Soya Chunks and Mixed Vegetable Rice

Using soya is a great way to pack some proteins into your rice. With a little seasoning, it’s a delicious side dish.

Soft and spungy soya chunks are full of proteins and can be cooked pretty easily. They do not have a strong taste on their own and tend to adopt the flavors that we cook them with. You can whip them into a curry or add them to rice or stir fry them with Indian spices. It’s a one pot (pan)dish packed with proteins and can be customized to suit your palette!

Soya Chunks and Vegetable Mixed Rice

Author: Suchitra Vaidyaram

Pack in some proteins with this flavorful rice!

Ingredients

• Soya chunks- washed and boiled (1 cup)
• Chopped Carrots & baby corn (1/2 cup)
• Basmati rice (1 1/2 cup)
• 1 dry red chilli (broken in two pieces)
• 2 medium sized onion (chopped)
• 2 tomatoes (chopped)
• 4-5 cloves to garlic- crushed
• Garam Masala- 1 tsp
• 1/2 tsp Paprika powder
• Salt according to taste
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• Cooking oil/clarified butter for cooking

Instructions

1. Wash the rice and keep aside for 1/2 hour
2. Squeeze the water out of the boiled soya chunks and set aside.
3. Melt some clarified butter (or you can just use oil) in a non stick pan and add cumin seeds.
4. As they begin to sputter add bay leaf, red chilli and allow the oil to soak up the flavor.
5. Add chopped onions and garlic and saute till the onion begins to turn golden brown.
6. Add tomatoes, carrots, baby corn with soya chunks and fry them for couple of minutes.
7. Blend in the washed rice and add around 1 1/2 to 2 cups of water.
8. Add salt, garam masala and paprika powder.
9. Mix well and allow the rice to cook- Put the gas on a medium flame and put a lid and cook till the rice is soft and well boiled.
10. Once cooked, switch off the flame, mix the rice well and garnish it with chopped coriander leaves.
11. Serve with dal or any curry of your choice.

Published  @ Honest Cooking -http://honestcooking.com/2012/02/01/soya-chunks-mixed-vegetable-rice-recipe/

Eggplant Rice (Brinjal rice)

Nothing thrills me like fresh stock of vegetables on display at the market. I am pulled automatically to the vegetable counter if I see some fresh stock of vegetables- I don’t know if it is their color or their vibrancy that attracts me? The other day, I was amazed to see some shimmering eggplants at my market and I loved the glistening coat and their texture. You get to see two varieties in the market- big-sized eggplants and the cute little small ones. I love the small ones, which taste heavenly in any kind of south Indian cooking.

This rice dish, celebrates the eggplants, which has been sautéed with Indian spices and will leave a lingering taste in your mouth. Creativity is the essence here- You can recreate this dish with different vegetables and vary spice level according to your palette. The recipe credit goes to my mom, who has always shown me the path to enjoy different flavors. so, Enjoy :)

Shimmering eggplants sauteed with feisty Indian spices combines with rice to create this simple & tasty delicacy!

Ingredients

• Basic Ingredients-
• 2 large onions (chopped)
• 3-4 small eggplants (cut in cubes)
• 3 tomatoes (chopped)
• 4 garlic cloves (crushed & chopped finely)
• tsp grated ginger
• Uncooked rice- 1 cup
• Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
• Asafetida powder (just a dash)
• 2 Green chillies- slit and cut in half
• Spices used-
• Cinnamon stick- ½ inch
• Bay leaf- 1
• Sambar powder- ½ tsp
• Garam masala- ¼ tsp
• Coriander seeds (sabut dhania) 100 gms
• 3-4 dry red chilies
• Cardamom pods -3

Instructions

1. Wash the rice & cook it in a non stick pan with two cups of water. Alternatively, you can use a rice cooker/pressure cooker for the same. Just ensure that the cooked rice is not sticky and the grains are separated.
2. Dry roast the coriander seeds, dry red chilies, cardamom seeds and grind them to a fine powder.
3. Heat some cooking oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. Allow the seeds to crackle and add asafetida powder.
4. Add green chillies, bay leaf, garlic and ginger. Allow the oil to soak up the flavor.
5. Add onions and saute them well till translucent.
6. Add tomatoes and allow them to cook for few minutes.
7. Toss in the eggplants and cook till tender.
8. Enhance it by adding the sambar powder & garam masala. Allow the eggplants to absorb the spices. If need be, sprinkle a bit of water so that the mixture doesn’t get too dry.
9. Add the ground spices that we prepared earlier and ensure that the mixture has incorporated all the spices well. Adjust salt according to your taste.
10. Add this mixture to your cooked rice and blend well till the rice has absorbed the mixture completely.
11. Serve hot with raita and pickle!

