Cauli-Corn Pohe

I made this Cauli-Corn Pohe today for a light lunch. It was great. The kids even ate it all up! The one change that I would make would be to add cashews and/or peanuts at the beginning. I love to have that crunch in my pohe. Since we have a slight allergy in the house, I skipped it all together. 

1/4 head of cauliflower, trimmed and diced into small pieces

1 cup frozen corn, defrosted

2 cups thick pohe (beaten rice)

1/2 onion, diced

1 tsp ginger paste

1/2 tsp garlic paste

1/2 tsp green chili paste

1/4 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1 tbsp sesame seeds

Pinch of hing

1-2 tsp salt or per taste

1/2 tsp sugar

1 tbsp coriander powder

Juice of 1 lemon, or 2 tbsp lemon juice 

Few curry leaves

2 tbsp olive oil

Chopped cilantro for garnish

Lemon wedges for serving

1. Start by heating up oil in a big Dutch oven nonstick pot. When hot, add the mustard and cumin seeds and let them pop. Drop the curry leaves in and close lid. Remove from heat to prevent getting burned. Add the sesame seeds and hing and mix. Add the onions and return pot back on the heat.

2. Let onions cook on medium heat until shiny. Add the ginger, garlic and green chili paste and mix for about a minute. Add the cauliflower and salt next and let it cook.

3. About 5-7 minutes once the cauliflower is a bit soft, add the corn and coriander powder.

4. While the veggies are cooking, soak the pohe for about a minute or two until you see them puff up. You want to be careful not to soak for too long or else they'll get all mushy and will not retain their shape. Drain the water out of the bowl of pohe using a colander.

5. Once again, remove the pot from the heat. I bring the pot next to the kitchen sink. I squeeze out as much water from the pohe as possible and sprinkle the pohe into the pot. Return pot back on heat.

6. Let all of the flavors marry for about 5 minutes. Then add sugar and lemon juice, tasting and adjust seasoning. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve hot with lemon wedges on side.

This dish was surprisingly delicious. The cauliflower was a great substitute for the traditional potatoes. Soybeans, peas and/or carrots would also be a great addition to bump up the nutrition level. After all, potatoes and rice alone aren't all that wholesome! Definitely give this one a try!

My Mother's Tomato Biryani

Tomato Biryani

My mother makes the best tomato biryani. It's one of her specialties, and a dish that we always request she make even years after we've all grown up and moved out. It's the perfect wholesome comfort food. I've never tried to make it before. I just saved it in my recipe archive for some day. Well, some day has come and for this Mother's Day, I decided to try my hand at it. Before I get started, I must note that this recipe always feeds a crowd so try reducing it by half if you're trying to feed a family of four. I, myself, do not mind having leftovers ready to go in the fridge so I made the full batch :)

2 cups Uncle Ben's Original Parboiled Long Grain Rice*
1 small can of tomato paste
4 tbsp oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed or ground into paste
1 inch piece ginger, ground into paste
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp red chili powder or to taste
1 medium onion, diced
1 cup multi-colored bell peppers, diced
3 carrots, peeled and diced
4 celery stalks, cleaned, trimmed and diced
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup frozen corn
1-2 ears of corn on the cob, cut into thirds (optional)
Salt to taste
1/4 tsp Garam masala (optional)

1. First, boil the rice, much like you would for pasta. So bring a pot of water to a boil. Add salt. Once water comes to a vigorous boil, add the Uncle Ben's rice and let it cook for about 30 minutes. Drain and set aside.
2.  Second, steam the vegetables. I use a two pot steamer for this step. The corn will steam on the bottom, while the veggies steam on the top of the steamer basket. So to the bottom pot the one in which you fill the water, I would add the corn on the cob. To the steaming basket, I add the carrots, celery, peas and corn because those veggies have a longer cooking time. Cover and steam for about 25 minutes.
4. While the veggies are steaming, I prepared the tomato base. Heat oil in Dutch oven on medium heat.. Add the cumin seeds and let them sizzle. Add onions and saute for a few minutes. Then add the bell peppers and let them sweat a little bit. Add the ginger and garlic paste next along with some salt. I salted in this step (enough for the rice and veggies) so start off with at least a teaspoon. After about a minute, add the tomato paste. Cook the tomato mixture for about 5-7 minutes. Add the red chili and garam masala (if using) in this step as well.
5. Once the veggies are done steaming, add them straight into the tomato mixture. Mix well. Now, add the boiled rice to the pot and mix everything together.Lower the heat, and continue cooking for at least another 10 minutes or so to allow the flavors to come together.
6. We serve our biryani hot, hot with cool cucumber raita and potato salad. Enjoy!

