Ulundu Sadham ( Black gram daal rice) : A quick lunch box option

"Oh look at that giant bug! hahahahaa! April Fool! "

"Look, Loooook, what is that?" hahahaha! April Fool!"

" Looooooook, a giant... monster ( animal/ bug/person).. hahahah! April Fool" chants Little S in a sing-song voice.

He loves April Fools and refuses to believe that we fool others only on the first day of April. 

It's been a long 3 weeks of April fooling in our car and home.

It reminds me of all the silly pranks I pulled on my parents, mind you, some were good.

And so, just as my dad participated in all my pranks (whether he fell for them or not) I do the same for Li'll S. All the way back from school, going for karate and on the way back. 

It's been a long 3 weeks......

I have been cooking a good deal, jut not posting. It's weird, I want to but something holds me back. It isn't lack of time, just motivation, I guess and that I am reading books and watching TV. 

On my last trip to the library, I picked up Climbing the mango trees by Madhur Jaffrey  and am thoroughly enjoying reading about her memories of growing up in India. It also brings back a surge of memories of my childhood and how some things do not change with time.

I am also watching a series on Netflix, 'Midsomer Murders' which Nupur mentioned on her blog and I find them very engrossing. 

I mentioned the series to some friends here and they are thrilled to have something to watch in the afternoons (one friend and I share our liking for Brit books as well as TV series, as she rightly put it, "English  drama is so classy..." I agree, there is a quiet dignity to how everything is portrayed). 

And now we move on the topic of cooking ( which is the reason, this blog exists) I must add, we have cut down on white rice, significantly. Earlier no meal was complete without rice. Many a times, rice and daal were our meal, but that has changed now. And when I do make rice, there is always some left over. This left over rice is usually sauteed with vegetables and converted to fried rice or a quick Lemon rice for M's lunch box.

There are so many variations to transform plain ol' white rice into a spectacular dish with layers of flavors. 

I prefer working with left over rice, it's quick and easy.

For my recipe today, I use left over rice and the recipe is adapted from Dakshin by Chandra Padmanabhan.

I used:

approx. 2 Cups Cooked Rice

approx. 10-12 Cashew Nut pieces 

1 Green chili, slit ( seeds removed)

In a pan, dry roast, 2 tbsp. Urad daal, 1 tsp. Black Peppercorns (kali miri), 2 tbsp. Sesame seeds and 1 1/2 tbsp dry flaked Coconut.

Cool the roasted spices and grind to a powder in the coffee mill.

Heat oil in  wok / kadhai/ saute pan. Add 1 tsp. mustard seeds and 1 tsp each urad and chana daal ( I usually have this mix in my spice container and never measure, I just add it, eyeballing the amount) As the mustard seeds pop and the daals turn golden, sprinkle in a couple of hefty pinches of Asafetida and then add one (halved) dry red chili, the green chili  and a few curry leaves.

Stir the tempering and then add the rice and the spice powder and salt to taste. Mix well, be gentle though, don't break the rice. Taste to check salt. Switch off the flame and serve.

NOTES: 

-If you cannot tolerate heat, reduce the amount of peppercorn to half or as less as you prefer, ( that is a safer and better option in case kids are going to eat it) but do not skip it.

-This rice is best served warm, however it keeps well and tastes good at room temperature too. 

- The original recipe uses fresh cooked rice

- You can use fresh coconut, however that means the shelf life of the rice is short. 

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Payasam and Nupur's Indian Vegetarian 100

Couple of weeks ago I celebrated my son's 11th. month birthday and as is oft repeated, time sure flies! From a soft and 'pliable' helpless new born, he is now an active toddler, walking everywhere in a typical baby gait, flinging food everywhere, pointing to things and making demands, sometimes showering me with sloppy-sloppy kisses! What more can I ask for!!!!

And so to celebrate my little man I made Payasam. He had just a tiny spoonful of it ( we are going VERY slow on introducing sugar and salt in his diet) he enjoyed it and kept pointing and asking for more.

Payasam needs no introduction, it is a sweet preparation that comes together without too much effort and everyone (my guess) makes it! In my home, 'shevaya chi kheer' was made more often and payasam to me was strictly 'madrasi' (No, back then, I did not know how Tamil cuisine was different from that of Andhra Pradesh or Kerala) and I would gladly accept an invitation to a 'madrasi' wedding knowing that the yummy food would surely have payasam on the menu.

This is a simple and easy to make dessert , can be made ahead of time and served chilled or warm.

You need:

Source : Dakshin by Chandra Padmanabhan

12 cups Milk

1/4 cup Rice ( long grained, I used Basmati)

1/2 cup sugar

6-8 Cardamoms, crushed

1 tsp Saffron

1/2 cup milk (extra)

Wash rice thoroughly. Place the milk and rice in a heavy saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring continuously.

Keep stirring and simmer until the milk reduces to half its original quantity.

Add sugar and crushed cardamoms

Dissolve the saffron in 1/2 cup warm milk and add it to the payasam.

Sir thoroughly.

Serve warm or chilled.

