Varagu Arisi Sakkarai Pongal | Kodo Millet Sweet Pongal Recipe

As the Pongal festival is approaching, i want to post this healthy and traditional millet sweet pongal recipe.  Taste wise there won't be much difference when we use this kudo millet but when it comes to health this millet is loaded with lots of nutritious substance like vitamin B, B6, Niacin, Folic acid as well as Calcium, Potassium and Zinc. 

Coming to the recipe...

Ingredients:

• Kodo Millet | Varagu Arisi – 1 Cup
• Yellow Moong Dal – ½ Cup
• Jaggery – 1 or 1 & ½ Cup (as per your sweet req.)
• Cardamom – 3 or 4
• Coconut Piece – 1 handful
• Cashews and Raisins – 2 tablespoon
• Ghee – as required.

Method:

• Wash the millet and dal well.
• Pressure cooks it with 3 and ½ cup of water for 4 whistles.
• Meanwhile add a cup of water to jaggery and allow to heat until it dissolve well in water.
• Filter the jaggery syrup, add cardamom powder and keep it aside.
• Once the pressure is released open a cooker and add the jaggery syrup.
• Cook in slow flame. If required add little water.
• In a separate pan fry coconut till golden brown, then add cashews and raisins.
• Once the dry nuts get roasted pour it to the pressure cooker and mix it gently.
• Allow to cook until you get nice aroma or for 10 more minutes so that the jaggery get cooked.
• If you want you can add extra ghee at this stage.
• Serve it hot or cool.

Quick Mixed Vegetable Rice

Easy to make one pot meal apt for your lunch box with loads of veggies...



Ingredients:

Rice – 1 cup
Mixed Vegetables – 1 Cup
Ginger Garlic Paste /  or Finely Chopped – 1 tsp
Chilly Powder – 1 tsp (Can adjust as per your requirement).
Coriander Powder – 1 tsp
Garam Masala – 1 tsp
Spice Like bay leaves, Cardamon – each 1
Coriander leaves – to garnish
Salt – as required
Oil – to temper

Method:

Heat a Pressure cooker with 1 table spoon oil.
Add Ginger Garlic and Spices.
Once it crack add the Vegetables and saute.
Add, Coriander powder, chilly powder and garam masala powder.
Saute well and add the Rice and Salt.
Add 2  and 1/2 Cup of Water.
Close the lid and Cook until 3 Whistle.
Serve hot with any type of Raita.

Chana Dal Fried Rice

 
This recipe is no way related to our regular Chinese Fried Rice. I came across this recipe in some television cookery show some 5 years before. Where they mentioned that this rice is prepared during Baby Shower / Semmandam / Godh Barai. I made this for two of my sister in law's baby shower along with other variety rice...This time its very special because i made it for my little bean inside me.

Ingredients:
Rice - 1 cup
Carrot - 2 nos.
Beans - 100 gm
Cabbage - 50 gm.
Peas - 1 tablespoon
Salt to taste
Sesame seed oil - 1 tablespoon
Coriander Powder - 2 teaspoon
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 teaspoon

To temper:
Mustard Seed - 1/4 teaspoon
Jeera  - 1/4 teaspoon
Curry leaves - few

To dry roast and grind:
Dry Red Chilly  - 3 nos.
Chana Dal  - 1 tablespoon.

Method:

Cook Rice and keep it aside.
In a pan dry roast red chilly and channa dal and grind it to powder.
Chop all the Veggies finely except peas.
Heat a pan with oil and temper with mustard, jeera and curry leaves.
Once it splutters add all the Veggies and saute until it cooks well.
Then add turmeric powder, coriander powder, grinded chana dal masala and saute till the raw smell goes off.
Add the cooked rice and sprinkle salt and mix well.
Now the rice is ready to serve.

It taste great with a cup of raita.

Ulundu Sadam | Urad Dal Rice | Ulutham Paruppu Sadam

Ulundu sadam is one of the famous recipes of Tirunelveli, we make it with broken whole urud dal with skin...Which is highly rich in it nutritious value and protein packed.

The best combination for this is dry fish curry and ellu thuvaiyal...It's one of the big hit in my kitchen.