The first note I wanted to make was that my mom specially uses this brand of rice. She's tried other types of rice, like regular long grain and basmati, but none ever comes out as well as the Uncle Ben's! Secondly, the garam masala is optional. My mother's biryani does not have much spice, which is the way we like it. It's very simple, but you can adjust the seasonings to your preference. The biryani turned out really nice, obviously not as good as my Mom's, but I enjoyed it as did the kids. Happy Mother's Day to all the Mommys, Aunts and Grandmothers out there. I hope this recipe makes it into your own personal cookbooks for many to enjoy!

Mushroom Risotto, 2 meals ideas in 1

Risotto is basically Italian arborio rice. It has an unusual cooking process, than regular short or long grain rice. The first time I made this dish, I was very frustrated because I felt like the rice was not cooking fast enough and I kept having to add so much water. On this second try, I followed Tyler Florence's recipe, and it came out just perfect. There were a few omissions from the original recipe, but overall, we loved the way it came out. Here's how I made our mushroom risotto.

1 cup arborio rice

4 cups vegetable stock, packaged or soak 2 large vegetable buillion cubes in 4 cups boiling water

1 onion, chopped

1 tsp garlic paste

1 pound baby bella mushrooms

1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

2 tbsp butter

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

Green chives for garnish

1. Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in pot. Sautee the onions first until translucent. Add 1/2 tsp garlic paste and sautee that for about 30 seconds.

2. Next, add the butter and sliced mushrooms. Mix well. Add salt, pepper and Italian seasoning. Sautee the mushrooms for about 6 minutes. Remove the mushrooms into a separate bowl to cool.

3. Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in now empty pot. Sautee the onions and garlic as in Step 1.

4. To the onions and garlic, add the rice and continuously stir for 1 minute until all of the rice grains are glossy and covered with oil. Add 1/2 cup of the vegetable stock and stir until all of the water is evaporated.

5. Continue to add 1 cup at a time until all of the water is evaporated.

6. Now, add the sauteed mushrooms and parmesan cheese. Stir for one minute until the cheese is melted. Serve hot, garnished with snips of garlic chives or freshly chopped parsley.

Second option/meal: With the leftovers, we divided one red bell pepper in half, ribbed and deseeded it, then stuffed with the mushroom risotto. Bake for about 30 minutes in a 450 degree oven. Top with parmesan cheese and breadcrumbs and broil for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

This risotto is a must try. It tasted so delicious. Now that I have the recipe down, I will definitely try different variations, possibly adding spinach next time. Another version could be butternut squash. I think the possibilities are endless. That is exactly why it is going on my list of favorites!

Quinoa Khichadi

This recipe was given to me by my hip, young and health-conscious aunt from Cali! It's a very quick and easy recipe to make a lighter version of khichadi. A comfort food for sure, it is best enjoyed piping hot on a cold winter day. I would like to note that quinoa is not readily available at the regular grocery store, atleast not around here. I bought a big bag of quinoa from Costco, so I will definitely be making this quite often as our house begins another health kick in the coming year ..

1 cup quinoa

4 tbsp moong, soaked (1/4 cup)

2 tbsp moong dal (1/8 cup)

2 tbsp masoor dal (red kind) (1/8 cup)

1/2 onion, chopped

1/2 eggplant, chopped

1 handful frozen edamame, shelled (boiled for 5 minutes and then peeled)

1/4 cup frozen green peas

1/2 medium potato, peeled and chopped

1/2 carrot, peeled and chopped

1/2 cup spinach, chopped

1 tsp mustard seeds

Pinch of hing

ginger paste, garlic paste, green chili paste to taste

Salt to taste

2 1/2-3 cups water (basically double the quantity of quinoa and dal)

1. I soaked the moong overnight but a few hours should be just fine.

2. Boil the frozen edamame in boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain. Peel when it cools down.

3. Make vagar in pressure cooker with mustard seeds. When pops, add the hing. Sautee onions first.

4. Then add the veggies and dals. Mix together. Also add the salt, turmeric, green chili paste, garlic paste and ginger paste, and garam masala. Mix together.

