Vegetable Pulao using Coconut Milk

Its not always that we have the time and energy to prepare elaborate meals. One pot meal recipes come handy especially during lazy weekends. Not just that, such one pot meals are a welcome dish when you have a surprise guest.

This Vegetable pulao/pulav is made using store bought coconut milk. I have used a pressure pan to make this pulao. This can be prepared in an electric rice cooker as well. Its an easy and healthy lunch box recipe.

Here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

Basmathi rice - white - 2 cups - Washed and kept aside. No need to soak.

Coconut milk - Store bought tetra pack - 1 (200 ml)

(I used dabur homemade coconut milk)

Onion - 2 medium - chopped

Carrot, Green peas, Green beans - together - 2 cups - carrot and beans diced.

Mint leaves - handful - washed and chopped roughly

Oil  - 1 tablespoon

Ghee - 1 tablespoon

Green chilli - 1 or 2 - slit lengthwise ( adjust as per taste )

Bay leaf - 2 

Jeera (cumin seeds) - 1 teaspoon

Ginger garlic paste - 1 tablesoon

Salt as required

Cinnamon bark - 2 inch

Cloves - 3 to 4

Marati moggu - 2

Anise - 2

Method:

Combine coconut milk and water so that the total quantity is exactly 4 cups.

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a Pressure pan or pressure cooker.

Add bay leaf, green chillie, jeera, cinnamon, cloves, marathi moggu, anise. When it sizzles, add onion.

When the onion is half cooked, add ginger garlic paste.

Fry for a minute and add mixed vegetables (carrot, beans and peas).

When the content heats up, add washed basmathi rice and fresh mint leaves.

Stir well and add diluted coconut milk.

Add salt to taste and when the content heats up, add a tablespoon of ghee.

If you are using a pressure cooker/pressure pan, cook for exactly two whistles and turn off heat promptly.

When the pressure releases, you can enjoy the delicious vegetable pulao with some potato chips.

If you are going to use an electric cooker (rice cooker), after adding ghee, transfer the content to the rice cooker and cook closed until done.

Garnishing the pulao with ghee fried cashewnuts is optional.

Pomegranate rice / Dalimbe anna

Pomegranate lovers, here's a treat for you. I love pomegranate and I can take it in any form. Even in the form of a chutney. This fruit is a great addition to salads and also it can make Kashmiri pulao more colourful. 

This is a very simple rice recipe made with the pomegranate juice extract. This recipe is almost similar to  Lemon rice, Apart from being a healthy alternative to tamarind rice and other chitra anna, its also a great addition to the menu when you have guest. Its so colourful and unique. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

Cooked rice - 2 cups (udhur anna: rice should be fully cooked and flaky but not mushy)

Pomegranate - 1 large

Oil - 1 table spoon for tempering

Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon

Green chilli - 1 or 2 slit vertically 

or 

Dry red chilli - 3

Curry leaves -  sprig (optional)

Coriander leaves to garnish

Salt to taste

Method:

Cut the pomegranate into two halves. Take out the seeds. You can google to find many ways to take the seeds out effortless.

Grind half the seeds and strain using a filter. Keep the extract aside.

Heat oil in a kadai and temper the mustard seeds. Then add curry leaves if using.

Add the chilli you want to use (red or green or combination).

Stir and turn off heat. 

Add the juice extract and salt as required.

Mix in rice. Use a fork to mix so you don't break the rice.

Mix in the remaining seeds and garnish with coriander leaves.

Its a great lunch box recipe too.

A must try recipe for those fruit lovers who want to taste the fruit in different avatars.

Brinj - A Traditional Vegetable Biryani

To my knowledge, brinj is a traditional vegetable biryani, where coconut along with spices are ground and the rice and vegetables are cooked along with this coconut spice masala. A tasty and filling one pot meal that's just right for a quick sunday brunch. This biryani is usually served with raitha, preferably onion raitha. Its definitely a must try recipe. Here's my version of the recipe using pressure cooker. Make it a totally vegan dish by avoiding ghee.

