Ani’s Kids Recipe,South Indian samayal & Tips!

Just to share with you….

This Palak rice is my very own recipe.Two days back I tried this recipe. It is a hybrid of Kadahcna keerai and keerai poriyal. This came out very well.

Palak rice

Ingredients:

For  rice

1. Basmathi rice – 1 cup (can use other rices too)
2. Chopped spinach – 3 cups
3. Green chillis -  2 to 3
4. Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
5. Onion -1  /4 roughly chopped
6. Oil -1 tsp
7. pattai , kirambu (cinnamon,cloves) – 1 each

To fry seperately

1. Mustard seeds – 1/4 tsp
2. curry leaves
3. urud dhal – 1 tsp
4. channa dhal – 1 tsp
5. Red chilli -2
6. onion smal size -1
7. salt as needed

Preparation

1. Soak Basmathi rice in water for 15 mins. This make your rice longer/lengthier.
2. Take chopped spinach,green chillies and onion  in bowl  with little water. Microwave or cook in vessel for  3-4 mins.
3. Grind this into fine paste with little turmeric powder and little salt.
4. Heat the pressure cooker. Heat one  tsp of oil , add cinnamon , cloves then add the grinded paste. To this add  drained rice and add required amount of water and cook this as usual.  For Basmathi rice, for 1 cup rice add only one cup of water since the grinded paste will make another cup.
5. Mean while take tawa. Add 2 tsp of oil . Add Mustard seeds when it splutter add the urud dal ,channa dal and curry leaves . Let it turns golden brown.
6. Now add the chopped onions,Redchilli and the chopped spinachi( more spinach  gives more taste, minium 3-4 cups need). Add little salt for this.(remember you have add little for rice).
7. Let if fry well. Once the rice is done let it cool and then add into this mixture. Don’t add hot rice and mix all the grains will break and gets mashed.

Tips

• Why we are grinding half is to get nice colr and flavour for rice. The other halt which we are frying gives great look .
• You can also add little coconut milk (say instead of 1 cup water you can add 1/2 cup coconut milk and 1/2 cup water)
• You can add whole milk too instead of coconut milk.

Just to share with you……

Every body knows how to make beetroot poriyal. I made a slight variation on my own to this poriyal and made this dish.Beetroot Rice is one of the few vegetables which give the rice colr, flavor and subtle sweetness. I hate to peel out,grate or cut the  beetroot  because of the stain caused by it.  So I don’t cook it often but oneday somewhere I read that all food s (both vegetables and fruits) which are purple in color are very good for health.  So, I started cooking this veggie often. You can say as beetroot pulav also.

Beetroot rice

Ingredient

1. cooked rice – 2 cups (Basmathi is good. All the grains should seperate)
2. beetroot    – 1 cup ( grated or chopped finely)
3. frozen peas – 1/2 cup (optional)
4. onion -1 (small size chopped)
5. tomato -1 (small size chopped)
6. mustard – 1/4 tsp
7. curry leaves
8. oil – 2 tsp

For paste

1. garlic pod -1 (1 piece)
2. ginger – tablet size  (you can substitue ginger and garlic with 1/2 tsp of paste)
3. coconut – 2 tsp
4. green chilli – 2
5. corriander and mintleaves – 2 tsp each

Preparation

1. Heat little oil in the pan. Add mustard and let it splutter then add curry leaves.
2. Add chopped onion and tomato anfd fry well.
3. Add the grinded paste and fry well till the gingergarlic raw smell goes away.
4. Add the peas, beetroot (grate if for kids or cut for adults)grated or chopped finely and fry well.
5. To this add little salt just enough for the vegetable.
6. Add little water (we need dry curry at the end) or sprinkle at regular interval and cook the vegetable.
7. Once it is done add the cooked rice  sprinkle the needed salt and mix well so that everything gets blended well.

Just to share with you……..

I had this rice for the first time in Rihalya’s (Brother’s daughter) first birthday party. We ordered food from outside. Capsicum rice was included in  the menu. I liked it a lot. I won’t use capsicum much in my cooking. Very rarely I use  this while frying chicken for fajita (Mexican food).South Indian Capsicum rice recipe is fast and flavorful dish. Easy to make recipe. I want to try out this recipe so I tried out  and it cameout Yummy!!! This is very simple and comes very handy when we have to pack lunch in the morning. It saves a lot of time. Try it out and enjoy. This can be great pot-luck dish.