5. Add the edamame and quinoa next followed by the water. Close lid of pressure cooker.

6. Khichadi is done after 4 whistles. Turn off heat. When all of the pressure is released, add the spinach and mix it in when it is piping hot.

7. Serve hot with chaas or khadhi and mango pickle, if desired.

On a side note, I tweaked the original recipe a little. Original recipe called for 1/4 cup quinoa, 1/4 cup moong beans, 1 tomato, zucchini in place of eggplant, and biryani masala in place of garam masala. Hope you try it either way because this meal is a definite go-to comfort food!

Mattar Pulao (Peas Pilaf)

Pulao is a rice dish that is similar to biryani. The only difference between pulao and biryani is that in pulao, the rice is cooked with all of the ingredients (a one pot wonder) while in biryani, the rice is cooked separately from all of the other ingredients. There are so many varieties of pulao as well.

Sometimes, plain steamed rice seems so boring! Tonight, I wanted to spice up white basmati rice with a little bit of flavor. Actually, I got the idea for this from a dinner we recently had at the Taj Hotel in Delhi. We ordered dal makhani with some type of spiced rice, and the duo tasted wonderful. Here is my version, a bit different, but it will work ...

1 cup basmati rice
1/2 cup frozen or fresh peas
1 onion, thinly sliced
Pinch of saffron, soaked in warm water
2 cups water
Salt to taste
1 tsp cumin seeds

1. Heat oil/ghee in pot. Add the cumin seeds and let them fully splutter. Then add onions and cook onions until translucent.
2. Add the rice next and cook the rice kernels until each grain is coated with oil.
3. Next, add the peas, salt, saffron water and 2 cups of water. Bring rice to a vigorous boil.
4. Reduce heat to simmer and let cook with lid closed for about 20 minutes.
5. Mattar Pulao is ready. Serve hot with any dal or curry of your choice and enjoy.

This Mattar Pulao tasted very nice. The one thing I would change, though, is that I did not soak the saffron in warm water. I was in a rush so just soaked in normal water. The color would have turned out much better. Otherwise, this one is a winner.

I served this Mattar Pulao with Dal Makhani and cool cucumber raita for dinner tonight.

Kala Channa Khichadi/Biryani (Black Chickpea Biryani)

Last night I soaked some kala channa and then began my search for a recipe to make use of the black chickpeas for dinner tonight. I found several different options. Black chickpeas cooked with eggplant, dudhi (bottle gourd), yam/suran or even potatoes. While I might try one of those recipes out some time, none of them really tickled my fancy. Bhavnesh saw me typing away, with this puzzled look on my face. He asked what I was researching. When I told him, he suggested making a biryani using the kala channa and mixed vegetables. I thought what a brilliant idea! I found a recipe like the one he was talking about, revised it and here it is ....

1 cup kala channa (black chickpeas), soaked overnight
1/2 cup basmati rice
1/2 potato, peeled and diced
1/2 eggplant, peeled and diced
1/2 carrot, peeled and diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced (I used a third of yellow, green and red)
1 onion, peeled and diced
3 tomatoes, ground into paste
1 tsp garlic paste
1 tsp ginger paste
1tsp green chili paste
1 tsp cumin powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp red chili powder
1 tsp pav bhaji masala*
Pinch of asafoetida powder
Pinch of garam masala
Few dry red chili bits
1 tbsp broken cashewnuts
3-4 black peppercorns
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
Salt to taste
2 tbsp chopped cilantro for garnish

1. Soak the black chickpeas overnight or atleast for 8 hours. Wash a few times in running water. Then boil the chickpeas with about 2 cups water in pressure cooker. I intentionally made extra to make salad for later this week. You will only use about 1/2 cup of boiled chickpeas in the biryani.
2. Soak the rice for about 10-15 minutes. Drain and keep aside.
3. Heat oil or ghee in pan. Add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds and fennel seeds. Let them fully splutter.
4. Remove from heat and then add the asafoetida powder, cashewnuts, red chili bits and black peppercorns. Mix well.
5. Next, add the onions, ginger paste, garlic paste and green chili paste. Sautee onions until they turn golden brown in color.
6. Now, add the the eggplant, carrot, potato, bell peppers and boiled black chickpeas. Sautee the veggies for about 3-5 minutes.
7. Add the pureed tomatoes next and let tomatoes cook until oil begins to separate. Also, add the following spices: salt, turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, garam masala and pav bhaji masala.
8. Add the rice next along with 2 cups water. Bring to a vigorous boil, then reduce heat to low and let biryani cook for about 20 minutes.
9. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve hot with cool chaas or chilled raita.

