Handhwo

I used to be very excited about April Fool's day. I would actually spend time thinking about how I would like to fool  my parents.

Maybe it was all those Enid Blyton books I was addicted to. Reading all about how those school going girls tricked their friends and family and teachers would make me yearn to pull one on my near ones too.

Of course I realized that there was no store that sold jokes or trick packs in India and had to 'compromise'.

I would do silly things like, when my parents were getting ready for work, I'd quietly open the main door, ring the bell and close the door ( very quietly, of course) and scuttle off. My Mother or Dad would go to open the door and find no one and I'd shoot out from my hiding place singing, "April fool banaya...". The other trick I had up my sleeve was, during those days ( 80's) MTNL ( the phone company) had a 3 digit number, which when dialed (and after you have hung up) will send a ring back to your telephone. I have no idea behind the logic here, but it was useful in pulling a prank.

I'd dial the number, and scuttle, my parents would come to answer the phone and I'd spring out singing the song, or I would pretend to answer the phone, and call out to my Mom or Dad and inform them that one of their friends was on the phone or my Ajji was on the phone to talk to Mom- here I would pretend that I was asking polite questions etc. and then holler for mom,  they would rush and I would wait till the first "hello" and  start singing the annoying song, again! 

I have no idea if they knew what I was doing, but they played along or they really fell for it. but whatever it was, today it is a sweet memory, one I will always cherish! 

This year, like the last few years, April Fools day was like any other day, wake up, breakfast  school bus, meals, study time, dinner, bed........... 

Maybe one day, my little boy will play a harmless prank and make me laugh out loud, again.

Innocent fun! How I miss those moments.

Not that the recipe I have for you today has anything to do with pranks or April Fool's day. 

I have another Gujarati Classic for you. A wonderful tea-time snack, Ondhwo / handhwo is a savory cake. I guess one can call it that...

It has vegetable content, so it is healthy! Do you need any further persuasion?

Recipe source: Kamini aunty 

You Need:

1 cup Rice

1/4 cup Chana dal

1/4 cup Toor daal 

1 tbsp Urad dal 

1/2 cup Plain, thick Yogurt 

1 inch Ginger piece

2-3 cloves Garlic

1-2 Green chilies ( + / - to suit your taste buds)

2 tsp Sugar ( can substitute with jaggery)

1 tsp Ajwain (Bishops weed)

1/2 tsp Pickle Masala

1 Medium Lauki / Dudhi/ Bottle Gourd, grated

Salt to taste

Few curry Leaves

1-2 Dry Red chilies ( optional)

1 tsp Mustard seeds

~2 tsp ( I did not really measure these, just sprinkled generously) Sesame Seeds

1 tsp Eno/ fruit salt, regular flavor

1/2 tsp Turmeric powder

Pinch Red chili powder

Wash the rice and daals and soak it for a minimum of 6 to 7 hrs.

Drain all the water the grain was soaked in and coarsely grind using  yogurt- no water. Do not use any water when grinding the rice and daals. 

Then take above mixture in a bowl and add ginger, garlic and green chillies paste and salt, mix thoroughly. Leave it over night.

Next morning add turmeric powder, sugar/ jaggery, ajwain , pickle masal and grated bottle gourd / lauki . 

Mix well . Taste it and adjust seasoning, if needed. 

Heat a small skillet, add 1 tsp oil, once the oil is hot ( not smoking) and add few curry leaves and little red chilli powder . Pour  into the batter.

At this stage, prepare a baking dish, grease it or spray it with oil. Preheat the oven (350 F)

Then add 1 tsp eno to the batter and mix well. Pour the mixture in an oven safe dish/ bakeware 

In the same skillet, make a tadka ( oil , mustard seeds, hing, sesame seeds and 1 or two whole red chillis -if using ). Pour this on the batter.

Now cover the baking dish with aluminium foil and put into preheated oven . Bake for 30 to 40 min until bottom layer is light brown in color. 

Then uncover and broil for 8 to 10 min. Watch  this broiling stage like a hawk.
The top can go from golden brown to charcoal very quickly! 

Cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then on a cooling rack. 

Slice in wedges and serve with a cup of tea.

Notes:

Traditionally, bottle gourd is used, however you can add different vegetables, to up the nutritive value. Add petite green peas, grated carrot or corn kernels.

If you have a lump of jaggery that is hard to crumble / grate,  place the lump in a microwave safe bowl, add a tsp water and microwave it for 20-30 seconds.  Add the melted jaggery to the mix.