And now we move on to Nupur's Indian Vegetarian 100 list

Your challenge, should you take up this meme is to:

• Copy the entire list, along with these instructions, into your blog post
• Bold the foods that you have tried
• Strike out the foods you would never try
• Tell us your score in the comments :)
• If you wish to, make your own list or add to this one

Nupur's Indian Vegetarian 100

1. Ripe mangoes
2. Curd rice
3. Chaat
4. Phulka
5. Puran poli
6. Boiled peanuts
7. Samosa
8. Stuffed baby eggplants The masala/ stuffing I will eat, NOT the eggplant
9. Aviyal
10. Stuffed paratha
11. Masala chai
12. Tirphal
13. Murukku
14. Curry leaves
15. Banana chips fried in coconut oil
16. Jaggery
17. Vada pav
18. Tender coconut water
19. Paneer
20. Madras filter coffee
21. Boondi laddoo
22. Boondi raita
23. Navratan korma
24. Kokum
25. Masala peanuts
26. A home-cooked Indian vegetarian meal
27. Sugarcane juice
28. Sabudana/sago in any form
29. Horsegram
30. Maggi noodles
31. Podi with rice and ghee
32. Roomali roti
33. Bitter gourd
34. Nylon sev
35. Vegetable biryani
36. Thali at a restaurant
37. Plantain flower
38. Undhiyu
39. Nimbu pani
40. Papad
41. Kotthu parotta (minus egg, I will try!)
42. Panch phoran
43. Drumsticks
44. Indian "French toast"
45. Sarson ka saag
46. Bhakri
47. Pav bhaji
48. Sitaphal
49. Glucose biscuits
50. Sprouts
51. Chole-bhature
52. Amla
53. Tomato "omelet"
54. A wedding feast
55. Grilled corn on the cob with lemon juice, salt and chilli powder
56. Cadbury's fruit and nut chocolate
57. Sai bhaji
58. Solkadi
59. Indian-Chinese meal
60. Jalebi
61. Black forest cake
62. Bharwa bhindi
63. Kashmiri saffron
64. Misal
65. Ripe jackfruit
66. Idli-chutney
67. 'Tadgola'
68. Bhut jolokia
69. Baby mango pickle
70. Meal off a banana leaf
71. Falooda
72. Moong khichdi
73. Bebinca
74. Daal baati
75. Methi greens
76. Basundi
77. Gunpowder
78. Appam-stew
79. Sweet lemon pickle
80. Ridge gourd
81. Bisi bele bhath
82. Coconut burfi
83. Caramel custard
84. Thecha
85. Rasam
86. Baingan bharta
87. Mysore pak
88. Punjabi wadi
89. Chhunda
90. Dal makhani
91. Paper dosa
92. Gongura
93. Hand-churned butter
94. Pakoda
95. Curd chillies
96. Mustard oil
97. Fresh cashews
98. Tomato pickle
99. Rajma-chawal
100. Chaas

My Score 91%

I am not sure about Triphal ( there is something similar in Ayurveda and I may be confusing it with the one mentioned above) and I am pretty sure I have tasted Sai Bhaji, but as of today do not recollect the taste and so I shall leave it for a 'must try'.

So what is your score?

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Pattani Sadham ( Green Peas Rice)

This is one recipe which was  lying in my draft folder for the longest time ever.. almost or even over a year! I first picked a copy of Dakshin from the local library. Made a few recipes and then due to dietary restrictions during pregnancy cut down on a lot of stuff. Amidst all this ,  the draft lay neglected. Later when I went to the library to pick up the threads again, the book was gone..as in pinched! 

The only reason I did not buy the book was because it was so easily available, well, now it was gone (somebody pinched it) and the draft folder kept rearing its head at me. and so it came about that I ordered my copy and the recipe now makes it to the publishing stage!  

Like most of Chandra Padmanabhan's recipes, this one also involves detailed steps and preparing fresh  spice powder/ masala. The procedure looks long, but once the spice powder is ready, it's easy.

And now without any rambling I will post this.. it has taken me 3 full days just to type the recipe, what with little S crawling everywhere, and going up the stairs on all fours and flattening the laptop screen at every given opportunity and then plucking the keys out, it is a wonder that I can even use the laptop anymore!!!

You need:

1 cup Rice (I used Basmati)

1 cup Green Peas  ( I used frozen)

1 small Potato , peeled and chopped

2 small Eggplants finely chopped  ( I did not use any)

1 Bell Pepper finely chopped

1 tsp. Turmeric

Salt to taste

For the Spice powder:

2 tsp Oil

3 tbsp Coriander seeds

1/2 tsp Asafetida

2 tbsp Urad daal

3 tbsp Channa Daal

5 dry Red chiles

marble sized piece of Tamarind

Tempering:

3 tbs Oil

2 tsp brown Mustard seeds

1 tsp Urad and Channa Daal EACH

1 Red chile halved

few Curry Leaves

Cook the rice and set aside.

Make the spice powder: Heat oil in a heavy skillet. Add coriander seeds, asafetida powder,  urad daal and channa daal and red chiles. Saute for 2-3 mins. place in a blender/ food processor. Add tamarind pulp and  blend to a fine powder. I blended the dry spices in my coffee mill and added the pulp later.

TEMPERING:

Heat oil in a heavy saucepan . Add mustard seeds, daals, red chile and curry leaves. 

When the mustard seeds sputter, add the vegetables. Cook over a low heat, adding water if necessary. Add the spice powder, turmeric and salt to taste. Saute for a couple of mins. Add rice, mix well.

Serve hot.

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