* I used pav bhaji masala instead of regular biryani masala in this dish. The main reason being that I was not a huge fan of the biryani masala that I used last time. It had too strong of a flavor and was not fully ground up the way I prefer. You can use whichever masala you like, though.

I also did not add any type of milk (coconut or regular). If you want to use, you can add about a half of a cup when you add the rice to pot.

Overall, this Kala Channa Biryani turned out pretty good. Bhavnesh said the chickpeas could have been cooked a little more to make them softer. Also, the rice could have been more separated. So, we gave it 4 Stars. It needs a little work in the texture department, but the taste was just right. Try it for yourself.

Classic Vegetable Biryani

This recipe is a no brainer. I bought a packet of Everest Biryani Masala, read the recipe on the back of the box and cooked this vegetable biryani in a matter of a few hours. It's definitely not a one pot wonder and does take a little bit of time. All good things do. Below is the step by step recipe, straight from the box!

1 cup Basmati rice, washed and soaked for atleast 30 minutes
1 small potato, chopped finely
1 small onion, chopped finely
1/4 cup frozen corn
1/4 cup frozen green peas
1 carrot, chopped finely
1/2 big eggplant, chopped finely
1 green bell pepper, chopped finely
1/4 tsp asafoetida powder
1 tbsp ginger, shredded
5-6 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tomatoes, pureed
1/2 cup yogurt (optional)
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
Pinch of asafoetida powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chili powder
1 tbsp Cashews, broken into pieces
1.5 tbsp Biryani Masala
1/2 cup milk
Salt to taste
2 tbsp ghee
1 small onion, chopped lengthwise (for garnish)
Chopped cilantro for garnish

Step 1: Steam the veggies.
1. Steam the chopped veggies (peas, corn, potato, bell pepper, eggplant and carrot- you can also add cauliflower and/or green beans) for about 20 minutes.

Step 2: Make your Spicy Vegetable Mixture
2. Next, heat oil/ghee in pan. Add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds and fennel seeds and let them splutter. Then add the asafoetida powder, onions with the ginger paste, and garlic paste and sautee until onions turn golden brown.
3. Add the pureed tomatoes next as well as the salt, turmeric powder and red chili powder. Mix together and let cook until oil begins to separate.
4. Now, add the boiled veggies along with the biryani masala. Stir fry for a few minutes and the remove from flame. Keep aside. (Recipe also called for 1/2 cup yogurt to be mixed in. I skipped this step since I was going to be serving this biryani with chaas.)

Step 3: Steam rice.
5. Boil the rice in a separate pot.

Step 4: Assemble the biryani plate.
6. Grease down a bowl/pot. Lay down one half of the plain steamed rice on the bottom. Top next with the spicy vegetable mixture. The top layer will be rice again.
7. Caramelize the onion pieces that are chopped lengthwise in melted ghee and sugar until it becomes golden brown and crispy. Keep aside.
8. Over the biryani, pour 1/2 cup milk. Now, close lid and let the biryani cook for another 10-15 minutes on LOW HEAT. Keep covered after biryani is done for an additional 15 minutes.
9. Finally, garnish with caramelized onions and chopped cilantro. Gently mix together the rice and veggie mixture from the bottom of the pot upwards.
10. Serve biryani steaming hot with cool chaas or spiced raita. Enjoy!

Chinese Vegetable Fried Rice

For your Chinese tastebuds, here is the recipe for the vegetable fried rice that we served along with Chili Paneer.

