Radish Masala Rice - Radish Fried Rice

Wishing you all a Very Happy New Year! A year of mindful eating and growing your own food :)

If there is one vegetable that you would want to grow in early spring that should be radish. With the shortest growing time of any vegetable, about 6 weeks and you get fresh crunchy radish to enjoy. Fresh radish does not smell and a lot of people told me that they were surprised by the lack of the tell tale signs of radish we know so well.

Radish grows well in cool weather so this is the first spring vegetables that we are lucky to enjoy. When you have an abundance of a good thing you try to come with up ways to use it and thus was born this Radish Masala Rice. I was pleasantly surprised by how good it tasted.

Pretty easy to make, I added ingredients to make the rice flavorful and also keeping in mind that radish is known for its smell I added few of the powdererd whole spices.

Peel the skin and grate the radish using a grater.
Prepare onions, ginger and green chilies. In a wide mouthed pan, heat oil and add mustard seeds and cumin.
Saute the onions and green chilies. Cook rice, fluff and set aside.
Take the whole spices in a coffee grinder and make a powder.
Add grated ginger and saute it and add the turmeric and spice powder. Add in the grated radish.
once the radish is cooked, squeeze in the lime. Add the cooked rice..
Mix the rice into the radish masala well

The masala rice can be served with some potato chips or roasted potatoes.

Radish Masala Rice
Preparation Time:20 minutes
Cooking Time:25 minutes
Ingredients

1. 1 1/2 cups of Basmati or any White grained Rice
2. 1/2 cup chopped shallots or red onions
3. 4-5 green chilies slit (I usually remove the seeds)
4. 1 inch piece of ginger grated
5. 10-12 small radishes (enough to get 2 cups of grated radish)
6. 1 small lime
7. Whole Spices - small piece of cinnamon, few cloves, 1/2 tsp of fennel seeds
8. seasonings : mustard seeds, cumin seeds
9. 1 tsp of turmeric powder
10. 2 tsp oil + 1 tsp
11. salt to taste

Method

1. Cook the rice with some salt and a tsp of oil. Once cooked, cool and fluff it up.
2. While the rice is cooking, peel the radishes and grate it.
3. Using a blender or a coffee grinder blend to a fairly smooth powder. Do not overpower with a strong smell of the garam masala or whole spices.
4. In a wide mouthed pan, heat oil and add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds. When the mustard seeds pop, add the onions and green chilies.
5. When the onions starts to brown a bit, add the grated ginger and saute for a minute.
6. Add in the turmeric powder and mix it into the onions.
7. Add the grated radish and cook till the radish is completely cooked. Add salt.
8. Now add in the powdered whole spices. Mix it in well.
9. Squeeze in the lime juice and cook for half a minute more.
10. Now add the cooked fluffed up rice and mix it so the rice is well coated.

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Coimbatore to Srinagar - Seventh Stop - Jaipur - Rajathani Layered Veg Biryani - Jodhpuri Kabuli Recipe

The next stop on the virtual journey was in the beautiful city of Jaipur. Rajasthan - the culture, the foods, the architecture, the harsh conditions in which people live all make the place utterly fascinating. I am so glad that DH set out on this journey. The Indian culinary portfolio is so vast that is almost impossible to cover everything in one life time.

While I have barely scratched the surface of Kongu Foods and Tamilnadu foods so it is absolutely impossible to travel around India and even begin to master the recipes from the rest of India. But I think we are fortunate to have this array of delicacies - from the rustic to the sophisticated to enjoy from various parts of India.

The ingredients are all familiar but the manner in which they are combined and cooked is what makes them specialities of a region. Take this recipe for example, all familiar ingredients but the way it is put together is very different making it familiar but yet different tasting.

DH cooked the dish from this blog VegeCravings here. The recipe consists of cooking the rice, shallow frying the vegetables followed by cooking them in a yogurt based gravy and then layering and cooking it. Makes it a meal fit for the maharajahs :)

Recipe in pictures,

Vegetables that are used in the recipe.
Spices and shallow frying the vegetables.
Steam the rice and complete the shallow frying of the vegetables.
Steam the rice and complete the shallow frying of the vegetables.
Prepare the gravy for the vegetables and start layering.
Finish the layering.

