Coconut Fried Rice

First time we tasted an yummy yummy coconut rice at a Punjabi Dhaba while travelling to Shirdi from Hyderabad. That was the best coconut rice I ever had in my life. I still remember it's aroma and taste and the recipe I am providing is just a small portion of what I got from that Dhaba. Kudos to the tastiest Indian Dhabas, especially the ones AP Tourism buses stops during long journeys. The rice will be tastier if the coconut is sweet.

Ingredients:

Freshly grated coconut - 1.5 cups (for 4 cups of Basmati rice)

Ginger-Galic paste - 1/4 tsp

Cloves + Cinnamon + Cardamom pods (CCC) - 4no. + 1/4" stick + 2 no.

Dry red chillies - 4 finely chopped (or as required)

Salt - as required

Cashews - as required

Coconut milk - 1/2 cup (optional)

Curry leaves - 2 stems

Coriander leaves - finely chopped (for garnishing)

Oil - 4 tsps

Basmati rice - 4 cups

Water - 5+1/2 cups, if used by itself (if we are using coconut milk, we can reduce the water quantity accordingly)

Instructions:

1. Heat oil in a pan. Add CCC and fry for 2mins. Fry curry leaves.
2. Add red chillies and ginger garlic paste and fry for another 2mins. Add cashews and fry till they turn golden brown.
3. Now add the coconut and fry until done, include salt as required.

Cook the basmati rice(soaked in water for 20mins) seperately and mix it with the above prepared coconut mix and adjust salt accordingly. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Egg Fried Rice

Egg fried rice and noodles are my favourite indian-chinese fast food in Hyderabad. I don't know what sauces go into egg fried rice, but some of the roadside vendors make it tastier than good restaurants. I tried this recipe today from my own imagination and it turned out good, though not as good as some of the fast food places in Hyd.

Ingredients:

1. Basmati rice - 2 cups
2. Eggs - 3 no.
3. Oil - 4 tsp
4. Cloves - 4
5. Cinnamon sticks - 2 (1/2" long)
6. Onion - 1 no. (chopped lengthwise)
7. Green chillies - 3 no. ( or as required, cut into small pieces)
8. Green peas and beans - 1/2 cup
9. Capsicum - 1/2 (cut into small pieces)
10. Cashews - as required
11. Ginger - garlic paste - 1 tsp
12. Soy sauce - 3 tsp
13. Bay leaves - 2
14. White vinegar - 1 tsp
15. Turmeric powder - a pinch
16. Salt - as required

Instructions:

1. Cook the rice with 3 cups of water.
2. In parallel, heat oil in a pan and add cloves, cinnamon, bay leaves and fry for 2 mins.
3. Add onion pieces and fry until onion turns brown in color. Add turmeric, ginger garlic paste and fry for another 2mins.
4. Add green chillies, capsicum, green peas, beans and fry until the veggies becomes soft. Add soy sauce and vinegar and cook for 2mins.
5. Break the eggs and pour into the above mix and cook for 3mins stirring continuously. Add salt as required.
6. Add the cooked rice to the above, mix well and fry for another 2mins.
7. Serve hot.

Rice-Moong Dal Kichidi

Kichidi/Kichiri is a combination of rice, lentils, vegetables and spices. There are many versions of making this, and here is my recipe using split yellow moong dal and rice. It is easy to digest and has a lot of nutritional value.

Ingredients:

1. Rice - 1+1/4 cups
2. Split Yellow Moong Dal - 3/4 cup
3. Garam Masala - 1 tsp
4. Onion - 1 (sliced lengthwise)
5. Green Chillies - 4 (or as required, cut into small pieces)
6. Salt - as required
7. Water - 4 cups ( This is for Sona Masoori rice, varies depending on the rice type)
8. Mixed Vegetables - 1 cup
9. Tomato - 1 (finely chopped)
10. Turmeric - 1/4th tsp
11. Oil - 4 tsps
12. Cloves - 4 no.
13. Bay leaves - 2 no.
14. Cinnamon stick 1/4" - 1 no.
15. Cardamom - 1 no.

Instructions:

1. Wash and soak the rice and yellow moong dal for 15mins.
2. Heat oil in a pan. Add cloves, cardamom, bay leaves, cinnamon stick and fry for 2mins.
3. Add green chillies and onion and fry until onions turn brown in color.
4. Add turmeric powder, mixed vegetables, tomato and salt and cook until vegetables turn soft (~5mins).
5. Drain the water and add rice-moong dal to the above mix. Add garam masala and fry for 2mins.
6. Now transfer the contents from pan to rice cooker and add water. Adjust the salt.
7. Cook until rice is done.

Kichidi with fish fry :

Jeera (Cumin Seeds) Rice

Cumin seeds are highly beneficial for digestion and for curing morning sickness. My favourite mouth watering combo is Jeera rice with Mutter Paneer or Butter Chicken. Didn't have time to cook either of them, so I made plain raita (mix of yoghurt, salt, chillies, corriander leaves) this time.

I followed the recipe from Manjusha with minor changes.

