Lemon Rice

Tags

easy lemon rice, elupichambala satham, how to make lemon rice, Indian rice variety, Lemon Rice, Rice Variety, Turmeric Powder

Today again it’s going to be one of the most simplest and easiest rice variety. Quick , easy and fast to pack for lunch. Very common in South Indian houses 🙂 And this is my hubby’s favorite 🙂

Ingredients:

Basmathi Rice : 1 cup

Lemon : 1 small

Salt : 1/2 teaspoon

Oil : 1 tablespoon (preferably sesame oil)

Turmeric powder : 1/4 teaspoon

Mustard Seeds : 1/8 teaspoon

Urad dal : 1/8 teaspoon

Channa dal : 1/4 teaspoon

Peanuts : 1 tablespoon (unsalted)

Curry Leaves : few

Asafoetida/Hing : 1 generous pinch

Method:

• Cook Basmathi rice with 1 : 1.5 cup of rice and water. Let it cool, set it aside.
• Squeeze Lemon juice.
• Heat oil in a large heavy bottomed pan.
• Add mustard seeds, urad dal, channa dal, peanuts. Let it crackle. Add asafoetida and curry leaves.
• Next add turmeric powder and lemon juice mix well. Let it get heated for 2 mins. Then reduce the heat to low.
• Next add the rice to pan and mix well.  Add salt and mix. Make sure it doesn’t get over cooked and smashed.

Now easy lemon rice is ready 🙂 Goes well with chips or potato gravy.

 

 

 

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Capsicum Masala Rice/Bell Pepper Rice

Tags

Bell Pepper Indian style dish, Bell Pepper Rice, Brown Basmathi Rice, Capsicum Masala, Capsicum Masala Rice, Capsicum Rice, Easy lunchbox recipe, Indian rice variety

Had been thinking of posting this for a long time, finally today I got to post this. Simple and easy rice variety. I usually prepare this masala earlier and store it in fridge. So it is easy and fast to pack up lunch in the morning.

 

Ingredients:

Rice : 1 cup cooked ( I have used Brown Basmathi Rice, any kind can be used)

Bell Pepper/Capsicum : 1 large

Salt : 1/2 teaspoon

Oil : 1 teaspoon

Onion : 1/4 of a large

Ginger Garlic Paste : 1/2 teaspoon

Grated Coconut : 1 tablespoon

To Grind:

Coriander Seeds : 1 1/2 tablespoons

Channa dal : 1 1/1 tablespoons

Urad dal : 1 tablespoon

Cumin Seeds : 1/2 tablespoon

Fennel Seeds : 1/2 tablespoon

Black Pepper : 1 teaspoon

Fenugreek Seeds : 1/8 teaspoon

Red Chili : 3 to 4

Sesame Seeds : 1 teaspoon

Oil : 1 tablespoon

Method:

• Add 1 tablespoon oil in a pan, when it is hot roast all the items in to grind separately. You can roast it together as well, but separately you can roast it better. Let it cool and then grind it to a fine powder.
• You can store this masala for later use in an air tight container in fridge.
• Cook rice and let it cool.
• Chop capsicum, onion to large chunks.
• Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a large pan. When hot add onions , ginger garlic paste and saute it for 2 to 3 mins.
• Next add the capsicum chunks and saute for 3 to 4 mins.
• Next add the grind powder(around 1 1/2 tablespoon), salt, coconut and mix well.
• Saute for another 2 to 3 mins.
• Once the capsicum gets cooked well, add the rice and mix well. Now the heat should be in low.
• Once everything gets mixed stop and serve with any raita.

 

 

 

 

 

Paruppu Satham/Lentil Rice/Dal Chawal

Tags

dal chawal, Indian rice variety, Lentil rice, paruppu satham, variety rice

Paruppu Satham is one of my favorite, got to know this recipe from one of my room mate and I used to prepare it often when I was working. This is a fast and a quick rice recipe with full protein packed. This is similar to dal kichidi made in North Indian cuisine, which is made with moong dal and this is made with toor dal

This need not be confused with bisibele bath or pongal. I have given the basic paruppu satham here , you can add any vegetable of your choice or even mixed vegetables can be used. This is very filling as well. It can be served with raita or yogurt. I used to eat it with out any side dish 😉

Ingredients:

Rice : 1 cup( I used Basmathi, any type can be used)

