Easy Peas Pulao | Peas Pilaf

The dish which is very easy do on a hurry is here. For rice suckers like me, it is a boon. The recipe follows.

Ingredients
1. Basmati Rice 1-2 cups
2. Onion (Medium)
3. Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp
4. Green fresh peas
5. Ghee 1 tbsp
6. Salt for taste
. 7. Ground pepper 2 pinches
8. Cashew nuts


Steps
1. In a cooker, heat ghee till it melts
2. Add add cashews, chopped onions and garlic paste for two minutes
3. Put the wet rice which is soaked for nearly 20 minutes.
4. Saute for 2 minutes
5. Add 4 cups of water and salt. Stir well.
6. Close the lid of the cooker and let the rice o medium heat for 15 minutes.
7. Meanwhile microwave peas coated witn ghee for 1 minute . Thus we can retain peas' green color.
8. Once rice is cooked and grains are seperate add peas and pepper powder. 9. Mix well 10. Serve hot with raitha. I served with bindi raitha. It was absolutely deliciously.

Strawberry Milkshake

It was christmas day hence I was home. At home my primary activity is browsing and learning new stuffs plus trying them out. I usually go through Jeyashris's Kitchen blog. I found the strawberry milkshake recipe. I had a box of fresh strawberries too. Hence thought why not try it out. It turned out to be a great drink. Here is the recipe. I didnt change much of the recipe.
Ingredients
1. Fresh strawberries - 7-8 no
2. Milk (or) strawberry milk - 2-3 cups
3. Hersley's strawberry sauce - 2 tbsp
4. Sugar - 3 tbsp
5. Vanilla Icecream - 2 scoops

Steps
1. Blend chopped strawberries, milk, sugar and strawberry sauce into a smooth blend.
2. Refrigerate for 5-6 hrs
3. Serve it with icecream


Yummy delight!

Arroz Mexicano (or) Spanish Rice

                              


My hubby has visited three continents till now. He is a fan of spicy yet healthy foods. This weekend he suggested me to try Mexican food. Since I am a rice lover, I chose Spanish Rice. This is called Arroz Mexicano (a) Mexican Tomato Rice. The recipe was without Indian masala and it was very spicy and healthy since it has vegetable broth to cook the rice. For broth, I used tomato,chillies, beans, peas in boiling water.

I was quizzed that this recipe was similar to our normal tomato rice. But it was very different and yummy too. We loved the dish.  I served it with potato wafers and spiced yogurt.



Arroz Mexicano

Ingredients

1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 c. green onion, chopped
2 tbsp. garlic, minced
3 serrano chiles, stemmed, minced
2 c. long grain rice
1 c. canned crushed tomatoes in their juices
1 c. vegetable broth
salt to taste
pepper to taste


Steps

Heat oil over a medium flame in a heavy-bottomed 4-quart pan.
Add the green onion and green chiles and cook for 3-4 minutes.
Add the garlic and rice and cook for 3-4 minutes more.
Add the tomatoes and broth, stir well, taste, and stir in any salt and/or pepper that may be necessary.
Bring to a boil. Immediately reduce heat to low, cover, and cook for 15-20 minutes or until rice is tender and air holes appear at the top of the mixture.
Remove from heat, fluff with a fork and serve.

YIELD:

Approximately 4 servings


 

Strawberry Banana Smoothie

Strawberries are rich in nutrition like vitamins. Bananas add more taste and healthy values to this dish. This Saturday, we were watching The Lord of the Rings. My god !  It was a long movie and it made us hungry. So I decided to make a smoothie with strawberry and bananas.

The smoothie turned out to be the tastier drinks we had.

Ingredients

Strawberry pulpy extract - 1/4 cup
Milk - 3 cups
Banana - 2 (small)
Cardamom - a pinch
Steamed rice - 1 cup
Ice Cubes

Steps

Blend all the ingredients into a smooth drink.
Toppped it with shredded chocolate.

PS: I didnt add sugar. Sugar or honey can be added to the drink.

Hasselback Potatoes : Recipe

Everyone loves potatoes. While googling for different potato dishes, I found this funny dish of potato. This was an easy dish. I was curious to surf how this recipe was named. Then I found that these Swedish version of baked potatoes are very popular in a restaurant named ' Hasselbaken Hotel'. Hence the name.

