Coconut Rice

Hi Friends! Its been a while since I posted something. I hope you are all doing good. I am becoming lazy these days and that's the only reason I can think of  for not taking care of my blog. My laziness has affected my cooking too. I haven't been making anything great at home these days but for regular sambar and some curry. Today, when I took pictures of this coconut rice, I realized that I am so lazy and I better do something about it. My sweet husband's line " Take it easy today. Make something simple", made me take advantage and not really make interesting dishes. My poor husband has been so patient and quite. But I better wake up and do something before his sweet lines changes ..... :-) I have seen this coconut rice in many blogs and have commented saying it reminded me of my school days when my mom used to pack this for lunch. I was not a great fan of it those days but after coming to US, I started to appreciate my mom's efforts to cook three meals everyday if not 4 which includes a great evening snack. 

Ingredients:

Grated Coconut - 3/4 cup

Rice - 1 cup

Oil - 1 tbsp

Mustard - 1 tsp

Urad Dhal - 1 tsp

Channa Dhal - 1 tsp

Curry Leaves- 6-8

Green Chilli - 3 chopped

Asafoetida - a pinch

Salt - to taste

Preparation:

Cook rice separately and let it cool. 

In a pan, heat oil and when hot, add mustard seeds. When it splutters, add urad and channa dhal. When it turns golden, add asafoetida, curry leaves, green chilli and fry for a min. 

Add grated coconut and fry for about 2 mins until coconut separates and turns slightly golden. Do not over fry it as it. You can add salt to this mixture. Turn off heat when you feel the color slightly changes.

Mix the coconut mixture with rice. Serve with any vegetable dish or just chips. I served with sauteed cauliflower. 


You can also fry cashews in a tbsp of ghee and add it to the rice. It adds taste and richness to the dish. I was in a hurry and I really couldn't add it. 

See you soon!!!

Rajma Chawal

This is another dish that I learnt from my mom. Its really simple dish to make. My mom made this dish often if she dint feel like cooking anything elaborate. But to us it would be a great dish. Even now, she asks me to make this often as it does't take much time yet a very healthy dish. Its filling also. The first time my mom made this dish, we were all so excited. I am from South India and we are used to the southern Indian style food. These dishes used to be a treat for us when mom made it. We enjoyed our meal that day and it became our favorite dish. It was my mom's favorite too ( less work  you see ;-) ) 

Ingredients:

Red Kidney beans - 1 cup soaked overnight

Onion - 1 finely chopped

Tomato - 2 pureed

Ginger garlic paste - 3/4 tbsp

Oil - 2 tbsp

Cilantro - to garnish

Salt - to taste

Rajma Masala - 1 tbsp ( I dint have it so I used little bit of garam masala, channa masala)

Procedure:

Cook the kidney beans and set aside. 

In a pan heat oil and cumin seeds. When it starts to splutter add ginger garlic paste and fry for a min. 

Then add onion and fry till it becomes translucent. Add tomato puree, masala powder salt and let it cook in medium heat untill the tomato puree cooks well. 

Add water to get to desired consistency. When the raw smell fades, add cooked kidney beans and let it cook for another ten min so that they get soaked well in the gravy. 

Garnish with cilantro and serve hot with Jeera rice, Basmati Rice or just plain white rice. 

Maangai Sadham/ Raw Mango Rice

This being mango season, I wanted to make use of this opportunity and relish as much mangoes in all possible forms as possible. I bought raw mango from the Indian grocery store and was actually thinking of making some pickle with it. But I ended up making this rice. It came out really good. It had nice flavor and great taste. How I landed up with this recipe????? 2 weeks back, we had gone for dinner to our friend's house and there I tasted this rice. We really liked it and immediately what do you think a bloggers' mind would do???? ;-) Yes, made a note of the recipe and tried it out and posting it now. It is very simple and has little ingredients but tastes very good. Its a nice dish for potlucks rather than regular pulao and biryani varieties. Especially if you do not like too many spices added to the dish, this is very good. 

Ingredients:

Raw Mano - 1 peeled and grated

Basmati Rice - 1 cup

Yellow Onion - 1 medium

Oil -1 tbsp

Mustard - 1 tsp

Urad dhal - 1 tsp

Curry Leaves - 6 to 10

Turmeric - a pinch

Red Chilli Powder - 1/2 tbsp or to taste.