My friend, Ashwini, has a recipe for Ondhwo that uses Quinoa and flax seed.

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Turkish Pilaf

We live around Dallas, one big hub of Indians and Indian community related activities. 

We miss out on most activities.

Something, always, comes up.

One day, it is a late meeting.

The other it is a migraine.

Then the son decides to throw up his entire, dinner, for no reason.......wait, there is a reason, we had plans to go out. Right, glad I got that straight.

So all in all, you can imagine how our social calendar looks like. 

I ain't complaining, just tellin' it like it is.

I guess my parents went thru this too, when I was little. 

When I think of all this, I miss my parents, more than the usual. (Don't we all?)

My favorite type of entertainment is a small party of close friends over for dinner. Fun, laughter, good food and the closeness we share. We are lucky when our friends have their parents visiting, that way Little S  gets a small share of 'Aaji and Ajjja' (Grandma and Grandfather), that tides us over till the time I can convince our parents to visit us.

This summer, my good friend Sujata's parents were visiting her. This was an additional bonus for me, her daughter is my son's 'Tai' ( he treats her like his elder sister) and now he would get to share her grandparents too!  It's good learning for me too, Sujata's Mom is a fantastic cook and I was always in and out of her kitchen looking, learning and sampling! 

4 months passed off in a blink! We met, laughed, dined , celebrated birthdays and soon it was time for them to leave. 

We had to get together for dinner and say good bye to them. Sujata suggested I bring a couple of items and she would make something and make it a small potluck. 

Deciding on what to cook was easy. There was the 15th. August celebration  organized in the city, we did not go ( read the first few lines, they will explain why). Sujata and her family went and she got me this little cookbook. I was thrilled. I have tried a couple of Hare Krishna  recipes earlier and loved them. This book would provide some more with equally delightful results. I was sure.  

I decided on one recipe from this book and another from my very favorite, 660 curries.  Recipe coming up soon.

Turkish Pilaf sounded just right!  A fitting recipe to bid them Bon voyage.

the combination of the pilaf and curry was refreshingly different and we all enjoyed it.

Here's what you need to feed 6.

3 Cups Vegetable Stock or Water ( I used water)

1 Tbsp Extra virgin Olive Oil

1/2  cup Pine Nuts

1/2 tsp Yellow Asafetida powder

1 1/2 Cups Basmati Rice (or other good-quality long grain rice)

4 whole Cloves

One, 1 inch cube Ginger, sliced

2 Bay leaves

Two, 4 inch stalks Fresh Thyme

Three, 3 inch strips Orange Zest

1 1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Fresh Ground Black Pepper

1/3 cup Currants

3 Tbsp Chopped Flat leaf Parsley

Bring to a boil the Veg. Stock in a small sauce an over moderate heat

Cover and reduce to a simmer.

Heat half the olive oil in a 2 liter/ quart over low to moderate heat, when slightly hot, add the pine nuts.

Toast them in oil for  a minute or two, until golden brown and fragrant.

Remove  saucepan  from heat, quickly remove the nuts from the oil and drain on a paper towel.

Return pan and remaining oil to heat.

Warm remaining oil and sprinkle asafetida, stir momentarily, drop in the rice and stir for -3 mins. or until the rice grains turn translucent.

Pour the boiling stock on the rice. Add cloves, ginger, bay leaves, thyme stalks, orange zest, salt and pepper.

Raise heat to high and quickly bring rice to a full boil.

Immediately reduce the heat to very low and cover pan with a tight fitting lid

Remove saucepan from heat, allowing  the delicate rice grains to firm up for 5 minutes.

Lift the lid and carefully, allowing the delicate  rice grains to firm up for 5 mins.

lift the lid and carefully extract the cloves, thyme stalks, ginger and bay leaves, which should be sitting on top.

Carefully fold in the currants and flat leaf parsley and serve hot.

Notes : 

I made some changes to the recipe
- I used cranberries instead of currants , I could not find any :(

- I used Walnuts instead of pine nuts ( read about pine nut mouth) on Nupur's OHS and have been vary since. 

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Corn pilaf

When I last blogged, I had no idea I was about to go on a break, a forced one, I must mention. Our old faithful ( laptop) valiantly survived many an attack at little S's little fingers. 

