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…!
