Showing posts with label rice. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Vegetable Tawa Puloa | Tava Pulav

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Know What You Eat: Tava Pulav | Tawa Puloa is a term every Mumbaikar's are well verse with, and its as famous as Mumbai's Pav Bhaji, found in every nook and corner almost in every restaurants and in everybody's menu options..Tawa Pulao can be instantly put together with cooked rice | leftover rice and Pav Bhaji masala, addition of vegetables and other hot Indian spices makes it more enticing and mouthwatering.This recipe originally is prepared on a hot smoking tava / griddle, as the name suggests. But you can also use a regular pan / wok. Butter is usually used but you can substitute it with regular cooking oil and ghee (clarified butter) in 1:1 proportion. Here's how to make Pav-Bhaji which will compliment this rice dish.

Vegetable Tawa Puloa | Tava Pulav Recipe

Ingredients

2 C Boiled or Steamed Rice, (each grain separate)
1/4 C Green Peas Boiled
2 Onion, finely chopped
2 Medium Tomatoes, chopped
1 Medium Bell pepper, chopped
1 Medium Carrot, diced
8 Cloves of Garlic, chopped
Cilantro, chopped
2 Green Chillies chopped finely
3 tbsp Butter Or Oil ( I used Amul Butter)
1 tbsp Cumin Seeds (Jeera)
1/4 tsp Turmeric (Haldi)
3 Tbsp Pav Bhaji Masala
1 Tbsp Garam Masala
1/2 tsp Red Chilli Powder
Salt as per taste
Lemon juice per taste

Method

Cook rice on stove, not in pressure cooker, strain under cold water to get each grain separate. Keep it aside.
Heat a wok, now add butter or oil, once it is hot add cumin seeds, when they crackle stir in chopped garlic. Saute for a minute on low fire.
Add chopped onions and fry until crisp and golden brown.
Its time to add chopped carrots, bell pepper, cook it for a while and then add chopped tomatoes and cilantro along with all the spices | masalas and required salt.
Cook it for another 5 mins and combine well with a spoon. Once all the spices and vegetables mix in well its now time to stir in cooked peas and rice.
Mix and toss it very well but be gentle you dont want to break rice and make it like a khichadi .
Squeeze in lemon juice, and garnish it with chopped cilantro and serve it warm with or without yogurt.

Mixed Bean And Rice Recipe

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Know What U Eat: A Very simple mixed bean & rice with a combination of Protein some carb also a good source of Vitamin B6, Pantothenic Acid, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus and Potassium, and a very good source of Protein, Vitamin C, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Folate, Copper and Manganese makes a quick and healthy option, lunch box idea for my 5yr old, along with some fruits & yogurt makes me ready for the next working day, as well as he enjoys eating. I have mixed some of his favorite beans, along with basmati rice and some Indian spices tempered in olive oil with some mustard & cumin pairing turmeric and garam masala. A variation from original recipe of black bean and rice, where oregano, cayenne pepper, bell pepper and garlic is used. Sending it to MLLA-20 hosted by, Crispy Cook, started by Susan of Wellseasonedcook.

Ingredients:
1 C Mixed Beans, soaked & cooked. I used kidney-beans, blackeyed beans, black gram beans.
2 C Cooked Basmati Rice, ( brown rice for more healthier version)
1 Onion, finely chopped,
2 Green Thai Chillies, finely chopped,
1/4 tsp Mustard seeds,
1/4 tsp Cumin seeds,
Few Curry Leaves,
1/2 tsp Garam Masala,
1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder,
Few pinches of Asafoetida,
1 tsp lemon juice,
Cilantro, chopped,
Salt to taste

Method:
1. In a non stick pot, heat oil, add mustard seeds & wait untill it splutters, once done, add onion, curry leaves, asafoetida & green chillies and cook untill onion becomes translucent.
2. Add mixed-cooked beans. Mix well.
3. Now add rice, turmeric powder, salt, garam masala, lemon juice. Mix well.
4. Garnish it with chopped fresh cilantro. Serve Hot.

Tip: A little variation, pomegranate & fresh coconut can also be added, it worked with my fussy eater.

Tomato Onion Chutney & Idli(Steamed Rice & Lentil Dumplings)

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Know what you Eat - If you are looking for a fat free food Idli(Steamed Rice & Lentil Dumpling) is the top food on the list. Idlis are made from a combination of rice and urad dal which is fermented and then steamed. Both these processes are very good for the digestive system and involve cooking with no oil at all. Most restaurants however use baking soda to speed up getting the idli batter ready and while too much baking soda does destroy nutrients and affects the digestive system in the long run. This is a very popular breakfast item in South India.

Now coming to the nutrition in this food, the carotenoid lycopene found in tomatoes (and everything made from them) is a very useful antioxidant and has cancer-preventing properties. Urad Dal(a type of lentil) is a very good source of dietary fiber and protein. Parboiling rice drives nutrients, especially thiamine, from the bran into the grain, so that parboiled white rice is 80% nutritionally similar to brown rice.

