Double Beans Pulao with Mirchi Ka Salan

I Know that its been a long time and some people are very good at giving excuses!!!! I thought that I've got some good reasons to start off again after the summer vacation...Pranav's school has started which means more time for myself and one more good reason is that we've a new and better camera. I'm sure the clarity of pictures are going to be much better...with the Cannon Digital camera.

I made this Double Beans pulao and Mirchi ka Salan for lunch and I can assure you that its a good combination. Try it out and give me your comments.

Double Beans Pulao
Ingredients
Basmati Rice / Jeera Rice 1 ½ cups
Whole Spices( Bay leaves, green cardamom, black cardamom, cloves, cinnamon)
Kasuri methi – 2 tablespoons
Fresh Double beans – 1 ½ cups
Onions – 2 sliced
Green chillies – 2 slit
Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
Beaten curd – ½ cup
Ghee /Oil – 3 tablespoons

Procedure
Wash and soak the rice for 20 mins.
In a cooker, add ghee and oil and add the whole spices, kasuri methi, turmeric powder and onions and saute’ for 5 mins till the onions are translucent.
Add the beaten curd and stir for a few more mins.
Mix in the double beans, rice and water. I added 1 ½ cups of water, i.e in the proportion of 1:1. No extra water is required as no vegetables are added.
Close the cooker and switch off after 2 whistles.
Open after 15 mins and an aromatic Double Beans Pulao is ready!

Note: If you do not have fresh double beans, please soak them overnight.

Mirchi Ka Salan
This is a nice side dish for Pulao or Biryani if you are tired of the raitas. The gravy is also quite different from the normal onion tomato based gravies. There’s nothing to panic seeing the name as it is non spicy. Try it to believe it!!

Ingredients
Green Chillies – 10 slit slightly and deseeded –this takes away the spice. We can use the normal green chillies or the big ones based on availability.
Tamarind paste – 2 cups from lemon sized tamarind

For the masala
Groundnuts – one handful
White Til seeds – one handful
Corriander seeds – 1 ½ tablespoon
Jeera – ½ tsp
Coconut -1 handful
Onions – 2

Procedure
Dry roast all the ingredients individually except onions, coconut and jeera.
Fry the onions in a little oil till light brown and grind all the masala ingredients into a smooth paste. There is no need to roast jeera and coconut.
Heat oil in a kadai and add the green chillies and fry for a while till they change colour.
Add the tamarind paste and allow it to boil for 5 mins.
Add the ground masala and stir continuously for another 3-5 mins.
The Mirchi ka Salan is ready to be served. You can garnish it with coriander leaves if you wish..

Enjoy this wonderful combination…!

Simple and Tasty Peas Pulao - Kids Special

Cooking for kids(My son Pranav is 6 years old) cannot be treated as a minor task. It should be tasty, less spicy and attractive according to them. If you ask the moms, they would say that it should be healthy and easy to cook!

Though we may not be able to satify all these criteria on a daily basis, we try to balance it as much as possible. Yesterday, I made this simple Peas pulao and I think it satisfied all the criteria!!!

But even after all this, the neighbour's simple food may be tastier for them!!! Can't blame the kids, we ourselves sometimes behave like that!

Ingredients

Basmati Rice – 1 ½ cups
Fresh / Frozen Peas – 1 ½ cups
Black Cardamom -1
Green Cardamom – 4
Cloves – 4-5
Cinnamon – 1 small piece
Green Chillies – 2
Garlic – 4 cloves
Onions – 2 chopped
Bay leaves – 2
Garam Masala powder – 1 tsp (optional)
Ghee – 2 tablespoons

Procedure

1. Clean and then soak Basmati rice in water for 20 minutes.
2. Heat ½ spoon ghee in a cooker (I use Hawkins Handi cooker) and add bay leaf, black cardamom, rice and water and pressure cook the rice. I used 2 cups of water for the 1 ½ cups of rice and kept it for 2 whistles.
3. While the rice is cooking, cook the peas in microwave for 3 mins.
4. Add the remaining ghee in a big kadai and add all the spices, onions and fry well.
5. Add the peas and cooked rice, salt and garam masala powder.
6. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and fried cashew nuts.

