An early fall weekend...

The start of September this year, could not pronounce more loudly that Fall was here. It was almost like Mother Nature had come in with a big magic wand and waved it around us, “Ok folks, it’s back to school time and my favorite season fall is here!” Aadi started kindergarten this year, stealing the thunder a little from Deepta. His first day went well he is missing his old pre-school and friends. I shall miss it too! It has been a part of my life for almost seven years, since it included the daycare for Deepta. My son is a lot like me, he needs to ease into change but once settled he does well.

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Lemon Rice/Rice Pulihora

Among the many wonderful Indian blogs that I like to follow, is Sailu's blog. Here blog is usally really well illustrated with pictures, clear directions and has a wonderful mix of both authentic Indian and several experimental and innovative recipes for pasta and wholesome kid friendly mean. This particular recipe caught my attention, because of both its use of lemon instead of tamarind and also used delicate broken rice also called rice rawa. There are I guess several variations of pulihora, which I realized essentually translates to sour rice in Telegu, which is spoken in Andhra Pradesh. Well, I did not have rice rawa (broken rice available in the house), but I did have delicate fragrant kalajeera rice available. So I made a pulihora, that was very close to her recipe power packed with a lot of fresh lemon juice that ended up being a lovely refreshing meal for a summer night. Here is how I did it.

Lemon Rice/Pulihora

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Serves 4 people

Ingredients

1.5 cups of kalajeera rice

1 and 3/4 cup water

1 teaspoon salt

For the tempering

2 tablespoon oil

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

1/8 teaspoon asafetida or hing

1 teaspoon chana dal (yellow split lentils)

1 teaspoon urad dal

10-12 curry leaves

2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger

3/4 cup of dry roasted peanuts

3-4 dried red chilies

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

2 lemons, halved and seeded

2 green chillies, very finely chopped

1/3 cup cilantro leaves

Method of Preparation

1. Cook the rice in the water for about 12 minutes, drain and rinse throughly and set out to cool.

2. Heat the oil and add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, asafetida and wait till the mustard seeds begin to crackle. Add in the lentils and let them brown for 2 minutes.

3. Add in the curry leaves, ginger and dry roasted peanuts and cook lightly for about 1minutes. Add in the red chilies.

4. Mix in the rice and the turmeric and mix well.

5. Squeeze in the lemon juice and stir in the green chilies and cilantro.

Note: The flavor of this rice improves considerably served after 30 minutes and also tastes good warm rather than very hot.

Intensely Flavorful Mushroom Pulao

I think that a person's reactions to things change with age, at least mine sure does. I used to be very emotional when I was much younger and then when through a more sober phase, and I seem to be back to my old ways.
I seem to gush and cry over everything again. Interestingly enough, both my children have rather different temperaments. So my daughter who is rather pragmatic like her dad, is never quite sure what to make of this, on the other hand my son actually fuels and adds to the drama. In fact, he calls me, "my beautiful mother". Well, I have been orcilating between high and emotions the past week. I have a little project on the way - a cookbook. It is much my kind of a project, being published by a very local boutique publisher, it allows me a lot of creative room to do more than share my recipes. There is some element of fear and nervousness at putting my recipes, "out there" more formally, but then again you have to try something at least once...
So, readers of this blog will be possibly listening to more stories about the book. If you really want to follow the countdown, do stop by the facebook page, The Contemporary Indian Table and become a fan.
Now down to the recipe, this simple pulao, is an ode to cumin and of course lovely lush mushrooms. It is amazing how much flavor a few small ingredients can produce.

Mushroom pulao with cashew nuts

Prep Time: 3-4 minutes
Cook Time: 27 minutes
Serves 4 people

Ingredients

1 tablespoon ghee
1 tablespoon oil
1.5 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 onion, cut into a dice
1/2 teaspoon powdered cumin
3 pods cardamom
1 cup thickly sliced button mushrooms
1.5 cups of white basmati rice
2 3/4 water
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup dry roasted cashew nuts
Red pepper flakes (optional)

Method of Preparation

1. Heat the ghee and the oil and add in the cumin seeds and cook for about 30 seconds till the cumin sizzles becomes very aromatic.
2. Add in the onion and cook for 7-8 minutes, till the onion softens, wilts and begins to turn golden. If you love cumin and onions as much as I do, you will simply do this step just to savor the fragrance of these two ingredients cooking together.
3. Add in the powdered cumin, cardamoms and the mushrooms and cook for another minute.
4. Add in the basmati rice and mix gently.
5. Add in the water and the salt and bring the water to a boil, let it simmer and cover and cook on medium heat for 18 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave covered for another 5 minutes.
6. If you do not have roasted cashew nuts, place the raw cashew nuts on a skillet and lightly roast them till they turn very lightly golden at spots. This process enhances the flavor of the nuts.
7. Remove the cover and stir in the nuts, sprinkle with red pepper flakes if desired and serve either alone or as a side.

A long long week

This has been a difficult week at work. The stress of things has just been exhausting! These troubled times can be very demanding, I actually think cooking and walking are extremely therapeutic. I am not sure what I would do if I did not have food, in my life. Food nourishes and sustains and cheers in the worst of days.

This fried rice was my first time cooking with really old and left over rice as in rice from a chinese takeout package. I was surprise how well it worked out. This recipe is an indo-chinese variation of fried rice.