1 cup brown rice, uncooked
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1/2 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup chopped bell peppers
1 tbsp green chili-ginger-garlic paste
1 tsp pepper powder
2 tsp soya sauce
1 tsp vinegar
1/4 tsp sugar
Salt to taste

1. Wash and drain rice.
2. Heat up 1 tbsp oil in pan. When hot, add in the rice and stir fry for few minutes until all the grains are covered with oil.
3. Add a little salt and 3 cups water (because cooking brown rice; if using white, only need 2) and bring to boil. Reduce heat to simmer, close lid and let cook for about 20 minutes. Allow rice to cool down. Then fluff up the rice so it remains separate.
4. Heat oil in skillet. Add the green chili-ginger-garlic paste and stir fry. Then add the carrots, peppers and onions and stir fry until they are a little soft. [You can also add chopped cabbage and green beans. If using green beans, you would have to add the green beans first, and then add other veggies.]
5. Add in the cooked rice along with soya sauce, vinegar, a little sugar, salt and pepper powder. Mix well.
6. Serve hot with paneer chili or stir fry veggies.

Unfortunately, the rice did not turn out well. I am not sure whether it was because I use brown rice or if it was because I did not fluff up the rice. The vegetable fried rice turned out too sticky.

Brown Rice Patties

I had some leftover brown rice from yesterday's dhar bhatt, and I tried out a recipe for brown rice patties today just to experiment with. I once tried to make something like this, and it turned out to be a disaster. Looking back on that trial and error, the recipe called for besan flour, but the rice just would not properly bind with the mixture. Maybe it was because it needed to be refrigerated or maybe it needed more flour or breadcrumbs, I will never know. I like this recipe better and I hope it turns out better than last time!

1 cup cooked brown rice
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1-2 green chilies
3 cloves garlic
2 tbsp cashews
2 tbsp chopped cilantro
Salt to taste

1. In food processer, mix together 1/2 of the chopped onions, cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, green chilies, salt, garlic, cashews and cilantro.
2. Remove into a bowl and add in the cooked rice, other half of onions, lemon juice and breadcrumbs. Mix ingredients together well.
3. Refrigerate mixture for 20-30 minutes before forming into patties.
4. Remove from refrigerator and form golf sized balls. Flatten into discs and keep aside until all the patties are made.
5. Heat up a griddle and shallow fry the patties with 1-2 tsp of oil until both sides are golden brown and crisp.
6. Serve hot with chutney or sambar.

I only made a few since this was just a test run. They turned out better than I expected. I will definitely be making these rice patties again.

Masala Bhatt

Since we had some of the brown rice leftover from last night, I made masala bhatt for lunch today. This is definitely one of those filling and comforting meals for those days when you just feel like having something simple and quick.

1 cup leftover cooked rice (in this case, brown rice)
2 green chilies, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 bell pepper, chopped
1/2 tomato, chopped
1 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp garlic paste
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
Pinch of asafoetida powder
Few cashewnuts
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 cup yogurt
Salt per taste

1. Heat oil in pan. Add the mustard seeds, then cumin seeds. Once they have popped fully, add the cashewnuts, green chilies, garlic-ginger paste onions, and asafoetida powder. Sautee onions until golden brown and soft.
2. Next add in the bell peppers, tomatoes and dry spices. Then add the yogurt and just a splash of water. Do not add too much or your bhatt will not taste good.
3. Finally, add in the cooked rice and mix together. Cook on low heat for a few minutes and close lid to allow the flavors to come together.
4. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve hot with raita or plain yogurt.

You can add other veggies to this as well, like peas or even tindoora if you want to change things up! I have another version of this masala bhatt, also called pulao, which I will make soon I hope and post up.

Brown Rice with Soya Curry

I'm still not 100% at having a liking to soya. I guess if you have never had it before, it's hard at first. This time I decided to make the chunks into smaller pieces to see if that would make a difference and get me to atleast eat the curry, instead of swallowing or chewing disgustingly. The soya curry was cooked the same way as the last recipe, labeled under S. African. Bhavnesh liked it, but I still do not think I will change my mind. I was trying to pick out all the soya and only ate the other veggies. Oh well, the gravy will have to do ..

As everyone knows, brown rice has more nutritional value than white. I never ate brown rice either before meeting Bhavnesh. Learning to cook brown rice was difficult initially. I didn't know any better so the first time, I cooked it just like white. Almost an hour later, I got very frustrated because I kept adding so much water and it still wasn't cooking fast enough. I steered away from brown rice for a while, until Bhavnesh asked me to buy and cook it more.

