Vetalai Sadam

Hubby and older one were going to have leftover biryani for dinner. Which left Mr. Fussy and myself. He wanted fried rice- I could have given it to him, but thout this was the perfect chance to try out a recipe I'd bookmarked a long time back (and the brand new kadhai). Fortune favours the bold- it was a hit.

1 cup rice (uncooked)

3 or 4 betel leaves 

1 tbsp garlic paste

1/4 tsp haldi powder

Salt to taste

For dry masala:

1 tsp sesame seeds seeds

1/4 tsp peppercorns

1 red chilli (I toned it down, 2 would be better)

1/2 tsp ginger powder

For tempering:

1 1/2 tbsp cooking oil

1/4 tsp saunf

1 inch piece cinnamon

1 sprig curry leaves

Method:

Wash and soak rice for 30 mins. Cook till 75% done, keep aside.

Dry roast sesame seeds, peppercorns and dry red chillies in a pan and grind it along with dry ginger powder to a fine powder. Set aside.

Heat oil in a pan, temper the ingredients listed under tempering. Add garlic paste and saute for few seconds. Then add turmeric powder in the oil and immediately add cooked rice, mix everything well.

Finally add chopped betel leaves, ground masala powder and salt and mix well.

Cover and cook for 5 mins or until well cooked, if needed sprinkle some water to avoid drying.

Rice pakore

When the kids come home from school they don't want lunch, but a little sustenance they need. Leftovers to the rescue.

1-2 cup leftover rice

1/4 cup besan

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

1/2 tsp jeera powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

Salt to taste

Cooking oil

Method:

Mix the besan, chilli powder, jeera powder, salt and soda. Add 1/2 tsp cooking oil, and make a paste with minimum water. 

Add the cooked rice, and mix well. 

Heat the oil, and put a drop of batter- if it rises immediately to the surface, the oil is ready. 

Roll and flatten the batter into patties. Fry till cooked on both sides. 

Serve hot with tomato ketchup. 

Pulao with soya chunks

Living in the land of biryani as we do, it was only a matter of time before I made soya pulao as a veg version of the old favourite. 

1 cup rice
2 cup soya nuggets

2 onions chopped fine
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1 tsp jeera powder
2 tsp dhania powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
Salt to taste
2 tbsp cooking oil

Method:
Soak the rice for 1 hour, and keep aside.
Heat oil, add chopped onions, and saute till transparent. Add ginger garlic paste, and spices, and saute till the raw smell goes.
Allow the masala to cool, then grind it till you get a fine paste.
Return to the pan, add soaked rice, soya chunks and 3 cups water.  Bring to boil, reduce the flame, and allow it to simmer for 10 minutes.

Meethi chawal

Both the Tamil and the Punjabi New Years fell today, and though I had to go to work, I intended coming home early. I let the cook take an evening off, but then got delayed at office. Not wanting to order out, I make this "meethi chawal" from Himachal. The jaggery I used was very light in colour, so the dish didn't photograph well, but it tasted much nicer than it looked.
I may not make it again (because I like Shakarai Pongal much more than I did this one), but I know I am going to replicate it with poha soon.

1 cup rice
3 tbsp cashew nuts
3 tbsp raisins
1/4 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup jaggery
1 stick cinnamon
3 green cardamom
1 tsp saunf
3 tbsp ghee
 
Method:
Soak the rice half an hour, strain the water, add fresh water, and boil till 70% coked. Use a sieve to strain out the starchy water, rinse with cold water and keep aside.
Heat 1 cup water, add fennel seeds, cardamoms and cinnamon, and allow it to come to a boil. Turn off the flame and keep aside for a few minutes for the flavours to seep in. Add grated jaggery, and stir till it mixes completely (heat the water, if required)
Heat the ghee, and saute the dry fruits and the shredded coconut, till slightly browned.
Add the jaggery water, and cooked rice to the dried fruits and mix well. Cover it with a lid and let the rice cook for 10-15 minutes on low heat (if you feel the rice is sticking to the pan, add a little more water)
Garnish with dry fruits and serve

Kovil Sakkarai Pongal

We have an optional holiday today, and I was in two minds whether to take a day off or not. One of the strongest things in favour of me taking a day off was that I could then make Shakarai Pongal as I had done the previous two years. The recipe I follow is my mother's, and it cannot be whipped up in a hurry. But a little bit of searching led me to a couple of recipes for "Kovil Sakkarai Pongal", which seemed much easier. I adapted them to my taste, and did come out really well. (That I ended up taking a day off is a different story altogether).

