Brown Rice Vegetable Pilaf

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups brown rice

1 large onion (Fried till brown and crisp)

2 medium  carrots, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

10-12 French beans, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1/4 medium cauliflower, separated into small florets

6-7 medium fresh button mushrooms, halved

1/2 cup green peas, shelled and blanched

1 bay leaf

2-3 cloves

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 inch cinnamon

Salt to taste

2 green chillies, slit

2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander

Preparation

Soak the brown rice in four to five cups of water for two hours.  Drain and set aside

Heat a deep non-stick pan, add the bay leaf, cloves, cumin seeds and cinnamon and roast for a few seconds or till fragrant.  Add the drained rice and salt and roast for one to two minutes.

Add four cups of water.  Bring it to a boil.

Add the carrots, French beans, cauliflower, mushrooms and green chillies.  Stir and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover and cook till almost done

Add the green peas and mix gently.  Cover and cook till done

Serve hot, garnished with the fresh coriander and crisp fried onions!

Brown rice with vegetables is abundant in vitamins and minerals and the aroma of the spices whets the appetite.

Recipe inspired from Chef Sanjeev Kapoor!

Forbidden Dirty Rice Dosa!

When someone gave me this rice I had no clue, what to do with it!! But then it was a trial and the dosas came out really crisp. Black rice is not used much in Indian cuisine except for pudding and desserts. Payasam is made out of this rice in the Chettinad Cuisine.

Photocourtesy: Getreal4healthfood


Ingredients

1 cup raw rice (washed and soaked for 3 hours)
1 cup Forbidden black rice (washed and soaked for 3 hours)
1 cup urad dal (washed and soaked for 3 hours)
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds (soaked )
Salt to taste

Preparation

Grind the rice and dals together or separately. If grinding separately, mix  up all the batter which should be of dosa consistency. Add salt and mix. Let it ferment for 4-5 hours.
Heat the tawa and pour one ladle of batter on the tawa and spread to make dosa. The tawa should be on medium high flame.  Flip gently and cook till crisp. Serve warm with chutney and sambar.

Idichakka Thoran ( Stir-fried tender jackfruit with coconut from Kerala)

Ingredients

3 cups roughly chopped tender jackfruit
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp salt or to taste

Ground to a coarse paste

1 cup grated fresh coconut
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
2 cloves garlic(Optional)
2-3 tbsp water

Tempering

2 tbsp coconut oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp rice grains
2 dried red chillies, halved
1/2 cup onions sliced (optional)
1 green chilli, halved
1 sprig curry leaves

Place jackfruit in a pressure pan with turmeric powder, salt and 1 cup water.  Cook for 1 or 2 whistlesand turn off the heat.  remove from cooker, drain and crush jackfruit with a ladle into small shreds.
Blend in ground paste and set aside.
Heat oil for tempering in a frying pan over moderate heat.  Add remaining ingredients for tempering in the order given.  When mustard seeds splutter, add, onions, jackfruit, Stir-fry for 3-4 minutes till mixture is dry
Serve hot as a side dish.

Note: 500 gms of tender jackfruit is needed to get 3 cups of cleaned and chopped jackfruit.

Mixed Dal Dosa (Adai)

I made a little variation from the traditional Adai recipe which is popularly made in Tamilnadu. I used Moong dal , chana dal, urad dal, thuvar dal, Masoor dal (Panchmeli Dal mix).

Ingredients

2 cups Raw rice ( washed and soaked for 3-4 hours)
1/2 cup husked urad dal (washed and soaked for 3 hours)
1/2 cup of mixed dal (chana dal, masoor dal(husked), moong dal, thuvar dal) (washed and soaked for 3 hours)
1 tsp fenugreek seeds (soaked along with the dals)
2" piece ginger
2-4 dry red chillies (soaked along with dals)
4 tbsp grated fresh coconut
1/2 tsp asafoetida
handful of curry leaves (chopped finely)
Salt to taste

Preparation

Grind the rice, dals, fenugreek, ginger, redchillies, coconut altogether. The batter should be of dosa batter consistency. Add salt, asafoetida, curry leaves and mix well. Fermentation is not required but leave the batter at room temperature for 4-5 hours. I did not refrigerate it immediately. To make Adai, pour a ladle of batter and spread like a dosa, as thin as possible. Pour a tsp of oil and leave the dosa on medium high till golden brown, flip carefully and fry till golden and crisp!  The dosa comes out very crisp with a lovely golden colour. It is also very healthy for kids! Serve hot with chutney, sambar or pickles! It tastes great with Powdered Jaggery and a dollop of butter :)

Stir-fried beetroot with lentil crumble from Chettinad (Beetroot Paruppu Usili)

This Recipe is inspired from Chandra Padmanabhan's Simply South. Her recipes are a real treasure!

