Arisi Upma

This is a traditional tamil brahmin dish .Very yummy and mouth watery dish especially for my hubby.This can be served with coconut chutney with lil bit coriander leaves added.

Ingredients:

Rice ( Grounded coarsely) - 1 Cup

For Seasoning:

Mustard - 1 tsp
Split Urad dhal - 1 tsp
Chana dhal - 1 tsp
Hing ( Asafoetida) - 1 tsp
Green Chillies - 1 tsp chopped
Red chillies - 5 chopped
Ginger - 1 tsp grated
Grated Coconut - 2 Tbsp
Salt - as per taste
Curry leaves (optional)
Oil - 1 Tbsp
Coconut oil - 2 tsp (optional)

Whip the plain rice into caorse powder ( should be like idli rava).
Heat oil in a pan , and add mustard seeds.When it splutters, add the remaining items in the pan except coconut . When the dhals become golden yellow ,add 2 - 3 cups of water and bring it boil .When the water boils , add the grated coconut and the coarse rice and rice has to be boiled.For best results, close the vessel with a plate filled water.The rice in the vessel has to be boiled with the help of steam . After 5 mins add coconut oil which gives the good aroma.Then again close the vessel and boil till the rice is done .Now ur arisi upma is ready for seving with coconut chutney.

VennPongal

This is a classic tiffin of tamilnadu and my fav tiffin ever.This is very simple to make and can be done within 20 mins.Best suitable for bachelors.

Raw rice or sona masoori rice - 1 cup
Moon dhal - 1/2 cup
salt as per taste
jeera - 2 tsp
black pepper - 10
ginger - 2 tsp grated
curry leaves for thadka optional
ghee - 2 Tbsp
cashew nut - 5 (optional)

Heat the pan and fry rice and moong dhal together for 2 mins . Then pressure cook the moong dhal and rice for 2 whistles .( for 1 cup rice , 3 cups of water required). Again put 3 tsp of ghee in pan and heat .Once the ghee is hot add jeera, grated ginger , pepper , curry leaves, cashew nuts.once the pepper splutter , switch off the flame. Open the cooker and add rest of the ghee , salt and the thadka. Pongal is now ready. It can be served with sambhar , coconut chutney along with medu vada.

Okra- Peanut fry

One day I had a lil bit okra which cannot be used for the normal fry. So I had to think of some other ingredient which can go with okra. I was scanning the kitchen cupboard and I finally made a decision of using peanut along with okra. So here goes the recipe.

Okra - 250 gms
Peanut - palmful
mustard, split urad dhal - for thadka
oil - 5 tsp
salt as per taste
Hing( Asafoetida) - 1/2 tsp
turmeric - 1/2 tsp
chilli powder - 2 tsp

Heat oil in a pan and mustard. Let it splutter and then add split urad dhal and fry for 30 secs. Then add turmeric, hing and peanut .Wait for the peanut to get roasted and then add the okra ( cut into small pieces) to the pan .Add chilli powder and salt.Then fry for 10 mins. The curry is ready.Can be a good side dish for chappati , roti too.

ChineseVeg Fried Rice

Chinese Fried Rice:
Ingredients:

Potato : 100 gms ( cut into long thin pieces)
Carrot (julienne cut) : 50 gms
Beans(french cut) : 200 gms
Red Cabbage(optional) - 1/4 finely chopped
Peas - 50 gms
Corn (optional) - 50 gms
Green Bell Pepper - 1/2 cup finely chopped
Red , Yellow, orange Bell peppers together (optional) - 1/4 cup finely chopped
Spring onion (optional) - 1 ( finely chopped)

Soya Sauce - 3 to 4 tsp
Chinese Salt ( Ajinomoto) ( optional) - a pinch
Salt - as per taste
Green Chilli paste - 2 tsp
Black Pepper powder - 1 tsp
oil - 2 Tbsp

Basmati rice - 3 cups

Method:

Fry the Basmati rice first . Then saok it in water for 1/2 hr.Cook the basmati rice in an open vessel such that it should be separate ( for each cup add 1 and 3/4 cups of water to cook).In the meanwhile, pour oil in the frying pan and once the oil turns hot add beans and carrot and fry for 10 mins.Once they are half cooked add the rest of vegetables except spring onion .Sprinkle some water if needed.The vegetables should also be separate, so that when its mixed with rice we can enjoy the taste of each vegetable.Once the vegetables are done , add the soya sauce and fry for 2 mins. Then add pepper powder and salt .Let it blend with the vegetables for a minute.Then add the green chilli paste and let it get mixed with the vegetable for 2 mins . Then add the white part of the spring onion .Once the onion smell gets mixed in the veggies, add this to the cooked basmati rice . The green part of the spring onion can be used for decorative purposes( can be fried separately and decorate).Now your veg fried rice is ready.