Capsicum / Bell pepper/ Kudamilagai Rice

Ingredients:

1. Rice  – 1 cup ( Sona Masoori rice or basmathi rice)
2. Capsicum –1 large izes (thinly sliced or diced)
3. Onion – 1 (small size -cutted like capsicum  (optional))
4. Tomato – 1/2 (optional)
5. oil /ghee – 2 tsp
6. Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
7. Urud dal & channdal – 1/2 tsp
8. Turmeric powder -1/4 tsp
9. Asafoetida powder – a pinch
10. Salt – as required
11. Curry and coriander leaves (cilantro)- as needed

For Powder

1. urud dal – 1 tsp
2. channa dal – 1tsp
3. corriander seeds- 1tsp
4. Red chillie  -3
5. cinnamon stick -1
6. Cardamom – 1

Preparation

1. Cook rice and allow it to cool. Separate grains.
2. Dry roast all the ingredients under For Powder and grind that into fine powder.
3. Heat little oil/ghee and add mustard seeds,curryleaves when it sputters, add urud dal/channa  dal.
4. Add onion,tomato and capsicum and fry well for 2mins.
5. Add turmeric, salt, asafoetida powder .Stir well and now add  the powder. Mix well.
6. Now add the cooked rice mix all together.
7. Garnish with cilantro.Serve with Raitha.

Tips

For Richness

1. You can garnish with Ghee fried Cashews or Roasted Peanuts .
2. Carrot and peas can be cooked separately and add to the rice to make it more colorful.

For different taste

While frying the Capsicum, add 1/2 teaspoon Tamarind Concentrate  or lemon juice drops for a different taste.

Just to share with you……..

This is entirely different  way of making egg fried rice. It will be like normal fried rice since no Soy sauce, Oyster sauce etc  added into it. This rice you can say as SPICY EGG RICE. This  recipe I got from one of friends hubby Sid.It can be made in 5 mins and tastesvery good if you eat hot.

Ingredients

1. Cooked Basmathi Rice    -   1 cups
2. Oil – 3 tsp
3. Cinnamon,cardamom,cloves,Bayleaves – 1each
4. Chopped onion – 1cup
5. chopped greenchilli  -1
6. Red chilli powder – 1/4  or 1/2 tsp
7. Corriander powder -1 tsp
8. Turmeric powder -1/4 tsp
9. Eggs -2
10. ginger-garlic paste -1/2tsp
11. salt- asneeded
12. Chopped corriander leaves- for garnishing

Preparation

1. Take a big tawa. Pour the oil and heat it. Add cinnamon, cloves, cardamom ,Bay leaves.
2. Add Chopped onion, greenchilli and fry. Add ginger-garlic paste and fry well.
3. Add chillipowder, corriander powder, and turmeric powder and fry well.
4. Add the eggs, salt and stir well. (add anytype of precooked meat pieces,shrimp etc.if you want)
5. Add the rice and mix well and keep in stove for 5mins. keep mixing in regular intervals.
6. Garnish the rice with corriander leaves.

TIPS

1. Any cooked rice can be used but the preferable  one is cooked Basmathi rice.
2. You can add fried chicken(chicken cut into small pieces marignated with little salt and chilly powder and fried in oil) to make this as a chicken fried rice.
3. While making EGG FRIED RICE or CHICKEN FRIED RICE add the chicken gravy little bit if you have to add the taste.
4. If you add only Shrimp(Prawn) then it is SHRIMP FRIED RICE.
5. you can buy cooked shrimp , cook some muttonpieces etc (any non-veg into simple pieces and should bepre cooked) can be added to  make a combination fried rice.You can say as COCKTAIL RICE too.

Just to Share with you…..

I am from a place close to coimbatore which comes under coimbatore district. Coimbatore area is called as KonguNadu. Each Kongu family has their very own recipe for Arisim Parupu Satham (kid of kootansoru). It is a very simple dish made with ingredients that are readily available and has no complex flavors. It is a dish that we fall back on when we want a quick simple and nutritious meal but at the same time lazy to do much prep work.

My First Recipe

Also ,this is the first food I cooked when I was in 9th standard. We had a small factory that time in vedapatti village . Sometimes my mom also used to go there. For that  village the  buses are in particular timings only. If she misses 6 .30 bus then next bus in on 8.30.  In such occasions since I want to help my mom I used to cook this food before she comes and keep it ready.  It is really really simple. My mom and others used to tell me my recipe is very very tasty.

Paruppu sadam

INGREDIENTS

1. Rice – 1  cup
2. Toor dal – 1/2 cup
3. Red chillies (broken in half and seeds taken out)-3
4. Red chilli powder – 1/2 tsp
5. Onion -1/2 ( or 1 roughly chopped )
6. Tomato – 1  (small size -chopped)
7. Garlic  pods chopped – 2
8. Turmeric powder – little
9. oil – 1 tsp
10. Fresh Coconut (cut into pieces) – 1/4 cup (this is optional)

For Temper

1. Mustard,-1/4 tsp
2. Cumin (jeera) -1/4 tsp
3. Sombu – 1/4 tsp
4. Curryleaves/li>

PREPARATION

TIPS

Add chopped vegetables (carrots, beans, peas, potatooes) I usually add cut potatoes, the kids like the potatoes. Serve with lemon pickle, vadakam and yogurt.

If you are going to cook Basmathi rice then before adding the rice let the dal is half cooked since the rice gets cooked soon evein in one whistle.

Water measure

1. Basmathi rice – 1 cup means 1 and half cup water
2. Normal rice – 1 cups 2 cups of water
3. Dhal – 1/2 cup  means atleast 1 cup of water needed.