Variation
You could grind the spices along with garlic, green chillies and coriander leaves for more spice instead of adding them as it is.

Raw Tomato dry Subji / Thakali Kai podi karameedu

I love raw tomatoes a lot and try out various dishes or curries with it. You will have to patiently pick out raw tomatoes from the load of tomatoes as it may not be sold as a vegetable in itself. I'm lucky because my father-in-law does the vegetable shopping at home!!!
This tangy and spicy dish is great with plain rice or curd rice. You can try this same procedure with brinjal, ladies finger and capsicum too.

Ingredients
Raw tomatoes - 1/2 kg
Oil - 2 tablespoons
Homemade Curry Powder - 4-5 tablespoons
Coconut - 4-5 tablespoons
Salt- to taste
Curry leaves- a few
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Asafoetida/Hing - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
For Curry powder
Channa Dhal - 1/2 cup
Urad dhal - 1/2 cup
Corriander seeds - 1 cup
Red chillies - 10
Dry roast all the ingredients and grind it into a coarse powder. It stays fresh for nearly 3 months if stored in an air tight container.

Procedure
1. Cut the raw tomatoes into quarters and keep it aside.
2. Heat oil in a kadai and add mustard seeds, hing, turmeric and curry leaves.
3.Add the raw tomatoes and salt and saute' for a few mins till the tomatoes become soft. Please ensure that the tomotoes don't get mashed.
4. Add the homemade curry powder lavishly along with grated coconut and remove from the stove.
5. Serve hot with plain rice or curd rice.

Kadai Dhokla

I saw this recipe in one of the TV programs and tried it out. All of us liked it a lot. In this kadai dhokla, the inside part is soft and the crust is crunchy. This crunchy and soft combination was a really different experience....

Ingredients

Rava - 1 1/2 cups

Carrot and capsicum chopped finely - 3 tablespoons

Ginger paste - 1 tsp

Gn. chillies paste - 1 tsp

Curd - 1/2 cup

Eno fruit salt - 1 tablespoon

Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

Water - 1 cup

Oil - 3 spoons

Mustard - 1 tsp

Curry leaves - a few

Procedure

1. Mix all the ingredients except oil, mustard and curry leaves and keep it aside.

2. Heat oil in a kadai and add the mustard seeds and curry leaves.

3. Then add the prepared mixture and spread it evenly on the kadai and close it for 10 minutes.

4. Remove the lid and check if its cooked (you may use a fork or a knife and prick it. If it comes out smoothly, then the dhokla is done. )

5. Remove from the stove and allow it to cool. Use a laddle to slowly invert the dhokla on a tray.

6. You'll see the crunchy part of the dhokla on top now.

7. Serve the kadai dhokla with tomato sauce or corriander chutney.

Vegetable Pulao

Vegetable pulao is such a common rice variety in almost every home, both in North India and south India. Each one makes it in a different way. I too have tried different versions and finally I've settled down with this version.

Last Friday was my firend Vidya's birthday and we had a potluck party for the ladies and kids..I had made this vegetable pulao and it was equally liked by the kids and the moms. This pulao is not too spicy.

Ingredients

Carrot, Beans, Cauliflower, Potatoes - 1 1/2 cups cut length wise

Capsicum - 1

Onions - 2 medium sized

Ginger -1 inch piece

Garlic a few cloves

Cardamom - 3

Black cardamom - 1

Cloves - 3

Cinnamon - 1 small piece

Green chillies - 2

Bay leaves - 2

Ghee - 3 tablespoons

Kismis / dry grapes - handful

Cashew nuts - a few

Coconut Milk - 1 cup

Curd - 1/2 cup

Basmati Rice - 1 1/2 cups

Salt - to taste

Corriander leaves - for garnish

Procedure

I use Hawkins Handi cooker so that I can directly cook the pulao in the cooker.