Ingredients:

Carrots - 4 medium - peel and cut to one inch length

Green beans - 1 handful - chop the ends and cut to one inch length

Green peas - half cup

Onions - 2 - cut length wise

Tomato - 2 medium - fleshy - quartered and roughly chopped

Mint - handful - roughly chopped

Bay leaf - 3 small

Basmathi rice - 2 cups - no need to soak in water

Water - 4 cups

Salt to taste

Ghee for flavour

Oil for seasoning - 2 tablespoon

Grind:

Coconut - 3 tablespoons 

Cinnamon - half inch

Cloves - 4 

Garlic - 6 cloves

Ginger - 1 inch - peeled and roughly chopped

Saunf / Fennel seeds - 2 teaspoons

Jeera / Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon

Coriander powder - 1 teaspoon

Star anise - 1 or 2

Red chillies 3 to 4 (medium hot)

Green chilli - 1 or 2 that's very hot, adjust as per taste

Grind all of the above ingredients under the head Grind: using half cup water.

Method:

In a wide pressure pan or pressure cooker, heat oil.

Add bay leaf and then onions.

Fry onions until its cooked.

Add roughly chopped tomatoes.

Now add the ground masala.

Add 2 teaspoons salt and stir well. 

Keep frying until good aroma comes and oil separates.

By this time the tomatoes will be well mashed and fully cooked. 

Wait for most of the moisture to be absorbed or you will end up with a soggy biryani.

Now add the vegetables (carrot, beans, pea) and roughly chopped mint.

Sprinkle 1 teaspoon salt and stir well.

Wash 2 cups basmathi rice and drain water.

Add it to the vegetable mixture.

Stir for a minute and add 4 cups water.

Add one tablespoon ghee (clarified butter)

Mix the content and close it with the lid.

Cook in high heat for exactly 2 whistles and turn off.

Open the lid only when the pressure is completely released.

Take out the bay leaf and gently stir without breaking the rice.

Its optional to add ghee fried cashews and squared ghee roasted white bread pieces.

Serve hot with onion raitha.

The recipe looks lengthy but its actually easy.

Adding big chunks of potatoes along with other vegetables is optional. I usually don't add potatoes to biryani's and pulaos.

Happy cooking.

 

Vegetable Biryani - Restaurant style

My dear friend perfected her recipe for vegetable biryani that tasted almost like the Coimbatore Annapoorna vegetable biryani that we all love to have. I have been following the recipe many many times from when she blogged the recipe. I have made slight changes to her original recipe. If you follow the recipe word to word, either her recipe or mine, you are sure to enjoy a plate of delicious and spicy vegetable biryani. Here is the recipe for my version of biryani.

Ingredients:

2 cups basmathi rice

3 cups water

1 large onion chopped

2 tomatoes quartered

handful of chopped fresh mint

3 cups of mixed vegetables (carrot, beans, peas and cauliflower)

1 cup yogurt

3 (full)cinnamons

3 bay leaves

2 black cardamom

oil for seasoning

cumin powder - 4 tsp

coriander / dhania powder - 8 tsp

turmeric powder - 1 teaspoon

red chilli powder - 2 tsp

salt as required ( almost 1 and half tablespoons)

grind the following using very little water:

5 cloves garlic

half inch ginger chopped

5 green chillies

5 cloves

for garnishing,

ghee roasted cashews

4 slices regular white bread - toasted and cut into pieces

Method:

Soak rice in three cups water and keep it aside.

Take a heavy bottomed wide non stick kadai that has a lid. ( I used a 5 quart kadai that has a glass lid)

Heat a tablespoon oil and add cinnamon, bay leaf and black cardamom

Remember that the entire cooking process is done in medium heat.

After a minute in medium heat, toss in the chopped onions and saute until the onion is soft.

Add the ground spice mix and mix well.

Then add the quartered tomatoes and stir for a couple of minutes.

Add the mixed vegetables and salt.

Toss the vegetables for a couple of minutes and pour the yogurt/curd.

Now, boil the water that was used to soak rice, separately.

When the content heats up, add the cumin powder, dhania powder, red chilli powder and turmeric powder and mix well.

When most of the moisture is absorbed, add the soaked rice and the boiling water and mix well.

Cook the content closed for about 10 minutes. Enjoy the aroma that fills the room.

Open and mix in the chopped fresh mint when the rice is half cooked and again close the container.

The rice and the vegetables will be well cooked by the time all the moisture is absorbed. It will take about 5 to 10 minutes. If you have doubt that it is burning in the bottom, stir the content occasionally and remember to close it every time.

When all the moisture is absorbed and the rice is also well cooked, turn off heat and garnish with ghee fried cashews and pieces of toasted white bread. Adding chopped coriander leaves is optional.

Enjoy the piping hot vegetable biryani with onion raita.

