Lunch in a bowl - Mexican rice

Another easy and tasty rice option for easy weekday lunch. Perfect as side dish to your mexican meal plan or have this as main dish, either ways its great.


You need :

Long grain white rice - 1 cup
Onion - 1 small , very finely chopped
Tomato puree- 2 tablespoon / finely chopped 1 large tomato
Ginger paste - 1/3 teaspoon
Garlic paste - 1/2 teaspoon
Cumin powder - 1/2 teaspoon (optional)
Chicken / Veg stock - 3 cups
Cooking oil - 1 teaspoon
Salt to taste


In a nonstick pan / wok. Add oil, heat it on medium heat for half a minute.

Add onion and fry it till light golden for a minute

Add ginger garlic paste and if you are using cumin powder .

Fry this mix for a minute, add very little water if mixture starts sticking.

Add tomato puree.

Add rice in this mix . mix well an turn heat to low.

Fry for a minute , add salt

Add stock, cover and cook for 12-14 minutes. Till rice is 85-90% done and most of the liquid has evaporated.

Turn off the heat. Let it remain covered for 5 minutes. Rice would be done by now.

Serve hot.

Puliyodharai Rice

Before moving to Bangalore ‘South Indian’ food for us was the once a week dosa / idli at Sagar Ratna restaurant . Ofcourse we had our occasional order of curd rice or south indian thali but most of it was eating outside. Beside idli sambhar  we hardly attempted cooking this cuisine at home. Once we moved to Bangalore and also because of this blog which has motivated me to try out new things , I am beginning to experiment with the food from the four wonderful south of india.

I have already shared Kaikari Ishtew on this blog, which now is a family favourite and make it atleast once in a week.  Today I am sharing Tamrind rice recipe , a popular tamil dish, i specially love it for its tangy flavors.  There are few variation of this recipe, i followed one from the famous blog Sailu's Kitchen . My family is not very fond of Gingelly oil so i replaced it with sunflower oil and removed peanuts, since i am allergic to the same.

Additionally i also made large batch of Puliyogare Powder Mix (also available in store , but taste infinitely better if you make  at home) and have now stored in a air tight container, it makes the whole process a lot simpler  & faster for next time around.

Ingredients 

For Puliyogare Powder Mix (good for 6-8 portions)

Coriander seeds - 3 tablespoons
Fenugreek seeds - 1 table spoon 
Cumin seeds - 1 table spoon 
Sesame seeds (white) - 2 tablespoon 
Curry leaves - about 20 (better if slightly dried)
Black pepper - 1 tablespoon 
Red chili - 3/4 (more if you prefer spicier)
Split Bengal Gram /Chana Dal - 1 1/2 table spoon 
Split Black Gram (husked) / Urad Dal - 1 table spoon 

Roast all ingredients on medium flame (preferably cast iron skillet) or any heavy bottom pan for 8-10 minutes. Keep checking the temperature to ensure non of these burn.

Transfer it in a blender and once cool enough , blend into fine powder.

You would need about a tablespoon of this powder for 2 people portion, store the rest in airtight container in a cool dry place.



Ingredients for Rice

White rice (cook till almost done)
Tamarind  paste - 1 large teaspoon, I used  Dabur homemade tamarind paste, else you can soak tamarind in warm water for half an hour and extract pulp.
Jaggery / Gur - 1/2 teaspoon (1 small coin shape)
Mustard seeds -1/3 teaspoon
Split Bengal Gram /Chana Dal - 1  tea spoon 
Split Black Gram (husked) / Urad Dal - 1 tea spoon 
Deseeded Red chilli - 1 
Turmeric powder - 1/3 teaspoon
Salt to taste 
roasted groundnuts - 1 tablespoon 
cooking oil - 1 large tablespoon.
Curry leaves - 5-6 leaves 

Method 

Cook rice in plain water till almost done (90-95%), spread rice on a cool surface and mix salt and little bit oil.

