Capsicum-Peas Pulav

Come December and begins the season of Music, Dance, Drama in Chennai! Its that beautiful 2 months of the year from Dec to Jan when the city is abuzz with music concerts and dance performances all across the city halls. Some of the best talents in classical music & dance are noticed and come to the limelight every year. What an opportunity for young talented and aspiring artists from all across the globe! So glad to be a Chennai-ite for the sheer opportunities it presents in the field of music & art!

Ok, before you all think am writing a blog on Art of singing and dancing let me quickly u-turn to the Art of cooking:-) Well, come December...is not only the season for ears and eyes but also for the tummy with some of the winter veggies going cheap on the wallet and huge in the market. Time to stock up on green peas and all the bean variety that fill the market in abundance during these couple of months.

I have been dishing out a lot of peas recipes this month and want to share with you all the best of the lot so you too can relish along with me...the first of the lot is the hot and mildly spicy peas pulav which is light and delicious and so quick to make too:-) Try it and let me know your comments...

Ingredients:

- 1 cup basmati rice washed and soaked
- 1 cup fresh green pea (frozen is ok too)
- 1 cup thinly diced capsicum
- 1 medium onion thinly diced
- 1 tbsp of grated garlic and ginger
- 1 tbsp of ghee (clarified unsalted butte)
- 1 tsp fennel seeds (saunf)
- 2 -3 green chilies slit across (adjust to taste)
- 2 cloves
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 inch cinnamon
- few cashes for seasoning (optional)
- salt to taste


Prep time: 15 mins                                    Cook time: 30 mins

Preparation:

- Wash and soak the basmati rice in water and set aside while you get the veggies ready.

- Dice the onions, capsicum and green chilies. Grate 1/2 inch of ginger and 3 cloves of garlic.

- Wash the green peas and keep all the veggies ready.

- In a pressure pan heat the ghee. Once ghee is hot, add the fennel seeds and as they splutter, add the bay leaf, cinnamon, cloves and cashews. 

- When the cashews turn lightly golden, add the green chilies, ginger garlic and saute, later, after about a minute add the onions and saute until it turns translucent.

- Now add the green peas and capsicum and salt to taste and saute for a couple of minutes.

- Drain the soaked basmati rice off the water and then, add to the veggies in the pressure pan and toss everything together for a couple of minutes.

- Now, add one and half cup water, close the pressure pan and cook on high for 7-8 minutes and on low flame for 2 mins and remove from heat.

- Allow steam to escape before releasing the pressure off the cooker.

- The measure of water is the same even if you are cooking in a rice cooker. Quick and tasty capsicum peas pulav is ready to serve:-)

Methi Veg mixed rice with Left over Rice!

Had not posted any recipe under the left over section for a long time. Though I try and make the best with the left overs...they are usually done too quickly to remember to be clicked for blog post. This too was one such recipe which I started clicking mid way through the making!

There was enough rice left over from lunch and I did not want to carry it over to the next day. Usually the best way to get this done with is to make a tasty...never can say no...'bagalabath' or curd rice with garnish. However, this time I tried a mixed veggie rice for a change and I turned out quite good.

Off to the making.....If you do not want to try with left over rice, you can use freshly cooked basmati rice too..

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked rice
1 cup methi leaves(fenugreek)
1 onion
1 medium potato
1 small carrot(shredded)
1 small capsicum
1 small tomato
6-8 long beans
3-4 green chillies
2-3 cashews
2 cloves
1 tsp fennel seeds(saunf)
1 piece cinnamon
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp ghee(clarified butter) or cooking oil
Salt to taste

Prep time: 10 mins                       Cook time: 15 mins

Preparation:

Cut the veggies into thin long slices. You can use any veggies of your choice.I like to shred the carrots as it addsa rich  colour to the food.
In a wide pan, heat the oil and add the bay leaf, fennel seeds, cloves,cinnamon and once they splutter add the green chillies and onion.

Saute for a couple of mins and add the other veggies, except methi, tomato and carrots.

Add salt to taste and when these veggies are well cooked, add the methi, tomato and carrots and give them a good toss for 3 to 4 mins.

Then, add the rice and mix with the veggies. Quick and easy methi veg rice is ready to serve with your favourite raitha or chips!

Note:
- If pre-cooked rice, heat it and loosen a bit before adding to the veggies. If you add cold rice..it will tend to get sticky.
- You can make this freshly cooked basmati rice too!

Mint-Coriander Green Pulav - with simple and easy flavours!

Hi Friends....its been a really long time since I have been away from blogosphere and must say I have been terribly missing it here but for want of time. As I have said many time before in my posts...I really

admire the bloggers who manage to blog regularly despite juggling between home, kids, work and all the

odd chores....wonder how they manage everything so beautifully...it speaks so much about all of your passion and commitment towards what you are doing....with such inspiring people around me and the motivation from my friends and well wishers am sure I will never want to stop blogging even if I am a little irregular at the moment....

After many months I walked into the kitchen with my camera and cutlery for this post. Listing below the steps to make this super simple and delicious mint/coriander pulav.