From yesterday's Chole puri from the North we are travelling down to the traditional Idli chutney of South. I always have Idli batter in my refrigerator and this is one of the quick breakfast item on a time crunchy day.

Tomato Chutney

Preparation Time - 1o mins
Cooking Time - 15 mins
Serves - 4

Ingredients

Tomato - 2 big ones ripe and firm but not over ripe
Onion - 1
Red chilli - 4 or to taste
Oil - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Split Urad dal - 2 tsp
Asafaoetida powder - pinch

Method

1) Chop tomato and onion into small pieces and corsely grind in a blender along with red chillies(do not puree, otherwise it will become like tomato ketchup).
2) Heat oil, add mustard seeds. Once they stop spluttering add split urad dal, asafoetida powder and saute till urad dal becomes slightly brown.
3) Now add the tomato, onion, red chill paste and simmer in the gas stove for 10 to 15 minutes till the water evaporates.
4) Add salt to taste and serve with hot idlis.

Idli

Ingredients

Urad Dal(whole) - 1 cup
Idli Rice(Puzhungal Arisi/ ParBoiled Rice) - 2 1/2 cups**
Salt to taste

Method

1) Rinse and drain Urad dal till you get a clear water. Now soak in enough water for 2-3 hours.
2) Rinse and drain Idli rice and soak in enough water for 6 hours.
3) Using a stone grinder/blender grind the urad dal adding the soaked water little by little till you get a smooth fluffy batter.
4) Now grind the rice into a fine paste adding water little by little.
5) Mix the Urad dal batter, Rice batter and Salt and mix them thoroughly.
6) Leave it over night for the batter to ferment nicely, on cold winter days switch on the oven light and leave the batter inside the oven overnight. The heat from the light will make the batter to ferment.
7) The trick to get a soft spongy idli is proportion, the grind urad batter and rice batter should be in equal quantity, so based on how much batter you are getting from the urad dal adjust your rice batter.
8) Now use cooking spray and grease the idli plates, thoroughly combine the fermented batter and pour the batter in the greased plates and steam them for 15 minutes on medium heat in a pressure cooker or pan till they are cooked.
9) Serve with Chutney.

Event Participation

This dish goes to My legume love affair twelfth helping event hosted by Annarasa started by Susan.

This dish goes to Delectable Combinations hosted by Kamalika originally started by Sunshinemom.

This goes to EFM June Breakfast series hosted by Srish.

*This rice measurement depends on how much batter comes out from the urad dal, for most of the varieties available in India you can add as much upto 5 cups of rice. But the ones available here i use anywhere between 2 1/2 to 3 cups of rice. The fluffy urad batter and the rice batter should be in equal quantity to get a soft idli. So adjust according to the quality of your urad dal)

Jain Indo Chinese Manchurian

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No Onion No Garlic
Jain Indo Chinese Manchurian

(discard carrots,ginger if you want to make pure Jain)

Ingredients:

2 C grated cabbage
2 C grated carrots (optional)
1/2 C chopped cauliflower
1 Tbsp chopped ginger & green chilli
1 Tbsp chopped coriander
1 Tbsp Corn Starch
1 C cooked / leftover rice
1 Tbsp Ming's Dark Soya Sauce
1 tsp Pepper Powder
1 tsp Sugar
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

For Gravy:

2 Tbsp tomato ketcup
1 Tbsp corn starch
1 tsp chopped ginger
1 Cup chopped cabbage/cauliflower/cilantro
3 tsp Soya Sauce
1/2 tsp vinegar
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Mix grated cabbage and carrots and squeeze the water out from them.
2. Now in a bowl take the squeezed cabbage and carrots, cauliflower, cilantro, cooked rice, soya sauce and mix 1 tbsp. corn starch and add few chopped ginger & chilies acc. to how hot can you handle, little salt and sugar to it.
3. Make small balls (like koftas) of the mixture .
4. On a medium high flame, heat the oil in a kadhai / wok and deep fry the balls till golden brown, drain and keep aside.
5. Now in a separate pan heat 2 tbsp oil.
6. Sauté chopped cabbage cauliflower, green chilies and coriander.
7. Add tomato ketchup, water, salt, pepper powder,sugar and soya sauce.
8. Bring it to a boil. Add vinegar.
9. Mix 1 tbsp corn four with half of a cup of cold water and stir into it. the gravy starts to become thick. Gently add the fried balls to the gravy.
10. Cook the vegetable manchurian for 3-4 minutes and serve hot garnished with chopped coriander.

Note: Best served with Plain / Chinese Vegetable Fried Rice

Chinese Vegetable Brown Rice

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Know What you Eat - Green Onions, Scallions are actually baby onions picked before a large bulb has formed. Don't confuse them with spring onions, which have larger bulbs.

Cooking Time - 15-20 min

Preparation Time - 15 min

Serves - 4 to 6

Ingredients

Brown rice - 2 cups

Broccolli florets - 1 cup

Bell pepper(Red & Green) - half each

Carrots(big) - 2

Scallion - 1 bunch
Onion - 1

Water

Salt to taste

Soy sauce - 1 1/2 table spoon