Today's Lunch Methi Rice with Cucumber, Onion raita

Hello all my dear readers! Although a little late to greet you all on the week's start, I thought just posting a new recipe would make my boredom and laziness flee, and I could take control of my usual routine sooner. Well it did do the magic, but not for long. But it is okay to be bored, and lazy, I say to myself, since for one  this being a Monday coming after a long weekend, another big enough reason being winter, short days and long nights and should I go on, the list can be endless. Bottom line, I just want to spend some days lazily he he he...
So an aromatic main course with a a very pleasant side dish was the result of today's laziness. If my husband were to read this line, he would definitely say "long live your laziness my dear". He is a food lover and a very lovely husband who rarely disapproves of anything I make. Good friends, and an understanding family is a seemingly simple, yet fortuitous boon to oneself, which I am lucky to have. Today's dish is from one such friend who has a good heart to share not just delicious dishes she makes but her recipes too!
                                                                                 And here is the recipe for the simple, but fragrant rice dish!                                                                        
Ingredients:
methi leaves a bunch
2 Tomatoes
8-9 Green chillies
Peas
Ginger garlic Paste - 1 tbspn
OOh and Basmati or Sonamasoori rice about 3 cups washed and soaked in about 5 cups water.
Seasoning:
Curryleaves
Jeera

In a deep vessel, add about 2 tbspoons oil wait till hot and add the curryleaves, then add jeera followed by ginger+garlic paste. saute the paste for about a minute. Then add the methi leaves, and peas, saute them ( I used frozen peas for the time being, you can use fresh peas if available ) for about 2-3 minutes. Add the roughly diced tomatoes and saute for another 2 minutes.Add a pinch of turmeric and enough salt to the mixture.  Add the fried ingredients to the soaked rice and cook in a rice cooker ( since it is a lazy day for me ). But if you have the time, you can add 5 cups water to the sauteed methi and other ingredients and cook in the same vessel. Meanwhile prepare raitha of your choice ( my choice for today was  onion and cucumber ) and wait for the rice to be done.  I bet your home will be filled with the flavorful fragrance of methi by then. I donot have words to describe the joy my heart was filled with while savouring the Rice with the Raitha.  There is one more dish that I love cooking and eating to my heart's content, Khichdi. But for today 2 thumbsup for my friend's Methi Rice with Raitha. I was halfway through my lunch when I remembered that I had forgotten to take a picture for my dear blog. So dont mind the not so aesthetically taken picture!! Bye now

Udikinchina Beans Karam

For those of you who still remember my post " Fresh Produce from farmers Market", I made an interesting dish with the Purple colored Beans bought from the Farmer's Market.  I am here with one more recipe from my region which is a Protein packed Curry. I will tell you why it is so. There are beans which are high in protein content, and Peanuts which need no introduction to their nutrition content. And added bonus are dried coconut, and garlic which has high medicinal value, and last but not least  everyone's favorite Potatoes ( this is optional although adding them just ups the flavor twice).

So would it be an exaggeration to say this is what I say it is? And, you can cook the same curry with spring beans, clustered beans(Mattikayalu/Gorchikkudu), the purple beans that are in the pictures. This is a regular back home that goes perfectly with Ragi Mudda  for the lunch and with chapathi for dinner. Okay so the precious ingredients for the curry are

1.  Beans about 1/2 lb broken into halves
2. 1 medium sized potato cubed
3. 2 medium sized tomatoes cut into big chunks
4. 13-14 green chillies ( Thai ones are good to use )
5. 1/2 cup fried peanuts
6. dried coconut 2tb spoons
7.  4 garlic cloves big ones
8. dhania powder 1 tbspn
9. 1/2 medium sized onion chopped roughly
10.Bunch of  Cilantro
salt to taste

Now  make a paste of the green chillies and salt. Keep it aside. Now grind peanuts, coconut, garlic, dhania powder into a not so fine powder. Take a deep bottomed vessel and add 1 tb spn of vegetable oil or any oil of your choice and wait until hot to add curryleaves, mustard. Once they start spluttering add onions, potatoes and beans and salt fry for a minute. Now add the green chilli paste and mix thoroughly into the veggies. Wait for a couple of minutes and then add a cup of water and let the mixture boil. This is the reason why the curry is called "Udikinchina Karam/Boiled karam". After about 5 minutes of boiling, add the powdered peanut+coconut mixture onto the boiling mixture. Donot stir immediately, after about a minute stir the peanut powder into the Karam, and then add the diced tomatoes along with the cilantro. Taste to see if salt is enough. Cook for about 10 more minutes until beans and potatoes are cooked but not over cooked. Take it off the heat and eat it with chapathi or hot rice or even better Ragi sangati.
The key to the success of this recipe is behind the green chilli paste well cooked into the vegetables, and just enough amount of the peanut powder. Too much of peanuts will make the curry milder and subdue its authenticity. Well there was one interesting recipe for you all.

Let us celebrate this auspicious day of Karthika Pournami by cleansing our innerselves and ridding ourselves of   questionable  but all pervasive thoughts of greed, anger, prejudice and resentment and welcome thoughts of love, compassion, contentment and good will.

Spicy Pandu Mirapayakaya karam for the cold season

Spicy but yummy!!

Albeit for a short period, this year's Indian festival season is almost coming to an end .  With all the sugary foods in sight I usually love to eat something spicy with my rice. This makes my appetite for sweets even more. Hmm very sinful but its okay to indulge once in a year or is it just all year long..As my dear hubby says eat eat and eat but burn it off the same way. That should balance the equation right. Well here is one very spicy chutney for the coming cold days. We call it " Pandumirapakaya Karam"/ripe red chilli karam. This can be stored for atleast a year, just like a pickle. But there will not be much left for storage anyway. Here is the recipe

Ingredients:
Plush ripe red chillies 1lb(  bought them fresh from the Farmer's market)
Tamarind about the size of 2 lemons
1 teaspn mustard
1/2 teaspoon methi seeds
Salt to taste

For the seasoning
1/2 cup of Oil ( Gingelly/Olive)
a bunch of curryleaves
Mustard seeds

Boil the red chillies in  water just enough to soak in a kadai/Bandli. Add about 2 teaspoons salt (Enough salt is the key a tasty pickle or chutney) to the chillies. When the skins of the  red chillies are soft add washed tamarind ( Donot add any water to soak the tamarind..just wash) and let both the ingredients cook for another 5 minutes. Keep aside and let it cool. Meanwhile fry the mustard and methi in a little bit of oil and powder them in a grinder. Now add the redchilli+tamarind and make it into a chunky paste in the grinder/mixer. Heat oil in a small kadai, add the mustard and curryleaves and wait till they splutter. Take it off the heat and let it cool. Add the seasoning oil to the redchilli chutney. Presto there is our spicy dish for our cold day. Fry some Vadiyams/Papads and the perfect lunch is there to drive the cold away from your body!
Hope you would try the recipe and feel the same as I do!
Will be back with another "Karam" next time it will be a curry karam which can be eaten with chapathi/Ragi Mudda.
Adios Amigos!! (nowadays my son's favorite phrase)