We have started using brown rice quite often these days. The first dish I ever tried with brown rice was pongal and I have to agree that I did not get it right. Only after 2 failed attempts I figured out the ratio of water and brown rice. Cooking brown rice in a pressure cooker is a breeze. The brown rice, water ratio is 2 and 1/2 cups of water for 1 cup of rice, if you are preparing dishes like pongal, bisi bele bath etc. For these dishes the rice has to be cooked well, so leave the cooker on for 5-6 whistles. If you are going to make fried rice or any other dish which doesn’t require sticky rice, the ratio of water is 2 and 1/4 cups of water and leave it just for 1 or 2 whistles and remove the cooker from the stove.

These days I prefer brown rice pongal to the traditional white rice pongal. This is healthy and definitely very filling. The only one negative thing I observed with brown rice is, it may give stomach cramps initially. Let me stress here again on “may”. My husband did not have any problems at all. On the other hand I developed severe stomach cramps on the second day after eating brown rice consecutively for two days. I spoke with my nurse to find out the reason and she explained that since brown rice is whole grain, drinking more water would help with easy digestion of the fiber. Now don’t make this an excuse to avoid using brown rice because it’s not the case with everybody. Since our(my) body is used to white flour and rice, it may take some time to tolerate the extra effort it has to put to digest whole grains. So increase your consumption of brown rice gradually and also drink a lot of water.

Last week I tried Pongal with brown rice and it came out very well, which made me think why not bisi bele bath with brown rice? Earlier I was very hesitant about using brown rice, wondering if we would like the taste or not. To my surprise both of us like it very much. I think this is one of the few things we both agree upon! Brown rice when cooked has a rubbery (is it even a word?) texture. Or simply it is not as soft as its white counterpart. You feel very full after eating a cup of rice, as against wanting more after eating white rice. I made zucchini raitha to go with the bisi bele bath. That’s easy to prepare too. You can find other facts about brown rice here.

My grandmother used to prepare a sambar using methi (fenugreek leaves) leaves called “Pulla Keera” meaning tangy greens. It requires little more tamarind than the regular sambar and a tempering of mustard seeds, fenugreek (methi seeds) and green chillies which gives this side dish an unique flavor. Toor daal rice mixed with ghee, spicy potato roast and this sambar is simply a heavenly combination.

I had a bunch of beets with the greens. So I decided to prepare the sambar using beet greens instead of methi. The beet leaves sambar tasted very good and comforting. Grandmothers’ recipes are always versatile and foolproof.

Cauliflower is my husband’s favorite vegetable, so I try to cook different dishes with it.  Nupur’s Cauliflower Soup has become such a hit in my house, these days even my mother is asking me to make it quite often.  While searching the net I came to know about oven roasted cauliflower and was so tempted to try it.  There are 1001 recipes available throughout the net for roasted cauliflower and this is my version. 

Ingredients:
Cauliflower, big – 1, cut into medium size florets
Oil – 1/4 cup
Sambar powder – 2 tablespoons
Red Chili powder – 1 teaspoon
Turmeric powder – 1/4 teaspoon
Hing – 1/4 teaspoon
Salt – as per taste
Cornflour – 1 tablespoon

Procedure:
1.  Cut the cauliflower into medium size florets and clean it by soaking in a mixture of warm water and salt.

2.  In a large mixing bowl combine all the other ingredients and whisk it.

3.  Now add the cauliflower florets little by little and toss it well to coat thoroughly with the mixture.

4.  Spread it evenly on a greased baking sheet.

5.  Preheat the oven at 425F for 15 minutes.

6.  Roast the cauliflower for 25 minutes, tossing it once around 15 minutes.

7.  To get a crispy texture, turn the oven switch to broil mode for 3-5 minutes, again tossing once in the middle.  While doing this make sure that you keep the oven door open and keep your kids out of the kitchen.

Crispy oven roasted cauliflower is ready to be snacked on or as a side dish.