Above image has Ulundu Sadam with Urundai Kuzhambu...

Ingredients:

Temper:

Oil to temper
Mustard - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - few
Jeera - 2 tsp
Garlic - 5
Green chilly - 1 (Slit length wise)
Coconut shredded - 1/2 cup

Main ingredients:
Rice - 3/4th cup
Urud dal  - 1/4 cup

Wash the rice along with urud dal and keep aside.
Temper the above ingredients in pressure cooker and add rice along with dal.
2 and half cup water is enough...
Pressure cook for 3 to 4 whistle...now the rice is ready with wonderfull aroma...

Do not forget to serve it with fish/dry salt fish curry.

Vegetable Briyani

I love to make one pot recipe which is easy to make and time saving. This one is very simple Veg biryani with minimal ingredients.
When it comes to biryani or Pulao the main part is basmati rice, here for this recipe you can use any branded basmati rice, Jeeraga Samba rice or any long grain rice but in the case of long grain rice i found the flavor is bit missing.
And regarding vegetables you can use, Frozen Peas, Potatoes, Beans, Carrot

Here goes the recipe

Ingredients:

Rice - 2 cups
Water - 4 cups
Oil - 1 table spoon
Bay leaf, Cardamon, Cinnamon, Cloves - each one
Ginger, Garlic Paste - 2 teaspoon
Fennel Seeds - 1 teaspoon
Onion - 1
Tomato - 1
Mint leaves - 1 handful
Green Chilly - 1
Chilly Powder - 1 tsp
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Mixed Vegetables - 1 & 1/2 cups

Method:

1. Keep all the ingredients ready.
2. Grind ginger, garlic, fennel seeds and mint leaves and keep it aside
3. Slice onion and cube or julienne other vegetables as per your wish.

4. Heat a pressure pan with a tablespoon of oil and add the spices like bay leaf, cinnamon, cardamon, cloves.
5. Add the slit chilly and onion, saute for a minute and add the grinded ginger garlic masala.
6. Once the raw smell goes, add tomatoes, chilly powder, garam masala powder and salt.
7. Saute will till all the ingredients get mixed well

8. Add the Vegetables and saute for a minute.
9. Now add the washed rice and mix it with vegetables and masala.
10. Add 4 cups of water for 2 cups of rice.
11. Close and pressure cook for 2 whistle.
12. Once the pressure goes off, remove the lid and mix the Vegetable briyani smoothly.

Tomato Pulao...

 

I know that the rule of pulao should be white in color...But this is not, it is enriched with the taste of tomato and Veggies...One Pot meal, Best for lunch box.

Ingredients:
Rice - 1 cup
Tomato - 3 nos.
Potato - 1 no.
Peas - 2 tbsp
Carrot - 1 no.
Soya Chunks - 25 gms
Onion - 1 no.
Cinnamon & bayleaf - 1
Cinger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Turmeric - 2 pinch
Garam masal - 1 tsp
Chilly powder - 2 tsp
Coriander leaves - few
Oil or Ghee to Temper - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

Method:

Slice the onion.
Cube the Potato and carrot.
I have brought ready made green peas so boiled it to remove the color.
In a boiling water add Soya chunks and close the lid for 5 minutes and drain the water and keep it aside.
Cut the Tomatoes into cube and blend it in mixer to make puree...

Heat a Pressure cooker, oil it and temper with Cinnamon and bay leaves.
Add Ginger garlic paste and saute for while.
Add the onion and saute until it turns golden brown.
Now add the tomato puree and pinch of turmeric and required salt.
Add Garam masala and Chilly powder and saute well.
Optionally Mint leaves can be added with this.
Now include the potato, Carrot, Soya chunks and peas.
Add the washed Rice and Coriander leaves...
Add 2 cup of water, Close and cook until 3 whistle comes.
This can be served with Curd Raita....

Easy Tamarind Rice / Puliyotharai

Sleeping extra time after turning off the alarm in the morning is a such a comforting thing for me, but which will make me to run and hit the wall after wake up...Yeah i will be having very less time to make lunch and breakfast for Hubby dear, I have few recipes which will come to my rescue at this time....This is one of that type.