1. Heat ghee in the cooker and add the bay leaf and onions and saute till the onions turn light brown.

2. Wash basmati rice in water and drain the waterand keep it aside .

3.Dry roast cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, kismis and allow it to cool.

4. Dry roast the garlic a little bit and allow it to cool.

5. Grind ginger, garlic,green chillies and the roasted masala items.

6. Add the ground masala and curd to the cooker and fry well for 10 mins.

7. Add the vegetables and coconut milk and mix well till the whole mixture is thick(it should not be watery at this stage).

8. Slowly add the rice, water and salt and close the cooker. For 1 1/2 cups of rice and the vegetables, I add 1 3/4 to 2 cups of water. I keep the cooker for 2 whistles and then turn it off.

9. Fry the cashew nuts in ghee and mix it to the pulao.

10. Serve this vegetable pulao with any raita, papad or pickle.

Diwali Special - Chocolate Burfi

The spirit of Diwali has been bright and colourful in our apartment. For the past two days we have been busy making sweets, eating sweets, making savouries and eating them....Ok, I should add sharing them too with friends!!!

Wishing you all a very Happy Diwali.

I would like to share one of my favourite sweets - Chocolate burfi. After we have made this my son Pranav's visit to the kitchen has increased! Everytime he goes in, he picks one burfi. I must tell you its really irresistable....Try this and you'll know.

Ingredients

Maida 1 1/2 big cups

Sugar 3 big cups

Cocoa powder - 4 tablespoons

Ghee - 4 tablespoons

Chopped Almonds - a few(Optional)

Procedure

1. Sieve Maida and keep it aside.

2. Heat 1 tablespoon of ghee in a non stick kadai and add the maida and roast it till the raw flavour goes and transfer it to a plate and allow it to cool.

3. Add the sugar in the kadai and water to immerse the sugar and bring it to boil. Keep stirring till the sugar syrup is thick and falls firmly like a stick. Remove from the stove.

4. Mix cocoa with a little milk to form a creamy liquid.

5. Keep the kadai on the kitchen counter(not on the stove) and add the cocoa liquid and mix well.

6. Slowly add maida little by little and and mix well so that there are no lumps. Keep mixing till there is heat in the kadai. At this stage it will become like the chapathi dough.

7. Add the remaining ghee and cut almonds and keep it in the stove for just 2 mins so that we give it a final mix. All the ingredients will be well blended at this stage.

8. Greese a steel tray with a little ghee and transfer the above mixture into the tray. Spead it well and press it with a small plate so the the top portion is flat and uniform. You may add so more chopped almonds at this stage.

9. Allow it to cool in room temperature and use a knife to cut it into squares or diamonds and leave it like that. Do not wait for it to cool completely to cut it as it will be difficult if you wait till that stage.

10. Once it is completely cooled, use the knife to pull out the burfis.

11. Enjoy the yummy Chocolate Burfis.

Raw Banana Curry / Vazhakai Curry

One day, I thought of doing something different with raw banana and came up with this recipe. Every one at home loves this recipe and we make this quite frequently. We eat this mainly with rice. It also tastes good with chapatis.

Ingredients
Raw Banana - 2
Green Chillies - slit - 3
Grated Coconut - 3 tablespoons
Onions - 2 medium sized
Tomatoes - 3 medium sized
Ginger - one small piece
Coconut oil - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds
Curry leaves
Hing /Asafoetida
Turmeric powder
Salt

Procedure
1. Grind coconut with a little water and keep it aside.
2. Cut the raw banana into cubes and cook them in the microwave for about 5 mins.
3. Heat oil in a kadai and add the mustard seeds, hing, green chillies, ginger, turmeric powder and curry leaves.
4. Add the onions and fry well and then mix in the tomatoes and fry till they are tender.
5. Add the cooked raw banana along with half cup of water so that all the ingredients mix well.
6. Now add the ground paste and add 1 more spoon of coconut oil for extra flavour.
7. Mix well and once it boils, remove from the stove and serve hot with rice.