Paneer Fried Rice

Here is another recipe from Raks Kitchen.  I made this Paneer Fried Rice yesterday. I have made this rice many times and it is always a hit in our house.  My girls never like to eat panner.  But somehow they liked the taste of this panner fried rice and no complaints so far !!!

Pepper-Jeera Rice/Milagu-Jeeraga Saadam

This is one of my favorite variety rice.  During this winter season, kids get sick very often and I made this rice yesterday for my girls.  They have seasonal cold/sore throat.  Luckily they liked it.  It takes just few minutes to make this rice, if you have cooked white rice.  Here goes the recipe.

Pineapple Fried Rice

I made this rice today. I had few small cubes of pineapple pieces which nobody wan to eat. I am not a big fan of pineapple either. I eat it sometimes with bread as pineapple sandwich. Today i was not in a mood for sandwich. Didn't want to throw the fresh looking pineapple in trash.  I was planning to make variety rice today.  Idea of making this pineapple rice came in the middle of cooking.  Surprisingly, it tastes really good. Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Basmati Rice - 1 cup
2. Pineapple Juice - 1 cup
3. Salt to taste
4. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
5. Onion - 1 medium sized (thinly sliced)
6. Green chillies - 2 (acc to taste)
7. Oil/butter  - 2 tbsp
8. Cumin or ajwain- 1/4 tsp
9. Cashew - 2 tsp (optional)

For Grinding:-

1.  coriander seeds - 1 1/2 tsp
2. Channa dhall (optional)- 1/2 tsp
3. Red chillies - 1 or 2 (acc to taste)
4. Cardamom - 2
5. cloves - 2
6. Cinnamon stick - 1 tiny piece
7. White Sesame seeds - 1/4 tsp
8. Shredded coconut - 1/2 tsp

Wash basmati rice and soak it for 10 minutes.  In the mean time, roast the ingredients given for grinding, to golden brown. Let it cool and grind it as a powder.  Take a pan, preheat oil/butter, fry cumin seeds, add green chillies and fry it for a second. Now add the thinly shredded onion & turmeric powder. Saute for few minutes. Drain the basmati rice, add it to the frying ingredients and saute for few seconds. Add everything in a vessel. Pour 1 cup of pinepple juice and 1/2 cup water. Add required amount of salt. Also add 1 or 2 tsp (acc to taste) grounded masala powder. Mix it well. Cook it in a rice cooker till it is fully cooked or a pressure cooker upto one whistle. Serve it hot with raita & chips or with potato curry & chips. You will never get the sweetness of pineapple because of the masala powder.

P.S. - It was little spicy with the amount of chillies used. We can always reduce the quantity of chillies.

Beetroot Rice

This post has been lying in the draft for a very long time.  Thought of finishing it today. Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Basmati Rice - 1 1/2 cups
2. Beetroot - 1 cup (shredded)
3. Onion - 1 medium sized
4. Garlic - 1 (chopped)
5. Green Chillies - 3 (acc to taste)
6. ginger - a small piece (finely chopped)
7. Red chillies powder - 1/2 tsp (optional)
8. Salt to taste
9. Turmeric powder v- 1/2 tsp (optional)
10. Oil/butter - 1 1/2 tbsp
11. cumin seeds- 1/2 tsp

Wash & soak basmati rice in water for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes drain it fully and pressure cook it. ( I added 1:1 1/4 cup water to cook.) In the mean time, heat the oil/butter in a pan, splutter cumin seeds. Add green chillies, ginger, garlic & saute for few minutes. Now add the chopped onion to it and saute for another 3 minutes or till it becomes transparent.  Now add the shredded beetroot to it, add turmeric powder, red chillies powder & salt (for both rice & vegetable) and let cook for 5 to 7 minutes. Sprinkle water accordingly. Since the beetroot is shredded, it will take less time to cook.  When the rice is cooked, spread it in a big plate and let it cool.  When the beetroot mix is ready, mix it with the rice nicely. Do not break the rice grains while mixing.  Enjoy it hot with onion/cucumber raita and chips.  This rice is very easy to make with less spices and I am sure kids will definitely love it.  My girls really liked the color of the rice cos it turned kinda pink when I mixed the beetroot masala with rice.