Toor Dal/Pigeon Pea Lentil : 1/2 cup

Onion : 1/4 of a large

Tomato : 1 small

Green Chili : 1

Turmeric Powder : 1/2 teaspoon

Salt : 1/2 teaspoon

Water : 3 cups (2 cups for rice + 1 cup for dal)

Vegetable : Any of your choice(Carrot, beans, peas, etc) 1/4 cup chopped ( I have used Carrots)

Ginger Garlic Paste : 1 teaspoon

Cilantro leaves :to garnish

To Temper:

Oil : 1 tablespoon

Cumin Seeds : 1/2 teaspoon

Fennel Seeds : 1/2 teaspoon

Curry Leaves : few

Asafoetida : 1/2 teaspoon (If you feel it is strong can reduce to 1/4 teaspoon)

Method:

• Wash rice and dal together in water. Drain and keep aside.
• Heat oil in pressure cooker. When hot, add cumin seeds, fennel seeds, asafoetida when they crackle add curry leaves.
• Now add the onions,green chili and saute for 2 mins.
• Add ginger garlic paste mix. Add tomato ad let it cook till soft.
• Then add turmeric powder, salt and mix well. Add vegetables and saute for 2 to 3 m ins
• Add the drained rice and dal. Saute for few mins (about 2 to 3 mins)
• Add water and pressure cook for 4 to 5 whistles.
• Cool down and garnish with cilantro leaves.

 

 

Tamarind Rice/Kovil Puliyodarai

Tags

Indian rice variety, Kovil Puliyodarai, puli satham, Puliyodarai, Puliyogara, South Indian rice, tamarind rice, Temple style puliyodarai

Tamarind Rice/Puliyodarai is a very famous south Indian rice variety. It has a special taste when it is served in temples. This taste is unbeatable 😀 I love it. It is a very simple dish.

When ever we go on a trip I pack Lemon rice and Yogurt rice. I wanted to change it to tamarind rice. My hubby said it is very difficult to prepare it and you have never done this before for me, so let’s not try it 🙂 I gave him a stare and said it’s not a big deal.I will prepare this recipe, check it then we can decide whether to take it or not 😛 Finally yes it was too good, we finished it the same day. I know it isn’t a big deal for South Indians. The base recipe for tamarind rice is common, the extra spice powder is something that I got through Google 🙂 this is not my own recipe, yet worth sharing.

Ingredients:

Basmathi Rice : 2 cups

Tamarind : small lemon size

Oil : 2 teaspoons

Jaggery : 1/2 teaspoon (optional)

Turmeric Powder : 1/2 teaspoon

Salt : 1 teaspoon

To season:

Mustard seeds : 1/2 teaspoon

Urad dal : 1/2 teaspoon

Channa Dal : 1/2 teaspoon

Red Chili : 2

Asafoetida : 1/4 teaspoon

Curry Leaves : Few

To grind:

Coriander seeds : 1 teaspoon

Urad dal : 1 teaspoon

Channa dal : 1 teaspoon

Red Chili : 6 to 8

Pepper : 1/2 teaspoon

Sesame Seeds : 1 teaspoon

Oil : 1 teaspoon

Method:

Cook Basmathi Rice with 1:2 rice : water ratio.

Soak Tamarind in water and make juice out of it. I got it around 1 cup juice.

Heat Oil in a pan, when hot add items in to grind, except sesame seeds. Let it change color. When it changes color , stop and add sesame seeds. Remove from heat, let it cool down.

Heat oil in a wide pan. Add oil, when it is hot add mustard seeds, urad dal, asafoetida, red chilies. When it crackles add curry leaves. Peanuts can be added and sauteed now. When it splutters, add the tamarind juice, jaggery(optional), turmeric powder.

This should simmer to a thick paste.

In a wide pan take the rice. Add little oil, salt. Mix the tamarind paste. Normal puliyodarai is done till this step. Add the ground powder and mix well. This powder gives an excellent taste.