Salt - to taste

Asafoetida - a pinch

Preparation:

Soak basmati rice for about 10 mins and cook in 2 cups of water and keep aside. 

In a pan, Heat oil, add mustard seeds. When it splutters, add urad dhal, curry leaves, asafoetida. When It turns golden brown, add onions and saute very well till it caramelizes. 

Now add grated mango and keep frying till it becomes tender. Sprinkle water to help the mango cook faster. Add turmeric and red chilli powder and keep frying till all water is absorbed. Add salt and mix well. Remove from heat and keep aside. 

When the heat reduces, add cooked rice to it and mix well. 

Serve warm with chips or raitha. 

See you soon!!!

Curd Rice/ Yogurt Rice

Curd rice is my all time favorite. If I dont get anything to eat but just have rice and some yogurt I will be more than happy to eat. Just plain curd rice might is bland and boring sometimes if we don't have the right side dish. But adding some extra ingredients to the plain curd rice makes it  delicious and so filling. I am sure most of you would be aware of the steps and methods. I made this today and thought would share my dish with you all :-)

Ingredients:

Note: My cup is electric rice cooker's cup measure

Rice - 1 cup 

Yogurt - 1/2 cup

Milk - 1 cup

Oil - 1 tsp for seasoning

Pomegranate - 1/2 cup (Got this idea from my co sister )

Mustard - 1 tsp

Urad dhal - 1 tsp

Curry leaves - 4-5 

Cilantro - 2 tbsp finely chopped

Ginger - 1 tbsp finely chopped

Green Chili - 1 chopped (optional. I dint add green chili in this recipe)

Asafoetida - a pinch

Preparation:

Cook 1 cup rice in 3.5 cups water. When cooked allow it to cool. When it comes to room temp, mash rice with a spatula. 

Add milk and mix well so that no lumps are left. Mix yogurt, salt, ginger, cilantro.

In a pan heat oil and add mustard. When splutters add urad dhal. When it turns golden brown, add chili, curry leaves, asafoetida. Remove from heat and add it to the rice and mix well. 

Just before serving, add pomegranate pearls to rice. Wash the pomegranate pearls gently so that the color does not mix with rice. 

Serve it with any pickle. 

See you soon with more.. 

Tips: 

For yogurt rice, the rice must be mashed well. That adds to the taste of the rice. 

We like the yogurt rice little dilute. If you like it thick you can reduce the quantity of milk or curd. 

Mix rice with milk first. Only then the rice will stay loose. Mix yogurt later. If you mix yogurt first, the rice will remain sticky, thick and will consume more milk to loosen up. 

Cilantro Mint Pilaf

I was talking to my mom last night about cooking tips. My mom writes small tips for the South Indian Magazines. So I give her some useful tips and she tells me about what she reads from the magazines. My paternal grandmom told my mom about this rice and my mom wrote about this write for her magazine. She told me about this rice and it sounded really flavorful and delicious. I do not like mint so much. But after tasting this rice, I really started to develop a taste for mint. My grandmom doesn't eat garlic or onion. So my mom excluded those but I included them. :-) Colorful and flavorful meal in just no time. 

Ingredients: 

Cilantro - 1 bunch

Mint - 1 bunch

Basmati Rice - 1 cup

Cinammon stick - 1/4 inch

Cloves - 3

Garlic pods - 2

Ginger - 1/4 inch 

White onion - 1 small

Oil - 3 tbsp

Salt - to taste

Preparation:

First grind cilantro, mint, ginger, garlic, cinnamon, cloves, onion to a fine paste. Add very little water just enough for easy grinding. 

Heat oil in a pan. Add ground paste, salt and keep frying till flavorful aroma comes up. When the oil separates from the mixture and the color turns dark green, remove from heat.

Meanwhile cook basmati rice in 2 cups water so that rice is cooked and is separate. Now when the rice is cooked, add this paste and mix well. 

Cilantro mint rice is ready!! Serve with raitha or curry. I served it with fried cauliflower. 

Sending this to Kiran's Herbs and Flowers in my Platter started by PJ and to Priya's Bookmarked recipes started by US Masala

Have a great day!

Reposting Cilantro Rice

We went to my co sister's house last winter when her parents had also come. Her mom made this rice and I loved it. It was very simple and tasty. I learnt lots of recipes from her. In fact I learnt lots of cooking details from her during the time I stayed at their place. This dish has lots of flavor. Let me get to the recipe straight.

