Spinach Rice

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Ingredients

2 cups raw rice (cook in such a way that each grain is separate)
1 Big bunch of spinach leaves (chopped)

4 to 5 green chillies (adjust to your spice level)

1 large tomato chopped

1" piece ginger
1 Tablespoon Ghee(Clarified butter) or oil

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

pinch of asafoetida
whole spices (6 cloves, 1 " piece cinnamon stick -3, 6 cardamoms, 3 bay leaves)

Method

1) Heat 1/2 teaspoon oil in a pan add green chillies to it and fry for few seconds and then add chopped spinach and fry for 1 or 2 mins until the rawness disappears, take out of the flame and cool aside

2) Blend ginger, green chilli-spinach (need not be smooth paste) and keep aside.

3) Heat 1 tablespoon Ghee/oil, add whole spices, turmeric powder, asafoetida and fry for a minute and add the spinach paste and fry for 2 to 3 mins

4) Now add the tomatoes and fry for another 2 to 3 mins, add salt and mix this paste with rice.

Garnish with coriander leaves or cashew nuts and serve with Raita or plain Yogurt

Coconut Rice

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Ingredients

1 cup raw Rice (cooked in such a way that each grain is separate)
2 Tablespoons grated coconut (fresh/frozen)
1 teaspoon oil
1 teaspoon urud dal (black gram dal)
1 teaspoon chana dhal (bengal gram dal)
2 tablespoons peanuts (ground nuts)
3 to 4 green/red chillies(adjust to your spice level)
pinch of asafoetida
few curry leaves
salt to taste
Method

1) Heat oil, fry urud dal, chana dal and ground nuts until they turn brown.

2) Add green/red chillies, curry leaves, asafoetida fry for few seconds

3) Finally add grated coconut and salt and mix with rice.

Serve with any vegetables curry/gravy or as it is.

Curd (Yogurt) Rice

Ingredients

1/4th cup rice
1/4th cup broken wheat
1 teaspoon minced ginger
few mustard seeds
pinch of asafoetida
2 green chillies
1/2 teaspoon Oil
Curd (Yogurt) and salt
Method

Pressure Cook rice and broken wheat in 1 1/2 cup water and mash with Yogurt and salt. For tempering, heat 1/2 teaspoon oil splutter mustard seeds,add green chillies,ginger and curry leaves and fry for few seconds and mix this with the rice.

Serve cool with your favourite pickle.

Variations

You can use half milk and half yogurt if you like to reduce the sour taste and 3/4th milk and 1/4th Yogurt if you are going to eat the rice after many hours

Tomato Rice

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Here is the Tomato rice which i made for today's lunch.

Ingredients

2 cups raw rice (cook with less water in such a way each grain is separate)

4 large tomatoes
1 Tablespoon grated ginger or 1 " piece of ginger
4 to 5 green chillies (adjust to taste)
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1 Tablespoon oil
whole spices (4 cloves, 1" piece cinnamon sticks -3, 4 cardamoms, 3 bay leaves)
salt to taste

Method

1) Blend tomatoes, ginger and green chilli into paste

2) Heat oil, fry whole spice for few seconds and add the ground paste and fry until oil separates from the paste. It takes around 5 to 6 mins and the quantity reduces to half.

3) add coriander powder, salt and mix with the rice.

server hot with Raita

Variations

1) You can add chilli powder if required
2) You can fry crushed garlic & chopped onions before adding the paste after frying whole spices.
3) You can add curry leaves too along with the whole spices

Coriander (Cilantro) Rice

Monday, January 19, 2009

Ingredients

2 cups raw rice (cook in such a way that each grain is separate)

2 bunches of coriander (Cilantro) leaves (chopped)
4 to 5 green chillies (adjust to your spice level)
2 Tablespoons grated coconut
1 large tomato chopped
4 cloves garlic
1" piece ginger

1 Tablespoon Ghee(Clarified butter) or oil
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
pinch of asafoetida

whole spices (6 cloves, 1 " piece cinnamon stick -3, 6 cardamoms, 3 bay leaves)
Method

1) Keep the rice in Pressure cooker. Soaking the rice in water for about 15 to 30 min before cooking gives soft rice but if you don't have time to soak it is okay to cook as it is. I soak only when I have time and not always.

2) clean 2 bunches of coriander leaves and chop roughly.