Bell Pepper Rice

My MIL made this rice last week. I make bell pepper / capsicum rice too but in a regular fried rice way. But this is something new which she made. She used a masala powder (homemade) to finish this rice. Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Basmati Rice - 2 cups
2. Bell Pepper/Capsicum - 1 1/2 cups (chopped)
3. Onion - 1 medium sized (chopped)
4. Green Peas - 1/2 cup ( she used frozen)
5. Butter/Oil - 2 tbsp 
6. coconut oil - 1 tsp
7. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
8. urad dhall - 2 tsp
9. channa dhall -  1 tsp
10. fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp
11. Green chillies - 2
12. Turmeric powder - 3/4 tsp
13. Salt to taste
14. coriander leaves - for garnishing

Masala:-

1. Coriander - 3 tbsp
2. channa dhall -2 tbsp
3. Urad dhall - 2 tbsp
4. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
5. fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tsp
6. White sesame seeds - 1 tsp
7. Cardamom - 1
8. Clove -3
9. Cinnamon stick - 3 small pieces
10. Red chillies - 3 (acc to taste)
11. peanuts - 3 tbsp (optional - toasted)

Soak Basmati rice in water for half an hour. Take a pan, sprinkle a drop of oil/butter and fry the ingredients one by one to golden brown,  given for masala and let it cool and grind it into coarse powder. Keep it aside. Meanwhile, in the same pan, add one table spoon oil or butter. Add mustard seeds. When it crackles, add the urad dhall, channa dhall, fenugreek seeds &green chillies. Fry it till it becomes golden brown.  Add the chopped onion to it and fry it for few seconds. Add the chopped bell pepper, green peas to it and fry it for couple of minutes adding turmeric powder and required amount of salt (for both rice & masala) in medium flame.  Drain the basmati rice fully and add it to the ingredients and fry it for a minute. Transfer everything to a pressure cooker and add required amount of water and let it cook upto 2 whistles. ++ . When the pressure is released, open the cooker,  add the grounded coarse powder to it, remaining oil or butter, coconut oil and mix it with the rice. Make sure you don't break the grains. Enjoy the rice with onion raita & potato chips.

++ - In this stage, my MIL added required amount of water (1:1 1/4) directly in the pan and cooked the rice directly in the pan. I am not good in doing that process, so I have mentioned my way of cooking the rice. If you are confident enough to cook the rice in the pan, you can do so.

Amla Rice

This amla rice is a very very simple rice variety and it will just take less than 10 minutes to make this, if we have cooked rice.  I tried this rice last week. It came out pretty good.

Ingredients:-

1. Amla/Nellikka/Gooseberry - 2 (medium sized)
2. Green chillies - 2 (acc to taste)
3. Ginger - a small piece
4. onion - 1 (thinly sliced)
5. Cooked rice - 1 1/2 cups
6. Salt to taste
7. Sesame oil - 2 tsp
8. mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
9. Urad dhall - 1 tsp
10. turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
11. Coriander leaves - for garnishing
12. Asafoetida - a pinch

Microwave amla for three minutes or till it becomes soft.  Let it cool for few minutes. Remove the seed from it. Grind it along with green chillies and ginger into a fine paste adding required amount of water.  In the mean time, heat sesame oil, splutter mustard seeds, fry urad dhall,  asafoetida and thinly sliced onion to golden brown. Now add the grounded amla paste, turmeric powder and saute till the raw smells goes.  Now add the cooked rice, required amount of salt and mix it well.  Garnish it with coriander leaves.  This rice goes well with some chips or papad.