Ingredients:

Mixed Vegetables - 1 Cup

Cumin powder - 1 tsps

Corriander powder - 1 tsps

Onion - 1/2 chopped

Oil - 1 tbsps

Basmati Rice - 1 cup

To Grind:

Cilantro 1 bunch

Cloves - 2

Cardomom - 1

Tomato - 1

Ginder - 1 tsps chopped

Garlic - 2-3 pods

Cumin powder - 1 tsps

Corriander powder - 1 tsps

Green Chilli - 1-2

Preparation:

Grind all the above said ingredients to grind. Grind it to a smooth paste. Need not add water. The water in tomato and cilantro is good enough.

Soak basmati rice in water for about 15 mins

In a pan, heat oil and add onions. Fry till it becomes translucent. Now add this groung paste and fry till the fresh green color changes to dark green. The color will change and the raw smell will fade.

Now add vegetables and mix well. Fry it for another minute

Now add rice, salt and mix everything well.

Add 2 cups water and transfer it to rice cooker.

Aromatic cilantro rice will fill your house with rich aroma and flavor.

Sending this to "Herbs and Flowers in my Platter" - Coriander leaves/Cilantro hosted by Keerthi and originally hosted by PJ of Seduce your tastebuds

Happy Blogging!!!

Fried Rice

My first experience with fried rice was when I invited my friends home just after our exams were over. My mom made this rice along with paneer masala. That day I remember so well because we all loved it so much. I must thank my mom because it was nice of her to prepare this, chapati, and many other dishes for about 10 of my friends. We relished it so much. It was a great treat to all of us. We finished our last exam and it was Geography (I hate this subject even now. I scored so less in all my geography exams ;-) ) We were already so hungry by the time we came home. We hogged this dish and after that we had kheer as desert. I have been preparing this dish often as I found from my mom that it was such an easy dish. She told me that secret much later ;-) Of course she added spring onions to it . I dint have that. So prepared a simple fried rice.

Ingredients:

Basmati Rice - 1 cup
Mixed vegetables - 1 cup ( Carrots, beans, potato )
Onion - 1/2 chopped fine
soy sauce - 1 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Ghee / Clarified Butter - 1 tbsp
Oil - 1 tbsp
Bay leaf - 2 leaves
Cloves - 4
Garlic - 2 pods mashed mildly

Preparation:

In a pan heat 1 tsp ghee and fry basmati rice until the moisture is completely absorbed. Cook it in 1: 1.75 water ratio and keep aside. 

In a pan heat oil and ghee. Add bay leaf, cloves and garlic. Fry until garlic turns brown. Remove all these from oil and throw them. 

Add onion and saute for about one min. Now add all vegetables and fry in the steam. The vegetables should get cooked in the steam. When 90% cooked, salt and mix well.

Now add rice and mix well till vegetables and rice blends well. Add a tbsp soy sauce and mix well for few seconds. 

If you have spring onions, sprinkle at the end and remove from heat. I dint have it. So couldn't add it.

Fried Rice is ready so quickly.  You can serve it with Paneer masala or any other gravy. 

See you soon with Paneer Masala...

Masala Rice

I always wanted to post something for Bookmarked recipes but somehow i post the recipes on different days and finally end up not sending one for her event. This time I made sure I post this recipe on Tuesday to participate in her event. So coming to the dish, this one I found in my book by Mallika Badrinath a culinary expert in South India. She has published several books on different rice dishes, side dishes, Indian sweets and savory. So I made this rice from her book and it came out very well. Its a simple rice with all readily available ingredients.

Ingredients:

Basmati Rice - 1 cup
Tomato - 2
Onion - 1 big
Ginger - 1 tbsps chopped
Garlic - 1 pod finely chopped
Green Chilli - 2
Oil - 1 tbsps
Fennel Seeds - 1 tsps
Potato - 1 medium sized cut lengthwise for french fries
Turmeric -  a pinch
Salt - to taste
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsps
Corriander powder - 1/2 tsps
Garam Masal POwder - 3/4 tsps

Preparation: 

Grind onion, tomato, green chilli, ginger, garlic without adding water.

Cook rice separately and allow it to cool.

Heat oil in a pan and add fennel seeds. Now add ground paste and fry in medium heat till the moisture is completely absorbed.