There are several different steps to making this recipe, some of these can be done side by side. Although the ingredient list looks very elaborate, it is fairly straight forward.

Rajasthani Layered Veg Biryani
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients

1. 2 cups of rice
2. 1 cup of yogurt
3. 1 cup of sliced onions
4. 1/2 cup of tomatoes
5. 4 garlic cloves
6. 2 inch piece of ginger
7. 2-3 green chilies
8. salt to taste
9. 2-3 tbsp of oil
10. 2 tbsp ghee
11. 2 potatoes
12. 2-3 carrots
13. 1/2 medium cauliflower
14. 1/2 cup of peas
15. 2 slices of bread - diced into cubes
16. 1/4 cup of cashews
17. seasonings: bay leaves and 1 tsp cumin seeds
Whole Spices
18. 1 tsp pepper corns
19. 2-3 cardamoms
20. 3-4 cloves
21. a small 1 inch piece of cinnamon
Spice Powders
22. 1 tsp of turmeric powder
23. 2 tsp coriander powder
24. 2 tsp red chili powder

Method

1. Wash and cook the rice till it is almost cooked, fluff it up and set it aside.
2. Cut and prepare the vegetables, slice the potatoes into rounds, dice the carrots and chop the cauliflower.
3. Slice the onions, peel and mince the ginger, garlic and green chilies.
4. Coarsely grind the whole spices and set aside.
5. Heat a pan with the ghee and roast the cashews and set aside.
6. Add a bit of oil to the ghee, roast the potatoes till it starts to turn brown and set aside. (control the instinct to eat all the roasted potatoes)
7. Add the diced carrots and roast them and set aside, followed by the cauliflower, roast it and set aside.
8. Add the diced bread and roast it and set aside.
9. In the same pan add the bay leaves, cumin seeds and when browned add the onions and saute till they are browned.
10. Add the minced ginger, garlic and green chilies and saute them for 2-3 minutes.
11. Add the spice powders,salt and the coarsely ground spices and mix it well.
12. Add the whisked yogurt and add it to the spices and mix it well.
13. Add the roasted vegetables and mix it into the yogurt sauce. Cook for 2-3 minutes and set aside.
14. Now on to layering the dish,
15. Add a layer of cooked rice to a baked dish, followed by a layer of the yogurt gravy with vegetables.
16. Add another layer of rice and gravy. Now top the gravy with coriander leaves, choppe onions, tomatoes and cashews.
17. Preheat the oven to 325F, and bake for about 10 minutes till heated through.
Mix and serve.

A fantasitc dish if you ask me. Serve with some raita. Like what you are reading? Subscribe!

Food For The Gods - A Philippine Desert - Cookie Bar

Wishing you all a Very Happy Holiday Season and Merry Christmas!

The following situation has been going on for a long time. Every year for the past 10 years, I mean this has been going on for a long time. The week before Chritmmas, The Washington Post has a food supplement filled with recipes for cookies. I save it hoping one day I'd get to make at least one of the cookies listed there. In the hope that it is holiday time after all and there will obviously be time. December becomes January, followed by February and then March, you get the idea.

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Time passes by but the cookies never get baked. This happens year after year. Anyway cue in the dramatic music. This since DD was home she made these delicious cookies. For some reason any recipe that has dates, that is the first we turn to. The good thing is with dates you can reduce the sugar quantity and it still tastes good. Sometimes adding the sugar amount mentioned in the recipe, it gets too sweet.