It withstood the plucking of it's keys, sticky fingers smudging it's face, sometimes even bearing  the weight of a toddler and most often, I  guiltily add, bearing the weight of the pictures I would keep adding. 

M kept reminding me, often, to take a back up, I'd nod  and go my way picking up this, cleaning that, chasing S, yelling at M to stop lecturing and get on with 'actually doing' something. 

I'd remember the back up late, late night and postpone it, I couldn't drag myself out of bed, I was too tired.

And then it happened, the old faithful gave up with a moan. I looked on helplessly  and quietly bundled it off into another room away from prying tiny fingers. It lay there, forgotten ... almost. Every few days I'd sadly glance at it, tsk, tsk,  hear a murmured " I told you.." from M and get on with life. I mourned the loss of my precious pictures, I had SO many waiting  to be blogged, blamed myself, to think I could 'atleast' have put the pictures on a post and saved it in the drafts! 

Then a couple of days ago, for no apparent reason, I picked up TOF (the old faithful) and trembling slightly plugged it in and powered it on, groan by groan the wretched thing started and thankfully I rescued a few pictures before it collapsed yet again.

Glad I had at least something, I spat on my hands ( well, not really... c'mon!) and got down to blogging! 

I had this recipe scribbled on a sheet of paper with no more than just that. Looks like it is an old  recipe that I had scribbled and forgotten  all about. 

Simple and delicious  describes this rice dish well and is an excellent idea for a lunch box or a potluck.

1 Cup Basmati Rice
1 Tbs Ghee
1/4 tsp. Black pepper
1 inch Cinnamon stick
1/2 cup Spring Onions chopped
1/2 cup Green Bell Pepper chopped
1 cup corn kernels ( I used frozen)
2 Cups Water
Salt to taste

Wash the rice thoroughly in 3-4 changes of water and soak in fresh water for 30 mins. Drain

Heat Ghee, add black pepper and cinnamon stick

Add  chopped spring onion (i used the greens as well) pepper and corn for half a minute

 At this stage I transfer the vegetable mix to my rice cooker and add rest of the ingredients and let it cook away.

For stove top method :

Add soaked rice, water and salt to taste, bring to a boil

Cover and cook  till water evaporates  and rice is cooked

Serve hot with pickle and papad. Enjoy.

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Gajar Matar Pulav ( Carrot- Peas Pilaf)

When I first visited Peoria, a small city in Illinois, I had no idea and no wish to call it home. I was happy and content living in Los Angeles, who wouldn't be? Sunshine, palm trees swaying to the breeze, everything close to home, a ton of friends. Life was great, like a jigsaw puzzle, all the pieces in their  place. 

The only thing that made me unhappy was that M had to travel  to work and  S and I missed him, a lot. Weekends were full of chores and that was not what I wanted. I wanted us to enjoy the beautiful weather and be together.

Well, I got my wish, almost........... we moved out of sunny LA and plonk, in the middle of cold city which looked and felt strange and with no friends, no smiling faces. Then I met a friendly girl and we  liked one another, but there was a snag, she was  going to India for a 2 month holiday. sigh!

Much as I had wanted this, this wasn't the exact thing I wanted. Make sense?  I felt just as jumbled as the sentence. 

We faced our very first 'snowy' winter, that in itself was not as bad ( huh?!!), the snow was a novelty, but as the snow stopped and we waited for spring, time hung heavily on our hands. S and I would long for fair weather when we could go out for walks. On one such walk I made a new friend. She was playing with her son, who looked my son's age or a tad older. I walked over and we smiled at one another and then things fell into place. Like a jigsaw. 

That day, it felt like spring. Things 'clicked' and  soon, just like my LA days, we formed a group and started meeting everyday. Potlucks, mixed lunches ( bring what you have and let's enjoy types)  became  necessary. Tea and tea time snacks, baking bread and  talking about anything and everything became  order of the day.

Time no longer hung heavily on our hands, the boys play together or at least in the same room without any upheavals and we are happy once again! 

On one such potluck I made this gajar matar pilaf ( Carrot- Peas Pilaf). It is pure simplicity and tastes good. A minimum list of ingredients and comes together quickly and looks colorful. 

I serve this pilaf with kadhi and pickles (or papad) 

You need:

1 Cup long grained Rice- Basmati

2 Tbsp. Ghee

2 Cloves

1 tsp Cumin seeds

2 Carrots, peeled and cubed

1/2 Cup Green Peas ( fresh or frozen)

Salt to taste

Wash the rice in 3-4 changes of water, top with fresh water and keep aside for at least 20 minutes. Drain completely before using.