1/2 cup raw rice

3 tbsp moong dal

1/2 cup jaggery

2 1/2 cups water

3 tbsp ghee

A pinch of salt

Cashews

Raisin

Cardamon powder

Nutmeg powder

 

Method

Heat 1 tbsp ghee, and roast the moong dal till brown.

Add washed rice, salt and water, and pressure cook till the rice gets really mushy. Mash it well.

Powder jaggery, and dissolve it in just enough water to make a syrup (gently heat the water to make it dissolve).
Remove any impurities that may be floating on the surface, and add to the mashed rice. Mix well. Stir in 1 tbsp ghee, and cook on very low flame for 5 minutes.
Seperately, heat the ghee, roast cashewnuts till golden, then add raisins. Once it fluffs up, turn off flame, and keep aside.
Add nuts and cardamon powder and nutmeg powder. Mix well and serve.

Appam/ lacy rice hoppers

Ever since I had my first appam and vegetable stew at a restaurant in Bombay soon after my marriage, I have been a fan of the dish. So much so, I spent severeal months in Delhi, hunting for a place that would satisfy my craving for it.
A few years back, I saw my friend making it, and have been wanting to try it at home, but that day never seemed to come. Untill I finally mustered up all the courage I possessed and tried it out. I followed this recipe, and am reasonably satisfied with the result.

2 cups regular rice (I used kolam)
1 cup boiled rice
A fistful of cooked rice
1 cup grated coconut
½ tsp dry active yeast
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt or add as required
Water or as required for grinding
Oil as required

Method:
Rinse rice and soak together for 4 to 5 hours.
Drain, and place in the grinder. Add grated coconut, cooked rice, salt and most of the sugar.
With the remaining sugar and 2 tbsp water, proof the yeast for 10 minutes.
Add required amount of water and grind all the ingredients to a smooth flowing batter- the batter would have to be very smooth.
Add the yeast, mix well, pour into a large bowl, cover and keep aside for fermenting for 8 to 12 hours, depending on the temperature conditions.
The batter will rise and increase in volume the next day.
Heat a kadai or an appam pan with handles. Smear some oil on the kadai.
Pour two ladles of batter, turn and tilt the pan to spread the batter
Cover the pan and let the appam cook, till the base is light golden. Do not flip over
Serve hot or warm with vegetable stew, or sweetened coconut milk.

Tiranga dosa

With Independence Day around the corner, I thought of making a tiranga dosa instead of the regular one. While the dosas definitely looked good, and tasted good too, the kids didn't seem overtly thrilled with the novelty of the dish, and I might just stick to the regular dosa in future. Those are far less labour intensive.

For the batter:
2 measures boiled rice
1 measure urad dal
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
Salt to taste

1 carrot
3/ 4 sprigs coriander or mint or broccoli
Cooking oil

Method:
Soak 2 measures boiled rice and 1 measure urad dal overnight, along with 1 tsp fenugreek seeds. 
Grind it smoothly, with minimal water, and let it ferment for 6 hours. 
Take about a third of the batter, and grind it again with one chopped carrot
Take another third of the batter and grind it with either broccoli or coriander or mint (chillis if you like)

Heat a pan, bring the temperature down by sprinkling water on it, put one spoonful of orange batter. Place one spoonful of white batter on it, and one spoonful of green batter over that. Grease the edges, turn over when the edges start lifting off. Serve hot.

Veg biryani

When you want to rustle up a quick meal with looks more exotic than it actually is, this soya nugget biryani will qualify.