1 cup brown rice, washed a few times and drained
2 1/2 cups rice
Salt per taste
1 tbsp ghee/oil

1. Heat the oil/ghee in pot. When hot, add the brown rice and stir fry until the oil/ghee covers each grain.
2. Then add the water and salt and let come to a boil. Close lid, reduce heat to low/simmer and let cook for about 45 minutes.
3. Open lid and fluff up the rice. Voila, it's that easy!

Now that's the way you would make it with American brown rice. The pack of brown rice from here says on the label that it cooks in 20 minutes, and it did without me having to add any extra water. Yay!

We ate the brown rice with soya curry and carrot raita.

1 cup yogurt
1 small carrot, shredded
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tbsp green chili-garlic-ginger paste
1/2 tsp red chili powder
Salt per taste
Dash of milk to loosen up yogurt

Mix all of the above ingredients together and chill before serving.

Jeera Rice with Dal Fry

I had dal fry once at a family friend's house and loved it. It varies slightly from Gujarati dal in that it contains onions, garlic and garam masala. Also, you can use a variety of different pulses in your version. Playing it safe, I only used toor dal, but you can also use urad dal, channa dal ans/or masoor dal with toor dal.

1 cup toor dal
Pinch of asafoetida powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp red chili powder
1 tsp coriander powder
2-3 red chillies, broken into bits
2 tsp oil/ghee
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
small piece of ginger, grated
2 green chillies, slit
Few curry leaves
1 tomato, finely chopped
Lemon juice per taste
Salt per taste
1 tbsp Jaggery or sugar per taste
Chopped cilantro for garnish

1.Wash and soak toor dal for 30 minutes to an hour. Drain out water. Then place in pressure cooker with twice the amount of water and a bit of salt. Let cook for 3-4 whistles. Before opening pressure cooker, allow all the pressure to be released before opening. At this point, you can blend the dal if you prefer a thinner consistency or leave as is for thickness. I added a little water to make it thin.
2. Heat up oil/ghee in pot. When hot, add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds. After they fully pop, add the asafoetida, chopped garlic, grated ginger, red chili bits, curry leaves, followed by onions. Cook onions until they turn a golden brown color.
3. Next, add the dry spices, like turmeric, garam masala, coriander powder, red chili powder and mix well.
4. Add in the cooked dal next and let dal come to a boil for about 5 minutes. you may now add the salt, lemon juice and jaggery or sugar. Adjust seasoning per taste, then remove from heat.
5. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve hot with jeera rice.

For the Jeera Rice, you will need:
1 cup basmati rice
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ghee
Salt per taste

1. Heat up the ghee in pan. When hot, add the cumin seeds. After the seeds crackle, add the rice. Stir fry rice until all the grains are fully coated with ghee.
2. Then, add 2 cups water and salt and bring rice to a boil. Close lid and reduce heat. Jeera rice should be cooked in 15 minutes.

I served the Dal fry with Jeera Rice and a side of Spicy Potatoes and Seasoned Yogurt. Check out the Spicy Potatoes in the next entry!

Vegetable Biryani

There are several different ways to make vegetable biryani. I liked this recipe because it's much simpler and does not require an oven, like most recipes do. My Mom's biryani is absolutely delicious. She uses Uncle Ben's rice and cooks it separately from the veggies. Then, she makes a tomato gravy using tomato paste. Finally, she mixes the cooked veggies and cooked rice into the tomato gravy. I changed her recipe a litte bit, but I am hoping the taste will be the same- DELICIOUS!

1/2 cup basmati rice
1/2 cup chopped onions
3 small tomatoes, chopped
1 cup vegetables (I used peas, carrots, and green bell pepper; you may also use green beans, celery, cauliflower, broccoli, and/or paneer if you have them on hand)
1-2 tbsp green chili-garlic-ginger paste
1 tsp red chili powder
2 cloves
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 dry red chili, broken up in bits
Pinch of garam masala (optional)
2 tbsp ghee/oil
Salt to taste

1. Cut veggies into bite size pieces.
2. Wash and soak rice for 15 minutes before cooking time.
3. First, heat ghee/oil in pan. Add the mustard seeds and allow to pop. When they start popping, add in the cumin seeds, fennel seeds and dry red chili bits and allow them to sizzle.
4. Then add in the cloves and onions. Fry onions until soft and translucent. Then add the green chilli-ginger-garlic paste and cook.
5. Next, add the tomatoes and cook with covered lid. Once the oil starts leaving the sides of the pan, it is time to add the salt, red chili powder, garam masala(optional) and chopped vegetables.
6. Mix all the veggies to evenly coat with gravy and close lid until veggies are cooked. Give it about 5 minutes.
7. Add the washed and drained rice to the vegetable gravy with twice the amount of water and let come to a boil. Close lid and reduce heat to let cook for about 15 minutes.
8. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve vegetable biryani HOT with raita and papad.