In a thick bottomed vessel, heat ghee on a medium high heat, add the cloves and cumin seed

Saute till the seasoning sizzles

Add the vegetables and then the rice and stir briefly to ensure the seasoning coats the vegetables and rice.** 

Add 2 cups water, salt to taste and cover and cook till rice is cooked through and is fluffy ( each grain is cooked and separate)

OR, I usually after ** this stage, transfer all the contents to the rice cooker and let it cook while I start on something else. Totally hassle free! 

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Blog Bites: Sweet Pongal

I have a sweet tooth. I confess. I like most sweets, barring all 'malai' ones, that is. There is one wish I have cherished for as long as I remember, to be as lucky as some people who can east as much and what ever they fancy and NEVER, EVER, EVER gain an ounce. sigh! How I envy them! I envy them, here they are tucking into every thing, mopping up stuff like vacuums, never once caring what it might do to them and here I am, just 'looking' at sweets makes me gain lbs.
My case is different, I gain weight even if I breathe. So might as well enjoy something sweet ( in moderation).

I find my resolution ( of quitting sugar) weakening  everytime I look at something like this or this or this . And so, I only look, sigh and move on. but then once in a way a simple recipe comes along and  I give in, I sigh, I read, I drool, I try to move on but I find myself retracing  my steps back to the same place, again and again and a little voice whispering in my ear, egging me on and I give in. So much for will power !

I found myself going back to Suganya's blog to look and drool at her Sweet Pongal recipe. Her recipes are accompanied with stunning pictures and are a visual treat! 

I picked out this particular recipe for Blog Bites: Cooker event at Nupur's OHS 

Here is the recipe ( linked above) with  small modifications on my part

Sarkkarai Pongal from Suganya's Tasty Palettes.
(serves 3-4)

If you are making just the sweet pongal for dessert, cook rice-dal mixture with more milk. Also, instead of making the sugar syrup separately, the sweeteners are added directly to the rice. But for that, the recipe remains the same.

Ingredients

Raw rice – 2/3 cup ( I used Sona Masuri)
Moong dal – 2 tbsp
Chana dal – 1 tbsp
Milk – 2 cups, ( I used whole milk)
Water – 2 cups
Jaggery – 1½ cups, powdered or grated
Sugar – 1 tbsp
Ghee – 1 tbsp... oh, I used a lot more! More like 5-6 Tbs. over all.
Cashew – 10-15
Raisins – 2 tbsp
Ground cardamom – 1 tsp
Edible camphor – a teeny bit  ( left this one out, did not have any on hand)

Method

Roast the dals until lightly golden. Cool, and rinse along with rice. Transfer to the pressure cooker with milk and water, and cook for 6 whistles- here I used my electric rice cooker and doubled the water, the rice I have is an aged one and hence requires extra water, 1:3  ( or more to make the rice REALLY soft) ratio of rice to water.

When the pressure has subsided, remove the lid and add jaggery and sugar and mix until everything is combined well, here I transferred the cooked rice to a wok / kadhai and added the jaggery and sugar. 

Continue cooking this mixture for about 10 minutes on low flame. If the mixture tightens up too much, add small amounts of boiling water to maintain the consistency. The jaggery should have melted completely and should not smell raw. When good aroma wafts from the pongal, switch off the stove.

In another small pan, melt ghee, roast cashews and raisins. Add this to the prepared pongal, along with cardamom and edible camphor. Whether you serve it warm, cold or at room temperature, sarkkarai pongal tastes divine. I agree, it tastes ABSOLUTELY divine! 

This post is off to Nupur's Blog Bites event and the Sweet Pongal to my dear friends who keep me company  everyday and brighten up my day! 

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Kadhi- Khichadi : Comfort Food!

I missed it again!! Darn! I am getting so absent minded!! I wanted to send in my entry for RCI - Gujarat and had this sitting in the draft for ever so long! all I had to do was review it once and publish!

What with my last day at work .. yep, I resigned.. want to take a break, some 'me' time is what I want! and then savouring every minute of my 'return to the housewife' days, I got terribly lazy and did my daily round of peeping into all blogs, but neglecting my own!