Ingredients

1/2 cup Thuvar dal (pigeon peas)
1/2 cup husked bengal gram(chana dal)
6 dried red chillies
1/2 tsp asafoetida powder
Salt to taste
4cups grated beetroot
1 onion, finely chopped

Tempering
3 tbsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp husked black gram dal(urad dal)
1 green chilli, halved
1 sprig curry leaves

Preparation

Wash dals and soak in 2 cups water with red chillies for 1 hour. Drain and grind to a coarse batter, gradually adding 1/3-1/2 cup water.
Add asafoetida powder and 3/4 tsp salt. Mix well and set aside.
Pressure cook the beetroots, let them cool. Remove the skin and grate.
In a pan, heat oil for tempering over moderate heat. Add the tempering ingredients in the order given. When mustard seeds splutter, add onions and fry till pink.
Blend in dal batter and fry over low heat stirring frequently, till mixture is well cooked, crisp and resembles breadcrumbs. (but not hard)
Mix in beetroot and stir-fry for 5 minutes till well blended.
Serve hot with rice.

Bajra ki Masaledar Roti

Bajra Rotis are  very popular in Rajasthan. I did some mix and match to it and gave it a makeover:)

Ingredients
2 cup Bajra Flour (Millet)
1 cup Whole wheat flour
1 medium potato boiled and mashed
1 radish grated
Salt to taste
1 tsp Coriander powder
1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander leaves
1 finely chopped onion (optional)
1tsp chilli powder
1 tsp Garam Masala powder
1 tbsp olive oil
water to make dough

Preparation
Sift together the two flours into a bowl. Add the mashed potatoes, radish, all the masalas and olive oil. Add enough water to make a soft dough. Cover the dough to rest for ten minutes. Divide the dough into small equal portions and form into balls. Make small rotis, use extra flour for rolling if required. Heat tawa/griddle and make the roti by adding oil, Fry till they give Paratha like texture.
Serve hot with Pickles, chutneys, or just butter:)

Sending this to Nags for The Balance Mantra.

Bharli Vangi (Stuffed Brinjals)

This  learnt this recipe from a very sweet Maharashtrian friend of mine long back .  Pulled it out of my drafts today:)

Ingredients
    * 12-14 small brinjals/eggplants,
    * 1 cup dry shredded coconut,
    * 1/2 cup peanut powder or peanuts (roasted),
    * 1/4 cup sesame seeds,
    * 1 tbsp each coriander-cumin seeds,
    * 2 tbsp Maharashtrian goda Masala    
    * 1 tsp tamarind pulp,
    * 1 tbsp jaggery,
    * 2 tsp chilli powder,
    * salt to taste,
    * 1 tsp ginger-garlic paste (optional),
    * 1/2 tsp asafoetida,
    * 1 tsp turmeric powder.
    * 2 tsp oil


Preparation

   1. Remove stems and give four vertical slits (not fully) to the brinjals from the top. If you want to keep the stems, give the slits from the bottom of the brinajls keeping the stem intact. Keep them in salt water for 10 minutes and rinse. Set aside.
   2. Roast coconut, sesame seeds, coriander-cumin seeds together till light brown. Powder this mixture and combine tamarind, jaggery, peanut powder, ginger-garlic paste, salt, chilli powder and goda masala with the ground spices. Alternatively, grind all these ingredients together with the roasted mixture.
   3. Stuff all the brinjals with above masala.
   4. Take a kadai or a shallow non stick pan, and heat oil in it. Add mustard seeds. When you hear spluttering sound, add asafoetida and turmeric powder.
   5. Add the brinjals and the leftover masala. Gently fry for sometime. Add 1/2 cup water.
   6. Cover and cook over low-medium heat for about 15-25 min or until the brinjals turn soft and completely cooked. (To keep the masala from sticking to the bottom of the pan, cover the pan with a deep platter with some water in it. It helps the curry cook evenly without burning.)
   7. Remove the lid and stir to check if the brinjals are done. If not, cook further until well done. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot with chapati or rice.
Variations:
1) Chop 1 small onion and combine it with the ground masala in step 2. Follow rest of the method same as above.
2) Add potato cut into vertical pieces along with the brinjals.
3) Stuff small potatoes in the same way as brinjals and cook them along with the brinjals.