Ingredients:

1. Basmati Rice - 2 cups
2. Water - 3 cups
3. Jeera/cumin seeds - 3 tsps
4. Oil or Ghee - 3 tsps
5. Cloves, Cardamom - 3 no.
6. Cinnamon sticks - 2 (1 inch long)
7. Bay leaves - 3 no.
8. Onion - 1 no. (sliced into thin, inch long pieces)
9. Green chillies - 3 no.(finely chopped)
10. Garam Masala powder - 1 tsp
11. Salt - as required
12. Cashewnuts - as required

Instructions:

1. Wash and soak the rice for about 20minutes.
2. Heat oil or ghee in a saucepan and add jeera, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon sticks, bay leaves, green chillies and the cashewnuts. Fry till cashews turn golden brown in color.
3. Fry the onions until they become transparent. Add garam masala powder.
4. Drain the rice and add it to the pan. Toss the contents and fry for another 2-3 mins.
5. Transfer the contents in the pan into a rice cooker. Add water and sufficiant salt and cook till the rice is done.

Vegetable Biryani

Having lived in Hyderabad for almost 6 years, I am a big fan of biryanis (veg/non-veg). Biryani can be made either in rice cooker or in an oven(dhum style). If there is plenty of time(min 2hrs), I prefer cooking it in an oven. In a rice cooker, biryani comes out a bit moist, but still tastes very good. Veg biryani is a must have item on our menu when we have guests. Here is how I make biryani in a rice cooker.

Ingredients:

Basmati rice - 2 cups
Water - 3 cups
Oil - 4 tsp
Cloves - 4
Bay leaves - 4
Cinnamon sticks - 2
Cardamom - 2 (whole)
Salt - as required
Green chillies - 2 (finely chopped, add more if you want more spice)
Ginger-Garlic paste - 1 tsp
Mixed vegetables - 1 cup
Plain curd/yoghurt - 2 tsp
Garam masala powder - 2 tsp
Onion - 1 (slice length wise)

• Wash the Basmati rice and remove the water.
• Heat oil in a pan. Add cloves, cinnamon sticks, bay leaves, cardamom and fry for 2 mins.
• Add chillies and onion and fry till onion turns brown in color.
• Add ginger-garlic paste and fry for another 2mins.
• Add mixed vegetables and salt. Cook until vegetables are half cooked, for about 5 mins, covering the lid of the pan.
• Add garam masala and curd and fry for another 2mins.
• Now add basmati rice to the above mix and fry for another 2mins.
• Pour this entire mixture into the rice cooker/pressure cooker and add water. Mix well and check the salt/spice. Add more of these if required.
• Cook until rice is done.

Mango Pulihora

Since it's the beginning of fresh mango season, I decided to make Mango pulihora/Mango rice. Umm... when I was in India, my Mom used to make this very frequently in summer. We used to get a huge raw mango for ~5 Rs; a similar Mango costs 5$ at Indian grocery stores in the US :)). The more sour the Mango, the better is the pulihora.

Ingredients:

Raw Mango - 1

Rice - 2 cups

Turmeric - 1 tsp

Peanuts and Cashews - handful

Oil - 4 tablespoons (Mustard oil gives a very good taste to pulihora, but optional)

Popu Mix (cumin seeds, mustard seeds, urad dal, chana dal) - 2 tsps

Green Chillies - 4 (sliced length wise)

Salt - as required

Asafoetida powder - a pinch

Curry leaves - 1 stem

• Peel off the Mango and grate into a fine pulp. If Mango is not sour enough, add tamarind paste (2tsps) or lemon juice.

• Heat oil in a pan, add chillies. Fry peanuts and cashews till golden brown. Add popu mix and curry leaves. When mustard seeds starts popping, add grated mango pulp and fry for 3mins. Add Asafoetida powder. Keep this thalimpu aside.

• Cook the rice until it's done. It's better to cook the rice in parallel while preparing the thalimpu.
• Add 1tsp of oil, turmeric powder and salt (as required) to the hot rice and mix well.
• Mix thalimpu with the above rice. Adjust the salt according to the taste.

I am sending this recipe to "CFK-Rice" event started by Sharmi.

Paramannam (Sweet Rice Pudding)

Paramannam or Annam Payasam is a traditional sweet for festivals and poojas in South India. It is a must have for House warming/ Gruha pravesam. We prepared this today morning as prasadam to God on the occasion of Ugadi.




Ingredients:

Rice - 1 cup (washed and drained)
Milk - 4 cups
Sugar - 1 cup
Jaggery - 1 chunk (~ 3tsp)
Moong dal - 4no. ( Tradition, mom says don't ever offer plain white rice to God, add some colored dal to it, don't know why ????)
Cardamom (grounded) - 1/2 tsp
Cashew nuts and Raisins - for garnishing
Ghee - 1 tsp
Salt - a pinch

Instructions:

• Wash and soak rice in water for 10 min.s.
• Pour Milk in a bowl and bring it to boil. Add rice to the milk and cook until rice is soft, stir for every 4-5min.s so that rice will not stick to the bottom of the bowl. Cover the pan with lid for fast cooking.
• Add sugar and jaggery to the cooked rice mix and boil for another 5min.s.
• Add salt, which adds a great taste to the dish.
• Heat ghee in a pan and fry cashew nuts and raisins.
• Garnish the nuts and the cardamom powder on top of paramannam.