Chili-Garlic Fried Rice

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 tablespoons oil

1/2 cup shallots, chopped

1/2 cup scallions, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 green chillies minced

1 carrot, thinly sliced

2-3 large shrimp chopped

1/2 cup cilantro, minced

2 cups rice (at least 1 day old, kept for several hours in the refrigerator)

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon sriracha

1 teaspoon sugar

Method of Preparation

1. Heat half the oil and stir in the shallots, scallions and garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes.

2. Beat the eggs and salt.

3. In a seperate pan heat the remaining oil and cook the eggs like omelettes.

4. Cut the eggs into small 1 inch pieces

5. Add the carrots and chillies to the shallots and cook for 1-2 minutes.

6. Add in all the remaining ingrendients and cook till well mixed with the rice. Stir in the eggs and serve.

Pulao with yogurt, peas and carrots

One of the problems we as parents have or maybe I should speak for myself and some others that I know, is that we like to take the simplicity out of kids lives particularly with food and then wonder why they do not eat what we cook for them.
When I first started cooking for my daughter, I used to go nuts, making elaborate stews, then blending them and going besides myself with disappointment when she did not like what I made for her. Over time, I learnt to relax, settle for a few essential stapples and building as the days passed. By and large, they like colors, they love yogurt, simple vegetables, dals and rice. Balanced, wholesome, sometimes a little boring but if they are happy and it is nutritious, why should I care?

This is a conversion of the essential matar pulao, into a complete meal by adding some more veggies, mung dal and buttermilk. It is absolutely comforting and actually rather good for lunch boxes on the go!

Garjar Matar Dahi Pulao - Rice with Carrots, Peas and Buttermilk

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp ghee
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 onion, finely chopped
A few pieces bay leaves, cloves and cardamom
1 cup basmati rice, soaked for 30 minutes
1/2 cup split green mung dal
1/2 cup peas
1/2 cup grated carrots
2 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk

Method of Preparation

1. Heat the oil and ghee and add the cumin seeds.
2. Add the onion, bay leaves, cloves and cardamom and stir for a few seconds.
3. Add in the rice and dal and cook for 1 minutes.
4. Add the remaining ingredients with 1.5 cups water or broth.
5. Bring to a simmer and lower the heat and cover and cook for 22 minutes.
6. Remove the cover and stir well once.
7. Leave covered for 5-10 minutes and serve with additional yogurt if desired.



On a hectic week such as the one that just went by, meals such as these tend to be major lifesavers.


I shall be sending this recipe to Preety's Kitchen, who is the host of this months cooking for kids, an event very close to my heart, started by Sharmi.

Anari Jhinga Birayani

A really pretty siren has caught my husband's eye, he cannot seem to get enough of her. Every weekend he appears with this stunning red fruit, he complements her healthy qualities and drowns in her tangy potent taste.
Being sporting, I welcomed her to my kitchen on election night. I shall share that story later, because I have realized she has a way with my usual weeknight kitchen mate -seafood.
Her beguiling complexion is an enchanting sight, eat me she says and your complexion too will improve.
OK, so this is what I did with her - made her into the queen of rice dishes - a birayani.





Anari Jhinga Birayani - Pomegranate Shrimp Birayani

Serves 4

For the rice

1.5 cups basmati rice
1 cup pom pomegranate juice
3-4 cardamoms
1 large piece cinnamon (broken)
3-4 cloves
1 cup cooked chick peas
1 tsp salt

1 tbsp ghee

1/2 cup pom pomegranate seeds

For the shrimp base

3-4 tbsp oil

2 onions finely chopped

1 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp minced ginger

1 tsp red chili powder

1/2 tsp cumin powder

1/2 tsp coriander powder

1 cup yogurt

3 tomatoes, chopped

1 tsp garam masala powder

1 tsp fenugreek leaves

1.5 lbs large shrimp

Sealing Base

1 cup low-fat buttermilk

1/2 shelled almonds

1 cup Pom Pomegranate juice

1 tsp saffron strands

To garnish

1 hard boiled egg

1/2 cup pom pomegranate seeds

Method of Preparation

1. Cook the rice for 7-10 minutes in the pomegranate juice, cardamom, cinnamon and cloves.

2. Stir in the chick peas, ghee and salt and set aside.

3. Heat the oil and saute the onions, ginger and garlic for the base for 7 minutes.

4. Add the chili. cumin and coriander powders and cook briefly for a few seconds.

5. Add yogurt and tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes till soft. Stir in the garam masala.

6. Cool slightly and blend till smooth and stir in the fenugreek leaves and shrimp.

7. Blend the buttermilk and almonds and stir in the saffron.

8. In a pot, place one layer of the rice mixture, top this with the shrimp mixture and the pomegranate seeds.

9. Top with the remaining rice mixture and pour the sealing base of almonds- buttermilk over this.

10. Cover and cook on low heat for 30 minutes.

11. Let this sit for 5 minutes.

12. Remove the cover and garnish with eggs and pomegranate seeds and serve.

Pea and Mixed Vegetable Pulao - picking out the peas

My children love peas, and adding them to a rice dish makes the food

go much quicker. The deal, is that each spoonful should have at least one pea and it is a great source of excitement if they get more. Well, this is a very typical combination, I love the flavor that the bay leaves add to the rice.

Pea and Mixed vegetable Pulao

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 teaspoons oil (I use a non-stick pot or you will need more oil)

1 onion chopped finely

A few cloves

2 - 3 dried bay leaves crumbled

1.5 tsp salt

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp turmeric

1 cup fresh peas

1 cup chopped cauliflower

1/2 chopped potato

1 parsnip peeled and chopped

11/4 cup basmati rice soaked for at least half an hour (I do this while I am preparing the remaining items)

1 tomato quatered

2 cups of water

2 tsp butter (optional)

Method of preparation

1. Heat the oil and saute the onion till turning brown.

2. Add in the seasonings and the chopped vegetables and stir for 5 minutes.

3. Mix in the rice and stir till turning light brown

4. Mix in the water and add the tomato (I like to leave this in chunks).

5. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and cook on low for 18 minutes.

5. Leave covered for 5 minutes.

6. Stir lightly and add in the butter if using.