Sprouts Pulao

This is a healthy combination of rice and sprouted legumes that provides protein, iron, folic acid and vitamin C. Cooking Time 15 mins
Preparation Time 20 mins
Serves 4

Ingredients
cooked long grained rice – 1 cup
sprouted legumes, parboiled – 1 cup
cloves -2
Asafoetida powder – 1/4 tsp
Green chilli – 1 chopped
grated ginger – 1 tsp
Capsicum – 1/2 chopped
Spring Onions – 4 to 6 chopped
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Chilli powder -1 tsp
Dhania powder – 1 tsp
Oil/ghee – 1 tbsp
Salt – to taste
Tomato – 1 chopped
Chopped cilantro – 2 tbsp

Get Cooking!
1. Heat the oil/ghee; add the cloves, asafoetida and sauté for a few seconds.
2. Add the green chilli, ginger, capsicum and spring onions. Sauté for 2 or 3 minutes
3. Add the turmeric powder, chilli powder, dhania powder and the sprouts and mix well
4. Add 1/4 cup water, salt and simmer over a slow flame till the sprouts are cooked.
5. Add the rice and toss well.
6. Serve hot, garnished with chopped tomato and cilantro

Tips

I added in roasted cashews, raisins & grated carrots – extra nutrition? Tried it with even some paneer cubes.

Alu Bath

Ingredients
Potatoes – peeled & cubed
Rice
Salt
Turmeric powder
Cumin seeds
Green chillies – slit
Curry leaves
Asafoetida
Oil

Get Cooking!
1. Wash the rice and drain the excess water. Keep aside.
2. In a little oil, sauté the potatoes till they are golden brown.
3. In a wok, heat a little oil. Add the cumin seeds,some curry leaves,slit green chillies.
4. Toss the potatoes & washed rice in.
5. Add the salt, turmeric powder. Mix everything in.
6. Transfer into a vessel and pressure the rice.

Tips
You could add some roasted peanuts and/or cashew nuts to the rice. One could reduce the green chillies and add red chilli powder instead.  This comes out great if the rice is open cooked instead of pressure cooking it – though pressure cooking is good too Sometimes, I like to cut the potatoes like french fries and fry them up before making this rice (yummy ) Basmati rice works good or any long grain rice can be used.

Saboot Masala Subz Pulao

Serves 4
Ingredients

Basmati Rice 1 cup washed & soaked
Oil 5 tbsp
Ginger paste 1 tsp
Garlic paste 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
Red Chilli powder 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste

Potato 1 cut into 1/2″ pieces
Cauliflower small 1/2 of it cut into florets
Carrots 2 cut into 1/2″ pieces
Green peas 1 cup
Tomato 1 cut into 8 pieces
Green chillies 1-3 cut into thin strips
Mint leaves 1 tbsp
Lemon juice 1 tsp
Cilantro

Spice Bag (crush together & tie in a piece of muslin cloth)
Black pepper corns 10
Fennel seeds 2 tsp
Green cardamom 3-4
Black cardamom 3-4
Cloves 4
Cinammon 2 sticks

Get Cooking!
1. In a braod dish, take oil, ginger & garlic paste, cauliflower, potato, carrots and peas. Microwave for 3 minutes.
2. Drain the soaked rice. Add the rice, 2 cups water, turmeric poweder, red chilli powder & salt. Mix well. Add the spice bag. Microwave covered for 6 minutes.
3. Add tomatoes, mint, cilantro, green chillies, lemon juice. Stir gently with a fork. Microwave covered for 7 minutes.
4. Wait for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Remove spice bag.
5. Serve with raita.

Bisibelabath powder

This is variation the previous post

Ingredients
“Varali” turmeric – 7-8
Red chillies – 2 cups
Coriander seeds – 1 cup
Peanuts – 1 cup
Chenna Dal – ¾ cup
Urad dal – ½ cup
Dry tamarind – ½ cup
Fenugreek seeds – 1 cup
Dry curry leaves – a little
Sesame seeds – 2 tbsp
Dry coconut grating – 1 cup

Get Grinding!
1. Sun dry the peanuts and powder them with the curry leaves.
2. Dry roast the sesame seeds really well and powder.
3. Sun dry all other ingredients. Powder all
4. Mix all the powders together.