I just tasted the biryani and it turned out really good. Next time, I will try the biryani with paneer.

Sambhar Rice

Sambhar Rice, also known as Bis Bele Bath is a South Indian cuisine. I thought I would try it out, so here goes:
1 cup basmati rice
1/2 cup tuver dal
1/4 tsp turmeric
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp red chili powder
2 tsp sambhar powder
1 tsp tamarind paste
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
Pinch of asafoetida powder
Few curry leaves
Few cinnamon
1 chopped onion
2 tbsp chopped cilantro

1. Soak the dal 3-4 hours before cooking. Then wash the rice and dal together and drain all water. Pressure cook the rice and dal with a little salt and turmeric powder for 1o minutes.
2. In pan, heat up ghee or oil. Add in mustard seeds. Once they pop, add the onions and curry leaves.
3. Then add the coriander powder, red chili powder, sambhar powder, asafoetida, and a little salt.
4. Add the cooked rice-dal mixture to the pot with the seasoning. Mix together well and garnish with chopped cilantro.

Serve with some cool raita. You can also add veggies to your Sambhar Rice. I chose not to because I made some eggplant chutney to eat along with. Read on to the next entry for the recipe for Eggplant Chutney.

Gujarati Khichadi & Curry

Tonight I will be making a classic Gujarati dish. It's one of my favorite comforting meals - Khichadi & Curry. Plus, it's really easy to make.

For the Khichadi, you will need:
1 cup basmati rice
1/2 cup yellow moong dal
1 small potato
1 small onion
1/2 cup peas
1 1/2 tbsp ghee or oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
Pinch of asafoetida powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
3 green chillies, ground into paste
2" piece of ginger, ground into paste
1 tsp salt

1. Soak the moong dal for about 30 minutes before cooking time.
2. Wash the rice and moong dal thoroughly and drain water.
3. Heat up oil or ghee in pan. I used ghee. Add the mustard and cumin seeds and allot to splutter. Then add the turmeric, asafoetida, green chilli-ginger paste and let cook for 20-30 seconds. Add onions and cook for few minutes until translucent.
4. Add in the washed rice and dal and stir fry for few minutes until they look nice and shiny.
5. Next, add the peas and potatoes (you can also use corn, carrots and green beans)and the salt and about 2 1/2 cups water.
6. Bring the rice to a boil, stirring only once, close the lid and reduce the heat to low.
7. After about 15 minutes, check on it again and let is simmer until the khichadi is fluffy and dry.

Serve khichadi with curry. For curry, you will need:
1 cup plain yogurt
1 tbsp besan or chickpea flour
1 cup water
1 tsp green chilli paste
1 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp of salt
1 tsp sugar
Couple of curry leaves
1-2 dry whole red chillies
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
Pinch of asafoetida powder
2 tbsp fresh chopped cilantro
1 tbsp ghee or oil

1. Beat the yogurt with the besan flour and water until there are no lumps and it is a smooth texture.
2. Add to it, salt, green chilli-ginger paste, sugar, curry leaves and 1/2 of the chopped cilantro.
3. Make tadka in small pan using either 1 tbsp of ghee or oil. When hot, add in the mustard seeds and cumin seeds. When they fully splutter, add the asafoetida and broken red chilli pepper.
4. Add the seasoning to the kadhi and let kadhi simmer for a few minutes. Garnish with the remaining chopped cilantro.

Serve this Khichadi Curry with the side items listed in the next post: Potato Shallots Curry, Indian Tomato-Onion Salad, and Cilantro Chutney (and papad of course!)

Sabudana Khichadi & Raita

Yesterday I fasted for a religious holiday. One of the best fasting dishes is sabudana khichadi. Sabudana is also called sago or tapioca. They are these white little beads that you have to soak overnight. Here is how I made our dish.

