Pudina / Mint Rice

I had a bunch of mint leaves lying in my fridge for a long time. To finish the whole bunch at a shot, came up with this simple yet tasty pudina rice. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:
Vegetables like Potato, beans, peas, carrot etc cut into lengthwise (1 inch pieces)- 1 cup
Onion chopped - 1 big
Rice - 1.5 cups
Cinnamon - 1 small piece
Cardamom - 1
Cloves - 2
Mustard - 2 tsp
Cumin seeds - 2 tsp
Fennel seeds - 2 tsp
Oil/butter
Salt

To Grind:
Pudina/ mint - 1 big bunch
Tomato -1
Garlic - 1 pod (big)
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Cinnamon - 1 small
Green chilli - 2 (can add more based on the hotness)

Grind the above ingredients to a fine paste without adding water and keep aside.

Method:
Roast cinnamon, cardamom and clove till you get a aroma. Add this to the rice and cook the rice with enough water and keep aside.
Heat oil/butter in a pan. Add mustard. When it splutters add cumin and fennel seeds. Then add the onion and fry for few minutes. Then add the vegetables and fry till they are cooked a little. At this stage add some salt and fry for some more time. Then add the ground pudina mixture and fry till the oil separates. Add 1/2 cup water (little less is also fine based on the quantity of vegetables) and cook the vegetables. When the vegetables are cooked add the cooked rice and mix well. Adjust salt. Serve hot with chutney or raitha.

Preparation Time: 30 mins
Serves: 4 people

Bisi Belebath

Bisi Belebath is one of the unique dishes of Karnataka. Its a wholesome meal in itself and is complete in terms of nutritional value. It is available even in any of the fast food joints in Bangalore and is a very popular dish. Its best served with Boondi/Raitha/Potato wafers.

I have had the best Bisi Belebath in my aunts place and of course what Amma makes leaves us finger-licking. We like it little mild unlike the real spicy flavor which is available outside. All in all, home-made is the best made.

This recipe is off to Chaitra's RiceFeast event.

Ingredients:
Rice- 1/2 cup
Toor dal- 1/2 cup
Vegetables- 1 cup (Assortment of Carrot, Beans, Green peas, Potato..list may go on)
Oil- 3 Tsp
Urad dal- 1 tsp
Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp
Red Chilly- 1
Cashewnuts- Few
Curry leaves- Few
Onion- 1/2 cup
Capsicum- 1/2 cup
Turmeric- 1/4 TSP
Tamarind extract from a Lemon-sized ball
Jaggery- 1 Tsp
Salt to taste

To fry in 2 tsp of oil and grind:

Cinnamon- 1 inch peice
Bay leaf- 1 medium
Cardamom- 2
Black pepper corns- 7-8
Clove- 2
Asafoetida/Hing powder- 1/2 tsp
Fenugreek seeds/Methi seeds- 1/2 tsp
Channa dal- 4 tsp
Coriander seeds/Dhania- 3 tsp
Red chillies- 2-3
Grated coconut- 1 Tbsp

Method:

Cook Rice, Dal and vegetables separately and keep aside. In a pan, heat 2 tsp of oil. Fry the above mentioned ingredients and grind it to a paste. In a vessel, heat 3 tsp oil. Add Urad dal, Mustard seeds, Cashewnuts and Red chilly. When the Mustard starts to splutter, add the curry leaves. Add the chopped onions and saute till golden brown. Add Capsicum and fry them well too. Add the cooked vegetables, ground paste, tamarind pulp, salt and jaggery. Adjust the consistency of the gravy now with sufficient water. Let it boil well. Add cooked dal and mix well. Finally add Rice, mix well and garnish with coriander leaves.

Preparation Time: 45 Minutes
Serves: 4 people

Capsicum Rice

I was really tired of preparing the same dishes like pulao, bisibelebath, vangibath etc for the lunch box. Not that I dont like them, its just that sometimes we crave for a different taste.

There were different colored bell peppers lying in the fridge. So I decided to make capsicum rice. I don't know the actual recipe, so I decided to make it in my own way. The recipe is fairly simple. I mixed ground spices to fried capsicum giving it a nice flavor and stirred it with cooked rice. You can also fry onions along with capsicum.

This recipe is off to Chaitra's RiceFeast event.

Here is the recipe. Hope you all will like it.

Ingredients:
Capsicum - 1 cup
Rice - 1 cup
Salt
Mustard - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 5-6
Turmeric - a pinch
Oil - 4-5 tbsp

Masala:
Dry roast the below ingredients except tomato and ginger separately. Grind them to a fine paste together with tomato and ginger.


Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp
Coconut scrapped - 3-4 tbsp
Fennel/Saunf/Sombu - 1 tsp
Tamarind - small piece
Groundnuts - 1 tbsp
Sesame seeds - 1 tsp
Channa dal/Gram dal - 1 tsp
Jeera - 1 tsp
Ginger - small piece
Toamto - 1 medium sized
Asafoetida - a pinch

Method:
Cook rice such that each grains are separate. Keep is aside.
Heat gingely oil in a pan. When it is hot add the mustard and when it splutters add the curry leaves and bell peppers and saute till the bell peppers are fried properly. Add salt and turmeric. Then add chopped tomato and saute till the they are cooked. Then add the ground masala and fry.
Finaly add cooked rice and mix well. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Note: If you are using normal rice (not basmati) then cool the rice before mixing. This will prevent the rice being mashed in the process of mixing.

Preparation time: About 30 mins
Serves: 4 people