 

Methi Pulao/Fenugreek Leaves Rice

Tags

Fenugreek health benefits, Fenugreek leaves, Fenugreek Leaves rice, Indian rice variety, Methi Pulao, Methi Rice, Pulao

This is the first time I am preparing Methi Pulao/ Fenugreek Leaves rice. Both the seeds and leaves are strongly aromatic and bitter in taste. But they loose the bitterness if slightly roasted. They are rich in vitamins, folic acid, riboflavin and minerals. Some of the health benefits are as below

• Reduces Cholesterol
• Increases breast milk
• Prevents Diabetes
• Maintains healthy testosterone levels
• Aids Digestion
• Cools down your body heat
• Helps ease menstrual pain for ladies

Usually we prepare lentil and fenugreek leaves dal. But this pulao was a little different for me. And this pulao didn’t taste bitter, because of the tomato added. Anything bitter would reduce its bitterness when added with something sour. Here is my try…

Ingredients:

Fenugreek Leaves : 1/2 cup finely chopped

Basmathi Rice : 1 cup ( I used brown basmathi rice)

Onion: 1/4 of a large chopped

Tomato : 1 chopped

Red Chili Powder : 1/2 teaspoon

Coriander Powder : 1 teaspoon

Turmeric Powder : 1/8 teaspoon

Garam Masala : 1/2 teaspoon (optional)

Salt : 1/2 teaspoon

Cumin Seeds : 1/2 teaspoon

Fennel Seeds : 1/2 teaspoon

Ginger Garlic paste : 1 teaspoon

Oil : 1 teaspoon

Water : 3 cups

Cilantro : to garnish

Method:

Soak Basmathi rice for half an hour.

Heat oil in a pressure cooker.

When oil is hot, add cumin seed and fennel seeds. When they change color, add onions and ginger garlic paste. Let it turn translucent.

Add the Methi leaves/ Fenugreek leaves. Saute for 3 to 4 mins. Next add tomato. When tomato gets smashed well. Add red chili powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and garam masala. Next add salt and saute for 2 mins.

Now drain water in rice and mix it in the cooker. Fry for 2 to 3 mins. Add the 3 cups of water. Cook it for 3 whistles if you are using normal rice, I had to cook for 8 whistles as its brown basmathi.

Garnish with Cilantro leaves and serve with yogurt or raita 🙂

 

 

Cilantro Mint Brown Rice

Tags

brown rice, brown rice recipe, brown rice recipes, Cilantro, Cilantro mint brown rice, cilantro rice, Indian rice variety, malli pudina saatham, malli satham, Mint Leaves, mint rice, pudhina saatham, rice cooker, variety rice

For our usual day to day rice, we have opted for brown basmathi rice at my home. But when it comes to variety rice I opt for the normal white basmathi rice. Recently I got inspired by Apsara @ Eating Well Diary , she had posted vaangi bath with brown rice. Liz from My Favourite Pastime had also asked me for some brown rice recipes, Liz had prepared some beautiful recipes with brown rice. Now I got the inspiration from these two lovely ladies 🙂 here it goes…

Ingredients:

Cilantro : 15 to 20 strands

Mint Leaves : 15 to 20

Onion: 1/2 large

Green Chili : 1

Ginger : a small piece

Garlic : 1 pod

Brown Basmathi rice : 2 cups

Cinnamon Stick : 1 small

Cloves : 3

Cumin Seeds : 1/2 teaspoon

Olive Oil : 1 teaspoon

Salt : 1/2 teaspoon

Method:

Clean brown basmathi rice. Soak the rice for 1 hr. Drain water after an hour.

Clean mint and cilantro leaves. Roughly chop them. Chop onions, green chili and garlic. Grate ginger. Put all these in a blender and blend them well with some water. Measure how many cups this yields. I got around 2 1/2 cups.

Now heat oil in pressure cooker (you can prepare this in normal pan, or rice cooker as well). Add cinnamon stick, cloves, cumin seeds. When they crackle. Add the mix from blender to this. Let it get heated for 4 to 5 mins.

Next add the rice in this and mix well. Add salt as well. To cook brown basmathi rice, I use 1:2.5 for rice : water. As I had already add 2 1/2 cup of the mix, I added another 2.5 cups water to this. You can add up to 3 cups of water for 1 cup of brown rice. Then I had pressure cooked it for 20 minutes.( Around 10 whistles)

If you are using rice cooker, instead of pressure cooker, add oil in pan and follow the same procedure. Once you mix rice with the mixture of mint and cilantro, put it in rice cooker and proceed the cooking.

Also you can either use Cilantro or Mint leaves only without combining and make this rice.