Get Cooking!
1. Take a mix of oil and ghee in a cooker, add the vegetables, the bisibelabath powder and roast.
2. Add rice-tuvar dal, salt, water (1 rice-dal:4 water)
3. Pressure cook this well.

Tips
You could use turmeric powder instead of the whole turmeric suggested.
One could avoid the tamarind and make the powder otherwise and follow the recipe for bisibelabath given earlier using this powder too

Undraalu

Called Neer Kozhukatai in tamil.

Ingredients
Boiled rice 1 cup
Coconut ¼ grated
Oil a few drops

Get Cooking!
1. Soak the boiled rice.
2. Drain the rice, grind to a coarse consistency with the grated coconut with as little water as possible.
3. In a few drops of oil, heat up the batter stirring it so that lumps are not formed till it changes colour and becomes translucent
4. Make loose balls of the batter.
5. Boil about 1 cup water in a deep vessel. When it bubbles well, drop in one ball.
6. When it rises to the top, add 4 or 5 more balls.
7.When these balls rise to the top, take these and keep in a vessel aside.
8. Boil all the balls in a similar way.
9. Once all are done, add all the balls back into the water and let boil once.
10. Serve warm with some onion chutney.

Tips
When the level of water goes down, add more water, bring to a boil before adding the balls. The water can be mixed with some milk and sugar and had as a drink. Tastes yummy.

Mamidikaya Annam

Similar to making lemon rice. Instead of squeezing lime/lemon juice we use raw mango in the preparation.

Ingredients
Raw Mango peeled &grated use depending on the tartness of the mango (less if it is more tart and vice versa)
Rice
Mustard seeds
Chenna dal
Urad Dal
Green Chillies
Red Chillies
Ginger chopped/ grated (I prefer grating)
Peanuts and/or Cashew nuts
Curry leaves
Turmeric powder
Asafoetida
Salt
Oil

Get Cooking!
1. Cook the rice and keep it aside.
2. Sauté mustard seeds,chenna dal, urad dal, ginger, green chillies , red chillies, curry leaves in some oil.
3. Roast the peanuts and/ or cashew nuts and add.
4. Add the grated raw mango and stir it around for a wee bit.
5. Switch the heat off. Add the rice, salt, turmeric powder and asafoetida.
7. Mix well taking care not to mush the rice.

Tips
Cook the rice with a tsp or 2 of oil to help keep the cooked grains of rice separate. If making lemon rice, add the lemon/lime juice along with the rice i.e.., after switching the heat off.

Chenna Chawal

Nourishing rice with chick peas. Easy to make and not so tough as it looks
Serves 6 – 8

Ingredients
Basmati rice ¾ cup uncooked
Cardamom 2
Cloves 2
Cinnamon 1
Bay leaf 1
Milk ¾ cup
Salt
Chick peas ½ cup
Ginger paste 1 tsp
Garlic paste 1 tsp
Chilli powder 1 tsp
Turmeric powder ½ tsp
Fresh yogurt ½ cup
Tomatoes ½ cup chopped
Potatoes 2 chopped
Carrot 1 chopped
Green chillies 4 chopped
Ghee/ Oil
Cilantro 2 tbsp chopped
Mint leaves 1 tbsp
Fried onions 1 tbsp
Milk with a dash of saffron 1/8 cup

Get Cooking!
For the rice
1. Soak the rice in water for 30 minutes. Drain.
2. Mix ¾ cup water and milk together.
3. Add the cardamoms, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaf, about 2 ½ tsp salt and rice and cook until almost done.
For the gravy
1. Soak the chick peas overnight (or use the canned ones after draining and washing out the excess sodium ). Next day, boil with a little water. Drain.
2. Heat the ghee/oil, add the ginger and garlic pastes and fry for a while.
3. Add the chilli powder and the turmeric (in a little water) and fry for 1 minute.
4. Add the yogurt, tomatoes, potatoes, carrot and 3 chopped green chillies and stir for a while.
5. Add the chick peas and salt.

Get Baking!
1. To the cooked rice, add the coriander, mint, 1 chopped green chilli and fried onions. Mix it up carefully
2. Put one layer of rice in a big bowl and spread a layer of chick pea gravy on top
3. Make alternate layers of rice and gravy in this manner.
4. Finally, sprinkle the saffron milk on top, cover and bake in a hot oven at 200 degree C (400 degree F) for 20 minutes.
5. When baked, turn upside down in a serving dish and serve hot with raita.