VEGETABLE KORMA

Ingredients

1/2 cup shelled peas
1/2 cup cauliflower florets washed and drained
2 small carrots - cut into small cubes (I grated them, as the kids cannot separate it:)
4-5 french beans - cut in to 1/2" diagonal pieces
1/3 cup potato cut into cubes
2 onions - chopped finely
2 green chillies
4 tbsp oil
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
2 tsp salt

(CASHEW-CURD PASTE)

4 tsp poppy seeds - soaked in warm water for 30 minutes and drained
3/4 cup curd
2 tbsp cashew nuts
2 tbsp grated coconut(fresh or desiccated)
2 whole dry red chillies
1/2" piece ginger
3-4 flakes garlic
2 tsp coriander seeds,
seeds of 2-3 green cardamom

Garnish
Chopped fresh coriander and mint leaves

Preparation
Soak poppy seeds, cashew nuts, coconut, red chillies, ginger, garlic, coriander seeds  and green cardamom in little water. Keep aside for 15 minutes.
Drain and grind together to a paste along with curd.  Keep aside.
Parboil the vegetables in very little water.
Heat 4 tbsp oil in a pan.  Add chopped onion and  cook till onions turns golden.  Add the turmeric powder,  prepared cashew-curd paste.  Cook on low heat for 3-4 minutes.
Add beans, cauliflower, potato, peas and carrots.  Stir for 2 minutes
Add 1 cup of water or enough to get a thick gravy. Bring to boil.
Add garam masala and salt.  Simmer for 5 minutes
Boil for 1 minute. Garnish and serve hot.

Celebrating 5 years of Blogging with Ghia Kofta Curry

Yes !! it's Neivedyam's 5th Birthday!! My Hearty Thanks to all the visitors, followers and Sponsors of Neivedyam. Many Thanks to the 216 Google Friend Connect members, 63 Networked Blog friends, 178 FB friends, friends who do not forget to leave comments, silent visitors, for giving me the inspiration to keep going this long. If you guys had not been around, I would have stopped blogging long back:)  Thanks to all the blog buddies who have come a long way with me since 2007. Your support means a lot to me!

   

Ingredients:

For the ghia koftas

1 1/2 cups grated bottle gourd(ghia/doodhi/laukhi)

1 cup boiled and mashed potatoes

1 tsp dry mango powder(amchur)

1/2 tsp turmeric powder(haldi)

1 tsp chilli powder

1 tsp Punjabi garam masala

2 tbsp besan flour

Salt to taste

Oil for deep-frying

For the Gravy

3 tbsp oil

2 tbsp broken cashewnuts(kaju)

1/2 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)

1 cup chopped onions

1/2 tsp chopped garlic

1/2 tsp chopped ginger

1 tsp thinly sliced green chillies

1/2 tsp coriander(dhania) powder

1/2 tsp turmeric powder(haldi)

1 1/2 cups chopped tomatoes

1/4 tsp Punjabi Garam Masala

2 tbsp cream

Salt to taste

Other Ingredients

2 tbsp chopped coriander(dhania) for the garnish

Preparation of the ghia koftas: 

• Squeeze the bottle gourd till all the water drains out
• Add all the remaining ingredients, mix well and divide in to 8 equal sized  koftas
• To the besan flour add 2-3 tsp water and make batter like consistency, roll the koftas gently in the batter.
• Heat the oil in and deep-fry the koftas in it till they are golden brown
• Drain on absorbent paper and keep aside

Preparation of the Gravy:

• Heat the oil in pan, add the cashew nuts and saute till they turn golden brown
• Remove the cashew nuts, drain out the oil and blend them to a smooth paste. keep aside
• Heat the remaining oil in the same pan and add the cumin seeds
• When they crackle, add the onions and saute till they turn translucent
• Add the garlic, ginger and green chillies and saute for another minute
• Add the coriander powder, chilli powder, turmeric powder and tomatoes and cook till the oil separates from the gravy
• Add the prepared browned cashew nut paste, Punjabi grama masala, cream and salt and bring to boil.

Add the koftas to the gravy and simmer for a few minutes
Serve hot garnished with coriander