Poondu satham / Garlic rice

This is a simple recipe but a very helpful postnatal diet. I had made this several times and found this as  the easiest, yet a tasty way to include garlic in my postnatal diet.  I found this recipe  in a supplement of a tamil magazine.

Ingredients:

Cooked rice – 2 cups

Small onion- 1/2 cup

Garlic pods – 1 cup

Ginger- 1/4 inch piece

Roasted and ground black pepper- 1/2  tsp

Raosted and ground cumin seeds- 1 tsp

Method:

An important thing in  making any mixed rice variety is that the rice has to be cooked well but  must be separate grains. Normally this can be achieved by  roasting the raw rice in little ghee before cooking or adding a little sesame oil while it is cooking. Once the rice is cooked, cool it well  in a wide pan/ plate.

Cut the onions, garlic and ginger into fine pieces. Heat oil or ghee in a wide skillet, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds , dried  chillies (3-4 numbers)  and curry leaves. Add the onion, garlic and ginger pieces and  fry them on low heat.Add pepper powder and cumin powder. Add salt to taste and mix the rice , turning off the heat.

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The ‘no spit’ vegetable pulav

‘Thinnai pechu veenaa pochu’ goes a famous tamil saying . It means that all chitchat is a waste of time. I agree, but in one such  kind of gala chat I had with my friends back home,  we started  talking about food and it ended up like a recipe exchange workshop. I carried home this recipe , tried it and from then owned it in a special page of my recipe book. It is so rich in taste and perfect for a special occasion.

By the way, have you ever had the problem with the kids spitting the full mouth of rice just for a spicy chunk or for  a chilli peice? My  daughter does it and I try in all my preparations to include the spices in a form she takes it. For this reason, I like to call this as a ‘no spit’ vegetable pulav.

 

 

Ingredients:

Basmati rice – 1 and 1/2 cups

Coconut milk-1 and 1/2 cup

Water -1 and 1/2 cup 

Oil –  1/2 cup

Butter-  2 tbsp

Bay leaf – 1 number

Pearl onion – 1 cup

Diced tomato-3/4 cup

Peeled and diced  potato- 1/2 cup

Diced carrots, beans, cauliflower florets, peas – each 1/2 cup 

Cilantro-1/4 cup

Mint leaves- 10 leaves

 

To grind:

Cloves- 5 number

Poppy seeds- 1/2 tsp

Cardamom- 2 number

Cinnamon- 2 inch peice

Red chilli powder -1 tbsp

Coriander powder-1 tsp

Turmeric  powder- 2 pinches

Fennel seeds- 1/2  tsp

Green chilli- 2 number

Ginger-1 inch peice

Garlic-5 cloves

 

Take the dry ingredients in the spice list and grind first. This is important when using poppy seeds. Add garlic, ginger and chilli then and grind to a fine paste.

In a big pressure cooker, heat oil and butter. When it is real hot, throw in the bay leaf and onions , saute well. When the onions turn transparent, add all the vegetable except tomato. Stir in for few minutes and add the masala. After a couple of minutes, throw in tomatoes and salt to wilt the tomatoes quickly. Add the cilantro and mint.

Work on slow heat, by that time wash  and soak the basmati rice. When the raw smell fades away, add the rice and stir slightly. Now add the coconut milk and water . Test the spice level and salt level. When the water comes to a boil, close the lid and cover the nozzle with a  stainless steel tumbler. Keep medium heat. Turn off the heat after 10 long minutes. Wait for a while  and  open the lid to fill your house with the spicy aroma. Smell, see and eat! Enjoy!

 

 

 

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Tomato potato pulav

 

‘Mummy, This is not fair’ grieved  my daughter.

‘Whats the matter?’

‘You never serve me with a rose.’

‘But, you don’t eat raw tomatoes.’

‘Thats ok, I want that plate.’

She went ahead, ate half of it and rushed to school. I grabbed another serving and clicked my dish.

Evening when I was editing the  photos and regretting for a poor lighting, my school returned scholar was watching me . She asked ‘ Do you have it anymore?’

I nodded, she went and fetched her own leftover from the fridge , microwaved and ate  all by herself. Thats the power of taste .

I learnt this dish from my  chitthi (mother’s younger sister) and  is always my rescuer when I am late to get up in the morning.

Ingredients:

Basmati rice- 2 cups

Oil – 1 tbsp

Butter – 1/2 tbsp

Tumeric powder- 2 pinch

Chilli powder- 1 tsp

Cilantro

Few  mint leaves

Medium onion- 1

Red poato-1

Frozen peas- 3/4 cup

Fennel seeds- 2 tsp 

Large  tomato-1  (Should be juicy and  ripen one)

Green chilies- 3

Garlic- 4 cloves

Ginger- 1 inch piece

cloves- 3 no

cardomom- 1

cinnamon- 1 inch stick

Wash the rice once and soak for 10 minutes. Chop the onion finely. Peel and chop the potato into 1 cm cubes.  Grind the last 7 items in the list into a fine paste. Heat oil + butter in the pressure pan. Sputter fennel seeds. Saute the onion. When it turns transparent, add potato , peas, mint leaves and ground  paste. Add salt, tumeric powder, chilli powder.  Saute till all  oil comes out. Add  the rice and fry slightly. Pour  4 cups of water. When the water boils, cover the pressure pan and  cover the  nozzle with a tumbler instead of  the weight. Cook on medium heat for 12 minutes. This gives similar result of a dum briyani.Garnish with cilantro and roasted cashews. Serve  with raitha/coconut chutney.

Anyway, I learnt a way how to tickle my girl’s hunger. So, for the moms who want to impress thier kutties, here is the illustration for the rosy tomato.Peel the tomato with a knife and take care  not to break the continuity.Gently coil from one end, spreading as you proceed.

             

In our home, nobody eats it , so today’s rose will be in  tomorrow’s  salad/raitha.

 

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