Green Moong Dhall Rice

I have never tried anything with green moong dal before. I had to buy this dhall cos my kids had some activity in their art class with those. Since I had more than half a packet, I thought of trying something with green moong dhall.   Itried this rice with it and it came out pretty good.

Ingredients:-

1. Basmati Rice - 1 cup
2. Green Moong dhall - 3/4 cup
3. Tomato - 2
4. Onion - 1 big
5. Garlic - 3 pods
6. Ginger - a small piece
7. Green chillies -5 (acc to taste)
8. Carrot,peas,potato,Green Bell Pepper - 1 cup (thinly sliced)
9. Salt to taste
10. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
11. Cardamom - 1
12. Cloves - 1
13. cashews - few for garnishing
14. Coriander leaves for garnishing
15. Oil - 1 tsp
16. Ghee - 1 tsp
17. Ajwain seeds - a pinch
18. Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp

Soak Green Moong Dhal** for 3 to 5 hours. Wash and soak basmati rice for 10 minutes.  In the mean time, boil tomato and peel off the skin and grind it into a fine paste. keep it aside.  Also grind onion, garlic, green chillies and ginger into a fine paste. Keep it aside. Now pre heat oil & ghee in a pan, splutter cumin & ajwain seeds, cashew cinnamon & clove, saute onion paste to golden brown. Add the thinly chopped vegetables now and saute for couple of minutes. Now add the tomato paste, turmeric powder, soaked moong dhall and required amount of salt. Let everything mix well.  It will be in semi solid consistency.  Now add the basmati rice, required amount of water *** and cook it till its done.  Garnish it with coriander leaves. Enjoy with some raita.

** - I soaked green moong dhall for 1 1/2 hours which was not enough. So microwaved it for 3 minutes before adding it to the masala mix.
*** - My tomato-onion masala mix was little bit watery. So I just added 3/4 cup of water along with rice and masala mix for cooking.

Quick Carrot Rice

Somedays you don't feel like cooking anything but you have people around and have no other choice, this rice comes handy. I learned this recipe from one of my friend's mom. Frankly speaking, it is easy to make and luckily my girls really liked that rice. I usually make carrot rice in this way. Here is the recipe.


Ingredients:-

1. Carrot - 1 (shredded)
2. Onion - 1 finely chopped
3. Tomato - 1 finely chopped
4. Garlic - 1 clove
5. Ginger - a small piece (chop it)
   
6. Green chillies - 1 (acc to taste)
7. oil - 2 tsp
8. mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
9. cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
   
10. Rice - 1 cup ( I used sonamasoori rice)
    
11. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
12. Salt to taste
13. Coriander leaves - for garnishing

Preheat oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds and cumin seeds and fry green chillies to golden brown. Add chopped onion, ginger & garlic and saute' for a minute. Now add the chopped tomato and shredded carrots to it. Add turmeric powder and let it cook for couple of minutes. In the mean time, wash the rice, drain it and keep it aside. When the veggies are half cooked, transfer it to the pressure cooker, add the drained rice, add required amount of water ( I usually add 3 cups of water for 1 cup of rice, but this time, I just used 1 1/2 cups of water along with half cooked vegetables and rice). Pressure cook it upto 2 whistles. Open the cooker when the pressure is released and garnish it with coriander leaves.

Bisibelebath 2 - Leftover special

Well this is something my MIL made last week using the left over Pongal she made for breakfast. She finished all the cooking work in the morning along with the breakfast work and we went out for shopping. She forgot to keep rice and when we returned after all those shopping trips, we both were really tired and we all were hungry and the kids became cranky. Since she had made eggplant sambar and godhsu as side dish for pongal, she said she will make quick bisibelebath with leftover pongal. I was not sure how it will come out but she was very confident and she started making arrangements for making the dish. I am just gonna give the quantity of pongal, godhsu and sambar she used to make this. Hope this will help...