3) Heat 1/2 teaspoon oil in a pan add green chillies to it and fry for few seconds and then add coriander leaves and fry for 1 or 2 mins until the rawness disappears, take out of the flame and cool aside

4) Blend ginger, garlic, coconut, green chilli-coriander to a smooth paste and keep aside.

5) Heat 1 tablespoon Ghee/oil, add whole spices, turmeric powder, asafoetida and fry for a minute and add the coriander paste and fry for 2 to 3 mins

6) Now add the tomatoes and fry for another 2 to 3 mins, add salt and mix this paste with rice. garnish with coriander leaves or cashew nuts and serve with Raita or plain Yogurt

Rice with 3 bell peppers (Capcicum)

If you have not tried this then it is something which you have to try. This is one of those quick to make with great health benefits. I used 3 colors(red, yellow and green) of bell peppers or capcicums for this recipe but this can be made with any one color.

Bell peppers are low in Saturated Fat, Cholesterol, and Sodium, high in Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Vitamin K, Vitamin B6, Potassium, Manganese, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Folate, Pantothenic Acid and Magnesium

The nutritional value of bell pepper makes it ideal for Maintaining optimum health & Weight loss. They are good for eye sight, heart and lung health.

Ingredients

2 cups raw rice (cook in such a way that each grain is seperate)
3 to 4 large Bell peppers (I used red, yellow and green) (thinly sliced)
1 Tablespoon Ghee(Clarified butter) or oil
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
curry leaves (optional)
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
pinch of asafoetida

For Spice Powder (Podi)

2 whole red chillies (adjust to your spice level)
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 tsp black gram dal (minappappu)
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon pepper corns
4 cloves
1 " piece cinnamon stick
2 Tablespoons sesame seeds
2 Tablespoons cup roasted groundnuts
Method

Keep the rice in pressure cooker, meanwhile prepare for the spice and vegetable mix.

1) Heat 1/2 teaspoon oil and add cumin seeds and black gram Dal, once Dal turns light brown add red chillies, coriander seeds, black pepper, cloves and cinnamon and fry for a min. At the end add roasted peanuts and sesame seeds and fry for few seconds, remove from flame and cool

2) Grind the above ingredients into powder and keep aside

3) Heat 1 tablespoon Ghee, splutter mustard seeds add curry leaves, asafoetida and turmeric powder.

4) Now add the sliced Bell peppers and fry for 3 to 4 mins. Do not fry for long time to maintain the crispy texture. Add the spice powder and salt and mix for a min.

5) Mix the above spice/vegetable mix with the rice and server hot with Raita

Notes:

This can be made with most of the vegetables like carrots, beans, peas etc

Tamarind Rice (Pulihora)

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Pulihora(Tamarind rice) is one of the famous rice dishes in Andhra, especially this is served in temples as a prasadam, it will be so tasty and you feel like eating more and more. It is also festival dish and also good to pack for lunch box or picnic. The spice flavors are too tempting and I could not resist and kept on eating and feeling so sleepy now :-)

Now a days I am using sesame seeds in most of the dishes after reading an article in telugu news paper saying use of sesame seeds is good for healthy hair and skin also looks bright and healthy. No need to say about the taste and addictive flavors.

Women of ancient Babylon would eat halva(made with honey and sesame seeds to prolong youth and beauty), while Roman soldiers ate the mixture for strength and energy, read more about Nutrition and health treatments here

Ingredients

2 cups raw rice (cooked in such a way that each grain is seperate and cool and keep aside)
Extract tamarind pulp from a large lemon sized tamarind or use 3 tablespoon tamarind paste
2 Tablesppons Oil ( I use Oilive Oil)
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
pinch of asafoetida
around 10 curry leaves
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 Tablespoon Chana Dal (split Bengal gram/senagapappu)
1 tablespoon Urud Dal (whole Black gram/minappappu)
4 whole red chillies
5 to 6 green chillies chopped (adjust to your spice level)
1/4th cup of ground nuts

1/4th teaspoon fenugreek seeds (menthulu)
2 Tablespoons sesame seeds

Method

1) Keep the rice in pressure cooker or rice cooker, meanwhile prepare the ingredients for the pulihora paste. It is better practise to soak the rice in water for at least 15 mins before cooking.

2) If you have tamarind, heat in microwave with 1/4 cup of water for 30 secs to 1 min so that it is easy to extract the pulp. If you are using tamarind paste then this work is also reduced. But I always use tamarind and it doesn't take much time extracting the pulp if you heat in microwave with water for 30 secs.

