Spinach Rice

Hey all!

I just experimented today .. wanted to make a single dish for lunch and tried spinach rice. I looked it up online and modified the recipe a lot just cos I can never follow a recipe straight (a weird prob of mine)..here's the final recipe that came out yummmmy

Ingredients
~ 1cup chopped spinach (i used frozen)
1.5 cups basmati rice
a small onion - sliced thin
3-4 green chillies slit lengthwise
salt
coriander powder
chilli powder (very little, remember the chillies)
ginger (a small piece chopped finely or *TIP* i usually just freeze ginger and scrape off a bit into the dish; this way, it comes out really fine so that u wont have the strong taste if u bite into a piece, not to mention u can store it forever)
Whole spices:
cardamon (1-2 pods)
bay leaves (1-2)
cloves (1-2)
cinnamon (1 long stick)
carraway seeds (1 tsp)

Method
We have to pressure cook this so the best way utensil to use for all the 'prep' is a pressure cooker. Alternatively, u could use the rice cooker container on the stove i guess..
Heat oil, add all the whole spices. Once aromatic, add the onions, chillies and ginger and fry till the onions are translucent. Now add the spinach, chilli pwd and coriander powder. Once the spinach is totally wilted and looks almost cooked, add the washed rice and fry for a few seconds. Now add salt to taste, and around 1.75 cups of water (this is what i used and the texture came out pretty good.. think 1.5 cups might give the perfect 'separate' rice texture) and pressure cook for 3 whistles.

We had it with raita & some leftover alu kurma.. Ram reckoned just the raita was best.

:)

Atte ka Halwa

Atte ka Halwa - a new addition to favourite Indian sweets list!

 

Hello Girls..

 

Sorry havent been emailing recipes for a while. Havent really been doing much cooking lately. Going to start my new job next week - 1st Feb! Busy looking for apartments and preparing to move houses 3rd time in less than 8 months. Also just found out my PhD viva will be held on the 18th Feb via video conferencing. So its all go at the moment.

 

But once things have calmed down a bit and I get into a normal routine (is that even possible?) I am going to start trying out some of those pasta and salad ideas.

 

As for atte ka halwa:

 

I didnt make it myself.. just saw it being made by our multi-talented cook (who we hired during the shaadi time in India). Apparently he was in the mehendi business before he got told by several customers that he was no good at it.. so he left and became a cook. :) He is a pretty good and resourceful cook, so I think change for the better for him.

 

So here is what he did - very simple:

 

• You will need equal parts of Wheat Flour, Ghee and Sugar (maybe 1 cup each)
• Heat the Ghee in a pan until it has melted completely.
• Add the wheat flour and stir in with the ghee, until brownish, not lumpy and the fat starts to separate.
• Add water (lots of it maybe 4-5 cups) and sugar.
• Keep stirring until it is halwa-like consistency (because it is atta the consistency will be much smoother than for example sooji (semolina) halwa)
• Take it off heat. Add dry fruits and nuts. Enjoy! YUM YUMM

Have fun!

 

Swati

 

 

Tamarind Rice

Yayyy! Thanks for the yoghurt rice Megs.. it is SO yummy! I'll try making it sometime , the recipe looks pretty easy too :)

Here's my 2 cents on the same note:

Tamarind Rice/Pulihara

You need:
Cooked rice - 1 cup
Tamarind paste - 1 teaspoon mixed with water (else about a tablespoon or two of tamarind pulp)
Peanuts/cashews - a handful
Green Chillies - 1-2 (depending on personal taste/hotness)
Ginger - a small piece or even ginger powder
Tumeric pwd - 1/2 tsp

Tadka:
Oil
Curry Leaves
Mustard Seeds

Start with the tadka, and add the peanuts, chillies, ginger into the tadka. Once everything is spluttery & the peanuts are well done, add the tamarind paste/pulp, tumeric and let it go for another 5-10 mins, till it condenses into a thick pulp. Mix this with the rice and voila.. ready!