Ingredients:-

1. Pongal - 3 cups (leftover finished pongal)
2. Godhsu - 1/4 cup (leftover)
3. Sambar - 1/2 cup (finished samabr)
4. Garam masala - 3/4 teaspoon
5. Salt to taste (if necessary)

For Seasoning:-

1. Oil - 1 tbsp
2. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
3. Red chillies - 2
4. Cashewnuts - few
5. curry leaves - to garnish.

Heat a pan, put the godhsu (tomato & onion godhsu), add required amount of water and let it boil for another couple of minutes. Now add sambar, garam masala powder and salt (if necessary) and let everything mix and boil for few minutes. Now add the leftover pongal to the mixture and mix everything well and let it cook for another 5 to 7 minutes. Add water according to the required consistency. Turn off the stove and keep it aside. Now seasoning for this rice is purely optional because, we would have seasoned pongal, godhsu and also sambar. In order to add some more taste, we can season this with cashews. Fry cashew nuts to golden brown and pour it on top of the rice and garnish it with curry leaves. Frankly speaking friends, the taste of this bisibelebath was much better than the original one we do. It was really good along with the cumin and pepper taste.

Palak Pulav

I have subscribed for the tamil magazine Vikatan.com online. Subscription for one year is $13 and its really worth. I've been subscribing for the past 4 years. I got this recipe from one of their magazine Aval Vikatan. In their last issue, they had recipe for 30 different pulav/biryani. I picked this one yesterday because i was not in a mood to make sambar or rasam or whatever. According to the original recipe, they are asking us to use palak for making this rice, but I used frozen chopped spinach instead. Because i usually buy the frozen box spinach and not the fresh ones. The reason being, i am very lazy....It takes time to wash, chop and then cook. But this one is really easy, just thaw it and cook it in the microwave. Thats what I did yesterday. I am not sure whether the variety of spinach in the box was palak or not. I am not good in differentiating the greens/spinach. When my MIL was here two years back, she told me once that it is palak and the other time she told me that it is sirukeerai. I literally couldn't find the difference between the two. Well.. here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Spinach/Palak - 1/2 box frozen spinach***
2. basmati rice - 1 1/2 cup
   
3. Onion - 1 (chop it)
4. Green chillies - 3 (acc to taste)
5. Bay leaf - 1(small one or big acc to taste)
6. Cardamom - 1
7. Garlic - 2 cloves (chop it)
8. cloves - 2
9. Cumin - 1/2 tbsp
10. Fennel seeds - 1/2 tbsp
11. Cashews - few for garnishing
12. Coriander leaves - for garnishing
13. Olive oil - 2 tbsp
14. salt to taste

First thaw the spinach(if you are using frozen box), cook it in the microwave for 5 mts. and use the half of the quantity for making this rice. If you are using the fresh palak, then wash it, chop it and cook it for 5 mts. Let it cool. In the mean time, wash the basmati rice and soak it for 10 mts. Drain it after that and keep it aside. Also Grind green chillies, fennel seeds, garlic, cumin seeds, cardamom, bay leaf and cloves into a fine paste. Also add the required amount of spinach to it and grind it nicely. Make sure the spinach is cold before you add it to the mixie. In the mean time, pre heat a pressure pan/cooker with oil, splutter 1/4 tsp of cumin, add cashew and fry it till it becomes golden brown. Now add the Rice to it and saute for a minute. Add the grounded spinach mixture to the ingredients and saute for another 2 mts. Now add required amount of water and salt to it. I added 2 cups of water for 1 1/2 cup of basmati rice. Because, spinach will also release some water. Cover the pressure pan and cook it upto 2 full whistles. Remove it from the stove top. When the pressur is released, garnish it with coriander leaves and serve it hot with onion/cucumber raita. I would like to give 5 stars to this recipe because, my twin girls, who never eat these types of variety rice, ate this rice yesterday, saying "amma this mammam is yummy!"

*** - We can also make this rice with fresh palak. Just cut the palak, cook it for 5 mts and then grind it into a fine paste.

