Jeera Rice

     I am fond of Jeera rice & dhal makhni combo or any kind of a rich & good side-dish with it. Usually, I prepare this using cooked rice by simply tempering and mixing. Wanted to try cooking rice in a pan along with the tempering. Tried this a couple of times & loved this flavour more than the first method. So, here it comes for the record in blog :P
     This simple rice tastes yummy when paired with any paneer gravy/subzi or dal makhni or channa masala.

Prep Time: 40 mins (for soaking rice) || Cook Time: 40 mins || Serves: 2 || Category: Variety Rice

Ingredients:
1. Raw rice (regular rice/basmati rice) - 150 gm
2. Ghee - 1 tbsp
3. Cashews - 6-7
4. Onion - 1 small
5. Oil - 2 tbsp
6. Bay leaves - 2
7. Cinnamon - 1 small stick
8. Green chillies - 2 pieces (slit)
9. Jeera (cumin seeds) - 3tsp
10. Cumin powder - 2 tsp
11. Pepper powder - 2 tsp
12. Salt - as required
13. Hing - 2 tsp
14. Coriander leaves - 1 tbsp (finely chopped)

Method:
1. Wash and soak the rice for about 40 mins. This helps in faster cooking. In a pan, add ghee and roast the cashews to golden brown & keep aside. 

 2. In the same pan, add a little oil and fry the chopped onions until brown & keep aside. In the same pan, add oil and saute the bay leaves, cinnamon, green chillies & then add cumin seeds & fry them. 

 3. Now add the soaked rice (drained from water) and stir for about 1 min. Add hing, jeera powder and pepper powder and mix well. Add required amount of salt and stir well. Add 3 to 3.5 cups of water (Rice: Water :: 1 : 3.5) and cook well for about 10 mins, covered with the lid. In between open the lid and check for doneness & add some more water if required.

 4. Cook until the rice is done. Lastly add the fried onions & cashew and give a stir. Switch off the flame after a min.

Suggestions:

• Rice can be cooked in the pressure cooker separately & simply the other items can be tempered and mixed with the cooked rice. But cooking rice in a pan absorbs all the flavours and is more aromatic than just mixing the cooked rice to the tempering.
• Tempering can be added to rice along with required water & the entire contents can be pressure cooked as well.
• Adding fried onions is optional.
• Level of chillies & spices can be adjusted as per one's taste. 

Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with any North Indian paneer gravy/subzi/ dal varieties.

Gongura Thokku & Rice

    
     Was aiming to replicate the Gongura Thokku of "Grand Sweets & Snacks" which I used to buy when I was at Chennai. The attempt turned out a success, tasting close to it. When I was staying alone in Chennai, I would come back from work and mostly tend to have these ready to eat rice mixes from Grand Sweets. I love them a lottttt......... I miss the taste of those thokku varieties here in USA as they are not available. I couldn't order these through some providers & wait for even 3 -4 days for this to be shipped from Chennai as my craving for this increased multifold on a day. So, researched and made one variety to start with. Have to keep it going with other varieties too.. Pulikachal, tomato thokku etc !! coming up sooooooooooooon.....

Prep Time: 20 mins || Cook Time: 15 mins || Yields: 150 gms || Category: Thokku / Rice Mix

Ingredients:
1. Gongura leaves - a bunch
2. Tamarind - lemon sized ball
3. Gingelly oil - 4 tbsp
4. Urad Dal - 2 tbsp
5. Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp
6. Dry red chilies - 2 (long)
7. Salt - as required
8. Hing - as required
9. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
10. Curry leaves - 1 sprig

Method:
1. Sort the gongura leaves; Wash them and drain the water. Chop the leaves roughly. Soak tamarind in hot water and set aside. In a pan, add little oil & saute the gongura leaves until it turns slightly pale brown and reduces in volume. 

 2. Transfer the sauted gongura leaves to a container and let it cool. In the same pan, add gingelly oil and fry urad dal, fenugreek seeds, red chillies until golden brown.

 3. Allow the roasted ingredients to cool & then add them to a mixie jar along with sauted gongura leaves, salt, hing. Grind it to a smooth paste without adding water. 

 4. Extract juice from the tamarind soaked in hot water. In the same pan, add some gingelly oil and add mustard seeds (I didn't use mustard seeds). After they splutter, add urad dal & curry leaves and fry for a min.

5. One the urad dal has turned brown, add the tamarind juice and cook for about 2-3 mins. Then add the gongura paste and salt and mix well. Cook for another 2 mins, adding some gingelly oil, if desired & switch off the flame.

Suggestions:

• As gongura by itself has a slight sour/tangy taste, be cautious in the amount of tamarind paste added, otherwise it will turn out to be too tangy for a side-dish.
• Any oil can be used in the place of gingelly oil.
• Mustard seeds can be added while tempering (I skipped it as I didn't want the mustard flavour).
• Stays good for 4-5 days when refrigerated (Not sure after that, becoz the thokku got over around 4 days :P )

Enjoy the gongura thokku as a side-dish for idly/dosa/chappathi etc. or mix it with hot rice & gingelly oil and enjoy it as gongura rice !!!