Notes

Sambar powder is readily available at any Asian store and is normally prepared by pan roasting whole spices like lentils, coriander seeds, dried whole red chili, fenugreek seeds, curry leaves & grinding them to a coarse powder.

Published @ Honest Cooking - http://honestcooking.com/2011/10/19/spicy-eggplant-rice/

Born out of necessity, devoured for its taste- Corn Pulav!

The title says it all, doesn't it? It's a simple rice dish enhanced by spices and corn. Works well with raita or a simple dal. There comes a time when you don't have veggies in your fridge and running out for groceries is a tiring task. To the rescue, out came tumbling from my freezer a small pack of frozen sweet corn and frozen peas and with basmati rice I pulled out a good concoction for dinner. I would say this is one of the easiest quick fix for dinner and you don't have to sweat for this recipe. Why not give it a shot?

What goes in?

1 cup uncooked Basmati rice
1/4 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup frozen corn kernel
chopped green chilli - 1
minced garlic 1/2 tbsp

Spices?

1/4 tsp crushed black pepper
Cinnamon stick - 1 small piece
1 bay leaf
Cumin seeds 1 tsp
dash of garam masala powder
cardamom - 2
salt according to taste

Bring on the magic-

Wash the rice thoroughly and cook it on a medium flame in a non stick pan with one cup of water. Once the rice is cooked, keep it separate. In another pan, heat oil and add cumin seeds, cinnamon stick, bay leaf and cardamom. As the oil absorbs the flavor and cumin starts sputtering, add green chilli pieces and minced garlic. Cook for a couple of seconds before adding peas and corn. Add garam masala, salt, crushed pepper and cook for 5 minutes. Add cooked rice to this mixture and combine everything till the rice gets incorporated with the spices. Enjoy with dal!

Tomato & paneer aromatic rice

I love basmati rice. The aroma of basmati rice is simply irresistible. Use bay leaves and cardamom to bring out the best from basmati. It is not necessary that you have to go the extra mile of making it exotic- a simple combination of the right spices is all it takes to win you accolades on your cooking. Even if you don't have many ingredients just cook your basmati rice with bay leaves and cardamom to enhance it's aroma!

Ingredients

2 onions sliced
2 tomatoes chopped
2 green cardamom pods crushed
Kasoori methi leaves (I used dry crushed leaves- also known as fenugreek leaves)
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
3/4 tsp garam masala powder
Cumin seeds
Garlic & ginger paste
1 Bay leaf
1 small cup chopped cottage cheese
Coriander leaves for garnishing
2 cups uncooked basmati rice
Salt according to taste
Dry red chilli (broken)

Preparation

First step is to cook rice with two cups of water over medium flame on a non-stick pan. Allow the rice to cook on its own and do not stir in between otherwise the long grain of basmati tends to break. Once the rice is cooked just give it a slight toss and keep it aside. In a separate wok heat a liberal dose of oil- add cumin seeds and bay leaf. As the cumin seeds begin to sputter add broken dry red chilli and onions. Fry them till they are translucent. Add garlic-ginger paste and cook them over a medium flame for 5 minutes. Toss in the chopped tomatoes and cook till it is incorporated. Add the cottage cheese and cook for a couple of minutes. Now comes our spices- red chilli powder, garam masala powder, crushed cardamom, kasoori methi leaves. Add a bit of oil and mix the spices. The aroma should get your audience up on their feet literally begging you to serve the food immediately! Adjust the salt and blend this mixture to you cooked rice.

Add coriander leaves and a bit of melted butter to make it more silky. Serve hot and watch the rice vanish with the aroma lingering to make it a memorable meal!

You can really do much more with this rice- add different vegetables to make it look colorful or add cloves/cinnamon to give extra aroma. If you are not fond of cottage cheese/paneer just skip it or fry it befor you use if you don't like the raw taste of paneer.