So when I saw RCI Gujarat.. I was all of Kem cho? Maja ma? Jamva mate shu che ( ok, overlook all the mistakes here..) I am a fan of Gujarati food and Mumbai offered a fantastic spread of Gujju food! I would literally starve myself for a day and then go in to Rajdhani or Surti or Kamath' s and then feast! Fortunately, everyone in my family loves Gujarati food, specially my Father and so there was no argument when going to a Gujarati restaurant was concerned!

When we did not eat out, my Mother or Father would make a trip to Dadar (W) to a famous shop, 'Surti Farsan' where they sold the yummiest 'Undhiyu'. Mom or Dad, would get up early on a Sunday morning ( yes that is the kind of love we have for this cuisine!) get ready, pick up a large size steel 'dabba' .. they are not fans of plastic take alongs and indeed those were not available in India then. Catch a bus to the market and then jostle among the hundreds (not kidding !) who were already in line to buy the undhiyu which would be sold out by 10:00 am!! I would on some occasions tag along and would be amply rewarded for my patience with a packet of dholka or kachori.. plus not to mention, the 'taste' of a khandvi or a jalebi the shop-keeper would give me in return for my sweet smile! Oh yes! I used to do that when the parent was not looking! Nothing like getting a little tidbit from the mouthwatering mounds of yummy stuff sitting right in front of your nose and the aroma wafting to your nose and making you drool!

Though M likes to call me a 'spicitarian', I really enjoy the slightly sweet taste of Gujarati food and enjoy all the varieties that it offers.

Among all the delicious dishes that this cuisine has, one extremely simple and comforting dish stands way out, Kadhi Khichadi combination! The simplest of ingredients and no spices make this combo a hit with me. This is so nourishing and perfect for bleak evenings and a perfect remedy for a sniffly nose (in my case)!!

For many months now, M would not touch Kadhi and khichadi.. he would turn up his nose at it , called it food for invalids! .. that just made things difficult for me as I can enjoy kadhi for any meal! On one rare occasion, however Mr. Picky obliged and sipped a spoonful of kadhi.. hhmmm... not bad.. not bad at all! That disdainful look vanished from his eyes and they showed a good deal of interest in what lay before! I was thrilled! He still likes kadhi, I had my doubts that the initial liking was a flash in the pan, and has even progressed to enjoying sipping kadhi like soup!!

The recipe is as simple as ABC..! All you need is :
2 cups Sour Yogurt
2 tbsp Besan
2 tbsp ghee /oil
1 inch ginger (grated)
2 green chillies
Few curry leaves
1 Red chilli halved
1/2 tsp mustard Seeds
1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
1/8 tsp Asafetida
1/8 tsp Turmeric
Salt to taste
2-3 tbsp Sugar
2 cups water
Cilantro to garnish

Add the besan to yogurt, add water and blend , make sure there are no lumps. Add sugar and salt and keep aside.

Heat ghee / oil, add the mustard seds. after they pop, add cumin seeds, chopped green chillies and halved red chilli, curry leaves and asafetida, turmeric and ginger. Pour the yogurt mixture. Stir well. Add more water to attain the consistency you want ( the besan makes the kadhi thicker) and let it come to a rolling boil. Switch off the heat. Garnish with cilantro. Serve with hot Khichadi .

To make khichadi
1/2 cup Mung daal
1/2 cup rice
1 green chilli
Few curry leaves
Salt to taste
1 tbsp Ghee
1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
1/4 tsp
2 1/2 cups water
Wash the mung daal and rice, drain all water and set aside. Heat ghee, add mustard seeds, after they pop, add cumin seeds, asafetida, chilies and curry leaves, turmeric. add the washed rice and daal, saute till all the grains are coated.

Add water, salt and pressure cook (as you would cook rice) . I usually add extra water to get a soft and slighty mushy khichadi. Serve with a dollop of pure ghee kadhi , pickle and papad for a thoroughly satisfying meal!!

