Just to Share with you…..
This is a different kind from usual variety rices. The special powder we are using makes this rice different. This will be good recipe for potluck. Hope you too can enjoy this recipe.
Ingredients
1. Basmati rice - 2 cups
2. Cauliflower - 1 (full)
3. Onion - 1 (medium size)
4. Lime juice - 2 teaspoons
5. Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
6. Salt to taste
Ingredients for powder
1. Red chillies - 5
2. Coriander seeds - 2 tsp
3. kadalaparuppu - 2 tsps
4. Urad dal – 1 tsp.
5. Pepper - 1/4 tsp.
6. Jeera - 1/2 tsp.
7. Garam Masala Powder - 1 tsp
8. Fry these in dry tava and make fine powder
Preparation
1. Wash the rice 2 or 3 times and cook it with 3 cups of water.
2. Cut cauliflower into small flowerets and keep immersed in salted water for 5 minutes. Wash well and boil it with little water for 5 minutes in microwave oven. Drain water after cauliflower is boiled.
3. Add 1 tsp oil in a pan. Fry 1 onion (chopped) until golden brown then add the boiled cauliflower with it. Add turmeric powder and salt as required.
4. Add the powder and mix thoroughly and cook for 5 – 10 min until raw smell goes away.
5. In the mean time sprinkle lemon juice cooked rice and mix well.
6. When Vegetable is ready add to cooked rice.
Tips
You can roast cashew nuts in ghee and garnish the rice by sprinkling on rice.
Ingredients
1. Basmathi rice – 2 cups
2. Cloves -4
3. Cinnamon sticks small -2 or 3
4. Gingergarlic paste – 1 table spoon
5. Onion medium size – 1 (cut like anyway u want)
6. Tomato small/medium -1 (cut into small pieces)
7. Corriander powder – 1 full tablespoon
8. Turmeric powder – 1/4 teaspoon (verylittle inorder to retain green color)
9. Mint/ Pudhina leaves – 1 medium size bunch
10. Green chillies -5 (or according to your taste)
11. Oil – 3 tablespoon
Preparation
1. Pluck the mint leaves and grind with green chilli by adding little water (as chutney)
2. In pressure cooker Pour oil and heat it .
3. Add cloves and cinnamon sticks .
4. Add onion and fry for few mins
5. Add ginger-garlic paste and fry along with onion .
6. Add tomato and fry for few mins .
7. Add corriander and turmeric powder and mix well.
8. Add the grinded mint paste (before adding measure the quanitity ).
9. Finally add cleaned rice and four cups of water minus the grinded pudhina measure.
(if grinded paste measures 1 cup then add (4-1=3) only three cups of water.
10. Cook for 2 whistles. Mint/Pudhina rice is ready.
Just to share with you…..
Hope you all have enjoyed Pongal (The Harvest Festival). This year we celebrated our Pongal with our friends. I am very happy to celebrate this month with sugarcane which i got in Grandmart. Here is how I will make Sweet / Sarkarai Pongal. I did celebrate Harvest festival of America (Thanks giving too) this year. That day we had Turkey feast.
Sweet/Sarkarai pongal is in bowl
Ingredients
1. Raw rice – 1cup
2. Moong dhal - 1/2 cup
3. Vellam /jaggery (powder it) – 1 cup
4. Cashewnuts as needed (atleast 2 tsp)
5. Ghee/oil – 5 tsp
6. Dry grapes/Raisins – 10
Preparation
1. Cook rice and dhal together in pressure cooker with 4 cups of water atleast for 5 whistles.
2. When it is done leave for 5 mins till steam goes away. In the mean time break the japery in to fine pieces and then make it as fine powder
3. Open the Pressure cooker when it cooled completely.Add the powdered jaggery into it. Switch on the gas stove keep in low flame for 5 mins . Stir well so that jagerry gets mixed well.
4. Heat ghee in kadai and fry cashewnuts and dry grapes/Raisins and add to Pongal.
5. Now your Pongal is ready for serving.
TIPS
If you don’t have jaggery then try this with Brown sugar. In that case no need to melt sugar directly you can add the powder into the cooked rice.
If it is hard to break jaggery then just in a bowl keep that in microwave. It will get melted.
If you don’t have microwave then heat 1/4 cup of water and put jaggery and melt it. If you are adding melted jaggery make sure the cooked rice and dhal should be hard otherwise pongal will be in little bit watery consistency.
Just to Share with you…..