I loved the dish. My hubby was happy too. ;)

Ingredients:

Potatos - 2-3
Salt - for taste
Ghee (Clarified butter) - 3 tsp
Italian Seasoning - for sprinkling

(Italian seasoning has dried red chilly flakes, basil, oregano, rosemary, etc)

Steps:

 

Thinly slice almost all the way through the potatoes

Drizzle with ghee, salt and Italian Seasoning.

Bake at 425 for about 40 min.

It is a yummy treat. I end this post with a beautiful quotes

" The discovery of a new dish does more human happiness than the discovery of a new star"

Priyaa's Coriander Rice

Lunch for saturday should be different according to me. So I tried a simple rice variety with fresh coriander leaves. My husbands sambar and rasams all days in the week.

I wanted a relaxed, yummy lunch. Hence coriander rice. The taste was very good, light and filling.

Ingredients

For coriander paste

Coriander leaves - handful
Onion - 1 medium sized, finely chopped
Ching's Schzewan paste - 2 tbsp
Ginger garlic paste - 1/2 tbsp
Hing - a pinch
Salt as required

For Tempering

Oil - 2 tbsp
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp

Main Ingredient

Steamed Rice 2 cups

Steps

1. Grind all the ingredients to make coriander paste
2. Heat the oil in the pan and add mustard seeds to it and let it burst.
3. Put the paste in the oil and saute till the oil seperates
4, Mix steamed rice with the paste well so that the rice are seperate
5. Serve hot with raitha

 

 

Yummy. I had this rice with a cup of Tomato Italian bread soup made by my hubby. He is the sweetest man ever.

 

 

Good food not only feeds but brings happiness on many levels.

True..

 

 

Ellu Sadham (Sesame seed Rice)

One of my favourite rice item that goes very nice with potato fry is Sesame seed rice. "This is the favourite food for Hanuman and Perumal " says my grandmom. So on saturdays, since my childhood, atleast one spoon of this rice will be served in our plate.


This rice has very good nutritional values.

Ingredients:

Sesame seeds (white/black) - 3 tsp
Dried Red chilli - 3-4 No
Curry leaves - 5 - 10 leaves
Thoor dhall - 1 tsp
Asafoetida powder - a generous pinch
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Salt for taste
Cooked rice - 1 cup
Oil - 1 tbsp


Steps:

 

Heat the pan with oil. Once the oil is hot, put mustard seeds and let it burst fully.
Put Thoor dhaal, Sesame seeds ( I used black sesame seeds) , then red chillies

Add asafoetida powder and curry leaves, then salt. Stir well until cooked.

Once the ingredients emit a pleasant aroma, place them in a mixer and grind them throughly.
(Do not add water)

Mix the ground seeds with hot rice and serve hot.

As I mentioned it goes well with potato curry.
 

Aviyal : Typical South Indian Recipe

I grew up on all the tasty and healthy South Indian Tamil Brahmin Recipes. One of such authentic recipe is Aviyal. My mom and grand ma make excellent Aviyal. I prefer Aviyal with Rasam Sadham(Rice). Mostly this dish is preferred with Adai.

This easy recipe has many nutritious values. Almost all vegetables can be used in this recipe.

The other day I made Aviyal and Rasam sadham, which came out very well. My hubby insisted me to make Aviyal on the same weekend  with Adai. He loves authentic food too.

My mom taught me this dish which I felt to be very easy. Thanks to my MOM!

Ingredients

Beans        -       5-6 No
Potato        -      2 No (Medium Sized)
Carrot        -      2-3 No
Coconut     -      1 cup (grated)
Jeera seeds -      2 tbsp
Mustard      -     1 tsp
Green Chilly-    3 No
Curry Leaves-   10 No
Salt               -    For Taste
Coconut oil  -     2 tbsp
Asafoetida   -     2 pinch
Curd            -     2 cups

Steps

Cut vegetables into 2-3 inch long pieces.
Boil them with 2-3 cups of water

Grind coconut, jeera, green chilly, curry leaves, Asafoetida into a thich paste with little water.

In a  pan, add oil ; temper mustard seeds along with curry leaves.

Add boiled vegetables along with water, ground paste and curd.

Add Salt and keep it in heat for 5 - 10 minutes.

Serve hot with adai or Rasam sadham

PS: Any combination of vegetables can be used. Tumeric Powder (1 pinch) can be added to enhance colour.
If watery , add water (1 cup ) mixed with 1tsp of corn flour

Yummy Aviyal Ready