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Z is for.... Zafrani Pulav

As we come to the end of our journey in the A-Z of Indian Vegetables, I want to present a Nawabi Dish...the flavourful Zafrani Pulao.
This has been on my mind ever since I saw the movie 'Cheeni Kum', where a proud Amitabh claims that he makes the Best and most Authentic Indian Food in the UK.. until Tabu returns the Zafrani Pulao and pops his pride!
Bits and pieces of the recipe remained in my memory(I liked the movie a lot, and in enjoying the movie, I quite forgot to jot down the recipe!!) So I hunted around the net and found a recipe which was similar .. not the exact, so tweaking it a bit to suit my requirements I attempted this aromatic rice preparation . The end result was a wonderful and delicately coloured and flavoured rice and I was rather pleased with the outcome! What however left me in doubt was.... do you eat this with any gravy vegetable? Please do let me know. I did enjoy eating the pulao without any gravy, savouring every morsel which sometimes brought a whiff of the spices in it, sometimes the sweetness of a plump raisin and the crunch of an almond! (now I know why the Nawabs must have favoured this preparation!!)
Here is the recipe with my tweaks: (for the original recipe, please click on the 'recipe' link given above)

1 cup Basmati Rice (uncooked)

A generous Pinch Saffron Threads

2 tbls. Ghee

1/2 Red Onion sliced thin

1/2 tsp Ginger and Garlic paste

1 Whole Clove

1 Cardamon Pod

1 Cinnamon Sticks (3” pieces)

1 tbsp. Golden Raisins

2 cups Water

3 tbsp Slivered Almonds

5 tsp milk

1 tbsp Yogurt

Salt

Procedure:

Rinse rice 3 to 4 times in cold water, drain well. Set aside for 30 minutes.

Lightly toast the saffron. Remove and add it to some water and keep aside.

Heat the Ghee over medium-high heat; add onions, ginger and garlic. Stir-fry 1 to 2 minutes or until onions soften slightly.
Stir in cloves, cardamom and cinnamon. Cook 1 to 2 minutes more, stirring occasionally to blend flavors.Add rice, and mix till every grain of rice is coated with ghee. Add the almonds and raisins. Add salt and mix well. Add water. Bring it to a boil. Add the saffron, Yogurt and milk.Cook (covered) till the rice is done and every grain of rice is separate. Serve immediately.

This will go to Nupur for the A-Z series.
Nupur has been a great hostess and this whole journey has been an awesome learning experience! Thank You Nupur for this wonderful opportunity!!

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White Corn Pulav (A-Z Of Vegetables)

Do you ever get the feeling that you eat rice ALL the time? Every meal? I do... M is a rice lover. Whereas I like to eat Rice as well as Roti /Parathas /Naans /Puri /Bread.....

But since I ma the 'only' customer for the bread items, it is not frequently made. So I usually end up making Rice with some variation or spices....

With the 'W' of Nupur's A-Z of Vegetables coming up.. considering my options (Wadi, whole Wheat, Wheat... naaaaaaah.... I could just see M wrinkling his nose and launching into how much he dislikes roti or any cousin of a roti!) I finally pounced upon a packet of frozen white corn at Trader Joe's.

A favourite way of eating corn is of course the 'bhutta', on the beach.. huddled under the umbrella if it is raining... biting off the roasted kernels smeared with lemon juice and salt-red chilly powder!!! And then again you have corn soup... corn cutlets.... corn tortillas... makke di roti..

My first idea was to make cutlets/ patties .. but after a long day at work, I decided to make an easy meal... White Corn Pulav and Daal Fry (damn right! Daal Fry for RCI!!!!)

This is a VERY simple Pulav.. quick and easy to make and good to eat!!

All you need is:

1 1/2 cups rice (basmati)

1 Med. onion chopped lengthwise

1 cup White Corn

2 tbsp Oil

1 tsp Jeera/ Cumin

1 tsp Ginger Garlic paste

1 Green Chilly (+/- to taste)

Salt to taste

*Pulav Masala ( I used Shan Pilau masala)

3 cups Water

Cilantro to Garnish

Prep: Wash the Basmati rice in 2-3 changes of water. Drain All water and keep aside for 20 mins. Slice the onion Lengthwise, chop the chilly. Cook the corn as per instructions ( I used the microwave)

Heat oil in a pan, add the cumin, next add the ginger-garlic paste (be careful at this stage, as the paste will sputter a lot, keep a lid close at hand) , add the chilly.

Next add the onions and saute for a few mins. Add the rice and mix well (so that each grain is coated with oil) add the pulav masala. Add water and cover and cook till it is 75% done. At this stage, add the corn, add salt and mix well, but not with vigour, that will break the rice... . Cover and cook till fully cooked
* Shan masala has a the badi elaichi(big cardamom) and clove , cinnamon pieces and is not in the powder form.

M hates all the ingredients (*) - they make his ears smoke or so he says!!! So I add minimal masala to any Pulav, in this case it was 1 big elaichi, 1 half a centimeter pieces of cinnamon, 1 clove and 2 peppercorns.