Vaazhaikai Podi & Rice

     Vaazhaikai Podi is one of the recipes that I had bookmarked to try from Venkatesh Bhat's program in Vijay TV on Plantain special recipes. Though I used two bananas instead of just one banana which was shown in the program & also with the reduced amount of spices, I felt this end product a little hot and spicy. So, I have documented the ingredients with slightly lesser quantity of chillies and coriander seeds to have it less spicy and to suit my taste buds.
     The recipe when watched in the show, looked so very different and yummy. But only after trying it out I realized that it tasted somewhat familiar..  :D Yes.. it had a taste close to the araichu vitta sambar, as the key ingredients for the podi were almost the same :D
     Overall, it tasted good when mixed with rice & coconut oil & also as a side-dish for curd rice :P

Prep Time: 5 mins || Cook Time: 25 mins (pressure cook) + 20 mins || Yields: 3 cups || Category: Ready mix for rice / side-dish

Ingredients:
1. Raw Banana - 2
2. Turmeric Powder - 2tsp
3. Salt - as required
4. Dry red chillies - 6
5. Bengal gram - 3 tbsp
6. Toor dal - 1 & 1/2 tbsp
7. Coriander seeds - 3/4 tbsp
8. Pepper - 1 tsp
9. Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
10. Coconut oil - 3 tbsp
11. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
12. Urad dal - 3 tsp
13. Curry leaves - a sprig
14. Hing - 2 tsp

Method:
1. Wash the bananas and cut each of them into two or three pieces. Immerse them in water in a pressure pan. Add some turmeric powder and salt to it. Pressure cook for 5-6 whistles. Meanwhile, in a pan add 1 spoon of coconut oil and roast the red chillies and transfer them to a plate.

2. To the same pan, add bengal gram, toor dal & coriander seeds and roast them. Before they are done, add pepper and cumin seeds and roast all the ingredients till golden brown & transfer to a plate to cool down.

3. Once the banana is cooked, drain the hot water and run in some cold water and rinse the bananas. The outer skin can now be easily peeled off from the bananas. Mash all the peeled bananas. Transfer the roasted ingredients to a mixie jar and powder them smoothly.

4. In a pan, add some coconut oil and then temper with mustard seeds, urad dal, curry leaves & hing. Transfer this tempering to the mashed bananas. Add the ground powder & required amount of salt and mix well. Vaazhaikai Podi is done !!

Suggestions:

• Can adjust the quantity of red chillies, coriander seeds based on one's desired spice level.
• Coconut oil gives a nice aroma. But, any other oil can be used.

Mix with hot cooked rice & hot gingely oil / coconut oil / ghee & enjoy with fryums or any side-dish... Tastes yummyyy even without side-dish !!!

Bisibele Bath (Mysore style original recipe)

     It has been my longtime wish to make an original mysore style bisibele bath. Whenever I googled in thirst of finding out the original recipe, I landed in websites that mostly add all sort of vegetables and literally offer the recipe of a sambar sadham disguised in the name Bisibele Bath :P While I was wondering if there will be no difference at all between a sambar rice and bisibele bath, I happened to watch the Samayal Samayal show by Venkatesh Bhat where he showed how to prepare a proper mysore style Bisibele Bath :)
     Adapting the recipe from the show, I tried it out one day and clicked the pics for reference & added to this repository. It came out delicious !!! fulfilling my longtime wish of a good bisibele bath. 

Cook Time: 25 mins (for rice & dal) + 15 mins || Serves: 3 ||  Category: Lunch / Variety Rice

Ingredients:
1. Raw White Rice (Pacharisi) - 1 cup
2. Toor Dal - 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp
3. Ghee - 3 tbsp
4. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
5. Urad Dal - 2 tsp
6. Cinnamon - 2 pieces
7. Cloves - 5-6
8. Curry leaves - 1 sprig
9. Tamarind water - 3/4 cup
10. Jaggery - 2tsp
11. Hing - 2tsp
12. Bisibele bath powder/paste - 1 & 1/2 spoon
13. Salt - as required
14. Cashews - 8-10
15. Coriander leaves - 1 tbsp finely chopped

Method:
1. Wash rice & toor dal together and pressure cook them with 4&1/2 to 5 cups water for 5-6 whistles.

2. In a pan, add some ghee and fry the cashewnuts to golden brown colour, transfer to a bowl & keep aside.

3. In the same pan, add 2 spoons of ghee and add mustard seeds. Once they splutter, add urad dal and reduce the flame to low. Once the urad dal turns brown, add cinnamon, cloves and curry leaves and fry them for a min. Then increase the flame and add the tamarind water. Let it boil for 5 mins until the raw smell fades away.

4. Add jaggery if desired and boil the tamarind paste for 2-3 mins. Now add Bisibele bath powder / paste and mix well. Allow it to cook for 2-3 mins. 

5. Add water if required and boil for 2 mins. Now reduce the flame and add the cooked rice & dal mixture. Mix well without any lumps.
6. Add salt, fried cashew nuts & coriander leaves. Mix well & switch off the flame after a min. If required, can add some ghee and mix well before switching off the flame.

Suggestions:

• Add urad dal only after the mustard seeds have spluttered. Fry the urad dal to golden brown colour, in reduced flame only.
• Adding jaggery is optional. It adds flavour by enhancing the tanginess.
• Can use bisibele bath powder/paste, whichever is available.

Serve hot with onion raita, fryums or papad.