Tips
You could add other veggies like green beans, peas, cauliflower. I reduced the number of green chillies and did not add the one to the rice before baking as it gets to be too spicy. Could reduce the amount of chilli powder too.

Bisibelabath

Ingredients
Poppy seeds 2tsps
Coconut grated
Bisibelabath powder1
or powder 2
Tamarind
Turmeric powder
Vegetables -any of them cut 2″ long
Salt
Cashew nuts / peanuts
Chenna dal
Mustard seeds
Curry leaves
Rice -tuvar dal in the ratio 1:1

Get Cooking!
1. Dry roast the poppy seeds and coconut and then grind them to a powder.
2. Boil the vegetables in some tamarind water with salt and a little turmeric powder.
3. Meanwhile, cook the rice-tuvar dal in a pressure/ rice cooker.
4. Add the bisibelabath powder or powder 2 and the ground coconut-poppy seeds powder to the vegetables.
5. When the mixture boils, add the cooked rice-dal and mix in well taking care not to crush the cooked vegetables.
6. Season this with mustard seeds, chenna dal, curry leaves.
7. Roast the cashewnuts/peanuts and add this to the bisibelabath.
8. Serve hot with thayir pachadi, fried appalams or chips

Tips
Add the vegetables according to decreasing cooking times as explained in avial . You could fry some chopped onions and add it to the bisibelabath alongwith the cashew nuts and mix them in.
Cook the rice-dal mixture well such that it can be almost mashed before adding it to the vegetables.

Karadai – Uppu Adai

Made as an offering on “karadaiyam nombu”

Ingredients

Rice Flour (made as in step 1) 2 cups
Water 4 cups
Coconut ½ of half coconut split to small thin pieces
Ginger finely chopped
Green chillies 6-8 finely chopped
Cowpeas ¼ cup
Asafoetida
Curry leaves
Mustard seeds 1 tsp
Urad dal 2 tsp (optional)
Salt 1 ½ tsp
Oil

Get Cooking!

1. Soak, wash, drain the rice, and grind to a powder which is not so coarse and not too fine.
2. Roast the cowpeas, steam them.
3. Sauté mustard seeds, urad dal, ginger, green chillies in say 5 to 6 tsp oil.
4. Add in the water, salt, coconut pieces, asafoetida, cut curry leaves and bring to a boil.
5. Add the steamed cowpeas, then stir in the rice flour taking care not to form lumps till it becomes like dough.
6. Take this off the heat, knead the dough.
7. Make patties around ½ “thick, make a whole in the centre like that in a dough nut.
8. Steam these patties. Once cooked, they appear glossy.

Tips

Quantity of water to be used is according to the quality of the rice. Depending on that, water should be 1 ½ to 2 times the quantity of rice. If you don’t have cowpeas, you could add tuvar dal. You could use the rice flour u get in a grocery store, just roast it well before. The coconut could be grated and used for this.

Vegetable Rice

This is one of the many ways you could prepare vegetable rice.

Ingredients

Vegetables like carrots, beans, potatoes – peeled, cut into 2″ long pieces
Peas
Onions
Tomatoes
Salt
Rice
Cardamom
Cloves
Cinnamon
Poppy seeds
Green chillies
Ginger-garlic paste.
Oil

Get Cooking!

1. Soak the poppy seeds in warm water for a while.
2. Grind the poppy seeds with green chillies, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and set the masala aside.
3.Wash the rice and set aside in a colander for half hour to drain the water.
4. Sauté the onions in some oil.
5. When it becomes golden brown, add some ginger-garlic paste. Cook for a while.
6. Add the cut vegetables and sauté.
7. Then add the rice and toss it around.
8. Add the ground masala.
9. Pour in enough water to cook the rice. Add a couple of cut tomatoes, salt. mix in well.
10. Open cook till the rice is done, stirring occasionally to reduce browning up of the rice or cook in an electric cooker, stirring occasionally. Pressure cooking the rice makes it too mushy.

Tips

Instead of adding the cardamom, cinnamon and cloves to the ground masala, you could sauté it before and the add the onions.