This is not the traditional tamarind rice, twisted  as easy method.
This is the one we use to make @ our home for emergency  or immediate lunch box menu.
Very less time consuming recipe, with Till and Peanut, which adds a nice flavour and taste to this recipe...

Ingredients:

Tamarind thick paste - 2 tbsp
oil to temper
Salt to taste
Till / Tahini - 1/4 tsp
Peanut - 1 tbsp

To Temper:
Mustard and Urud dal - 1/4 tsp
Red chilly - 2
Jeera - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves - few
Turmeric powder - 2 pinch

Method:
Heat a pan with oil, temper with the ingredients in the list under "To Temper".
Add Peanut and Till seeds.
Wait untill it turns golden color.
Add the Tamarind paste and allow to cook untill the raw smell goes.
Add salt and switch off.

Rajdhani Khichdi

               Its a North India recipe, I found it is familiar in the part of Gujrath and Rajasthan.
One pot meal, healthy and makes your cooking easy and less time consuming...



Ingredients:

Vegetables - 1 Cup (Chopped)
Moong Dal - 1/2 cup
Rice - 1/2 cup
Salt to taste
Ghee - 1 tbsp.
Turmeric   - 2 pinch
Garam masala  - 1/2 tsp
Chilly powder - 1 tsp
Pepper (Whole) - 1/2 tsp
Jeera - 1/2 tsp
Bay leaves  - 1
Cinnamon - 1
Anni seed - 1
Oil - 1 tbsp

Method:

Pressure cook dal and rice and mash it well.
Heat oil in a pan temper with pepper, jeera, ani seed, bay leaf, cinnamon.
Add the Veg and sauté.
Now add the turmeric , garam masala and chilly powder.
Saute well and add the vegetable mix along with required salt to the rice mixture.
Mix well.
Add some water and pressure cook it for one more whistle.
Top it with ghee and serve it ...

Red Samba Rice Cooking

               It's a rice used for regular meals in Kerala, I have taken this rice in the form of puttu or kuzhukattai but recently got a chance to taste the cooked rice in Hotel "Sanjeevanam", there I had it with a spoon of ghee and sambar at the end of Raja bhojan...
Sticky, bit thick, doesn't have any particular taste but a pack of nutritious content.
Red rice is also called Matta rice, Rose matta rice and Samba...
On the day of Onam I want to cook this rice, On a recent visit  to my native Nellai I bought just 1 kg of this rice for 40 Rs.  Hmm its a time to try this.

Ingredients:
Red Samba rice - 1 cup
Water - 3 cups

Method

Wash the rice well and pressure cook it with 3 cup of water up to 3 to 4 whistle.

Water and pressure cooking time may vary as per the type of rice and cooker type...it can be learnt by trial.

 

Ghee rice with chicken gravy (Best Combo)

 

I generally make ghee rice by just tempering patta, lavanga, krampu, and pudina leaves along with onion and ginger garlic paste in ghee and make the rice with basmati rice, even this can be made with long grain rice too...

 

I find this very simple and the quickest recipe which i can make when there is surprise guest visted our home....Any type of chicken gravy goes well which this rice..

Methi tomato Pulao...

 This recipe got me the prize in contest run by Sanjeev Kapoor...In his website...Love this recipe which made me to get prize first time for my passion "Cooking"...

Ingrediants:

Long grain rice - 1 cup

Water  - 2 cup

Tomato - 2 Nos.

Gingley oil - 1 tbsp

Sambar powder - 1 1/2 sp

Methi leaves handfull

Cashwes or peanut

salt to taste

 

To temper:

Mustard

Jeera

 

When the pan is hot just temper and add nuts and fry then add gratted tomatoes and once half cooked add sambar powder, salt when tomato is 3/4th cooked add methi leaves and saute, when the raw smell goes add rice and water and pressure cook to 2 whistle(may change as per rice quality).

 

Baby Potatoes in green pulao

Yes, As per rule Pulao should be white in color, that's the reason we named it green pulao...

 

Pulao made with Pudhina, Coriander, green chiles and some spices...offcourse its basmati rice you can even use long grain rice ( the difference will be flavour)...,

 

Then separetely fry the the boiled baby potatoes using sambar powder & salt...then mix it with the green pulao...