Tomato Rice

Tomato Rice is my favourite dish. I use my Rasam Powder for making Tomato rice instead of Masala powder (coriander powder + Chilly powder). This receipe is based upon my way of making Tomato rice. The ingredients are as follow.

Ingredients :-

1. Basmati Rice (or Regular Rice) - 1 cup (measuring cup)
   
2. Tomatoe - 4 (Chopped into cubes)
   
3. Onion - 1 (finely chopped)
4. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
5. Rasam Powder - 1 tsp
   
6. Green chillies - 1 (add or reduce the number acc. to the quantity of Rasam powder cos it has chillies and pepper)
7. Ginger - a small piece
8. Salt to taste
9. Cashews - 5 (acc to taste)
10. Oil - 2 tsp
11. Unsalted butter - 1 tsp
12. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
13. Urid Dal - 1/2 tsp
14. cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
15. Asafoetida - one pinch
16. Coriander leaves - 1 tbsp
    

Soak the rice in water for 10 mts. Cook the rice in a pressure cooker upto 2 whistles. Do not over cook the rice. keep it and let it cool. In the mean time, take a wide pan, pre heat the oil and butter, add mustard seeds, when it splutters add urid dal, cumin seeds and cashews to it and saute for a minute. Now add green chillies, onion to to it and stir it for another one minute. Add the cut tomatoes to it and now add turmeric powder, rasam powder (can be replaced by coriander powder+chilli powder) and salt to it and let it cook in the medium heat. Now add the cooked rice to it and stir it carefully. Do not mash the rice. Garnish it with coriander leaves.

If you need the tomato rice, more spicy, can also add a cinnamon stick, 1 clove, 1 cardamom and 1 bay leaf in the seasoning mixture(mustard seeds, cumin seeds, etc..)

Mixed Vegetable Rice

This was our dinner yesterday. It came out very well. The main ingredients are as follow:
Ingredients:

1. Basmati Rice - 1 cup (measuring cup) (soak it for 5 mts.)
   
2. Carrot - 1 - (Chopped in an inch size) (if its a big carrot use only 1/2 carrot)
3. Peas - 3 tbsp
4. Potato - 1 (chopped in an inch size)
5. Onion - 1 finely chopped
6. Garlic - 1 clove finely chopped
7. Oil - 2 tbsp
8. Butter - 1 tbsp (unsalted)
9. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
10. Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
11. Coriander powder - 1 tsp
12. Salt to taste
13. Cardamom - 1
14. Cloves - 1
15. Bay leaf -1
16. Cashews - 5 to 7 (acc. to taste)
    
17. Fresh coriander leaves - 2 tbsp (finely chopped)

First, clean the rice and cook it up to 1 or 2 whistles. Do not over cook. Keep it aside and let it cool. Now take a wide pan, preheat the oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters add cashews, cumin seeds, Cardamom, cloves bay leaf and vegetables to it. Add 1/2 cup of water and let it cook for 5 to 7 mts. Now add coriander powder and salt to it. Stir it carefully (do not mash the vegetables). Now mix the vegetables with the rice. While mixing the vegetables with a spatula, make sure it won't mash the rice. Now pour the Butter on top it and garnish it with coriander leaves. Now mixed vegetable rice is ready to serve. Potato chips or Onion raita can be a good side dish. We can also replace ghee and oil with cooking spray...

Kanu with Variety Rice

Kanu is Maatu Pongal - We keep kanu pidi (basically offerings to our ancestors) early morning and offer it to crow... I hate this custom personally. Because now a days we can see so many orphanages and so many kids roaming in the streets without food and shelter... Before my marriage, when I asked my patti "why don't you give this left over to the boy sleeping in the street platform?" She said "summa irudi periyavaa enna sollaralo adha kekardhuthan azhagu". They are ready to waste a bowl full of rice rather to give it to a small boy.. Thats why I hate this kanu pidi concept and most of the time never participate in this custom. Since I used to give lots of trouble like this(not believing in old tradition), my parents and patti were really scared when they started talking about my marriage... I am not sure whether I will get along with my inlaw and co-sisters in this concept and many other concepts(which I hate) when we go back to India??? Lets coming back to recipes, I made tamarind rice, coconut rice and avial on 15th Jan. I wanted to make curd rice also, but didn't get time to finish my work before 12 so just left it...
Check out the recipe for tamarind rice here, Coconut Rice and Avial here...