3) Dry roast fenugreek seeds and sesame seeds and make a powder and keep aside.

4) Heat Oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds, add cumin seeds,asafoetida, then chana dal, urud dal, ground nuts and fry until they are light brown.

5) Now add red chillies, turmeric powder, green chillies, curry leaves and fry for a minute and add the tamarind paste and cook for around 5 mins

6) Now add the fenugreek-sesame powder, salt and mix it with rice. You can eat this with Appalam/chips and a cup of Juice to make it a complete meal.

Notes:

1) It is a good idea to make the paste before mixing the rice and store in refrigirator for couple of weeks so that we can mix with rice anytime.

Yellow Fried Rice with peas

Friday, January 9, 2009

I was in hurry today but need to make something for lunch very quick and made this very simple rice with peas and great blend of spices. It is very very easy to make, delicious & packed with flavors. I was able to wrap up in 5 mins and kept in rice cooker which got cooked by the time I got ready to work.

Ingredients:

* 1 cup basmati rice
* 1/2 cup green peas ( I used frozen peas)
* 2 cups water
* 1 Tablespoon Oil ( I used Ghee to get nice aroma)
* salt to taste

Spices

* Pinch of asafetida
* 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
* 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
* 4 whole red chilies
* 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
* 2 bay leaves
* 5 to 6 cloves
* About 1 inch piece of cinnamon stick
Method

1) Wash the rice, drainand keep aside.(if you have time it is better to soak rice for 15 mins to 30 mins)

2) Heat Oil (or Ghee) in a pan and splutter cumin and mustard seeds. Add all the remaining spices and fry for 30 seconds or less then add green peas and salt and fry for 2 mins

3) Add rice and fry for another minute and then add water and cook until rice is cooked. I used rice cooker to cook this since i did not have time to monitor pressure cooker or to cook directly in the same vessel.

This goes well with Raitha (perugu pachadi) but I just packed lunch with plain Yogurt :-)

Notes:

you can use vegetables like beans, carrot etc along with peas.

Sangati (Rice cooked with Ragi(Millet) flour)

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Sangati is usually made in villages of Andhra/Karnataka. I like it very much and it tastes good only when it is very hot and best when eaten immediately after cooking. I don't think re-heating in microwave is a good Idea so only make this just before you can eat it. This goes well with any chutneys or any vegetable gravy.

It is very nutritious and healthy. Ingredients used for making this are rice and Ragi(Millet flour) flour. The proportion of the flour and rice varies based on how you like, I usually make with 1 cup rice and 1/2 cup flour but you can even make with 1/2 cup rice and 1 cup flour, more the flour it is more healthy.

I use to make this for around 30 people who use to work in our farms and use to eat along with them. They eat with lot of interest and we feel like eating seeing them. They eat this because it makes them not to feel hungry for long time and also affordable, easy to make, healthy and tasty too. Once if i make this then I will loose interest in white rice and keep making this continuously for 4 to 5 days. But again since my husband doesn't eat this I don't like to make just for 1 person and will eventually endup eating rice.

here is the method.

Ingredients

1 cup rice
1/2 cup flour
4 cups water



Method

1) Soak rice in water for 30 mins. I usually soak rice in water for making normal rice also which gives very soft rice and I also heard that we get more qualtity when it is soaked in water.

2) Cover and cook the rice until it is cooked and not cooked too soft. Now add the flour and cover and keep in low heat for 5 mins

3) Mix the rice and flour making sure there are no lumps of flour and again cover and keep in low heat for another 5 mins.

4) Make this into round shape according to your desired size and eat with any chutney or any gravy.

For Making rounds, use any bowl and wet with water and scoop the desired quanty and rotate the bowl which makes it a round.

Lemon Rice

Monday, December 29, 2008

Ingredients

1 cup raw Rice

1 lemon
1 Tablespoon oil
3 to 4 green chillies
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
pinch of asafoetida
1/4th cup peanuts/cashew nuts
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon Fenugreek seeds (dry roast and make a powder)

curry leaves
salt to taste

Method

1) Pressure cook the rice and cool and keep aside

2) Heal oil, splutter mustard seeds and cumin seeds, add asafoetida, peanuts, turmeric powder and fry until they turn brown

3) Add green chillies, curry leaves,Fenugreek powder and salt and turn off the flame and add lemon juice finally and mix with rice.