Add cumin powder, corriander powder, garam masala powder, turmeric and salt. Mix well and fry for another minute.

Now add cooked rice and mix well till rice becomes hot.

Remove from heat.

For Fries:

Microwave the cut potatoes for about 4 mins. It shouldn't cook fully. It must be just 75% cooked. Now deep fry in oil until potatoes turn golden brown. Sprinkle some salt when hot and mix the fries well.

Top the rice with fried potatoes and some cilantro if needed.

Sending this to Bookmarked Recipes

Note: I do not market any products through my posts. 

Carrot Rice

Today, I am writing on Carrot Rice. I heard about this recipe from my cousin sister in New Jersy . She had seen it in a recipe book by Mallika Badrinath a cullinary expert in South India. She has so many recipes that we could try. So today its carrot rice. The blend of South Indian spices gives the dish such great flavor and is a great dish if you have guests coming over or pot luck parties.

Ingredients:

Rice - 1 Cup
Carrot - 3 big grated
Onion - 1 Finely Chopped
Bay leaf - 2
Cloves - 3
Oil - 2 tbsps

For Grinding

Corriander seeds - 2 tbsps
Cumin seeds - 1 tbsps
Red Chilli - 2
Dry grated coconut - 2 tbsps
Peanuts - 3 tbsps

Preparation:

Cook rice seperately and keep it aside.

Heat 1 tbsps oil in a pan and fry corriander seeds, cumin seeds, red chilli. When it turns golden brown add coconut and turn the heat off.

In the same pan with the left over oil, fry 3 tbsp peanuts untill golden brown.

Grind peanuts and the corriander mixture into fine powder.

In a broad shallow pan, heat 1 tbsps oil and add cloves, bay leaves. Fry till cloves starts to expand. You could remove bay leaf and clove form oil .

Now add onions and saute till transparent. Now add grated carrot and cook it in medium heat. It has to cook in steam. Sprinkle water when necessary. Cook it till the raw smell of carrot fades.

Now add and rice and mix it. Now add the ground powder to rice and mix well.

Let it cook for about 2 mins and remove from heat. Serve hot with spicy green chilli tossed in a tbsps ghee or just raitha..

The flavor from corriander and peanuts give the dish great taste.

Meet you soon!!!

Reposting Cilantro Rice

We went to my co sister's house last winter when her parents had also come. Her mom made this rice and I loved it. It was very simple and tasty. I learnt lots of recipes from her. In fact I learnt lots of cooking details from her during the time I stayed at their place. This dish has lots of flavor. Let me get to the recipe straight.


Ingredients:

Mixed Vegetables - 1 Cup
Cumin powder - 1 tsps
Corriander powder - 1 tsps
Onion - 1/2 chopped
Oil - 1 tbsps
Basmati Rice - 1 cup

To Grind:

Cilantro 1 bunch
Cloves - 2
Cardomom - 1
Tomato - 1
Ginder - 1 tsps chopped
Garlic - 2-3 pods
Cumin powder - 1 tsps
Corriander powder - 1 tsps
Green Chilli - 1-2

Preparation:

Grind all the above said ingredients to grind. Grind it to a smooth paste. Need not add water. The water in tomato and cilantro is good enough.

Soak basmati rice in water for about 15 mins

In a pan, heat oil and add onions. Fry till it becomes translucent. Now add this groung paste and fry till the fresh green color changes to dark green. The color will change and the raw smell will fade.

Now add vegetables and mix well. Fry it for another minute

Now add rice, salt and mix everything well.

Add 2 cups water and transfer it to rice cooker.

Aromatic cilantro rice will fill your house with rich aroma and flavor.

Sending this to "Herbs and Flowers in my Platter" - Coriander leaves/Cilantro hosted by Keerthi and originally hosted by PJ of Seduce your tastebuds

Happy Blogging!!!

Channa /Garbanzo Beans/ Chickpeas Pulao

I wanted to send another recipe to Akheela's Festive Rice Event. Thinking about it I happened to see Nitu's event about chickpeas. Thought why not cook somthing that can be sent to both the events. Thats how I tried this channa pulao. It came out very well. I had this recipe bookmarked from my mom's recipe book. She had a collection of recipes from Mallika Badrinath a famous culinary expert in India. I remembered this recipe and the event and thought will try this one. I made some alterations to the recipe substituting certain items in the recipe. Its fun to participate in such events. Time flies in just making note of events and dates, after that comes sending in posts for those events. Phew!!!!!! I am trying my best not to forget events and dates. Anyway.. let me start my recipe and finish it or else I will forget about the other events. Lots to catch up!!

