram dal just needs light roasting in low flame, without being burnt.

Set aside all the roasted ingredients until they are completely cool.

In a flour mill, grind into a fine powder and let it cool down completely too. Store in airtight container in a cool place and use to make porridge. Stays well for over 3 months at room temperature.

Recipe Notes

Each ingredient requires different heat and time for roasting into golden brown. Keep a close eye on the ingredient and never leave it unattended while roasting. For even roasting it is a must to stir continuously too.

Cool down the ingredients before grinding and the health mix powder after grinding for longer shelf-life.

The texture of the powder should be very fine and that is why, it is best to grind it in a flour mill. If you do not have access to it, grind small batches in small intervals in a high-power mixer at home. Make sure the powder is not getting too hot while grinding.

Top Tip

It is recommended to use a heavy pan on low flame for roasting each ingredient as it ensures even roasting and browning of ingredients. If high flame or light pan is used, the ingredients change color faster without getting roasted enough.

Do not leave any ingredient unattended while roasting and constantly stir them to ensure even roasting. Each ingredient can take 5-10 minutes for roasting until golden brown.

Not all the ingredients pop, but roasting on low flame until some of the ingredients like corn, red rice, wheat, ragi, sorghum pop up will increase the taste of the health mix.

Substitutions & Variations

The number of ingredients used in the health mix recipe can be varied depending on personal taste preferences and availability too.

If you prefer a more ragi based health drink, double the quantity of the ragi/finger millet.

It is optional to use cashews and almonds, but since this is an ideal baby food especially to help gain weight in babies, I use it in my preparation and it adds to the taste too.

For additional flavor, roasted green cardamom (4-5) can be used but then it limits the usage of the sathu maavu to only sweet porridge and hence I avoid adding it.

Storage & Serving Suggestions

After grinding the sathu maavu powder, let it cool completely and then transfer to an airtight container. Store it at room temperature in a cool place for up to 3 months. For additional shelf life, it can also be frozen.

To serve this, take 2 tablespoon of sathu maavu powder in a pan and add 100-150ml water/milk at room temperature. Mix well without any lumps and cook on low flame until it is thick, coating the back of the spoon – takes about 4-5 minutes. Add jaggery or sugar for sweet porridge as per taste preference. If you wish to make savory porridge, add salt and buttermilk as needed. Will share detailed recipe for both versions soon.

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