Coriander Veg Pulao - Simple, Yummy colorful pulao

Ingredients:

The coriander paste
1. Coriander leaves - 1 cup
2. Green chillies - 5-6 nos
3. Ginger - 1/2 inch piece
4. Garlic - 3-4 cloves
5. Salt - 1 tsp
6. Lemon juice - 1 tsp

For Pulao:
1. Rice - 100 gms
2. Diced veggies - Carrot, French beans, Potato, Green peas - 1/2 cup each.
3. Whole spices - 1 stick cinnamon, 3 cardamom, black pepper corn- 3 nos, Bay leaf - 1, star anise - 1, 1 tsp swanf
4. Onion - 1 Medium - thinly sliced.
5. Salt - as required
6. Oil - 2 tbsp

Method:

1. Grind all the ingredients(Except lemon juice) under the 'Paste' column into a smooth paste. Lemon juice prevents the change of color.

3. Add 2 tbsp of oil in a wok and before the oil gets heated fully, add the whole spices. by this way of heating the spices along with the oil, infuses great aroma into the oil and eventually into the pulao.

4. Add the onion and add a dash of salt for the onion to cook faster..

5. Once the onion starts browning, add the rest of the veggies and salt required for the veggies.

 6. Cover and cook for a couple of minutes. Once the veggies just start to sweat their moisture out, as shown below in the first image , add the green paste.

7. Mix well and let the paste coat every veggie piece.

8. Wash and set the rice aside for ten minutes. Let the rice absorb the extra moisture due to washing.

Add the soaked rice to the above veggie mixture.

9. Mix well,until the rice absorbs all the moisture of the paste. The rice and veggie should be dry as shown below, with no excess water remaining on the pan.

10. Add required water(I added 300 gms of water for 100 gms rice), check for salt, as we have added salt in veggies and green paste. Adjust salt , cover and cook for 4 whistles on medium flame.

Serve hot

Honey Chilli potato - Food heaven for potato lovers

I did it with Potato and baby corn. you can either use both or any one. the same recipe holds good.

Ingredients:
1. Potato - 250 gms
2. Baby corn - 100 gms
3. Corn flour - 100 gms
4. Red chilli powder - 3 tbsp
5. Salt - as required.
6. Honey - 2 tbsp
7. Chilli sauce - 2 tbsp
8. Oil - required for frying
9. Spring onion - green - 3 tbsp
10. Spring onion - onion part - 1/2 cup
11. White sesame seeds - for garnish.
12. Tomato ketchup - 2 tbsp


Method:

1. Slice the potato and baby corn into fingers.

2. Add Corn flour , red chilli powder, salt and chilli paste and mix well. Do not add any water. let the flour coat the sliced veggies well. if required, sprinkle some water and make sure the flour mixture coats every piece of the veggie well.

3. Fry it in oil, until golden brown.

4. Add some oil in a pan. Once hot, add the spring onion and saute well. Add some salt for faster cooking.

5. In a bowl, add  a table spoon of the schezwan sauce, 2 tbsp of corn flour, 2 tbsp of honey , chilli sauce , some water and make a nice paste.

6. Once the onion is cooked to golden brown, add the mixture.

7. Add two tablespoons of ketchup and allow the mixture to boil. It will start to bubble and thicken as we have added the flour.

8. Once the sauce is thick, add the fried potato and baby corn fingers and mix well. Garnish with leaves part of spring onion and white sesame seeds.

Serve hot with any Chinese main course of your choice.

Schezwan Fried Rice - with Homemade Schezwan sauce

Ingredients:
For fried rice:
1. Rice - 100 gms
2. Carrot - 1/2 cup- finely chopped
3. Beans - 1/2 cup finely chopped
4. Capsicum - 1/2 cup finely chopped
5. Cabbage - 1/2 cup finely chopped
6. Onion - 1/2 cup finely chopped
7. Baby corn - 1/2 cup finely chopped
8. Spring onion - 1/2 cup
9. Salt - as required
10. Sugar - 1 tbsp
11. Oil - 2 tbsp

For Schezwan Sauce:
1. Red chiili - 7-8 Nos
2. Garlic - 5 cloves finely chopped
3. Onion - 2 tbsp
4. Salt - as required
5. Sugar - 1 tsp
6. Oil - 2 tbsp


Method:

1. Cook rice and spread it on a  wide vessel and allow it to cool.

For Schezwan Sauce:

2. Bring about 100 gms of water to boil and soak the red chillies in hot water for 20 mins
3. After 20 mins , add it to a mixture and grind it into a smooth paste.

4. In a pan, add 2 tbsp of oil and add the chopped garlic. Let the oil get heated along with the garlic , by this way the aroma of garlic infuses into the oil.

5. Wait for the garlic becomes beautiful golden brown and then add the onion. 

6. Wait for the onion to become golden brown. add some salt for quicker browning. Once the onion is beautiful golden, add the ground chilli paste.

7. Add two tablespoons of water, add the required salt for the sauce and allow it to boil. the chilli should cook in the heat and oil.

8. After couple of minutes of continuous stirring, the sauce starts to thicken. add sugar now. allow it to cook further.

9. Once the sauce gathers into a nice ball, remove it off the heat. the consistency is very important. it should be nice, thick, paste.

For rice:

10. Add oil to a pan.(I used the same pan in which I made the sauce.) Once the oil is hot, add onions.

11. Saute until the onions start becoming translucent. Add all the veggies, except the spring onion.

12. Add the salt required for the veggies and cook for a couple of minutes.

13. Add some sugar now, so that the veggies do not change color.

14. Cover and cook for a couple of minutes. once the veggies are steamed until soft, add the schezwan sauce.

15. Mix well, until the sauce is completely incorporated into the veggies.

16. Add rice. Mix well. Do a taste test and add salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with Spring onion.

17. Serve hot 

Carrot Dosai - Crispy, Fresh and flavorful Dosai.

Ingredients:
1. Left over dosai batter - 2 cups

To Grind:
2. Grated carrot - 1 cup
3. Grated coconut -2 table spoon
4. Red chilli powder - 2 tsp
5. Jeera powder - 1 tsp
6. Garam Masala - 1 tsp
7. Hing - 1 tsp
8. Salt - as required.

Method:

1. Add  a ladle of batter to a mixer and then add all the ingredients under the 'To grind.' column and grind into a smooth paste

2. Mix the ground mixture to the rest of the batter. Mix thoroughly and adjust the consistency.

3. Smear some oil on the Dosai tawa, spread the batter and cook it very much like the usual dosai.