This in fact made the pulav even tastier (in my opinion). There was no overwhelming flavour that spoilt the taste of biting into the juicy and ever so slightly sweet corn .

Corn Pulav with Daal Fry

This is my entry for the W, of the A-Z of Vegetables at Nupur's One Hot Stove!

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Regional Cuisines of India - Andhra Pradesh: Pullihora & Pesarattu

The first time I tasted this cuisine was when I was visiting my cousin who lives in Bangalore. We went to a place called 'Nagarjuna' which I believe is in MG Road. The place was jam packed, and I attributed that to the fact that it was dinner time , so it was natural... foolish me! on entering the eating area, one whiff of the enticing aromas and I was ..........behaving like I was one who was deprived meals for a long time!

For a long time,I lost touch with this wonderful cuisine (and I shamefully admit, in college, Bschool.. whenever I ate anything from the South of India, I never categorised it.. it was just southie food!)

But as luck would have it, I am married to a Kannadiga who is a total Andhra Food FAN!! And as luck would have it again.... we lived in Bangalore for a short while before USA.. and Bangalore has a plethora of Andhra restaurants to choose from, so cooking an evening meal was a rare event.... so we freaked out on the food practically every evening Bheemas, Nandhini Palace, RR's, Gongura, Madhuri's to name a few regular haunts( till one day I refused... the proud cook rebelled!)

But now, I miss the yummy food too.. and try my hand at some (easy) stuff and congratulate myself when it turns out well!!

So for RCI -Andhra I made Pulihora and Pesarattu (Spicy Onion Pancakes)

For the recipes I peeped into Lokpriya and from the variety there, I chose this rice dish. This is a simple and easy to make recipe and which is great for our lunch boxes, no need for any accompaniments, but a pickle / raita (because I am partial to it!) may go well with it.Here's the recipe:

Ingredients
1 cup Rice
1/4 cup Bengal gram dal
1/2 cup Tamarind pulp
12 Curry leaves
4 tablespoons Oil
2 tablespoons Urad dal
1/2 teaspoon Mustard seeds
2 Red chillies
2 Green chillies
1/4 teaspoon Turmeric powder
4 tablespoons Sesame seed powder
1 tablespoon Cashew nuts
1 piece Ginger
1 pinch Asafoetida
Salt (As per taste)
Wash the rice and dal together and cook adding enough water. Make sure not to overcook.Pour the cooked rice into a big bowl, add turmeric powder, 2 tablespoons oil, salt, tamarind pulp and 7-8 curry leaves.Heat oil in a sauce pan, add the urad dal, mustard seeds and cashew nuts. When the seeds begin to crackle, add red chillies(broken into half), ginger, curry leaves, slit green chillies and asafoetida. Remove from fire and add it to the rice. Add the sesame powder, mix well and leave it covered for an hour to allow the rice to absorb the ingredients.

Pessarettu : Now anything that comes into the Dosa line is always , always welcome in our home! Both M and I enjoy dosas with variations! So when I read this recipe and saw how easy it was to make it, I jumped to it! Surprisingly, I have never eaten this when in B'lore! Maybe I was too happy pigging out over the meals! And those were so filling that all we were capable of, after dinner , was staggering home, rolling like fat ducks (no make that one duck-me!!). Now I made a combination of recipes here ... the basic recipe source is Lokpriya and after looking atPrema's recipe I did the same! used upma as a stuffing ! This was an unsual combination for us and we both absolutely LOVED it!!! I made Onion chutney to go with the Pesarattu, which was a HIT!!! and the usual Sambar.
For the Pesarattu :

Ingredients
1/2 kg whole green gram (moong)
2 cups Water
1 teaspoon Chopped ginger
4 Green chillies
2 Sliced onions
1/2 teaspoon Cumin powder
1/2 bunch Chopped coriander leaves
1 cup Oil
Salt (As per taste)
Method: Soak moong dal (green gram) in water for 2-3 hours. Drain all but one cup water and grind to a paste with ginger, salt and green chillies. Add enough water to make a thick batter, mix well. Add cumin powder and coriander leaves to the chopped onion and keep aside.Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan, pour one ladle of the batter into the frying pan and spread out like a thin pancake. Pour ½ tsp oil around the edges and cook the pancake on medium heat.Sprinkle some of the chopped onion mixture in the middle of the pancake and spread evenly. When the pesarattu is well cooked, add more oil and fry till edges are crisp. Fold in half and take off flame. Repeat for rest of the batter.Serve hot with sambhar, pickle or chutney.