1 1/2 cups basmati rice, soaked for 1 hour

2 bay leaves

1 badi elaichi

 

1/2 cup soya nuggets

1 medium onion chopped fine

1 medium tomato chopped fine

1 tsp ginger-garlic paste

1/2 tsp dhania powder

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

salt to taste

cooking oil

1 medium onion cut into long slices

Method:

Cook the rice with the whole spices till 75% done. Discard the spices

Soak the soya nuggets in boiling water for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, saute the onions till they turn transparent. Add tomatoes, ginger garlic paste and ground spices, and saute till they turn mushy. Add the soya nuggets and mix well.

Grease the bottom of a non-stick pan, then put a layer of rice, and a layer of soya curry. Keep alternating the layers, ending with a layer of rice. Close the pan, and cook on low heat till the rice is well done.

Meanwhile, heat some cooking oil, and deep fry the sliced onions till well browned.

Garnish the biryani with onion slices and serve with curds.

Flavoured rice dish

It is far too hot to cook, but not only does the family still need to be fed, the family seems to be getting more and more demanding by the day. Uttara Ghosh's flavoured rice was originally prepared using prawns, but when she told me that chicken could be used too, I just had to try it out. And it got devoured even before I could take a decent picture.

1 measure rice, soaked for 30 minutes
500 gms boneless chicken cut into thin slices
4 eggs
2 medium potatoes
2 onions
4-6 pods garlic, minced
1 green chilli
2 tbsp cooking oil
Salt to taste

Method
Boil the eggs, and semi boil the potatoes.
Cut 1/2 onion into long thin slices and mince the rest
Heat the oil, and fry the chicken slices with the minced onions, green chilli and garlic, till the raw smell goes. Keep aside
In the same dish, fry the soaked rice.
Add the chicken, double the quantity of water and salt to taste. Bring to boil, reduce the flame, cover, and let it cook.
Meanwhile, fry the eggs and quartered potatoes till slightly browned.
Fry the onion slices till browned.
When the rice is nearly done, stir well, add the eggs and potatoes, cover and let it cook till done.
Garnish with browned onions before serving.

Ven Pongal

Though it tends to be overshadowed by it's more glamourus sister, Shakarai Pongal, Ven Pongal too has it's own band of followers who swear by it. I was never one of them. Even when I was a child, I barely tolerated it, and after my mother started making the Bong khuchudi, I virtually stopped having it. Till suddenly, the craving struck, and I called up my mother to get the recipe.
In, in turn, had moved on. After years of not making Ven Pongal, because the family had abandoned it, when she wanted to return, it was to a new recipe. And that's the recipe she passed on to me. The Ven Pongal didn't taste quite like the one I remember from my childhood, but I preferred it, because I could feed it to my kids with virtually no danger of them biting into a pungent peppercorn by mistake!

2 cups rice
1 cup moong dal
1 tsp peppercorns
2 tsp jeera
1 inch piece ginger
1 tbsp ghee
1 sprig curry leaves
Cashew nuts for garnish

Method:
Roast the moong dal, but not till the point where it starts turning red. Wash the roasted dal and rice, and cook with at least 6 cups water in an open vessel. When it is 3/4th done, add salt.
Meanwhile, dry roast the peppercorns and jeera, and coarsely powder them in a mortar and pestle*.
Heat the ghee, add finely chopped ginger, and the peppercorn-jeera powder. Once the jeera settles, add cashew nuts and curry leaves, and saute till the cashew starts browning.
Add to the 3/4th cooked rice-dal mixture. Mix well, and cook till done.
Serve steaming hot, preferably with gotsu.

Tair Shadam

Very many years back, I had a colleague who used to make tair shadam by setting the curds in the rice itself. Though I loved the idea, I never really tried it out. Mostly because I rarely set my own curds (preferring instead to buy it packaged), but also because when it comes to certain things, there is a huge disconnect between intention and action!

But when I ended up with a good amount of left over rice, less than an hour after seeing someone blog about the "dahi chawal" they set, I decided to try it out for myself, and it was pretty good!

1 cup left over rice
500 ml milk
2 tbsp starter for the curds
Salt to taste
1 green chilli

For tempering
urad dal
mustard seeds
green chilli
curry leaves
oil

Method
Separate the rice well, and spread it over the bottom of the bowl.
Boil the milk, bring it down to room temperature, and mix the starter curds with it so it is properly incorporated.
Pour the milk over the rice, add salt to taste and one green chilli (for the flavour), and allow it to set in a warm place overnight.
Temper with mustard seeds, urad dal, curry leaves and green chilli before serving.