Bisibelebath

Bisibelebath/ Sambar Saadam needs lot of work and patience. But I like to do this once in 10 days cos we add lots of veggies in one rice and that kids like to eat it with lots and lots of melted ghee. The ingredients are as follows

Ingredients:

1. Sonamasuri Rice(ordinary rice) - 2 cups (wash it and keep it aside)
   
2. Toor Dal - 1 cup(wash it and keep it aside)
   
3. Sambar Powder - 1/2 tsp (if necessary)
4. Turmeric Powder - 3/4 tsp
5. Pearl onion (small onion) - 15 (remove the skin)
6. Beans - 12 (3/4 inch chopped) (can also grab some frozen cut beans)
7. Peas - a hand full (regular or frozen)
8. Carrot - 1 (3/4 inch chopped)
9. Potato - 1 (3/4 inch chopped)
10. Drumstick - 1 (3/4 inch chopped) (can also use frozen drumstick)
11. Brinjal (Egg Plant) - 1 (3/4 inch chopped)
12. Chow chow - 1/2 (3/4 inch chopped)
13. Tamarind - 1 small lemon sized (or 3 tsp paste)
14. Ghee - 3 tbsp
15. Oil - 2 tbsp
    
16. Salt to taste
    

Bisibelebath Masala Powder:

1. Coriander seeds - 3 tbsp
2. Channa dal - 1 tbsp
3. Toor dal - 1 tbsp
4. Asafoetida powder - 1 pinch
5. Cinnamon stick - 2 ( 1 inch)
6. cloves - 3
7. Cardamom - 2
8. Bay leaf - 1 (can also be avoided)
9. Red chillies - 3 or 4 ( according to taste)
10. White Sesame Seeds - 1/4 tsp ( can also be avoided)
11. Coconut - 2 tbsp

Fry these masala ingredients except coconut in a pan with a drop of oil, to golden brown and grind it. Excess powder can be used later. For the above said ingredients, we may need 2 or 3 tbsp masala powder. Now take the required amount of masala powder and add coconut to it and now grind it finely.

For Seasoning/Thalikka:

1. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
2. Urid dal - 1 tsp
3. Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 seeds
4. Asafoetida powder - a pinch
5. Red chilli - 2
6. Cashews - 10
   

Now in a pressure pan, pre-heat 2 tbsp ghee and oil fry the seasonings to golden brown now add all the vegetables to it and stir it for a minute. After a minute, add rice and toor dal to it. stir it for 1/2 a minute. Let it mix with the vegetables. Now add water in the ratio of 1:6. So we need 12 cups water. Add turmeric powder, Sambar powder(optional), asafoetida powder and masala powder(with coconut) to it. Add salt to taste. Now pressure cook these ingredients up to 7 or 8 full whistles. After opening the pressure pan (after 10 or 15 mts depending upon the pressure), add the remaining 1 tbsp ghee and coriander leaves and stir it thoroughly. Again close the pressure pan for 5 minutes. Now Bisibelebath is ready to serve. We can serve this Bisibelebath with Onion Raita or/and chips.

This rice should be in a semi- solid consistency than normal rice. Some people also add 1 tsp sugar to the rice (before cooking).

Bisibelebath is a famous receipe in Karnataka. My neighbour in my apartment(from karnataka) taught me this. We can also give this rice to kids after adding few more spoons of ghee. Try this and lemme know your comments.