Tomato Pulao

Wish you all a very very happy New Year 2011. Here I am with all the strength and vigor to start blogging actively. Hope this enthusiasm stays with me. To start with, I have a delicious Tomato Pulao that is spicy and aromatic. With respect to taste, there is a vast difference between cooked rice mixed with tomato and the rice itself cooked in tomato. The dish is cooked in Dum in a non stick heavy bottomed kadai with lid. I have not used any rice cooker or pressure cooker to prepare this dish. Just this one dish with some raitha is enough for a wholesome meal that will be ready in a jiffy to please your taste buds. Here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

Basmathi rice - 2 cups

Diced tomato Can - 2

(Note: I used Organics brand diced tomato in tomato juice. Use 4 to 5 red ripe roma tomatoes, if you don't have 'diced tomato' cans - If you grind the tomato, the yield should be 2 or 2 and half cups)

Water - 2 cups

Oil for seasoning

Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon

Star anise seeds - 2 or 3 stars

Dhania powder - 2 teaspoons

Garlic - 4 cloves

Ginger - half inch - finely diced

Green chillis - 3

Cinnamon stick - 1 inch

Cloves - 5 to 6

Bay leaf - 2

Turmeric powder - a pinch

Salt as required

Roasted cashews and coriander leaves for garnish

Ghee (optional) - for flavor

Method:

Soak the rice in 2 cups water. Keep it aside.

Chop the onions.

Grind the tomato.

Dry grind the cloves and add ginger, garlic and green chillis. Sprinkle water and grind to a paste.

Take a heavy bottomed wide non stick kadai that has a lid. Heat a table spoon oil and add the cumin seeds, cinnamon stick, bay leaf and star anise seeds.

Add the chopped onions and fry until the onions are soft.

Add the Ground paste (ginger,garlic,cloves,green chillis paste).

Fry for a minute and add 2 cups tomato juice (the pulpy juice) and 2 cups water.

When the content comes to a boil, add the salt, turmeric powder and dhania powder.

Add the soaked rice with the water. Allow the content to boil. Close the kadai with a lid. Preferably with a glass lid. Bring the heat to medium (number 5 from the scale of 1 to 10 if cooking in electric coil).

Give a stir after 10 or 15 minutes and cook closed. Keep an eye on the pulao. Turn off heat if all the water is absorbed. 

Toss in the roasted cashews and flavor the rice with ghee (clarified butter). The rich and spicy aroma of the pulao will fill the room. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and enjoy with  raita of your choice.

Garlic kichidi / Poondu kichidi

This is a fantastic recipe from my dear friend Priya. It is a wholesome meal rich in carb, protein and fiber. The last time I visited them, she did this amazing dish and we all loved it. The recipe as such is simple and a great recipe especially for growing kids. Budding cooks and working moms would cherish this recipe. If you have had a really heavy dinner, this would be the best dish for next day brunch or lunch. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

Basmathi rice - 1 cup

Split (yellow) moong dal - Three fourths cup

Water - 5 cups

Salt as required

Oil - 1 tablespoon

Ghee / clarified butter - 3 tablespoons

Vegetables - 2 cups (green peas, chopped carrots and 1 inch cut green beans together)

(you can also use frozen carrot peas)

Peeled garlic cloves - 7 to 8 (If using garlic in India, take only 4 cloves)

Red chillis - 2 to 3 (use more if you want more spicy)

Curry leaves - a sprig

Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon

Urud dal - 1 tablespoon

Asafoetida powder - 1 pinch

Turmeric powder - half teaspoon

Method:

Wash basmathi rice and moong dal two to three times and pressure cook together with salt and 5 cups water. Make sure the content is mushy. 

Heat oil in a big kadai and add mustard seeds, when it pops, add the urud dal, when it turns light brown, add the garlic, curry leaves and red chillis and sauté for a minute and then add the cut vegetables.

Add 1 cup water, little salt and allow the content to boil. When it is boiling add turmeric powder and asafoetida powder.

Mean while, stir the cooked rice and dal and keep it aside.

When the vegetables are well cooked, add the cooked rice and dal and pour a cup of water.

Make sure the content is not too thick. Pour water if needed.

Mix well and add the ghee.

You can also garnish with ghee fried cashews.

Serve this with a spicy pickle. 

It is a wholesome meal with carb from rice, protein from the moong and fiber from vegetables. Of course a little fat from oil and ghee. A great dish for saturday brunch.