Ingredients:

Basmati Rice - 1 cup
Chickpeas - 1 cup (Cooked)
Pearl onions - 10 (I used combo of pearl and ordinary onion -1/4 cup chopped)
Tomato Ketchup - 1/4 cup
Coconut milk - 1and 3/4 cup
Kasoori methi  or Fresh methi- 1 tbsps
Green Chilli - 1
Ghee - 2 tbsp
Oil - 2 tbsps
Cardomom - 3
Cloves - 4
Bay leaf -1
Garam Masala - 1 tbsps
Cilantro - to garnish

To Grind

Coconut - 2 tbsp grated
Pearl onions - 10
Cumin Seeds - 2 tsps
Red Chilli - 1

Serves:2

Preparation:


Soak Basmati rice in water for 10 mins. Drain water and fry it in 2 tbsps ghee untill moist is absorbed. Keep it aside.

Grind coconut, onions, cumin seeds and chilli into a nice paste.

In a pan, heat oil add cardomom, bay leaf, cloves. Fry until cloves turn brown and then take them out. Its just for the aroma. Now add onions and fry for about 3 mins.

Add the ground paste and fry till the raw smell fades. You will get nice aroma when it gets cooked.

Now add tomato ketchup mixed with 1/4 cup water, and fry for another min and add kasoori methi or fresh methi, salt, garam masala and fry for about 5 mins till it cooks well.

Now add chickpeas and rice and mix well .

Transfer it in rice cooker, add 1and 3/4 coconut milk, turn it on and relax...

Once cooked garnish with cilantro, fresh cooked garbanzo beans and serve hot with raitha.

Sending this to Akeela's Festive Rice event, Nitu's CWF: LB - Chickpea and to Susan's My Legume Love affair 27
Other recipe sent to Akheela's event Pal Payasam - Kheer

Bisi Bele Bath - Hot Lentil Rice

Bisi Bele Bath - A rice based dish unique to the the state of Karnataka, India - which translates to hot- lentil - rice in Kannada language. The traditional preparation of this dish is quite elaborate and involves the use of spicy masala, toor dhal ( a form of lentil) and vegetables. But now a days, we get good Bisi Bele Bath powders that solves the problem of grinding spices for this recipe. It can be served with papad, raitha, vadam or chips. Its a great dish when we have guests at home or for potlucks. Very easy and tastes great.

Ingredients:

Serves 2 people

Rice - 1/2 cup ( I used the rice cookers cup for all measurements)
Toor Dhal - 1/2 cup
Mixed Vegetables - 1 cup cut lenghtwise (carrot, beans, potato, peas)
Onion - 1 cut length wise
Salt - To taste
Bisi Bele Bath powder - 2 tbsp
Tamarind - 1 medium lemon size ( Soak in warm water and take out the juice - about 2 cups)

For Seasoning:

Ghee - 4 tsp
Mustard - 2 tsp
Cumin Seeds - 2 tsp
Curry Leaves - 5 to 8
Hing (asafoetida) - A dash

For Garnish:

Cashews - 8-10 broken
Ghee - 3 tsp
Corriander leaves - handful (chopped)

First cook rice and toor dhal together and keep it aside. Also boil vegetables. In a pan, add ghee and when ghee is hot add mustard. Once it starts to splutter, add cumin seeds, curry leaves and asafoetida. Now add onions and sautee till it becomes translucent. Meanwhile, take out pulp from tamarind. You can extract maximum juice out of tamarind. Add it to the onions and let boil for 3- 5 mins till the raw smell of the tamarind reduces. Now you can add the bisi bele bath powder, salt and let it boil for another 3 mins. Add the cooked rice and dhal along with the vegetables to this boiling mixture. Mix everything together and let it cook till everything sets well with vegetables and rice. If you feel it is too thick you can add water to loosen the consistency.  Let it cook in low to medium flame for about 10 mins.

 Once its cooked garnish with cashews fried in ghee. You can also add corriander leaves to it. I like to add corriander in most of my recipes as it has a good flavor, nice texture and of course good for health.