Heat cooking oil in the pan,  trun heat to medium , add mustard seeds and curry leaves, let it splutter for 10 seconds

Add chana dal & Urad dal, let it fry for a minute or so till it becomes deep golden.

Add red chillies, tamarind paste, jaggery, turmeric powder and turn heat to low, cook this mix on low heat for about 8 - 10 minutes, add water if the mixture thickens.

Add salt to the mix, at this stage it should be a medium paste like consistency.

Turn off the heat now.

Add 1 table spoon of Puliyogare Powder Mix.  Mix well. 

Now add rice to this mixture, mix well (fold it instead of mixing vigorously so rice doesn't break)

Add roasted peanuts on top.

You can serve it immediately or leave it for half an hour or so for the flavor to develop further.

P.S. Keep tasting on each stage to adjust the 'spiciness' per your preference.

Lunch in a bowl - Egg fried rice

The 'lunch in a bowl' series got suspended for a while since family, festival and whole lot of feasting took over in last couple of months. Before we start the next round of feasting around christmas and new year, its time for some simple and nourishing dishes and so i brought back the 'lunch in the bowl' series.Today's dish was the simplest to put together and was perfect for a bowl of leftover rice.

Here is how i made my lunch today.

1 leftover bowl of Brown rice , you can use fresh rice / white rice , whatever you have in your pantry / fridge.
1 tea spoon cooking oil
One small onion - finely chopped
1 clove of garlic - finely chopped / grated
Vegetables - finely chopped , you can use whatever left over vegetable you have , make sure you finely chop it.
1/2 teaspoon vinegar
1 teaspoon All in one stir fry sauce (if you don't have this sauce, mix bit of tomato sauce, soy & chili sauce)
2 eggs whisked

Salt to taste

Ensure all prep is completed before cooking starts 

Prep all the ingredients and ensure its ready to add.

Heat the wok, add oil

Once the oil is hot, add onion & garlic , stir on high heat for 30 seconds

Add rest of the chopped vegetables , add salt, stir for another minute

Add vinegar and all in one sauce

Add cooked rice

Mix everything well

Turn heat to  medium , add whisked egg , mix everything well , ensure egg gets spread evenly and cover rice. 

Turn off heat , add bit of cracked pepper and serve. 

Jeera Rice (Cumin Rice)

A simple variation on plain rice, perfect for the time when you want something fancier than plain rice and yet not take the complications of Biryani.

Although simple it's packs quiet a punch in terms of flavour. Bonus it also brings goodness of cumin. Cumin  is  featured  prominently in Mexican, Mediterranean, Indian, Middle Eastern, and certain Chinese cuisine. 
Cumin seeds contain a good amount of iron. Iron is an essential element for the formation of hemoglobin in the blood required for transport of oxygen.Cumin helps control stomach pain, indigestion, diarrhoea, nausea and morning sickness.For further detail read here http://completewellbeing.com/article/small-cumin-big-benefits

Now to the dish , 
you need :
Rice - important to use good quality basmati rice 
Clarified butter (Ghee)  / cooking oil - 1 table spoon 
Cumin - 1 teaspoon
Green chilli (optional)-1 sliced 
Salt - to taste 
Preparation : 
Soak rice in room temperature water for 10 mins, drain and leave aside.
 In a wok / heavy pan  add clarified butter and heat on medium flame. 
Once hot add cumin seeds let it splutter for few seconds . Be careful about the heat so that cumin turns golden and not dark.
Add green chilli ( if using) Now add drained rice, mix well for a minute add salt and turn off the heat.
Add water Transfer it into rice cooker / pressure cooker / microwave bowl to cook,  as you would normally cook rice. Rice can be cooked in pan / wok directly over medium heat in about 10- 15 mins, adjust water as required.I garnished with some finely chopped spring onions.Jeera Rice is excellent to serve with rich gravies , dal makhani etc , its simple and subtle flavour is excellent to compliment the richness of gravies.