Ingredients:

- 2 cups of slit veggies ( beans, potato, carrot, capsicum, onion)

- 1 cup Basmati rice washed and soaked for 20 mins

- 1 pinch cup or 1/2 measuring cup Mint leaves

- 1 pinch cup or 1/2 measuring cup Coriander leaves

- 1 pinch cup or 1/2 measuring cup green peas
- 5-6 nos small onions
- 3 nos green chilly or to taste
- 1 inch ginger
- 2 cloves garlic

- 1 tsp saunf

- 1 tsp of mixed spices( ur choice)

- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tbsp clarified butter(ghee) or oil
- 1 tbsp cooking oil
- few cashews(optional)
- Salt as desired

Prep time: 20 mins                               Cook time: 30 mins

Preparation:

- Wash and soak the basmati rice and set aside while you get the veggies and the masala ready.

- Cut the onion, capsicum, carrot, potato and beans into thin long slice.

- Sort and clean the mint and coriander leaves and wash them well to clean off any sediments.

- Grind the small onions, ginger, garlic, green chilly and the mint-coriander leaves into a paste adding a couple of tbsp of water as necessary.

- If you like the spices to be biet size you can add them directly or if you do not like to chew on the masala, you could grind them with the masala paste.

- Heat the oil in a pan, add the bay leaf, saunf and the cashews. Later add the onions and saute for 2 mins.

- Now add the ground paste and the green peas and saute until the paste is dry of all the water and comes together with the oil.

- To this add the slit veggies and little salt and mix everything together and saute for 2 - 3 mins. Set this aside.

- In the same pan, heat the ghee, drain the rice of water and add to the pan. Saute the rice for a couple of minutes and add the veggies to it and mix everything together.

- Now, add this into a pressure cooker or a rice cooker.

- Add 1 and 1/2 cups or 1 and 3/4 cup water just so you have a little extra water for the veggies to cook.

- Add salt as desired and pressure cook for 8 minutes on high and 2 minutes on low flame.

- Allow the steam to escape and serve hot with onion raitha for the side!

Jeera Rice / Cumin Rice

Continuing the healthy food series, here is the recipe for Jeera(Cumin) rice. This is such a simple and wholesome meal in itself when eaten with a side of Dhal and pappad. Last week happened to be a bad tummy week for many at home. So, decided to make some simple food this weekend to help everyone jump back to routine. This is so healthy that your tummy will thank you enough for re-hauling it:-)

Ingredients:

- 1 1/2 cups basmati rice
- 1 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
- 2 tsp jeera (cumin seeds)
- 1 tsp black pepper (whole)
- 1 or 2 dry red chillies
- 4 to 5 cashews (optional)
- 2 sprigs curry leaves
- salt to taste





Prep time: 15 mins                       Cook time: 20 mins

Preparation:

- Wash and soak the basmati rice in water for 15 minutes.

- In a pressure pan, heat the ghee. Once the ghee is hot, add jeera, black pepper, red chillies, cashews and curry leaves and saute for half a minute.

- Now, drain the basmati rice of excess water and add to the pressure pan. Mix the rice well with the ghee and other spices and saute for a couple of minutes.
- Add 2 and 1/4 cup of water and salt to your taste and pressure cook the rice.

- Allow steam to escape completely before opening the pan.

- Serve hot jeera rice with your favourite dhal or any side of your choice:-)!

Foot note:

- The proportion of water for basmati rice is 1 cup rice is to 1 1/2 cups water.
- I usually pressure cook for 3 whistles. But you can cook as you would normally do for any pulav or biriyani.

Sending the recipe to"Herbs & Spices" event at Erivum Puliyum hosted by Julie

Vaangi bhath - Brinjal rice - Blog hop

Bloghop wednesdays really gets me going..I know I have mentioned this several times in the past, but I never imagined it would motivate me to wake up at 5.15 in the morning, so that I could find enough time to make a recipe and shoot them on my camera as well.

Well, if you are wondering why I need to wake up so early to make this under 30 minute meal...news is that I have started working again! Its keeping me really busy and I often find no time to check all of your posts friends. That is the reason I have not been able to comment on any of your posts. But it really feels good to be back to work after a 1 year break....more like after a holiday in the US:-)

So, if I had to get out of home on time to catch my shuttle I had to back work my timings given that I was not going to miss out on my yoga and walking routine! So, finally made this "vaangi bath" which I choose in no time from Rudra's blog Moms Corner. She has some really simple and easy to make recipes and this one fit the bill perfect for me. I needed a quick lunch idea for my box and something interesting as well and there could'nt have been a better choice than this!

It tasted really good....my friends at the lunch table almost emptied my box;-)! Wishing you all a very Prosperous and Happy New Year!


