Coriander Curry Leaves Flavored Rice - Kothamalli Karuvepillai Sadam

I got a big bag of curry leaves from my cousin visiting from Florida. When you have a lot of curry leaves,remove the leaves from the stems, wash and dry them completely. Once dry pack them in ziplock bags and freeze. Stays good for a long time.

I have been wanting to make this kothamalli karuvepillai sadam (Coriander Curry Leaves Rice) ever since. I also had an excess of coriander leaves and the rice finally came to be. It is flavorful and tasty and I don't know what I was waiting for. Thanks to seeing this on the Facebook feedArchana's kitchen which gave me the much needed push. The recipe I used is slightly different.


Curry Leaves are rich in iron. Nutritional anemia is a health crisis in India and a lot of India women are at a risk for anemia. It is especially important for vegetarians to include a wide variety of iron rich green leafy vegetables, millets, pulses, legumes, dry fruits etc in their diet. Since curry leaves are readily available and they are used for seasoning instead of using the whole leaf, cut them into smaller pieces so it is consumed instead of being removed and thrown out.

Source: Improving bio availability of iron in Indian diets through food food-based approaches for the control of iron deficiency anaemia - FAO

This flavored rice is extremely easy to make. If you already have cooked rice making this rice is even quicker. I added peanuts for some extra protein and also for the taste, if you want to skip that add a handful of channa dal instead.

Here is the recipe in pictures,

Wash and soak the rice. Cook in the Instant Pot for 8 minutes.
Wash and soak the rice. Cook in the Instant Pot for 8 minutes.
Roast the red chilies followed by the curry leaves.
Roast the coriander leaves and the coconut for a few minutes. Add in the peanuts.
Add the roasted curry leaves, coriander leaves to the coriander seeds. Blend to coarse paste without adding water.
In a wide mouthed pan add oil and add the seasonings. Add the onions and saute till translucent. Add the blended paste and saute for a couple of minutes.
Add in the rice and mix into the paste well taking care not to break the rice.

Coriander Curry Leaves Flavored Rice - Kothamalli Karuvepillai sadam
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 25 minutes
Ingredients

1. 1 cup of Kalijeera Rice (use Basmati, Ponni or any rice you prefer)
2. 1 cup of packed fresh coriander leaves
3. 1/2 cup of fresh or frozen curry leaves
4. 1/2 cup of roasted peanuts - split into 1/4 cups
5. 1 tbsp channa dal/bengal gram/kadalai paruppu (optional)
6. 2 tsp of split urad dal
7. 1 tsp coriander seeds
8. 1/2 tsp of peppercorns
9. 3-4 dried red chilies
10. 1/4 tsp cumin seeds
11. 2 tbsp grated fresh coconut
12. salt to taste
13. 1 tsp oil + 2 tsp of sesame oil
14. 1/4 cup of chopped red onions
15. seasonings: mustard seeds, curry leaves

Method

1. Wash and soak the kalijeera rice for about 30 minutes or so preferably. Cook the rice either in an Instant Pot (8 minutes) or Pressure cooker for one whistle or stove top,adding in a tsp of salt and 2 tsp of sesame oil.
2. Let the pressure subside naturally and fluff up the rice and set aside. *
3. While the rice is cooking you can get the rest of the masala paste ready. In a wide mouthed pan dry roast the urad dal, coriander seeds and pepper corns, altogether is fine but only till the urad dal starts to turn slightly brown. Transfer to the blender. Add in the dried chilies and roast for a minute or so.
4. Add in the curry leaves and roast for a minute or so till it starts to change color followed by the coriander leaves and saute for couple more minutes.
5. Add in the grated coconut and and saute for 2-3 minutes or till starts to brown. Add in half the peanuts and turn off the heat and add the roasted curry leaves and coriander leaves mixture to the blender.
6. Blend the sauteed mixture to a slightly coarse paste without adding water and set aside.
7. In a wide mouthed pan, add oil, if using channa dal roast that first till golden brown and then add the mustard seeds and when it pops add the onion and saute till the onions become translucent. Add in the peanuts and saute for a minute more.
8. Add in the blended paste and saute for a couple of minutes.
9. Add in the fluffed up rice and mix it into the paste gently so as not to break the grains of rice.
   Turn off the heat.
10. Note: While fluffing up the rice use cutting motion to break the rice, this prevents the grains from being broken.

Serve with some chips or like we did some roasted potatoes.

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