Ven Pongal

High on nutrition, this dish is often considered as a quickie tiffin or breakfast. It needs minimum seasoning, and yet is quite flavorful, thanks to ghee and pepper. For this you need

Serves - 2 people

INGREDIENTS

2 cups of rice

1 cup moong daal

salt

pepper powder

7-8 pods of whole pepper

2 tbp ghee

8-10 pieces of broken cashewnuts(broken into halves).

cumin seeds

a few sprigs of curry leaves

5 cups of water

METHOD

1) Take a vessel. Add rice and moong daal. Now wash it well in water.

2) Take a pressure cooker. Add washed rice, moong daal and 5 cups of water. Add salt and cover it with a lid. Cook upto 2 or 3 whistles ( depends upon pressure cooker though). Once you remove the pan, the cooked rice and moong dal must be slightly mashed up.

3) Take another pan. Fry broken cashewnuts in 1 tsp ghee. Keep the fried cashews aside.

4) In the same frying pan, add the remaining ghee. Add some cumin seeds. Add whole pepper, curry  leaves and once they begin to crackle, add the cooked rice and moong daal. Mix it well. At this point of time you can check for salt. You may even add some more ghee if you want to.

5) Stir it for half a  minute and remove from fire. You may sprinkle just a bit (not too much) of pepper powder on top and serve hot with chutney, sambar or Gojju.

Lemon rice

You do not have time to cut and cook vegetables. You have some leftover rice. You want to prepare something fast. Perhaps one of the simplest answer to these thoughts are lemon rice.  All you need is

Ingredients

Juices of 2 lemons (or more)

2 red chillies broken into halves

Pinch of asafoetida

1/ 4 cup roasted ground nuts

1/4 tsp mustard seeds

2 small chopped green chillies (optional)

1 tsp chana daal

salt to taste

1 cup of cooked rice

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

2 tbsp cooking oil

8-10 Curry leaves

Method

1) Take a pan. Add 2 tbsp oil. Once it gets hot, add mustard seeds.

2) Add chana daal, red chillies, green chillies, curry leaves, groundnut, turmeric powder and asafoetida.

3) Add rice to it and mix it well. Add some salt to it. Switch off the flame.

4)  Once the rice cools down a bit, add the lemon juice and mix well. You may check for salt now.

5) Serve warm with Paapad (Appalam)

NOTE:

If groundnuts are not roasted, roast it well beforehand and then use it for the lemon rice. 

Khichdi -Pulao

Am sure your first thought would be - 'this is not khichdi'. There is nothing in this except for rice and split moong daal which will allow it to remain khichdi. Actually my better half started off making khichdi. But the rice used was basmati rice and every grain was perfectly cooked making it perfect for Pilaf/Pulao. So he ended up making a new dish which could be between pilaf and khichdi. But all is well that tastes well. So here I present the recipe of Khichdi pulao the name-keeping ceremony of which happened just the moment I wrote this post.

Ingredients

Rice - 1 cup

Split Moong Daal -1/3rd of a cup

Water - 2 and a half cups

1 tsp cooking oil

1/3 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 cup frozen peas

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 tsp Kitchen king Masala

1/4 tsp Aamchur powder

Salt to taste

Method

1) Cook rice and split moong daal together in 2 and a half cups of water with salt (water used may vary for each pressure cooker). Add water in such a way that the rice is perfectly cooked and every grain of rice separates.

2) Cook peas separately in microwave or water. Ensure that peas is perfectly cooked, neither mashed up nor undercooked.

3) Take  a pan. Add 1 tsp cooking oil. Add cumin seeds, cooked peas, kitchen king masala, turmeric powder, aamchur powder.

4) Add cooked rice and stir it for a minute. Serve hot with curd or raita.

Capsicum Masala Rice

Sometimes, minimal vegetables but colourful ones work wonders for us. The other day I bought some red bell pepper, their colour tempted me to make them mine. Also, I had a few jalapenos at home, a bit of hunger and some temptation to eat rice. The thought of capsicum masala rice made me feel good. After all it is nothing - just add a fresh twist to the leftover rice or a quick option to be carried for lunch. You could also serve it as one of the options of rice while preparing elaborate lunch for guests.


Serves - 2 people


Ingredients needed:-
For Masala
2 tsp coriander seeds (Dhaniya)
½ tsp cumin seeds (Jeera)
3 red chillies broken into halves
1½ tsp spoon Chana daal
1 inch Cinnamon stick
2 tbsp Roasted peanuts


The Vegetables
1 red bell pepper (capsicum)
1 small onion or half of large onion
2 Jalepenos (if you don’t have them substitute with green chillies, but jalapenos taste better)
1 sprig of Curry leaves
Jeera (cumin seeds)
salt to taste
2 tbsp cooking oil
Coriander leaves to season
2 cups of cooked rice

Method

1) Take a pan. Dry roast (without using oil) the coriander seeds, cinnamon stick, red chillies, cumin seeds, chana dal on a low flame until dal gets slightly brown and a fresh flavour of spices fills the room.


2) Remove from fire and let it cool.


3) Grind it into a coarse masala along with roasted peanuts.


4)Now add some oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds, curry leaves and chopped onions.


5) Once the onion gets translucent, add chopped bell pepper, chopped jalapeno, a bit of salt and half of masala. Fry until bell pepper is cooked but still crunchy.


6) Now add the cooked rice and remaining masala. Mix it well gently. Season it with coriander leaves and serve with chilled plain curd or raita or paapad.