I never was a big fan of this before but now quite like it.. the peanuts/cashews add a nice crunch to it so they are necessary in my opinion. In fact, u can actually even add a few chana dal to the tadka for an extra crunch. Have it with yoghurt and/or pickle and yum yum. You can also make the same thing with lemon juice, just do the same as above minus the tamarind. Add the mixture along with lemon juice to the rice (don't cook the lemon juice).

Enjoy :)

Spiced Yoghurt Rice

So here's my contribution. A recipe that every south indian everyone knows (and more likely than not loves). Spiced Curd/Yoghurt Rice. I'm pretty happy with my version after a couple of attempts...so here goes.

 

Ingredients:

1 cup rice - cooked

3/4 cup yoghurt - fat free is fine

 

For the tadka:

2 dried red chillies

A bunch of curry leaves

1 tsp pepper corns

1 tsp mustard seeds

A small pinch of dried ginger powder

 

Fry the tadka in oil till the dried chilles and the curry leaves are nice and crisp. Let it cool down a little.

Make sure the rice has cooled down as well.

Add the yoghurt to the rice with salt (to taste) and add in the tadka. Mix it with your hand if possible cause you want the fried curry leaves and chilles to get crushed and completely mix into the yoghurt and rice.

 

I know it's a very simple recipe, but the blog has been waiting for 2 weeks and this is something i love, and make both when i'm not in the mood to cook and also for festivals!

 

xo

M

 

Til Laddoo (or for the lazy ones among us, i.e. ME - Til ki Mithai)

My contribution based on my sankranti experiment

Til Laddoo (though mine was more Til Mithai - but hey it still tastes the same!)

Ingredients:

3/4 cup sesame seeds

1/4 cup cashew nuts

3/4 cup brown sugar

pinch of cardamom powder

Roast the sesame seeds and the cashew nuts in a pan till they are light brown.

In a pot add the brown sugar to 1/2 cup water and let it boil till it forms a syrup

Once it thickens a fair bit, add in the sesame seeds, cashew nuts and cardamom powder and let it boil further till the whole thing becomes a very thick mixture.

If you want to make laddoos let it cool down a bit and then shape them into laddoos

If you are lazy like me - grease a plate or tin and pour the mixture on it.

Once it cools down cut them into pieces

there you go :)

was very simple and fairly quick...worth a try i'd say

especially since it stores pretty well and you can put it away and have it a piece at a time.

Spinach Salad and Smoked Salmon Salad

Ola chica's :)

 

Okay so I've been trying to eat healthy lately and here are some salad and salad dressing recipes for you guys to try

 

Spinach Salad

This is easy peasy and tastes amazing

In a bowl put in baby spinach leave, green olives, rip up slices of sun dried tomato and sprinkle pine nuts.  The oil in the sun dried tomatoes and olives will be enough so all you need to add to this is a sprinkle of rock salt and black pepper....trust me this is sooooooooo yummy I could live on it.

 

Smoked Salmon Salad

 

In a bowl take mesculin lettuce, add sliced red cabbage, red onion rings, carrot rounds,  tomato quarters or cherry tomatoes, sliced green and yellow capsicum and caper berries. 

 

You can buy smoked salmon from the supermarket so that cuts down all the work...just flake that through the salad and dress with my balsamic vinegar dressing below.

 

You can also replace the salmon with tuna...just remember to use plain tuna as the flavoured ones can over power the other flavours. 

 

Have this twice a week and your weekly requirement of omega 3's is done...I'd choose this over those horrible capsules any day hehehe.