1 cup sabudana (sago)
1 cup roasted peanuts
1 potato, chopped small
3 green chillies, ground into paste
2 tbsp chopped cilantro
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp sesame seeds
2-3 tbsp oil
1 tsp grated coconut
Juice from 1/2 lemon
Salt
Pinch of sugar

1. Soak sabudana in water overnight. Drain before cooking.
2. Heat oil in pan and add the cumin seeds. When they change color, add the green chilli paste, salt, roasted peanuts, sesame seeds, and chopped potatoes.
3. Cook potatoes with a closed lid for few minutes.
4. After the potatoes are cooked, add the drained sabudana. I added a little bit of sugar and the lemon juice at this point.
5. Fry the sabudana for about 8-10 minutes.
5. Finally, remove from heat and garnish with chopped cilantro and grated coconut.

I serve the sabudana khichadi with cool spicy raita. Whisk a few tbsp of yogurt with a little water or milk to loosen it up. Then add a little bit of red chilli pepper, cumin powder and salt to it and refrigerate until eating time!

Tangy Red Rice

I made this today for Bhavnesh to take to lunch. It's a new twist to biryani and vagarlo rice. Here's the recipe:

• 1 tomato- chopped
• 1/2 onion- chopped lengthwise
• 1 green chilli- chopped
• 3-4 garlic cloves- cut or ground into paste
• 1 tsp red chilli powder
• 1 tsp sambhar powder
• pinch of turmeric powder
• 1 tsp salt
• pinch of black pepper
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1/2 cup rice (pre-cook with 1 1/2 cups of water)
• chopped cilantro for garnish
• splash of ketchup (you could probably replace with a bit of tomato paste)

1. Cook rice. I added my salt in the rice. Once it is cooked, spread out on a platter to let cool.
2. Meanwhile, heat some oil in a skillet. Add the cumin seeds and let splutter.
3. Then add the chopped onion, chopped green chilli, and garlic paste. Sautee together for 2-3 minutes.
4. Add the chopped tomatoes, red chilli powder, sambhar powder, turmeric powders. Sautee for a few minutes.
5. Then add the cooked rice and dash of salt, pepper and ketchup. Mix everything together. I also added a little bit of water because it looked a little dry.
6. Garnish with cilantro and serve with cucumber raita or onion raita. We are going to eat with the leftover sour cream from yesterday's burritoes.

I guess we will find out the verdict once Bhavnesh comes back from work, but it looked delicious (if that counts!)

Traditional Gujarati Meal- Curry Bhatt

Today's dinner was the good ole curry bhat and eggplant sak. The curry was the traditional yogurt base served with lentil dhal and steamed rice. Here's my version:
1. To make dhal, soak dhal for few hours in hot water. After a few hours, wash the dhal. Then, put the soaked and washed dhal in the pressure cooker with 1 tsp of salt, a pinch of sanchoro and 1/2 tsp of haldi powder. After a few whistles, your cooked dhal is done!
2. To make curry, take about one cup of yogurt. Add 1-2 tbsp of besan flour to the yogurt and beat so no lumps form. Then add, 1 tsp of salt, 2-3 green chillis ground into paste, 2" piece of ginger ground into paste, 1 tsp cumin powder, and a little sugar. Mix all ingredients together, and garnish with cilantro and tadka. For tadka, heat a little bit of oil in small pot. Add some mustard seeds and cumin seeds. When they fully splutter, add a few curry leaves. Then pour on top of curry. I also added a little bit of ghee on top because they put ghee in everything here!
3. To make sak, wash 1 eggplant and 1 potato and cut into cubes. Leave 1/4 of the potato and shred into the masala. I also added half a tomato and half a green bell pepper. Then make masala, by mixing the following:

• 1/2 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp red chilli powder
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp corainder powder
• dry coconut
• cilantro for garnish
• 1-2 tbsp grounded peanuts
• 2-3 garlic cloves ground into paste
• 1/4 potato shredded
• 2" piece ginger ground into paste

4. Add the cubed vegetables with the masala and a little water into pressure cooker. After a few whistles, the sak is done. Garnish with cilantro.
5. Finally, wash one cup of rice throughly. Then put rice in pot with 1.5-2 cups of water and 1 tsp of salt and let boil for 20 minutes. I also added a little bit of ghee in the rice. Turned out pretty good!