Carrot Rice

This is a simple receipe for making Carrot Rice. The ingredients are as follows: 1 cup Basmati Rice(or regular sonamasuri rice) Soak it in water for 5 minutes, 1 Big Carrot - chop it, grind it and get juice out of it, 2 tbsp oil, 1tsp unsalted butter, salt to taste, Mustard seeds, urid dal, 1 green chilli, 5 cashews, 5 shredded almonds, pinch of asafoetida, turmeric powder, 1 finely chopped onion, Coriander leaves, curry leaves.

It needs a masala Powder which we can make it at home and keep the excess for some other variety rice. The ingredients for masala powder are:

1. 1 cinnamon stick
2. 2 cloves
3. 1 bay leaf
4. 1 cardamom
5. 1 tbsp channa dal
6. 1tbsp urid dal
7. 3 red chillies
8. 2 tbsp coriander seeds

Fry these ingredient in a pan with a drop of oil and grind it. Keep it aside. In a pressure cooker pre-heat the oil and butter. Season the mustard seeds, urid dal, cashews, almonds, green chillies and finely chopped onion to golden brown. Now add the Rice (drain it after 5 mts of soaking), carrot juice in 1:2 ratio(1rice:2juice), 2 tsp masala powder, turmeric powder, asafoetida and salt. Pressure cook this upto 2 whistles. Before serving garnish it with Coriander leaves. Raita can be used as side dish for this Rice. Try this receipe and lemme know your comments.
This goes to Srivalli's Rice mela event.

Tomato Rice 2

Most of us know how to make tomato rice. This post is for those who have small kids like me. My girls' like this rice and finish it most of the times. So I call this kids friendly tomato rice. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Tomato - 2
2. Basmati rice - 1 cup
3. Onion - 1/2
4. Green peas & Carrots - 1/4 cup ( I used frozen peas and carrot)
   
5. Green chillies - 1
6. Oil - 2 tsp
7. Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
8. Urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
9. Cashew - 5
   
10. Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp
11. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
12. Salt to taste
13. Asafoetida powder - a pinch

Soak rice for 10 mts and drain it. Grind the tomatoes nicely and get the juice out of it. Filter the juice if necessary. Now take a pan, pre heat oil, splutter mustard seeds, add urad dhall, cashew and green chillies to golden brown. Add chopped onion, peas and carrots and fry it till it becomes soft. Now add the drained rice and saute' for another 2 mts. Transfer these ingredients to a pressure cooker. Add 1 1/2 cups of tomato juice (1: 11/2 ratio), turmeric powder, required amount of salt and cook it upto 2 whistles. Turn off the stove and let the pressure release. When the pressure is released, open and sprinkle the asafoetida powder and garnish it with coriander leaves. Serve it hot with onion raita. Sweetness from tomato, little bit spicyness from green chillies will make the kid finish the rice without any trouble. My girls like this very much.

** - We can also add a teaspoon of ghee while serving. While frying the onion and peas, we can also add a pinch of sugar which adds more flavor to this rice.

Peas Pulao

My girls' love to eat peas at any time. Since they have started going to school full time, I need to think something or the other to pack their lunch box. I used some of Jujubs lunch box ideas. I wanted to try our Indian food too to pack their lunch box. So I tried this peas pulao and I followed the recipe from Bhawana's Taste of India. I didn't make much changes. I used unsalted butter instead of Oil. I added peas to the rice while frying it in butter along with other masala ingredients.

