Lemon Rice

Chakara Pongal

On the auspicious day of Pongal, celebrated as the "Harvest Festival" in Tamil Nadu, Chakara Pongal is a must-make dish for the festival. My husband is a big fan of any dish made with vellam(Jaggery) and as this is one easy-to-make food, I can make it in a jiffy. Here is the recipe for all the Jaggery lovers.

Preparation Time:20 mins ( rice and dal cooking time)

Cooking Time:20 mins

Ingredients:

• Jaggery - 2 big pieces or 8 small pieces (We get jaggery here in a box with about 16 pieces or so)
• Rice - 1 cup
• Moong Dal - 1/3 cup
• Ghee - as needed
• Water - 1/2 cup
• Cashews and Raisins - As needed

Procedure:

1. First wash the rice with water and keep it for 15 mins. Same with Moong dal too.
2. Pour water to the ratio of 2:1 rice and 1:1/3 ratio for moong dal.
3. Keep it in a pressure cook and electric cooker and let it get done.
4. While its near to getting done, boil water(1 cup) in a vessel. When it is boiling add Jaggery pieces and melt it. The jaggery should dissolve completely in the water and become of string consistency.
5. When the rice is done, mash it, and when the jaggery is also of the right texture, mix the rice-dal to the jaggery liquid.
6. Mix thoroughly. Add ghee to this as needed to get a better texture and taste.
7. Heat ghee in a small vessel, add cashews and raisins to this. When it tempers, add them to the final pongal.

Tips:

• For those calorie conscious people, you can use brown sugar instead of jaggery too .

Peanut Rice

Preparation time: 20 mins (time to cook rice)
Makes 2 servings
Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

Rice - 1 cup

Mustard - 1/2 tsp
Urad Dal - 1 tsp
Broken Peanuts - 1/2 tsp
Roasted Channa Dal - 1/2 tsp

Turmeric - 1 pinch
Oil
Salt
Curry Leaves - 1 sprig

To Grind :

Peanuts - 1/2 cup (roasted)
Sesame seeds - 1 tsp
Dry Red Chillies - 3-4
Grated Coconut - 1/4 cup

Procedure:

Cook Rice and let it cool so the grains are separated.
Roast the ingredients under 'To Grind' section and coarsely grind it.
Heat oil in kadai , add mustard, urad dal, channa dal , curry leaves and peanuts.
Roast it to golden brown and add a pinch of turmeric.
Adjust the salt.
Switch off the stove, add the ground mixture to this.
Add this to the cooled rice and mix well.
Tastes great with Papad :)

Chilli Gobi

This my version of simple Chilli Gobi, inspired from  Rak's Kitchen. Tastes great for an evening snack or side dish for rice :)

Preparation time: 15mins
Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients:


Cauliflower - 1 cup ( florets separated )
Corn flour - 4 tbsp
Besan flour - 1 tbsp
Curd - 2 tbsp
Cooking soda - a pinch (not more)
Chilli powder - 1-2 tsp
Ginger-Garlic paste - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
Orange food color - a pinch
Salt
Oil - to deep Fry
Curry Leaves - a handful, chopped

Procedure:

1. Boil water with salt and put the cauliflower florets in it. Let be for 5 mins, covered.
2. Drain out the water.
3. In a bowl, add corn flour, besan, soda, salt, curd, chilli powder, turmeric, food color and ginger garlic paste. Mix it well to make a thick batter. Do NOT add water. :)
4. Add the cauliflower florets to the batter and mix well. Let it stand for sometime.
5. Meanwhile heat oil in a kadai to deep fry. 
6. Fry the florets one by one in medium heat to golden brown. 
7. Garnish with Lime juice, chopped curry leaves and sliced onion. 

Capsicum-Peanut Curry

Preparation time: 10 mins
Makes 4 servings
Cooking time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

Capsicum (Bell Pepper) - 1, diced
Onion - 1 medium sized, chopped finely
Tomato - 1, chopped
Chilly Powder - 1/2 tsp
Cumin Powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander Powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
Sambar Powder - 1 tsp
Ginger - 1/2 tsp, grated
Water
Salt
Cilantro

To Grind :

Peanuts - 1/4 cup
Dry Red Chillies - 6-7 nos.
Coriander seeds - 2 tsp
Cumin seeds- 1 tsp
Urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Channa dal - 1/2 tsp
Sesame seeds - 1 tsp
Cloves - 2 nos.

Tamarind - small gooseberry size
Jaggery - 1 small piece

Procedure:

1. Roast ingredients under 'to grind' section (except tamarind & jaggery) in a kadai with 1 tsp oil. 
2. Let the mixture cool and grind it with tamarind and jaggery. Add water as required while grinding.
3. Heat oil in kadai, saute onion, ginger and the chopped bell pepper. 
4. After 5 -7 mins, once the capsicum is half cooked, add the tomato and saute fr 3 mins. ( till it becomes soft )
5. Now add turmeric, chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin powder and sambar powder. Mix it well.
6. After 2 mins of sauteeing , add the ground peanut masala.
7. Add about 1/2 cup water. Adjust salt.
8. Heat in medium flame with constant stirring. You may add some more water if required. 
9. Bring it to a slight boil. Keep stirring frequently else the peanut sauce sticks and burns at the bottom.
10. Cover and cook in low flame fr 3-4 minutes. 
11. Garnish wd 1/2 tsp of coconut oil and cilantro.
12. Switch off the stove and sprinkle a dash of coconut oil on the curry. 

Garnish with chopped cilantro. Serve Hot with Roti/Parantha. :)