Vegetable Pulao/Pilaf

I had to spend about a month's time in Ireland on Business. It is unusual to make friends in such a scenario. But I have been lucky enough to have met K...

So when she invited me over to her home during my last week in Dublin I was unsure what to take along with me. A bottle of wine is customary but what along with it, I wondered.

Indian food though loved the world around is always synonymous with the word spicy. I wanted to shatter that opinion since not every Indian dish is spicy. So to suit the taste buds of my friend I came up with this recipe of a simple pulao made from scratch.

By the way for all the mothers who read my blog this can be good lunch box recipe.

You will need:

1. Mushrooms - 1 Packet
2. Carrots - 4-5 chopped
3. Onions - 2-3 Small
4. Green Peas (frozen) - 1 Cup
5. Beans - 1 Cup chopped
6. Corn (frozen)- 1/2 Cup
7. Tomato Puree - 2-3 tbsp
8. Garam Masala - 1 tsp
9. Kashmiri Chilli - 1/2 tsp
10. Coriander Powder - 1 tsp
11. Maggi Coconut Powder - 25-30 gms OR coconut milk - small packet
12. Salt - to taste
13. Basmati Rice - 2 Cups
14. Water - 4 cups
15. Olive Oil - 3-4 tsp

Method:
1. Wash the rice and boil it in salted water till cooked. For this recipe I generally have enough water such that the rice is entirely cooked and the water need not be drained. But you can boil the rice as per your choice.
2. Heat oil in a wok and add the chopped onions. Fry till they are slightly brown.
3. Now add the vegetables one by one and keep frying.
4. Once the vegetables are all fried add the tomato puree, salt, garam masala, coriander powder, and Kashmiri Chilli Powder. The masala should be well incorporated into the veggies.
5. Now add the coconut powder and mix one last time. Switch off the gas.
6. Stir in the cooked rice into this mixture little by little and mix well.
7. Garnish with fresh coriander leave (optional).
8. Enjoy the pulao with some homemade yogurt!

Cooking with Leftovers - Part 3 - Lemon Rice

This is a ice breaker post. Its been about a year or so since I blogged. Was out of India for close to a year and had no time for blogging. Now I want to restart this weekly activity again. Its like coming back from your hibernation after a long winter.

Anywhich ways, cribbing apart I have got a breather now. Though not quite as you think, I have logged into one of those office calls where no one has joined yet and no one may be joining :) and I thought there is no better time then now to blog about hmm.. let me see something simple.

Now today's dish is a no fuss dish that all of us may have made now and then with left over rice. I never used to like this transformation of rice from nothing to the tangy yellow version of what they call "Lemon Rice" till this once incident.

I was visiting this friends place one weekend and she had to attend a potluck dinner where the menu was "Anything South Indian".

My friend was initially quite unsure of what to take and then finally settled for "Lemon Rice". This was one of the best Lemon Rice I ever tasted and this made me a great fan of this dish. I must say this is an easy to make and yummy recipe to cook up for say a sunday morning breakfast or brunch.

You will need:

• Left Over Rice - 2-3 cups
• Chopped Onions - 1 cup
• Chopped Green Chillies, chopped -1-2
• Curry Leaves - 2 Sprigs
• Coriander Leaves, finely chopped
  
• Haldi - 1/2 tsp -
• Coriander Powder - 1 tsp
• Hing - a pinch
  
• Salt to taste
  
• Oil -2-3 tbsp
  
• Mustard seeds -1/2 tsp -

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a wok.
2. Throw in the mustard seeds and after they splutter throw in some hing and curry leaves.
3. Now add the chopped onions.
4. Put little bit of salt and let them fry. Once they are translucent add the haldi and coriander powder.
5. Fry for a couple of minutes more. Switch off the heat.
6. Now microwave the rice on a high for about 3-4 minutes. You may need to add salt into the rice and mix it well if the rice does not have any salt added when it was boiled.
7. Now mix the hot rice along with the onion masala till it is well incorporated and the rice gets transformed to a yellowish consistency.
8. Now comes the best part. Add lemon juice as per your taste and mix it one last time. Your lemon rice is ready to be served! Enjoy!

Easy Bread Pockets

You have unexpected visitors at home and you are hard pressed for time. You still want to impress them with some homemade snack..Hmm..does this describe you? At least I am like that to a certain extent..if not more..

Now this dish is very easy and quick to make and is for the circumstance mentioned above :) It is also a good accompaniment with tea or coffee. This recipe was passed onto me by a dear friend of mine who got it from her mom. Thanks R!

Ingredredients:

4 slices of bread

Boiled Potatoes - 2

Salt to taste

Garam Masala (1/2 tsp)

Kashmiri Chilli Powder (1/2 tsp)

Little Water

Oil for Frying

Method:

Heat oil in a wok.

Make a mixture of boiled potatoes, salt, Garam Masala and Chilli Powder.

Cut the sides off the bread and then sprinkle both the sides with water.

After the water is saoked squeeze the bread in between your palm till the water is drained.

Keep about a tbsp of the potato mixture on the bread and join the edges of the bread to make it look like a pocket. You can press it down a bit once fully closed.

Deep fry the bread pockets in hot oil till they turn golden brown.

Serve hot with Tomato Ketchup. Enjoy!!!

Little Lamb - DIY craft for children

While my son was going through one of his magazines he happened to come across this do-it-yourself craft. Since he is at that age when he can niether say he is truly indepedent nor dependant he wanted me to "help" him make it.

