Easy Veg Pulav

Another of my fav rice varities! well actually not mine my picky eater son loves this! He'll eat this without yogurt!! A rare thing otherwise with any type of rice he needs yogurt!!! :) This is also easy and packed up with all the vegs. I usually cut the vegs into small pieces so that he wont even notice that he is eating it :)

You'll need

Ghee - 2 tbsps
cardamon and cloves - 3-4
cinnamon stick - 1 small piece
bay leaf - 1
onion finely chopped - 1
basmati rice - 3 cups washed and soaked
mix vegs finely chopped- 1 cup (carrots,beans,corn,peas) or what ever u like
turmeric pwdr - 1/4 tsp
garam masala - 1/4 tsp
water - 6 cups
salt to taste

Heat the ghee in a non-stick pan and add the whole spices. When the smell comes out add the onions and fry till brown. Add water to it. When the water boils add the rest of the ingredients and close the pan and cook for 15 mts. Serve with raita, pickle,pappadam.

I usually finely chop all the vegs so that the kids wont notice it.

Another entry for the Rice Mela and Wholesome Lunch Box Event!

Khichdi

I love Khichdis.. mainly because on a lazy day its so easy to prepare and it had all the vegs and daal in it and i dont need a curry or side dish for it! LOL!! Luckily both my kiddos loves it too. :)

When Meeta my gujrati friend told me about this recipe i first made it with ponni rice as she suggested. But my kiddos didnt like it. Then i tried it with Basmati rice and it came out really tasty and kiddos loves it :)

Srivalli, here comes another entry from my blog to your Rice Mela!

Basmati rice - 2 cups
moong daal/ khichadi parippu - 1 cups
onions -1
ghee 2 tbsp
cardamon, cloves - 3-4
garlic - 2-3 crushed
cinnamon stick - a small pieces
carrots,beans,frozen green peas - 1 cup (altogether)
water - 7 cups
turmeric pwdr - 1/4 tsp
red chili pwdr - 1/2 tsp (add more or less according to ur taste)
coriander pwdr - 1/2 tsp
salt to taste

• Soak the rice and daal for an hour.
• In a pressure cooker heat the ghee and add the whole spices and onions.
  
• when the onion is brown add the garlic to it.
• When the garlic is brown add water to it and let it boil.
• When the water boils add the rice, vegs, salt and masalas to it and cook for 20 mts in low flame.
• The khichdi will be soft and mushy and you'll have to eat it hot to enjoy it!
  

Thenga Chor (Coconut Rice)

My grandma makes the best coconut rice in the whole world!!!! it is so delicious that even if we make it just like her it wont taste the same. she sure has a magic touch. :) Today i have tried my best to make it just like her i know it doesnt taste like hers but still i tried my best.

In calicut coconut rice is made of matta rice. its round and brown and takes some time to cook. Malabaries usually use this rice. There is also white matte rice but as its not available in singapore i use the brown rice. Another rice which is commonly used is ponni rice. Its white long grain rice and very easy to cook. But my son doesnt like it so i hardly use it.

Back to coconut rice/thenga chor here are the ingredients

2 tbsps dalda or ghee (i used dalda)
4-5 shallots
3 cups rice
1.5 cup grated coconut
1 tbsp methi seeds/ulluva
1 tbsp fennel seeds/perunjeerakam/saunf
7 cups water
salt to taste

In a pressure cooker heat the dalda or ghee and add finely chopped shallots to it

When the shallots are brown add water

Grind the coconut and fennel seeds into a fine paste with less water

When the water boils add the rice, methi seeds, coconut, salt and cardamon to it.

Pressure cook in low flame for 30 mts.

When the steam is gone remove the whistle and mix the rice well.

Now its ready to serve with any chicken curry with gravy!


Srivalli here goes another entry from me for the Rice Mela! i hope your not fed up of me!! LOL!

Neyichor/ Ghee rice

Neyichor/Ghee rice is another very famous rice in malabar. And my kiddos love it. I was late today from my daughter school so i though i'll make this because its easy and fast and i had chicken curry to go with it!!

I usually make neychor and biriyani with kaima or kola rice, which gives an authentic malabar taste! but as didnt have it at home i made it with basmati rice.

Well another reason is i wanted to send this enty for Srivallis Rice Mela!!

All you'll need for this is--

4 cups basmati rice
4 cardomons
4 cloves
a small piece of cinnamon
1 small onion
2 tbsp of ghee
salt to taste
8 cups of water

Heat the ghee in a nonstick vessel or any other heavy bottom vessel.
Add the spices to it.
When the smaell comes out of the spieces add the onions and saute till brown.
After that add water and salt to it.
Once the water boils add rice to it and cook till all the water drains off.

Its so easy and ur kids will sure love this with or without any curry!




Heres the pic of neyichor with chicken curry.

Puttu and kadala curry (Steamed rice flour and brown channa curry)

This is one of the very very famous dishes in kerala. and one of the most popular break fast item too. im blogging this for Srivalli's Rice Mela she really gives a reason to cook and blog! You rock girl!!! :)


Puttu is made of parboiled rice flour. It is first washed and dried and then grinded to make flour. Well actually thats the procedure in kerala.. but since im in Singapore i go for the ready made puttu flour which is much more easier!! LOL!

Brown channa curry or chicken curry or stews goes well with puttu. today morning i made brown channa curry to go with it.





For the puttu you'll need

3 cups rice flour
1 cup water
1-2 cups of scraped coconut
salt to taste

Take the flour in a large bowl and add salt to it. Add the water slowly to it to make the puttu dough. The puttu dough is very loose and should not be any lumps in it. If u find any lumps break it and keep on mixing it.