For the Upma:

I roasted 1 cup Sooji/ Rava/ Farina in 1 tsp. oil, till fragrant. In a wok / kadhai, heat 1-2 tbsp oil, add 1/2 tsp Mustard seeds, 1/2 tbsp. Urid daal , 1/2 tbsp. Channa Daal. After the Mustard pops, and the dals are a lovely golden brown, add 1/2 tsp Jeera/ Cumin seeds and 1/4 tsp Hing/ Asafetida. To this tadka, add 1 finely chopped Green Chilly and a few curry leaves.

Add 2 1/4 cups water. Once the water boils, add juice of 1 lemon, 2 tsp sugar. Slowly add the roasted Sooji. Mix well, so that no lumps are formed. Cover and cook for 4-5 mins. Drizzle 1 tsp. of butter/ ghee on the sides and cover and cook for another 2 mins.

Upma is ready!

Makes only 6-7 Pesarattu with this measure.... which is not enough :( , well, maybe for one meal ( this can become a meal!!!), but I feel like I want to have some more today as well!

This is going to Lata of Masala Magic as my entry for RCI- Andhra Pradesh Cuisine. Thank U Lata for hosting the event for this month!

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Layered Lentil Rice with Curry

I found this wonderful cook book in the public library 'Indian, delicious authentic dishes'. The authors are Shehzad Hussain & Rafi Fernandez. This book has a large variety of dishes (Indian & Pakistani) with good illustrations.
After going thru (read, drooling over) all the vegetarian recipes, I finally picked one to make for dinner. I had all the ingredients on hand and time as well .... you see I drooled over the recipes all afternoon, so by early evening, I was all set to make this dish!
Firstly, making this dish does take up a bit of time, but the end result is the hubby rubbing his tummy and declaring it as"FANTASTICALLY YUMMY !"

Second... it cleared up a misconception I had. Now all these years I was under the impression that Bohri cuisine is 'only' non-veg. I had heard some of my friends wax eloquent on this particular cuisine, but being a vegetarian, it was all lost on me.Thirdly, I am firmly convinced, boy, these people can really cook!

I am reproducing the recipe as I got it, infact, quoting from the book ......
"Bohri Muslims in India have their own special style of cooking and have adapted many of the traditional dishes from other Indian communities.This rice and lentil dish is served with a gourd curry (Dudhi/ Lauki), which is prominently flavoured with Fenugreek and soured with dried mangosteen (kokum), lemon juice however, will provide the same effect."

2/3 cup Channa Daal (Bengal gram)
2 1/2 cups Water
1/2 tsp Turmeric
50 gm. Deep fried onion crushed
3 tbsp. green masala paste (few fresh mint leaves & cilantro leaves chooped & salt to taste)
I left the mint out entirely, I somehow dislike it (mint is toothpaste!! )
1 3/4 cups Basmati rice cooked
2 tbsp. ghee
A little water

FOR THE CURRY
4 tbsp oil
1/4 tsp. Fenugreek (methi dana) seeds
1/2 oz Dried Fenugreek leaves
2 cloves Garlic crushed
1tsp. ground cilantro
1tsp chili pwd. (less for those who prefer it mild)
1lb. Bottle gourd or zucchini, peeled, pith and seed removed, cut in bite size pieces
3/4 cup Tomato juice
6 dried mangosteen or juice of 2 lemons
4 tsp. Besan dissolved in 4-5 tsp water
Salt to taste

Cook rice and keep aside. Boil the bengal gram daal with water until the grains are tender, but not mushy. Drain and reserve the water for the curry. Toss the cooked daal with deep fried onions, green masala paste, chopped mint(opt.), cilantro leaves and salt.
Grease a heavy pan and place a layer of rice at the bottom. Add the daal mixture. Layer with the remaining rice. Place small cubes of butter/ ghee on top, sprinkle with a little water and gently heat until steam gathers in the pan.

To make the Curry:
Heat oil in a pan. Fry the Fenugreek seeds and leaves and garlic , until garlic turns golden brown.
Mix the ground cumin, cilantro and chilli powder with a little water. Add to the pan and simmer until all the water evaporates.
Add all the remaining ingredients and cook until the gourd is soft and transparent. Serve hot with the rice.

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