I wanted to use this blog to showcase this craft. So here goes this simple marvel that we came up with just the following things:

Some cotton, two pepper corns, some fevicol and four match sticks. Lots of Imagination and Voila!!

Khatti Bhaji Ki Chutney

Its been a long time since I posted. I am not getting any time from my routine work and weekends have just flown by without me posting anything. But that does not mean I have not been baking and cooking.

I had baked an apple cake recently that we took along for a family friends birthday. Everyone out there gave it a thumbs up. So yes, I will be blogging about that soon. I have some other recipes too lined up!

Okay to start with I want to blog about this nice and tangy chutney that made today. It is so easy to make and amazingly delicious. Goes well with both Rice and Rotis.

Actually this bhaji called Khatti bhaji in North. In hindi "khatti" means sour and this leafy veggie is naturally very sour and tangy. This veggie was a favorite of my grand mother-in-law so I was told.

Also called "gongura" down south and they use it in chutneys, dals and even pickles made out of these leaves are quite famous. This recipe was passed onto me by a generous colleague of mine who had the patience of answering all my questions.

Here goes:

Ingredients:

• Gongura leaves (a small bunch)


• 2 tbsp of roasted peanuts


• 2 Green Chillies


• 4 cloved of garlic


• salt to taste

Method:

Grind the roast peanuts into a fine powder.

Boil the leaves along with Green Chillies in little water till the leaves are light green and are cooked.

Grind the leaves along with any little water left and the chillies into a fine paste along with garlic and salt.

Add the peanut powder and give one final stir.

Temper the chutney with chopped onions.

Your chutney is ready. Enjoy!!!

P.S: If you do not want to temper then you may add some hot ghee (optional) on top of this chutney and then top it with freshly chopped onions (mandatory :)).

Homemade Garam Masala Powder - Indian Spice Mix

Garam Masala(GM) is one of the basic spice mix that is found in any Indian Kitchen and it is like a Man Friday when it comes to Indian cooking.

Any dish that needs to be spiced up, a pinch of this spice mix always does the trick. Though I do love GM I do not quite like the ones that are store bought due to their strong smell since my DH does not quite like it.

One evening I set out to make my own Garam Masala and in my quest came across various recipes online for home made GM. But I used my own permutation and combination and the recipe given below speaks for itself. This is what I would call the North Indian version of the GM and it is quite subtle and a pinch of it can enhance the flavor of any dish that you make.

I use my freezer compartment of the fridge to keep all such homemade spices as it increases their shelf life. Try this and you will be pleasantly surprised how easy it is to make and once done you will thank yourself!!

Ingredients:

1/2cup Cumin Seed

2 tbsp Coriander seeds

4 sticks Cinnamon

10-12 bruised green Cardamom pods

4-5 bruised black Cardamom pods

10 Cloves

1/2 broken Nutmeg

3-4 blades of Mace

1 tbsp black Pepper corns

4 whole Star anise

5 Bay Leaf

1-2 tsp Fennel Seeds

1-2 tsp of ground Ginger Powder

Method:

1. Dry Roast all ingredients in a Kadhai over a very low flame, sauteing from time to time.
2. You will know that they are almost done when they turn slightly brownish and give off the wonderful spicy aroma.
3. You may also divide the ingredients into two batches since some like Coriander and Cumin take less time when compared to Cardamom and Cinnamon.
4. Once they are well roasted switch off the flame and allow the spice mix to cool.
5. Now finely grind the above spices.
6. Store it in an airtight container and use as and when necessary. A pinch should do the trick. Enjoy!!

Baked bread pudding with Caramel

Bread pudding is one of the simplest recipes that can be prepared using leftover in the kitchen. I love baking this on a lazy sunday morning and enjoy it hot or cold.



My MIL loves this pudding and the best part is it does not take a long time to make. This time around I gave it a little twist with some carmelized sauce and it turned out pretty neat.

Here goes the list of ingredients:

• 2 cups of shredded stale bread
• 2 cups of hot milk
• 3/4 cup Sugar
• 1 tbsp Ghee or clarified butter
• 1/4 tsp of Salt
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• 1 tsp of Cinnamon powder
• 1/4 tsp of Nutmeg powder
• 1/4 tsp of Clove powder
• 4 tbsp of sugar (for the carmel sauce)
• A few drops of water (for the caramel sauce)
• 2 drops of lemon juice (for caramel sauce)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to a 175 deg c. Lightly grease a cake tin with butter or oil.
2. Ensure that you stuff 2 cups with shredded bread pieces. Now empty this into the container that has the hot milk. combine gently.
3. Add the sugar, Ghee, salt, eggs, vanilla and the three different powders. Mix gently.
4. Set this mixture aside.
5. Now take a wok and put it on simmer.
6. Add the Sugar and keep stirring till the sugar starts melting and them add a few drops of water.
7. Continue to stir till the mixture turns light brown. Add the lemon juice. This is done primarly to avoid the sugar from crystallization.
8. As you continue to stir you see the mixture turn golden brown. Switch off the gas and immediately pour this mixture into the cake tin.
9. Now pour the bread mixture on top of this and pop it into the oven.
10. You will need to keep the cake tin in a water bath to avoid the pudding from getting burnt.
11. You can do this by filling a tray with water and keeping the cake tin in the tray.
12. Bake this mixture for about an hour. Allow it to rest in the oven after baking it and then let it cool completely before serving.
13. You may keep it in the fridge and serve it the next day instead. Enjoy!!