Tomato rice

Perfect something for those days when you don't feel like cooking anything elaborate, and you don't want to order in either. Might also be a good way to use up leftover rice, though I made it with fresh rice.

1 measure rice soaked for about 30 minutes (or 1/2 cups leftover rice)

3 tomatoes chopped

1 tbsp ginger garlic paste

1/2 tsp jeera powder

1/2 tsp dhania powder

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

1/2 tsp garam masala

2-3 tbsp peanuts

salt to taste

oil 

For tempering

mustard seeds

urad dal

roasted channa dal

curry leaves

Method

Put the rice to boil, with double the quantity of water

Roast the peanuts and keep aside

Heat oil, and saute tomatoes, and ginger garlic paste till the raw smell goes. Add the dry masalas and mix well.

Pour in the partially cooked rice, add salt, cover and let it cook till the rice is done (if using leftover rice, sprinkle some water on top, and then close the led)

Temper the oil with mustard seeds, urad dal, chana dal and curry leaves, and pour it over the tomatoes. Add the peanuts and give it a good mix.

Serve hot with papad. 

Tahdig- an Indianised version

I first had Tahdig at my hubby's uncle and aunt's place. She grew up in Iran, and told me that her mother had adapted the local tahdig to make it more palatable to Indian taste buds. I loved it, but never took the recipe from her. By the time I was ready to do so, she's stopped cooking for so many years, that she'd even forgotten she ever made it.
This then is a replication based on Google Uncle and Memory.

2 measures rice

3 potatoes diced (with the skin intact)

1/2 tsp jeera

1/2 bunch dill leaves chopped fine

salt to taste

oil 

Method

Wash the rice till the water runs clean. Soak in double the quantity of water for 30 minutes. Bring the water to a boil, turn off the flame, cover the vessel and let it stand for about 10 minutes.

Line a non-stick wok with oil, layer the potatoes, and cook on a low flame till one side is done. Turn around.

Heat some oil, add jeera seeds, when it starts spluttering add the chopped dil leaves, and stir around for a minute. Add to the rice, and mix well. Add salt to taste.

Gently pour the rice onto the potatoes, making sure not to disturb the layer. Cover and cook on a low flame till the rice is done.
To serve, invert the wok over the serving tray, so the potatoes form a crispy layer on top.

Fried rice

You can't have Indo Chinese without fried rice. Fried rice you get from takeaway joints tends to be slightly oily, but if you are making it at home, you can control pretty much everything.

1 measure rice, cooked
White of spring onions - 1 tbsp
Bell peppers, chopped fine - 1 tbsp
Oil
Soya sauce to taste
Vinegar to taste
salt to taste
Sesame seeds
Spring onions

Method:
Lightly fry the bell peppers and spring onions, till the raw smell goes.
Toss the rice with the friend onions and bell peppers, soya sauce, vinegar and salt. Adjust quantities as per your taste.
Sprinkle sesame seeds, and mix.
Serve garnished with spring onions.

Pongal spread

One of the advantages of a mixed marriage is that at festival time you can choose what you want to do. If you are in a mood, you can go all out to celebrate, and if you are not in a mood, you can just pretend the festival doesn't exist.
This year, I couldn't decide how I wanted to treat Pongal, so kept putting off making a decision. It was pretty late in the morning by the time I finally decided to make Shakarai Pongal and Korumbu, but they both came out really well, and that's all I really care about. So what if I ended up eating nothing else for the rest of the week- it was a pleasure.

Chilkewali moong dal ki khichdi

I love khichdi. I really do. But however much you love something, sometimes, you crave the same thing, but different. I wanted khichdi, but not the yellow, runny stuff that I was used to. I wanted the essence of khichdi in something different.
This chilkewali moong dal ki khichdi fitted the bill perfectly.