Ingredients:

- 3 medium brinjals finely chopped
- 1 medium tomato finely chopped
- 6 or 7 pearl onions finely chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh green peas or frozen peas
- 1/2 cup cooked raw rice

Seasoning

- 2 tsp oil
- 1 tsp channa dhal
- 1 tsp urad dhal
- 4 cashews broken
- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
- 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 green chilly slit
- few sprigs of curry leaves
- small bay leaf
- Salt to taste

Masala Powder:

- 1 tbsp grated or slit coconut
- 2 tsp channa dhal
- 1 tsp urad dhal
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- 2 small red chillies( as per taste preference)
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/4 tsp pepper powder or 2 to 3 pepper corns
- 1/4 tsp asafoetida or hing


Prep time: 15 mins          Cook time: 20 mins

Preparation:

- Pressure cook the rice first so that it is done by the time the mix is ready.
- Roast the ingredients given under "masala powder" with 1/2 tsp of oil and set aside to cool.

- Dry grind the coarsely

- In a pan, heat 2 tsp of oil and splutter the mustard seeds. Later add the channa dhal, urad dhal given under "seasoning" and when they turn light red, add the curry leaves, bay leaves, green chilly and cashews.

- I generally remove the green chilly after sauteing them for a few seconds. However, this is optional.
- Now, add the onions and saute for a minute. Later, add the green peas, brinjals and tomato and mix well.
- Add the turmeric powder and salt as needed and fry the mix until all the veggies are cooked. You could sprinkle litle water nad cook covered if the green peas(fresh) takes a while to soften up.

- When the veggies are done, mix in the masala powder and remove from heat after a minute.
- In a bowl, mix the rice and the above veggie gravy. Add ghee for additional taste and serve hot!

Sending the recipe to Bloghop wednesdays hosted by Radhika of Tickling Palates

Nellikai rice - Amla Rice - Gooseberry Rice

Have never thought these simple gooseberries could be used to make a healthy and quick fix lunch! Gooseberries have always meant pickles to me and I have never tried to imagine it being used elsewhere except in the tonics and oils for Vitamin C nourishment.The very mention of gooseberry gets my taste buds tickling with sourness..sssssssssss!Yes, thats the way I felt when I first heard about this rice.

Since a long time I had wanted to try this recipe but I could not get hold of gooseberries in US. After I landed in India, the first thing I bought on my very first groceries shopping trip was gooseberries! They were patiently waiting to see the light of the day in my fridge for over 10 days! Well, when I did make them, it turned out awesome! It is such a quick and easy rice to make and is a perfect fit for the dabba!

Ingredients:

- 1/2 cup rice (raw rice or basmati)
- 3 gooseberries grated
- 1 or 2 green chillies
- 1/2 medium onion finely chopped
- 1 1/2 tsp oil, divided
- few curry leaves
- chopped coriander
- a pinch of turmeric
- Salt to taste

For tempering:

- 1 tsp urad dhal
- 1 tsp channa dhal
- 1 tsp peanuts
- 1/4 tsp mustard seeds
- 1/4 tsp cumin(jeera) seeds
- 2 or 3 cashews broken


Prep time: 10 mins           Cook time: 30 mins


Preparation:
Source: Delicious Desi Dishes

- Cook the rice of your choice and set aside for cooling. Rice has to be cooked in such a way that the grains are seperate and not sticky.
- While the rice is cooking, grate the gooseberries, chop the onions, slit the chillies in half and gather the ingredients for tempering.
- In a small pan, heat 1/2 tsp of oil, add the mustards and once they splutter add the cumin seeds and other ingredients. You can temper with any or all of the ingredients listed under tempering.
- Once the dhals are roasted remove the tempering and set aside.
- In the same pan, heat the remaining oil, add the onions and chillies and fry till the onions turn translucent.
- Now add the grated gooseberries, salt and turmeric and saute constantly for 2 to 3 minutes.Remove from heat and mix with the tempering.

-  Add the warm rice to the above and toss everything together.
- Pack them into your dabbas for lunch or serve with any raitha of your choice!

Footnote:
- For those who are not very calorie conscious, you could add 2 tsp of grated coconut while sauteing the gooseberries for added flavour:-)

Sending to Bookmarked Recipes Event hosted by Priya and Aipi

Helathy Cooking Challenge hosted by Smita of My Tasty Curry and guest hosted by Kavi of Edible Entertainment

Capsicum Rice

A very very simple recipe using nothing but capsicum alone as the main ingredient. Its easy to make for the early morning rush hour dabba's! The flavour for this rice is the cumin seeds and capsicum...So, be generous on the cumin seeds...

Ingredients:

- 1/2 cup raw rice or basmati rice
- 1 Capsicum finely chopped
- 1 tsp cumin seeds/jeera
- 1/4 tsp chilly powder or more as per preference
- Salt to taste
- 1 tsp oil

Prep time: 5 mins             Cook time: 20-25 mins

Preparation:

- Cook the rice such that each grain is seperate and not sticky.

- In a pan heat the oil, add the cumin seeds and when it crackles, add the capsicum.

- Fry the capsicum for a minute before adding the chilly powder and salt.
- Keep frying the capsicum until it turns translucent and fully cooked. This may take about 10 mins in medium heat.

- Mix the fried capsicum with rice and pack your dabba with any raita of your choice.

- Simple and no frills attached capsicum rice is ready in no time!