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/