Orange Rice

This is another rice for which I got the recipe from a magazine. I have never tried variety rice with orange. So just wanted to try this time. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Basmati rice - 1 cup
2. Orange - 1 or 2 (we need 1 3/4 cup of juice; accordingly take orange)
3. Salt to taste
4. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
5. Onion - 1 (chopped)
   
6. Green chillies - 2
7. Ginger - a small piece (chopped)
8. Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp
9. channa dhall - 1 1/2 tsp
10. Red chillies - 2 (acc to taste)
11. Cardamom - 1
12. Cloves - 1
13. Bay leaves - 1
14. Orange skin or zest - 1 tsp
15. Coriander leaves - for garnishing
16. Unsalted butter - 3 tbsp
17. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
18. Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
    

First wash and soak rice for 10 mts. After 10 mts., drain it completely and keep it aside. Squeeze out juice from oranges for about 1 3/4 cups and keep it aside. In the mean time, fry coriander seeds, red chillies, channa dhall, cardamom, cloves, to golden brown and grind it into a fine powder. Take a pressure cooker, pre heat butter and splutter mustard and cumin seeds. When its done, add onion, orange skin(zest) and green chillies and fry it till it becomes golden brown. In between add bay leaf to it. Now add the drained rice, orange juice, salt, a pinch of sugar, turmeric powder and the grounded masala powder to it and mix it well. Pressure cook it upto 2 whistles. When the pressure is released, open the cooker and garnish the rice with coriander leaves. This rice tastes really good and onion raita can be used as a side dish for this rice.

Bell Pepper Rice

I have never tried this bell pepper (capsicum) rice before. Bought all the three colors bell peppers this weekend and wanted to try this one. Here is the recipe I followed to make this rice.

Ingredients:-

1. Bell Pepper (green, yellow and red) - 1 cup (finely chopped)
2. Onion - 1 (finely chopped)
3. Garlic - 1 (finely chopped)
4. Green chillies - 2 (finely chopped)
5. Ginger - a small Piece (finely chopped)
6. Unsalted butter - 2 tsp
7. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
8. Asafoetida powder - a pinch
9. Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
10. Cashews - 1 tsp
11. Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp (finely chopped)
12. Basmati Rice - 1 cup
13. Salt to taste
    

First wash and soak rice for 10 mts. After 10 mts drain it fully and keep it aside. Now take a pan, pre heat unsalted butter, splutter mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Add asafoetida powder and cashews. Fry it till golden brown. Now add chopped green chillies, ginger, garlic and onion one by one and fry it till it becomes transparent. Now add the bell peppers and stir it for another 5 to 7 mts. Now add the drained rice and saute for couple of minutes. Now transfer these ingredients to a pressure cooker. Add 2 cups of water (1:2 ratio), required amount of salt and pressure cook it upto 2 whistles. Open the cooker when the pressure is released and garnish it with coriander leaves. Serve it hot with onion raita.

Priti has tagged me for a meme which I have already posted it here.

Bagalabath - curd rice

I always like to eat seasoned curd rice. My mom used to make this every weekend. I learned this recipe from my MIL. I made puliyogare, coconut rice and this curd rice on saturday for aadi perukku. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Rice - 2 cups
2. Fat free yogurt - 3
3. Fat free sour cream - 1 tbsp
   
4. Hot water - 1/4 cup
5. Fat free buttermilk - 1 small cup
   
6. Shredded cucumber - 3 tbsp
7. shredded carrot - 3 tbsp
8. shredded ginger - 2 tsp
9. Green chillies - 2 (finely chopped)
10. Raisins - 1 tsp
11. Grapes - 10 or 15 ( cut it into half )
    
12. Salt to taste

For seasoning:-

1. Oil - 1 tsp
2. Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
3. Cashew - 1 tbsp
4. Coriander leaves - 1 tbsp
5. curry leaves - few

First pressure cook rice adding 6 cups of water. When the pressure is released, open the cooker and mash the rice, if necessary add the hot water and mash it. Add the above said, yogurt, buttermilk, cucumber, carrot, green chillies, ginger, salt, grapes, and sour cream and mix everything well. Add water if necessary to adjust the consistency of the rice. It should be creamy. Take a pan, pre heat oil, add mustard seeds when it splutters add cashew, asafoetida powder and curry leaves and raisins and fry it till golden brown. Pour it on top of the rice. Mix it well. Garnish it with coriander leaves. Enjoy the rice with more molaga (curd chilly).