Mint rice / Pudina saadam

Oh! I love mint. I have used this wonderful herb in chutney, gravy, rasam, pulao and raitha. My version of mint pulao is mixing the ground mint paste to the cooking rice. Just thought, why not add the ground paste to the cooked rice instead of cooking rice. I called this creation 'mint rice' that retains all the goodness of mint plus the intense minty aroma. A wonderful variety rice for any occasion. Here goes the recipe for this easy, breezy, classy, minty dish.

Ingredients:

Cooked rice - 2 cups

(the cooked rice should not be too soft or sticky)

Mint/pudina - 1 big bunch

(I used 2 handful of mint leaves)

Onion - 1 large - chop the onions

(I used one large red onion)

Desiccated coconut - half cup

(I used powdered desiccated coconut)

Green chillis - 3 to 4

(I used 4 thai chillis. The number of chillis depends on how spicy you want the rice)

Ginger - half inch - peel the skin and chop it finely

Garlic - 2 cloves

(I used half teaspoon garlic paste and 1 teaspoon ginger paste)

Dry bay leaves - 3

Oil for seasoning - 1 tablespoon

Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon

Urud dal - 1 tablespoon

Salt to taste

Ghee fried cashews - handful

Ghee for flavor - 1 or 2 tablespoons

Method:

Grind the mint with desiccated coconut and green chillis using very little water. Keep it aside.

Heat oil in a large kadai. Add mustard seeds. When it pops, add the urud dal. When it turns light brown, add the bay leaves and the chopped onions.

Fry the onions in medium heat for a minute and add the ginger and garlic. When the onion turns translucent add the ground mint.

Reduce the heat and keep stirring. You will notice the bring green mint turning light green. Add salt and turn off heat.

Mix in the rice until equal distribution. Add ghee for extra flavor. You can also mix in a handful of the powdered desiccated coconut. Garnish with ghee fried golden cashews and/or sprinkle powdered desiccated coconut on top and serve separately or accompanied with any raitha of your choice.

Neem flower rice / Vepampoo saadam

Vepampoo - in tamil (english:Neem flower, botanical name: Azadiracta indica) is a very medicinal flower of the Neem tree. The benefits of Neem are innumerable and has been recognized in India for thousands of years. Every part of the Neem tree has medicinal property. Neem tree's bark, leaves, flowers, fruit, root, twig, gum, oil and seeds are used in many different ways. For ages, neem has been used as an Ayurvedic medicine.

"Various parts of the neem tree have been used as traditional Ayurvedic medicine in India. Neem oil and the bark and leaf extracts have been therapeutically used as folk medicine to control leprosy, intestinal helminthiasis, respiratory disorders, constipation and also as a general health promoter. Its use for the treatment of rheumatism, chronic syphilitic sores and indolent ulcer has also been evident. Neem oil finds use to control various skin infections. Bark, leaf, root, flower and fruit together cure blood morbidity, biliary afflictions, itching, skin ulcers, burning sensations and pthysis says D.P. Agrawal. Also, biologically neem is used as Anti-inflammatory; Antiarthritic; Antipyretic; Hypoglycaemic; Antigastric ulcer; Spermicidal; Antifungal; Antibacterial; Diuretic; Antimalarial; Antitumour; Immunomodulatory etc."

I got neem flowers (vepampoo) when I visited India last year. Thanks to my sister's MIL Smt. Jayalakshmi Ramachandran, for collecting these flowers fresh from the ground, patiently discarding the dirt and sharing it with us. The dried neem flowers have shelf life for few years. In this recipe, I have used vepampoo in preparing a healthy dish called 'vepampoo saadam' or 'neem flower rice' by roasting the neem flowers and mixing it with cooked white rice. The recipe is very simple and is my mom's recipe. Here is how it is prepared.

Ingredients:

Dry neem flower - half cup (pressed) - Discard dirt

Oil - 1 teaspoon

Red chillis - 2

Mustard seeds - quarter teaspoon

Urud dal - half teaspoon

Asafoetida powder - a pinch

Salt to taste

Cooked white rice

Ghee (clarified butter)

Method:

Heat oil in a kadai keeping in low heat.

Add the mustard seeds.

When it pops, add the red chillis, urud dal and neem flower. (do not wait for the urud dal to turn brown as it will become brown when the neem flower is roasted).

Roast the neem flower stirring continuously.

The neem flowers will get darker. Roast until the urud dal becomes dark brown. Remember to keep in low heat.

Add the asafoetida powder and stir well and turn off heat.

To one cup of cooked white rice, add a teaspoon of this roasted neem flower. Mix well adding a dab of ghee and salt to taste. Just one cup is enough for one person. Try to have this atleast once a week. This will clense our system.

