Mushroom Pulao - Simple and yummy rice recipe.

The below measurements make 2 large or 3 medium servings.

Ingredients:

1. Rice - 200 gms
2/ Mushroom - 200 gms
3. Onion - 2 medium -sliced.
5. Green chillies - 6 nos - finely chopped.
6. Ginger garlic paste- 11/2 tablespoon
7.Bay leaf - 2 Nos
8. Cinnamon stick- 2 nos
9. Cardamom - 2 nos
10. Star anise - 1 nos
11. Black pepper - 4 nos
12. Salt - to taste'
13. Oil - 2 tbsp.

Method:

1. Wash the rice well until the water runs clear. Add the required quantity of water for cooking. I added 175 ml of water. add salt to taste and the whole spices. My family likes it spicy, so apart from the finely chopped green chillies, which I would be adding later, I have added 2 slit green chillies to the raw rice.

2. Pressure cook the rice for three - four whistles on medium flame.

3. Discard the whole spices off the cooked rice. I have retained pepper alone, for additional heat.

4. Add two table spoons of oil in a pan.

5. Once hot add the sliced mushrooms and finely chopped green chillies.

6. Add some salt to quicken the cooking process. 

7. Once the onion starts browning, add the ginger garlic paste.

8. Mix well and saute for 3-4 mins until the raw flavor of the ginger garlic paste goes off.

9. Add the diced mushroom.

10. Add a dash of salt , so that the mushroom starts leaving out its water.

11. Keep frying it on medium flame. A couple of minutes later, all you would find is a soggy, watery half cooked mushroom. Mushroom starts leaving out its moisture as it starts cooking. at one point of time, it leaves out all of its moisture content and when you further cook it, the water starts drying out and mushroom starts getting fried.

12. Keep frying for few more minutes. by this time the mushroom would have given out almost all of its moisture content. my Mushrooms looked like below, almost 7 minutes after adding them. 

13. Keep frying until all the moisture is evaporated. the pan should be completely devoid of any liquid, as shown below.

14. Make sure there is no water left out, before adding the rice. 

15. Add the cooked rice. please remember, we have added salt while cooking the rice, also for the onions and mushroom. so add the rice and mix well. please taste for seasoning. If you feel like adding some salt,please go ahead. 

16. Mix well and serve hot. 

Ragi Paratha - Dieter's choice

Ingredients:

1. Ragi flour - 50 gms
2. Wheat flour - 70 gms.
3. Tofu - 50 gms
4. Carrot - 50 gms - grated
5. Chayote(Chowchow) - 20 gms - grated
6. Beans - 8 nos - finely chopped
7. Onion - one small- finely chopped
8. Green chillies- 2 nos - Optional
9. Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
10. Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
11. Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
12.Salt - to taste
13. Corinader leaves
14. Hing - 1/2 tsp
15. Oil- 1 tsp+ 2 tsp.
16. Lime juice - 3-5 drops.


Method:

1. Take the ragi flour, wheat flour and add required salt for the dough and mix well.

2. Add required water and knead the dough to a smooth ball.

3. Crumble the tofu well. Chop/Grate the vegetables.

4. In a pan add just 1 tsp of oil or ghee. 

5. Once the oil is hot add the onions.

6. Since we are not adding a lot of oil here, the onions will not brown beautifully. Don't step aside. the onions will burn. so keep saute-ing until the onions turn transparent.

7. Add the rest of the veggies and salt required for the veggies.

8. As we are trying to avoid any more oil addition, I recommend to cover and cook the veggies, until they are half done , by opening the lid and stirring them occasionally. I like it less spicy so I have not added any green chilli. If you prefer it spicy, add finely chopped green chillies now.

9. Once the veggies are half done - this might take 3-5 minutes, add the crumbled tofu.

10. Add all the dry spices - Turmeric, red chilli, hing and Garam masala powders. Add the coriander leaves.

11. Mix well and set aside to cool. Once cooled down to room temperature, add lime juice and  make medium lemon sized balls out of the filling mixture.

12. Make a small ball of the ragi-wheat dough.Dab it in some wheat flour, so that it is easy for rolling.

13. Roll it and make a thick roti of 5-6 inches diameter.

14. Place a ball of filling at the center.

15. Wrap the filling with the roti on all sides such that the filling is well covered.

16. Press it gently and dust it in wheat flour again.

17. Roll it with gentle hands, until you start seeing the impression of under lying filling.

18. Cook it on Tawa with 1 tsp of oil for each side. Since we cook with less oil, the Paratha might take 5-7 minutes to get cooked completely. Less oil More patience. :)

19. Serve hot with curd and pickle. 

Coconut Laddu - Sugary Food heaven

Ingredients:
1. Fresh grated coconut - 150 gms + 2 tbsp
2. Condensed milk - 1 small tin - 200 ml
3. Cardamom powder - 2 tsp
4. Ghee - 2 tbsp
5. Cashews - halved - 7 nos / chopped - 1 tsp

Method:

1. In a pan, preferably non-stick, add a tbsp of ghee and roast the cashews until they are golden brown.
2.In the same pan, if you have some left over ghee, just add a little extra and add 2 tbsp of freshly grated coconut

3. On medium flame, by roasting continuously, fry it until it is crisp and golden brown. remove it on to a separate plate and set aside for cooling,

4. To the same pan, without adding any extra ghee, add the remaining coconut and toss gently in medium flame. 

5. After 2-3 mins, add the cardamom powder and toss gently.

6. Keep frying in medium -low flame, for up to 5 mins or until the divine aroma of coconut and cardamom comes up together. 

7. Make sure the coconut does not change color, we just want the moisture from coconut to escape. we do not want to roast the coconut to golden brown. 

8. Once the aroma is released, add the condensed milk. I suggest to take the pan off the flame, pour the entire can of condensed milk, mix well and then place it on the flame again.

9. Keep the flame on medium and stir the mixture continuously. At first the mixture might seem weird, with coconut flakes and the condensed milk not incorporated so well, as in the above picture. Just keep stirring. After three minutes of time, my mixture looked like below.

10. As the mixture started to thicken, add the chopped and fried cashews. Mix well.

11. Keep stirring. After 5-6 mins of time, my mixture started sticking on to my wooden spoon and started leaving the pan. 

This indicates we are so close to the right consistency. Once the mixture stops sticking to the pan, there we are.

12. After a minute or so, the mixture started to form a nice , soft and smooth dough like ball.

(You can see how clean my pan is. :) ) 

  

14. Allow it to cool completely, or just warm enough for you to handle it.

15. Make small balls out of the mixture and place the fried halved cashew at the center.

16. Roll it over the roasted coconut crumbs. 

17. Coconut laddu is ready.