 

Balsamic Vinegar Dressing

Ingredients:

Good quality balsamic vineagr (investing in this will really pay off)

Olive Oil

Honey

Wholegrain mustard

Salt

Pepper

 

Mix all these in a bottle....approximately you add 2 table spoons of honey for every 8 tablespoons of vinegar...oil i just put in to help coat the entire mixture so not too much.  The wholegrain mustard should be enough that the dressing becomes almost like a paste rather than runny, so my vinegar : honey : mustard ratio is 8:2:4 tablespoons.  This dressing also keeps in the fridge for upto 3 months so make a batch and keep it and that way it becomes so much easier to put dinner together. This is a really simple tangy dressing.

 

I've also got a meatball recipe and a recipe for thai fishcakes...that's coming up in the next mail...

 

Love ya lots

xox

Anch

 

 

Spicy chicken curry + more pulusu ideas

I totally love the sour/tangy curry!!! it is really yummmy... and i recently realised too that the sugar/jaggery at the end is very imp... When i first made this curry without the sugar/jaggery, Ram's like 'its sour..' i was like 'well, that's the point isint it.' (the name in telugu means 'sour').. but that's when he said its supposed to be sweet :D I thought he was nuts and laughed at him. But then he added jaggery to it the next time i made it and it tasted so much better with the sweetness!!

If I may, can I add that you can do the same curry with any veggie really.. tastes best with raw banana (again, learnt from Ram), okra and tomato.. In the case of veggies, u add them right at the beginning - after the onions brown a bit, add the veggies n fry them till they stop smelling 'raw' :D after that, u continue with the tamarind etc. Megs.. do u know any other veggies that r good for this? i can only think of these..

I tried making a spicy chicken over the weekend.. looked up recipes and mixed up a couple and ended up with this whcih tasted awesome and blew our mouths away.

Spicy chicken curry

Grind together into a paste (with a small amt of water if needed):
Cumin - 1 tsp
Poppy seeds - 1 tsp
Corriander seeds - 1 tsp
Whole cloves - 3
Cardamom pod - 1 small one
Ginger - small piece
Garlic - 2 cloves

Other ingredients:
Chicken  - I used 2 boneless breasts
Onions - 2, chop up as big/small as u want
Green chillies - 3, slit into halves
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp (maybe add acc to taste)
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Add the chilli pwd, tumeric pwd and a bit of salt to the chicken and keep aside for about 15-20mins. Meanwhile fry the onions in oil till brown, add the green chillies, chicken and the masala paste. Mix well and add a bit of water if u want gravy.. if u want it dry, dont add water. Cover and simmer till the chicken's done.

It turned out really yummy and very 'authentic' :D

:)

Egg Pulusu (Tangy Egg Curry)

Since this has been quiet since the holidays I thought I'd give it a kickstart again

Yesterday I tried one of my fave dishes from what my mum makes - and finally got it (almost) exactly the way she makes it so pretty excited...plus Saugar liked it, so that's always a good bonus :)

So here goes

(also the other thing about writing it out is so the next time i get my recipe right since it worked this time!!)

Egg Pulusu (Tangy Egg Curry)

4 Eggs

1 large onion - finely chopped

1/2 tsp tamarind paste

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp ginger-garlic paste

10-12 curry leaves

1-2 dried red chillies

1/2 tsp cumin powder

1/2 tsp methi powder

1/2 tsp sugar

Hard boil the eggs

In a pan, add oil. Once the oil is hot, add mustard seeds, curry leaves and red chillies.

Once they start to splutter add the onions and fry till translucent

add in the ginger garlic paste and fry for a few more minutes (onions should start to brown)

Add the 1/2 tsp tamarind paste to half a cup of water (seperately) and mix so there are no lumps

Add this to the onions in the pan and increase the heat

Shell the hard-boiled eggs and make small slits in them (four lengthwise slits per egg) - deep enough that the curry can seep through but not so much that they break

once the water in the pan starts to reduce, add the eggs into the pan

Add salt, sugar and the cumin and methi powders

Mix well so the eggs are coated with the masala

Let it boil for 3-4 more minutes or till the gravy is not really watery