• If you are using roasted flour you might need more water. so add water accordingly.
  

Now boil water in the puttu kutti (puttu maker). u can see that there are 2 parts of the puttu kutti. Boil water in the below one.

Mean while in the kutti (the upper part of the puttu maker) Add 1 tbsp of coconut. On top of that add 3 tbsp of flour. Again coconut and flour. repeat this till the kutti is full.




But be sure that the top and bottom of the puttu kutti should be filled with coconut layer. Now fix the kutti on top of the puttu maker. And boil it till the steam comes out from the top.

Puttu can also be eaten with bananas and sugar... :)





Now here goes the brown channa curry or kadala curry

1 medium sized onion thinly sliced
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
2 cups brown channa
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1 medium sized tomato cut into small pieces
1 1/2 tbsp coriander pwdr
1/2 tbsp red chilli pwdr (if u want to make it more spicy u can add more.)
1/4 tbsp haldi pwdr
1 spring curry leaves
salt to taste
oil for sauting
4 cups of water

heat oil in a pressure cooker. Add mustard seeds to it. when they splutter add onions and curry leaves to it. When the onions are brownish add ginger garlic paste to it and saute for another 1 mt. After that add tomatoes to it. When the tomatoes are soft add the masalas to it. Once oil separates form the mixture add the brown channa and water to it and presurre cook for 20-25 mts.

And now its ready to serve with puttu!

Malabar Chicken Biriyani!

Biriyani is one of the most famous and lovable dishes in malabar.. name any occation u can find any type of biriyani in the main course. Chicken, mutton,fish,prawn,beef.. every malabari will start drooling seeing it!! LOL!!!

here is my biriyani recipe i made yesterday for my BIL! he gave me a 9/10 for it and when i asked him where did my 1 point go he said he needed more salt in rice! LOL!

here goes my recipe!

onions - 800grms
ginger garlic paste - 5 tbsps
small green chilli - 17 nons (to be made into a paste without adding water)
tomatoes - 250 grms
lime juice - 5 tbsps
yogurt - 2 tbsp
coriander leaves - 1 cup finely chopped
mint leaves - 1/2 cup finely chopped
curry leaves - 2 springs finely chopped
coriander pwdr - 1 1/4 tbsp
garam masala pwder (home made) - 1 tbsp
Chicken - 900 grms
rice - 7 cups (basmati or kola/kaima that u get in kerala)
ghee and dalda - as required
water - 10 cups

Take a large non-stick vessal (see my non stick vessal in pic! )and heat about 2-3 tbsp of dalda. If u dont use dalda u can use ghee i use both for biriyani. Add finely chopped onions



When the onions are brown add ginger garlic paste to it. mix well and when its nicely done add green chilli paste to it. After 2 mts add tomatoes and mix well. Let all the ingredients cook well.






now add the lime juice and yogurt to it. and mix well. Then add chicken, coiander,mint,curry leaver to it and cook for 15-20 mts. Be sure u have got enough ghee or dalda in it so that it wont get burned.

Meanwhile in another vessel heat 2 tbsp of ghee or dalda and add cashewnuts and raisin and fry then till brown. Add one at a time not together. After frying keep them in a seperate plate

Add water to the ghee. When the water boils add salt and rice to it. Make sure that the water is salty enough for the rice (by tasting it) and there is sufficent ghee (insert a spoon in the water and touch and see wthether it oily. (If its not oily u can add more ghee to it).

Close the vessel and cook till all the water drains away. When the water drains it will be more that 3/4th cooked.

Now by this time the chicken will also be cooked. Check whether its cooked if it is lets moove on to the dum part!!

in the chicken vessel add 1/2 tbsp of ghee or dalda in the center and all the for sides. After that put rice on top of it.




Evenly spread the rice and add a pinch of turmeric pwder, garam masala pwdr, the fried raisin and cashew nuts and lil bit of ghee. Like this make 3 layes of rice. And now cook again till the steam comes up. This will take another 15-20 mts. Please note that the chicken will be on the bottom of the vessel and the 3 layers of rice will be on top of it. ie, one layer of chicken and 3 layers of rice.



When the steam comes up turn off the stove and let it cool for 15 mts. After that open up and seperate the rice. Dont sepeate all the rice from the chicken there should be lil rice in the chicken mix.

Now its ready to eat!!! Serve hot with green chutney, raita, pickel!!! yummmmm


this is my second entry for the rice mela!

The 3 'P' Pulav! and kebebs.

Now a days im just in a mood to make different types of pulavs because my devar is here and he loves pulavs.. any type!!

So this saturday i was in a loss what ti make.. so i just put the veggies my son loves and made a twist in the normal pulav and then came out the 3 'p' pulav! LOL!!!

here goes the recipe..

2 cups basmati rice washed and socked for 20 mts
11/2 tbsp ghee
1 heaped tsp ginger garlic paste
5 cardomons
5 cloves
1/2 inch cinammon stick
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp jeera
1 medium onion
1 medium potato sliced
3/4th cup paneer cut into small pieces
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 handful of corriander and mint leaves
1 green chilli


Heat the ghee in a non-stick kadai and add the ginger garlic paste till its brown. then add the spices and onions.

When the onions are tranculent add the potatos and the paneer till slightly brown.

make a paste of the corriander and mint leaves and green chillli. DO add more green chillis if u want it spicy.

add the paste to the potatos and fry for 2 mts.

Add water and salt to it. When the water boils add basmati rice to it.

Close and le tit cook in low fire for 15 mts.

mix well before serving!


this entry goes for the Rice Mela hosted by Srivalli.