Celery-Garlic-Sprout Rice - yet another stir-fry! Cooked rice - 1 cup ( grainy) Chopped celery & sprouts - 2 tbsp each Chopped garlic - 1 tbsp Pepper - 1 tsp (powder fresh) Oil - 1 tbsp Salt Heat oil & fry garlic till brown. Add celery first, fry a little & then add sprouts. Add rice & freshly powdered pepper. Add salt & mix well. Simple to make, but very tasty.
Lapsi Vangibhath -delicious!! Use the bigger grains of lapsi, called fada lapsi (broken wheat) in place of rice. Take 1 cup. Select fresh tender brinjals & cut thin & long.Take ½ kg. Cook lapsi (lightly roasted in 1 tsp oil) with 2 ½ - 3 cups water, inside a vessel in the pressurepan, for 10 mtes on sim, after first whistle. Cool & separate grains. Mix 1 tsp tamarind paste with ½ cup of water + haldi. Roast in ½ tsp oil & powder: Red chillies 4-5 Urad dhal - 2 tsp Gram dhal & dhaniya - 4 tsp each Cinnamon - 1” Copra - ½ cup Hing. Cook lapsi with little salt & keep ready. In a kadai, heat 2 tbsp oil, temper 1 tsp mustard seeds & curry leaves & add washe & drained brinjals. Cover & cook in its own steam. Halfway through, add tamarind water. When cooked, add the made powder, salt & mix well. Finally add lapsi, mix well & switch off. Garnish with roasted cashwnuts & coriander leaves.
Lapsi Briyani - indulge, non-rice eaters!! For this,big sized broken wheat, also called Fada lapsi should be used. Cook 1 cup lapsi, quite grainy, but well cooked. Make the gravy quite spicy because the dish should not taste bland after soaking the cooked wheat.. In a saucepan, heat 4 tbsp oil & add in the following order: Bay leaf - 1 Cinnamon - 2 1” pieces Cardamom & clove - 5 each Onion juliennes - 1 cup Add haldi & a pinch of salt now; let the onions shrink well. Add: Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tbsp Carrot choppd - 1 cup Beans chopped & peas - ½ cup each Red chilli powder - 2 tsp Saute well & add: Curds (one day old & slightly sour) - ½ cup Chopped tomatoes - ½ cup Choped coriander & mint leaves - 2-3 tbsp each Geen chillies, slit - 2, 3 Salt Stir till the entire thing becomes a mass. Add ½ cup of water & simmer. When slightly gravyish still, add cooked lapsi Stir very gently but mix thoroughly. Keep covered to allow for soaking. They will become soft but grainy. Serve with curds + appalam
Gonkura Bhaath - try with rice or lapsi. This tastes very similar to puliyodarai & is ideal for lunch packs. Clean, wash & chop gonkura leaves. Boil 2 cups in a cup of water for 2-3 mtes & strain completely. Now grind the boiled leaves with 1 tsp of tamarind paste & 2-3 green chillies (to taste). Cookk rice or lapsi, soft but grainy with a pinch of salt & 1 tsp oil. Coolo thoroughly. In a pan, heat 1 tbsp oil & temper with: Mustard seeds - 1 tsp Red chillies - 2-3 Gram dhal - 1 tbsp ()soaked for an hour & drained) Hing & curry leaves Now add the paste, salt & saute till the volume shrinks. Simmer, add the rice & toss well. Serve garnished with roasted peanuts & casewnuts.
Palak Bisibela - my invention! Basmathi - 1 cup Tur dhal - ½ cup Chopped palak leaves - 3 cups Salt Water - 5 cups Soak rice+dhal for 30 mtes, wash & drain. Cook with all the above ingredients in a pressure pan – when the mixture starts boiling, add salt, 1 tbsp instant bisi bela masala, close, keep the weight & simmer for 15 mtes. Cool & open. Lightlly mash. Temper in 1 tbsp, each ghee + oil Red chillies - 2 Mustard seeds - 1 tsp Hing Finely chopped garlic - 1-2 tbs Serve with plain curds & papad. To make instant bisi bela masala: Fry in ½ tsp ghee: Dhaniya - 1 tsp Red chillies - 2 (or more) Cinnamon - ½ “ Urad & gram dhals - ¼ tsp each Pepper - ½ tsp Copra - 2 tbsp Maratti moggu (a spice) - 1 Powder.
Panchmel Khichdi - five grains in one dish! Take ¼ cup each of: Basmati rice Tur dhal Gram dhal Khichdi dhal Masoor dhal Mix together, wash & soak for 30 mtes. Drain & keep ready. In a pressure pan, heat Oil + ghee - 2 tbsp Temper: Cinnamon - 1 “ Cloves & cardamom - 3-4 each Red chillies - 3, 4 Minced garlic - 1 tbsp (or to taste) Chopped onions - 3-4 tbsp (optional) Minced green chillies + ginger - 1 tbsp Haldi Add the drained dhals & twice the volume water (of the total 5 grains). Adding any vegetable is optional, at this stage. Add salt & when it starts boiling vigorously, close the cooker, keep the weight & simmer the stove. Switch off after 10 mtes. Cool, open & top with ghee.
Methi Lapsi Bhaath - I added tomatoes for a tang!! Cook Fada lapsi (big grains) grainy adding a pinch of salt & 1 ts oil & keep it cold. For 1 cup of cooked lapsi 1 cup of chopped methi leaves + one tomato will be correct. Fry in a drop of ghee till golden & powder: Red chillies - 2 Papper - ¼ tsp Urad & tur dhals - ½ tsp, each Dhaniya - 1 tsp jeera - ¼ tsp Copra - 2 tsp In 1 tsp oil, first sauté methi lives till they shrink well & keep aside. Next saute tomatoes with a pinch of salt, till soft. Add the made powder, methi, salt & mix well.
Lapsi - Mint Pulao - try with fada, the broken wheat!! I do not add much spices to this dish, since they mask the pudina flavour greatly. By this recipe we get a rice which has fully absorbed the flavour of only pudina. Fada _big grained broken wheat - 1 cup Onion - 2 – chop ( optional) Pudina leaves - 1 cup – do not chop with knife, but pinch with hand for best flavour Lime juice - 2 tsp Water - 21/2 cups ( or less, depending on the fada) Ghee - 3 tbsp Cinnamon - 1 “ Cloves - 4 Shahjeera - ½ tsp Salt Wash & soak fada for 15 mtes. Drain & keep ready. Heat ghee in a pressure pan & fry cinnamon, cloves & shahjeera. Then add chopped onion & saute till they become glossy. Add fada & fry for a few mts. Add water, salt & pinched pudina leaves. When the mixture starts boiling, close the cooker & put the weight. Immediately simmer the flame & cook for 10 mts. Cool, open, add lime juice, mix well & keep it closed for sometime till you serve. A simple raitha goes well with this. Note: Pudina, pinched by hand & added raw when water is boiling, gives a different & nice flavour.
Curd Quinoa - exactly like curd lapsi!! Our locally available VARAGU/VARAGARISI is ideally suited too. Wash thoroughly & cook quinoa till soft, in a mixture of water & milk with a pinch of salt. Cool thoroughly & mash till soft. Add curds, cucumber & mango pieces. Temper in 1 tsp oil with mustard seeds & chopped green chillies. Serve chilled. You can add citrus fruits for additional taste. In the second photo, I tempered with crushed curd chillies & added sauted raisins & grated carrot.