Quick Kidney Beans Rice

Category : Health food
Servings : 2
Time Taken : 30-45 mins

Ingredients: 
1 cup basmati rice
1 -2 cups cooked kidney beans
1 tsp cumin
1 onion, sliced
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp cumin-coriander powder
1 tbsp amchur (dry mango powder) (optional)
1-2 green chillies, thinly sliced (or as per taste)
Salt to taste
1 bay leaf (optional)
A few mint leaves for garnish

Method

1. In a pan, add 1 tsp of oil/ghee.
2. Splutter the cumin seeds, bay leaf and then add the spices.
3. Toss until aromatic - about 20 seconds
4. Add the chopped onion and chillies to this mixture along with salt.
5. Cook until soft - about 1-2 min.
6. Add the rice and saute until aromatic and the rice turns translucent.
7. Add 2 cups water (or vegetable stock).
8. The amount of water might vary with the quality of rice available to you.
9. Close with a lid and cook until the rice is almost done.
10. Add the cooked kidney beans to the rice.
11. Give to a good toss until well incorporated
12. Make this rice extra flavourful with mint or cilantro.
13. Serve hot with raita.

Tips: To make this a quick meal, you can replace the basmati with leftover rice. Simply saute the onions along with spices, add the cooked beans and then toss rice with the mixture.

Tomato peas bhath

Category : South Indian lunches, Tomatoes, Rice
Servings : 4
Time Taken : 15-30 mins

Ingredients: 
4 - tomatoes
1 - onion
1-2 garlic pods
4 cloves
2 cinnamons(each 1 inch)
1 star anise
2 bay leaf
1 tsp cumin
A pinch of turmeric powder
1/4 tsp chilli powder
1 green chilli
1/2 tsp coriander powder
Salt
1 tbsp grated coconut
A handful of coriander leaves
Frozen peas
Frozen corn
1 tsp ghee
1 tsp oil
Cooked rice

Method

1. Cook rice separately in rice cooker.
2. Heat ghee and oil in a pan.
3. Tamper with cumin, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaf, garlic, star anise, green chilli and chopped onion.
4. Fry till onions turn brown and soft.
5. Add chopped tomatoes, salt, coriander powder, turmeric powder and red chilli powder.
6. Fry till tomatoes are cooked well.
7. Add frozen corn and peas when tomatoes are half done.
8. When the paste becomes thick, add rice, grated coconut and mix well.
9. Garnish with coriander leaves.
10. Serve with plain yogurt/raitha/pappad.

Sakkarai Pongal

Category : Rice, Tamilnadu
Servings : 2
Time Taken : 15-30 mins

Ingredients: 
1 cup - milk
1/2 cup - raw rice
1/2 cup - grated jaggery
3 tbsp - split green lentil (moong dal)
3 to 4 tbsp - cashews
1/2 tsp - cardamom powder
1/4 tsp - nutmeg powder
pinch - saffron
1 to 2 tbsp - dried raisins

Method
Wash and clean lentil and rice together and place in a vessel.
Add 1 cup milk and 1/2 cup water and pressure cook for 10-15min until cooked. (about 4-5 whistles)
Meanwhile in some ghee roast cashews and raisins and just before removing from the heat add saffron,cardamom and nutmeg.
Add the jaggery to the cooked to the lentil-rice mixture.
Mix well until combined. Add the cashew and raisin mixture and stir until combined. Drizzle it with some ghee and serve.

Note : 
If the rice-lentil mixture is dry, add some melted ghee/warm milk to the mixture until it comes to the consistency of your liking.

Kozhukottai Recipe

Servings : 4
Time Taken : 30-45 mins

ingredients

For the dumpling:
Rice flour- 1 cup
Water- 1 1/4 cup
Oil- 1 -2 tbsp
Salt- a pinch
For the filling:
Grated coconut- 1 cup (fresh)
Jaggery- 3/4 cup (powdered)
Cardamom- 1/2 tsp (powdered)
Accompaniments:
Coconut milk
Fresh boiled sweetened milk


Method

What modak is to Maharashtrians, dumplings is to the Americans, wantons to the Chinese, so is kozhukottai to Malayali.
It makes for a very light and popular dessert; it resembles a lot of Indonesian and Malaysian rice flour based desserts. Again kozhukottais are extremely versatile and can be made as both sweet and savoury. Kolakattais or kozhukottai are also a festive special made on the eve of Ganesh Chaturthi with a sweet stuffing of jaggery and coconut called `Vella poornam`.


Method

Step-1:
1) In a non-stick pan add jaggery and coconut.
2) Let the jaggery melt over low flame and combine it with the coconut well.
3) Add the powdered cardamom and mix well.
4) If the jaggery and coconut mixture is runny just add little rice flour and ensure it`s thickened to a consistency where you can roll out small balls like laddoo.
Step-2:
1) To make the dumpling sieve the rice flour 2-3 times to ensure there are no debris.
2) Do not add all of the water as different quality of rice powder would consume different quantity hence add it gradually. Bring the water to boil along with oil and salt.
3) Add the water to the rice flour and mix it together to form a pliable dough.
4) Take a ball sized dough and flatten it in your greased palm or rolling pin. This might be a bit difficult hence you need to grease your hand often.
5) Place the filling and close the rice cover either by folding it into half or gently bringing together all the ends and sealing them like a fig. Repeat till you have used all of the dough and then steam them for 10-15 minutes.
6) Once done remove and serve hot or dropped in a bowl of freshly squeezed coconut cream milk.


Note
1) You could make rice flour at home too instead of buying from store, if you like to have the pleasure of having cooked this dessert from scratch. Soak raw rice overnight in water. The following day remove from water and spread it over a kitchen towel to dry the rice or soak the water off. Now grind the rice in dry jar till its a fine powder. It`s recommended that the flour be sieved 3-4 times to get the finest rice flour and to get the best kozhukattais.
2) If your dough does not come together or becomes a bit soggy add some rice flour or all purpose flour. But do not add too much of maida as it could alter the taste. 3) Cut out pieces of coconut and add it to the blending jar with some water 1 cup coconut: 1 1/2 cup water. Grind it in a blending jar till it becomes a fine paste. Strain the coconut milk from the ground paste to extract all the fresh cream coconut milk. Add sugar and drop the kozhukattais in the milk and serve.