1 measure chilkewali moong dal

1 measure rice

2 tbsp ghee

1 tsp jeera

3-4 cloves

1 green chilli slit

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 medium carrot grated

Salt to taste

Soak dal and rice in four cups of water for one hour. Drain. Heat ghee in a pressure cooker. Add cumin seeds, cinnamon, green chillies, carrot and sauté for two minutes. Add dal and rice and mix well. Add salt, peppercorns and four cups of water. Cover the cooker with the lid and pressure cook till one whistle. Serve hot, may be with hot ghee.

Paneer peas green pulao

I started out intending to make biryani with soya nuggets, but after making the green masala realised I had run out of onions. Since I didn't fancy going out on a cold winter evening, I adapted the recipe and made this awesome paneer-peas green pulao instead. It was really lovely with a tomato raita!

Basmati rice - 2 cups
Fresh peas- 1 cup
Paneer- 150 gms

Cloves - 3

Black peppercorns - 6-7

Cardamom - 1

Bay leaf -2

Fresh corriander leaves - Around 1/2 cup

Rock salt- to taste
Desi ghee - 2 tbsp

Green chillies - 1

Ginger - 1/2 inch piece

Garlic - 3-4 cloves

Fennel seeds - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste

MethodWash the rice and soak it in water for half an hour. Drain the water after half an hour.

In a mixer, grind together Garlic ( 1/2 inch piece ), Ginger ( 3-4 cloves ), Green chillies ( 2 chopped ), and corriander leaves ( 1/2 cup ). Add little black salt to taste. Grind to a smooth paste( Add only 1 tbsp water if required )

Heat 2 tbsp ghee in a pan, and add the whole spices. Fry for 10 seconds and then add the ground paste and fry for another 30 seconds. Reduce the flame, add the peas, and stir for about a minute.

Add rice and water (2 parts water to every part rice), and cook uncovered (on low flame) till the rice is done. The rice should be fluffy and not sticky. So fluff it with a fork after its done.

Cut the paneer into small squares, and mix well with the pulao. Garnish with crumbled paneer, and serve hot with raita.

Peas-ful pulao

Hubby wanted aloo matar and roti, but since I was just not in a mood to make rotis, I made this peas-ful pulao instead. Paired with lightly spiced curds, it was almost as good as having aloo-matar!

1 measure rice, washed and soaked

1 tbsp ghee

1/2 tsp jeera

1 badi elaichi

2 bay leaves

1 star anise

1/2 measure peas

1 large onion, cut into slices

Salt to taste

Method:

Start cooking the rice with 3 times the quantity of water.

Heat the ghee, add jeera, and when it starts spluttering, add the onions, and the spices, and saute till onions start browning.

Add the peas and saute for a couple of minutes

When the rice is a little over 1/2 done,  add the peas and salt, mix well, and leave it on a low flame till the rice cooks completely.

Serve with curds.

Soya Fried Rice

It is during the holidays that feeding my kids becomes such a challenge. While on normal school days, I can do the best I can and justify not doing more, there are no such excuses available when they are home for the holidays. Which is why I have to improvise to ensure they get a reasonably balanced diet.
Soya Fried Rice is one of the recipes I keep falling back on- not only does it have proteins, it uses up leftover rice which I always have too much of.

1/2 cup soya nuggets
1 onion
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
Salt, pepper, oregano to taste
1 cup leftover riceButter

Method
Cook the nuggets as per the directions on the packet. Drain and keep aside.
Heat some butter in a pan, and saute the onions till they turn transparent. Add ginger-garlic paste and tomato puree and fry till for 1-2 minutes. Add salt, pepper and oregano to taste
Add the cooked rice, and mix well.

Parsi brown rice

I got this recipe from a Parsi colleague of mine, and though it is not the traditional accompaniment for dhansaak, I choose to make the two together.

Wash and soak the rice and keep aside.
Heat 1 tbsp ghee and temper bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, peppercorns, cloves and 1 onion cut into long slices. When the onions are browned, remove everything, and add to the rice.
In the same pot, put about 1 tsp sugar, and heat till it melts and then caramalizes.
Pour in the rice, tempering and sufficient water.
Bring to boil, reduce flame, and let it cook till done.

Serve with dhansaak.