Pongal celebrated through the first four days of the Tamil Month of Thai (Mid January to Mid February), is a popular harvest festival in Tamil Nadu. The word Pongal, which literally means ‘boiling over’, refers to rice cooked in milk and jaggery. Pongal is prepared in new big earthen pots called ‘Pongal Panai’ in the open and allowed to boil over signifying prosperity and bountifulness of crops. It is a festival honouring and giving thanks to the gods – especially the Sun God and Indra, the lord of the rains and the cattle for the plentiful paddy crops in the field during the mild winter months in South India. Two varieties of Pongal- the salty one known as ‘ven pongal’ and the sweet one known as ‘Sarkkarai pongal’ are prepared on the second day.
Today we are going to discuss the preparation of salty one which is ” Ven Pongal”. Venn Pongal, a traditional dish in South India is the equivalent to kichidi made in North India. It is basically a rice and moong dal that is over cooked and dressed up with spices. In kichidi, ginger and jeera are invariably used while in Pongal it is ginger, pepper and jeera that produce the glorious taste. ‘ Venn’ is actually ‘vellai’ which means white in tamil.
In Tamilnadu Ven Pongal is treated as tiffin Item (especially for breakfast ,also one of the item in small occassions)Ven pongal and Urudal vada (http://ani-samayal.yoksha.com/ulunthu-vadai.html )are very good combination. This is a very popular South Indian recipe, often given at temples as prashad. It is easy to make and tastes great.
Since this recipe is not hot/chilli kids love this. Aslo main ingredient of this recipe is rice and dal(lentil) cooked together which is perfect for kids.
VenPongal
Ingredients
1. Raw rice – 1cup
2. Moong dhal – 1/2 cup
For Sauting
1. Curry leaves as needed
2. Whole black pepper – 1 tsp
3. Jeera – 1 tsp
4. Ginger finely chopped – 1/2 tsp
5. Cashnewnuts as needed
6. Ghee/oil – 5 tsp
Preparation
1. Cook and dhal together in pressure cooker by adding little salt and 4 cups of water atleast for 5 whistles.
2. Heat 3 tsp kadai and pour oil/ghee.
3. Saute curry leaves, pepper, jeera & ginger and add to cooked rice.
4. Fry the cashewnuts in 2 tsp of ghee/oil and add to rice.
5. Serve with Coconut chutney.
Just to Share with you……
I remember my first long trip was at the age of 10. Including my family members around sixty of us went on a 5 days tip to Ramaswaram,Kanyakumari etc. I heard that in olden days when people are travelling they will carry food (Katti soru) with them since they have to travel long distances by walking for days together and foods are not available on the way. We also made “Katti soru” in a different way. Guess what it is? Yes you got it . Itz nothing but Tamarind rice. The speacialty with tamarind rice is that we can keep it for minimum of two days. It won’t get spoiled.Another speciality is when hours passes the taste will be too good. So from that Trip onwards till now whenever I am planning to go outside I will plan for Tamarind rice.
Little information about Tamarind
Tamarind is said to cool the system and cleanse the blood. The pulp, rich in vitamins and minerals, is used in Chinese medicine. The bark treats asthma, and a paste made from the leaves or the seeds is used to treat boils. The flowers are said to reduce blood pressure.They contain vitamin C and are very useful in preventing and curing scurvy. The pulp of the ripe fruit is used in acute constipation and liver disorders like jaundice. The powdered seeds are given in dysentery. They are also applied locally for contracting the vaginal passage.
For more information about Tamarind uses click here.
See recipe for Cumin and Tamarind Refresher.
Ingredients
1. Rice – 1 Cup
2. Water – 2 Cups
3. Tamarind Raw – 1 big Lemon size ball
4. Red chillies – 15 Nos
5. Raw Peanuts – 1/2 Cup
6. Salt – Acc to taste
7. Mustard Seeds – 1/2 Tsp.
8. Channa dal – 1 Tsp.
9. Urad dal – 1 Tsp.
10. Curry leaves – few
11. Turmeric – 1/2 tsp.
12. Oil – 3 Tbsp.
13. Onion – 1
Preparation
1. Cook the rice with water and little salt and keep aside.
2. Soak Tamarind in water for sometime extract the juice .
3. Heat a pan and add oil.
4. Saute Mustard seeds,Channa dal,Urudal and curry leaves.
5. Add the Peanuts & fry for a minute.
6. Cutted Onions and Red chillies.
7. Pour in the tamarind extract and add turmeric powder.
8. Let it boil till it leaves the raw smell and oil seperates on top also the consistency of the gravy becomes semi solid.
9. Finaly add Cooked rice to gravy.