Important: Make sure to chew the rice hard before swallowing.

The neem flower can be used to prepare rasam and kuzhambu too.

This is my entry to JFI - Flower power hosted by Rachna of Soul food. JFI is Jihva for Ingredients started by Indira of Mahanandi.

This picture (saffron bowl with roasted neem flower, white plate with dry neem flower and green bowl with neem flower rice) is my entry to Saffron white green event hosted by Pooja of Creative pooja in connection with the Indian Independence day on Aug 15th.

Thank you Rachna and Pooja for hosting these wonderful events.

Curd Rice

Every south Indian lunch and dinner ends with curd rice. Curd rice is just mixing butter milk or curds/yogurts to the cooked rice. But adding a little seasoning to it makes it more tasty and special. Curd rice and pickle is the best combo one can have on a hot summer afternoon lunch. It makes a good picnic lunch too. I am sending this curd rice to Fun 'n' Sun event hosted by Simple Indian Food.

Ingredients:

Cooked rice - 1 cup

Butter milk or Yogurt/Curds - 1 cup

Milk - half cup

salt - as required

Curry leaves

Asafoetida powder - 2 pinches

for seasoning:

Oil - 1 teaspoon

Mustard seeds - half teaspoon

Urud Dal - half teaspoon

Green chillis - 2 - slit vertically

Method:

Add the salt to the cooked rice and mash the rice really well.

Heat oil and add the mustard seeds, when it pops, add the urud dal and green chilli. When the dal turns golden brown add the seasoning to the rice.

Add curry leaves and asafoetida powder to the rice and mix really well.

Add milk and stir well.

Now add the butter milk or curds or yogurt and mix well.

Serve with pickle of your choice.

I have listed below, the many ways of preparing curd rice.

1. Simple Curd rice: Just mix butter milk to the cooked rice.

2. Curd rice with green chilli seasoning. (The method that I have described above)

3. Bagalabhath: Mix a tablespoon of butter to the steaming hot white rice. Mix it until the butter melts completely. Add salt and mix well. Then, add a cup of milk and mix well. Then, half cup thick curds and mix well. This is a simple way of preparing delicious bagalabhath. Curry leaves can be added to this rice.

3. Curd rice with fruits: To the curd rice mentioned in '1' or '2', mix in finely diced apples, pomogranate seeds (washed), seed less small green grapes.

4. Curd rice with Vegetables: To the curd rice mentioned in '1' or '2', mix in grated carrot and grated or finely diced cucumber. Add finely chopped coriander leaves.

5. Mor Molaga Thair sadam: To the curd rice mentioned in '1' or '2', mix in deep fried curshed mor molaga

6. Special Curd Rice: Cook one cup rice with milk (if using 3 cups of water for making regular rice, add 2 cups water and 1 cup milk). Then, do the seasoning mentioned in the above recipe. Mix in half a cup curd and leave it aside for 4 hrs and serve.

7. Other varieites: roasted broken cashews can be added to any variety of curd rice listed above. You can come up with more creative ways of preparing curd rice.

Enjoy the delicious curd rice. Keep cool this summer.

Karela Pulao with Bengali style Raita

Karela Pulao:

Before trying the pulao with bitter gourd, I was wondering how in the world its going to taste. I have made only pickles and pakoras with bitter gourd. This is the first time I tried a pulao with this vegetable. I tried Indira's Karela Pulao and we loved it. The taste was just perfect - bitter, sweeter and spicy. It was just a one pot meal. All I did was to add the cooked basmati rice in the prepared bittergourd.

Bengali style Raita:

I wanted to prepare a nice raita for this. Today Ramki of One page cookbooks posted traditional bengali curries and I wanted to try his bengali style raita recipe from his one page bengali curries. The raita went along very well with the karala pulao. Thanks to Indira and Ramki for sharing such delicious recipes.

Recipe for Raita:

To one cup yogurt, mixed red chilli powder, salt and cumin powder.

For the seasoning, heat half a teaspoon oil and add the cumin seeds and kalonji. Add this to the yogurt. Mix well.

My entries to vairous events:


Karela pulao goes to Vegetable of the week - bitter gourd/karela event hosted by Pooja.

Bengali style raita goes to RCI - Bengal hosted by Sandeepa.

Again, Karela pulao goes to One pot wonders hosted by Pavani.

Click here to see my entry to Click event hosted by Jugalbandi.

I am delighted to participate in all the above events. Thanks to all the hosts.