Food For the Gods
Preparation Time:20 minutes
Baking Time:45 minutes
Ingredients

1. 1 1/2 cups of chopped pecans (walnuts as per original recipe)
2. 2 cups of white whole wheat flour
3. 1/2 tsp baking soda
4. 1/2 tsp baking powder
5. 1/4 tsp of kosher salt
6. 1 lb pound mejdool dates pitted and cut lenghtwise into 4 pieces
7. 3 sticks unsalted butter at room temperatuer
8. 1 cup of brown sugar
9. 4 large eggs at room temperature
10. 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Bake the cookie in the middle rack. Preheat oven to 325F.
2. Roast the pecans or walnuts for 8-10 minutes, shaking partway and then cool completely.
3. Grease a 9 x 13 pan and line the baking pan with parchment paper with generous overhang and set aside. Coat the sides and bottom of the pan over the parchament with nonstick spray.
4. In a smaller bowl mix about 1/3 cups of the flour with the dates and pecans till well coated.
5. In a mixing bowl whisk togethere flour, baking powder, baking soda, and kosher salt until fully incorporated.
6. In another bowl whisk together eggs, brown sugar until the sugar is dissolved.
7. Add the eggs one at a time, whisking to incorporate one eggs before adding the next one.
8. Whisk in the vanilla extract and then the flour in two batches till incorporated.
9. Add in the pecans and dates mixture also in two batches till fully incorporated.
10. Transfer the batter to the baking pan and even out the top.
11. Bake for 40-45 minutes rotating from front to back half way through. The edges and top should be browned with a golden crust. A skewer inserted should come out clean.
12. Remove using the overhanging parchment cool and cut them into bars.

Serve the warm bars with some ice cream. Heaven!! Like what you are reading? Subscribe!

Ginger-Mustard Vazhakkai Roast - Pan roasted Raw Banana with ginger and mustard

Hardly a month into the cold weather I start to miss the warm days. The days I could be outside doing what I like most. But over the years I have also learned the appreicate these colder months where there is nothing to be done, correct that, nothing I really like to do that could be done. It gives me pause to catch up on other things I also like to do, like reading, like posting recipes on this blog, planning what to grow for the next year etc., things which are not possible during the busy summer months.

It snowed a few days ago and is still cold and the snow is still stuck on the ground. I have been rooted inside in front of the TV. Not really watching but killing time.

The cold weather reminded me of this recipe that my friend had given me. If you like spicy by which I mean the heat this is the recipe.

Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes, Taro, Tapioaca, Raw Banana all have a special place in my heart. Why, I guess most of you know why? They are starchy and lend themselves to be roasted with spices. The addition of oil only enhances their taste.

Though this recipe is with raw banana, I am guessing any of the starchy vegetables from above can be substituted if you do not have raw bananas.

Steam and cut the raw banana. Take ginger and green chilies in a blender.
In a wide mouthed pan, heat oil and add the seasonings. Add the diced raw banana and salt.
Add the blended ginger. green chilies and mx it in.
Roast mustard seeds and roasted chicke peas and make a powder.
Add the chick pea powder and mix it in well and saute till it is fully coated and roasted .

The recipe is so easy to make.

Pan Roasted Raw Banana with ginger and pepper
Preparation Time:15 minutes
Cooking Time:25 minutes
Ingredients

1. 2 Raw Bananas
2. 2 inch piece of ginger
3. 4 green chilies
4. 1 tsp mustard seeds
5. 1/4 cup of roasted chick peas (pottukadalai)
6. salt to taste
7. 1 tsp oil
8. seasonings : cumin , mustard seeds

Method

1. Cut the ends of the raw banana and cut into half and steam with skin on for about 6-8 minuts. Sprinkle some butter milk on the raw banana to avoid discoloration.
2. Cool, remove the skin and cut into 1/2 inch cubes.
3. Take the ginger and garlic in a blender and make a rough blended mixture without any addition of water.
4. In a wide mouthed pan or cast iron pan, heat oil and add cumin and mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds start to pop,
5. Add the chopped raw bananas, saute for a 3-4 minutes.
6. Add in the ginger, green chilies paste and mix it in. Add salt and saute for about 3-4 minutes more.
7. Dry roast the mustard seeds and along with the roasted chick peas make a fine powder.
8. Add the chick pea powder to the raw bananas. Mix it well. Sprinkle a few drops of oil if too dry.

This is one of those spicy tasty dishes that serves as a good accompaniment to any dal based or mild curries.

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