Once done serve it with Yogurt 🙂

Coconut Rice

Tags

Coconut Rice, Indian rice variety, Thengai satham

Coconut Rice is a very easy and fast recipe. We used to have coconut tree at our home in my native place. Coconuts we get are smaller in size from that tree, but the they taste really sweet. After moving to the US, I did not use coconut at all. Finally I got the coconut , and I prepared coconut rice. Here is how I prepared it…

Ingrdients:

Basmathi Rice : 1 cup

Coconut : 3 to 4 table spoons grated

Green Chili : 2 slit (or can be substituted with black pepper corn powder 1 table spoon)

Oil : 1 table spoon

Cashew nuts : few

Salt : 1 teaspoon

To season:

mustard seed : 1/2 tea spoon

Urad dal : 1/2 tea spoon

Channa dal : 1 tea spoon

Curry leaves : few

Method:

Cook the basmathi rice with 1: 1.5 rice and water ratio. By this time have the coconut grated.

Once the rice is cooked, let it cool for few mins. Now heat the oil in a heavy bottomed large pan. Add mustard seeds, urad dal, channa dal, let it splutter. Add the curry leaves.  Add the cashew nuts. Now add the green chilies, after a minute, add the grated coconut. Mix well and cook for 2 mins, don’t leave it more than 2 to 3 mins. Add the cooked rice, salt and mix well. In 2 to 3 mins coconut rice is ready 🙂 A simple and fast recipe.

Spinach Rice

Tags

Basmathi rice varieties, Healthy Spinach, Indian rice variety, Spinach Rice, variety rice

I was getting bored with the usual way of preparing spinach with dal. Recently met my aunt , she had prepared this spinach rice. It tasted different and nice, So now its my version of spinach rice given below. Its quite simple, fast and easy to prepare,as well healthy 🙂

Ingredients

Spinach : generous bunch(finely chopped)

uncooked Basmathi rice: 2 cups

pepper : 2 table spoons

cumin seeds : 1 table spoon

onion: 1/4 of the large one chopped

peanuts: handful

ginger : small piece

garlic : 2 pods sliced( not chopped)

oil : 2 table spoons

Salt to taste

Method:

Wash and cook the basmathi rice with 1:2 of rice and water ration respectively. Once cooked, use fork and separate the rice. Do not mash.

Heat oil in a bigger pan.  Add cumin seeds, let it splutter. Now add onion, let it heat to become transparent. add the peanuts, garlic, ginger, pepper. Let it get heated for 2 mins, now add the chopped spinach. I used baby spinach. Let the spinach cook for 5 to 6 mins, it leaves out water, go on cooking. Add little bit of salt now and let the spinach get cooked well. Now add the rice and mix well. stir well and let the rice cook for few mins with the spinach, add a pinch of salt, as the rice should absorb some salt. Mix well.

Now our spinach rice is ready to be served 🙂

Tomato Rice

Tags

Indian rice variety, South Indian rice, Tomato Rice, tomato rice with coconut milk, variety rice

This is one of my favorites, so thought of sharing this as my first post….. This is one of the simplest rice variety. Easy to pack for lunch in busy schedules. Ingredients:

Basmati Rice : 2 cups

Tomato : 2 big chopped finely

Onion : 1/2 of a large

Ginger Garlic Paste : 1/2 teaspoon

Red Chili Powder : 1/2 teaspoon ( Replace with 3 green chili instead)

Coconut Milk : 2 cups(optional, replace by 2 cups of water)

Water : 2 cups

Salt : as needed

Cumin seeds : 1/4 teaspoon

Fennel Seeds : 1/4 teaspoon

Cinnamon Stick : a small one

Cloves : 2

Oil : 1 1/2 teaspoon

Method:

• Finely chop onion and tomato.
• Wash basmati rice and keep it aside.
• Heat oil in a pan. When hot add cinnamon sticks, cloves, cumin seeds, fennel seeds.
• When it crackles, add onion and saute for 2 mins.
• Let the onion turn translucent, now add chopped tomato.
• Saute till it smashes completely.
• Now add red chili powder, salt and mix.
• After a minute, add the washed and cleaned rice. Saute it for 2 mins.
• You can either cook in pan, pressure cooker or rice cooker. I have used rice cooker.
• Now transfer the contents to rice cooker, add water and coconut milk, mix.
• Once it is cooked, add some cilantro leaves and garnish.
• In case of pressure cooker cook for 3 whistles.
• In case of pan, cook till rice is soft and fluffy.

Serve with raita or plain yogurt. You can use more oil in case you feel oil is less.