My Notes:
Using the same procedure you can experiment with different flavors like garam masala, curry powder or use a variety of herbs.

I was on a short break and am back with an easy recipe for zucchini kootu. I learnt it from my mother-in- law.  Using rice rinsed water, this simple and tasty side dish can be prepared in no time.  I guess this is similar to the Eriseri which is prepared in Kerala, using plain water.  Usually when I use an electric rice cooker I wash the rice and soak it for 30 minutes and then cook it, to get a soft texture.  So whenever I use my electric rice cooker, I make this kootu with the rice soaked water, because I don’t want to use the regular pressure cooker also just to cook daal for sambar/kootu.  My mother-in-law prepares this kootu with cucumber.  I had only zucchini that day, so I tried it for the first time and it tasted so good.

A very tasty kootu is ready to be served with steaming hot white rice!

Inspired by Priya’s Rava Idli and Cham’s Cracked Wheat Idli, I came up with this idea of using grits to make instant idlis. Yet another time grits has proved to be versatile. The idlis came out very well and especially it tasted so good with sambar for side dish.

Ever since I came to know that beet greens were edible and prepared Beet Greens Daal, I have wanted to use it more often. Recently I prepared usili using beet greens and beets. Initially I thought of using beet greens alone, but once I cooked it, the quantity was very less, so proceeded using the beets also. I increased the quantity of chillies while grinding the daals, to offset the sweetness of the beets. This was the first time I was preparing beet usili and we all totally loved it.

Ingredients
Oil – 1 tablespoon
Mustard seeds
Urad Daal – 1 teaspoon
Channa Daal – 1 teaspoon
Beet Greens – 1 Bunch
Beets, small – 5
Usili – as required (procedure to prepare usili in My Notes)

My Notes
Half a cup of daal is enough for a family of 3. But I soak 1 cup of daal and prepare the usal as always and use it 2 days. Prepare the usili as per the instructions. Use as much as required and freeze the rest in a ziploc bag. When you want to use it, empty the contents in a microwave safe vessel and either defrost it or cook for a minute and fresh usili is ready.

How to prepare Usili?

Ingredients:
Channa Daal – 1/2 cup
Toor Daal – 1/4 cup
Masoor Daal – 1/4 cup
Green Chillies – 1 (or as per your taste)
Red Chillies – 2 (or as per your taste)
Hing – 1 teaspoon

Procedure:
1. Soak the daals and chillies in water for atleast an hour. (I usually soak it the previous night itself before going to bed.)

2. Now grind the above, adding salt and hing.

3. Grease 2 idli plates and divide the mixture among the 8 moulds.

4. Steam it, as you would do for idlis, maybe couple more extra minutes. A knife/toothpick inserted should come out clean.

5. Once it is done, remove the daal idlis, cut them into small pieces, keep it in a plate, cover it with plastic wrap and keep it in freezer for 10 minutes. (Don’t forget that you have kept it in the freezer, then it will become rock hard)

6. After removing from the freezer, place the contents either in a blender or a food processor and powder it. The texture will be so good, if this method is followed. (Now you would understand why I have mentioned to keep it in the freezer. If it is ground as soon as it is steamed, it will have a lot of lumps)

7. This powder can either be used on the same day itself with vegetables of your choice (beans, carrots or a combo of both, in my case even beets) or it can be freezed for later use, so that you can have usili on a busy work day too.

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When I first came to know about the Jhiva for Love event, I couldn’t think of anybody other than my mother and grandmother.  Amma I love you very much, but I’m going to write about avva (grandmother) here.  She is my father’s mother.  She passed away last June at the age of 79.  Last year this time, I was happily describing to her about the spring blossoms here, my son’s mischiefs and she was also eagerly listening to me as always.  I still can’t believe that she is no more. It aches to write about her in past tense.

She was not orthodox and she was definitely broad minded and courageous, surprisingly for a person who was born in 1928.  The only difference we had, she was very protective of me and wouldn’t allow me to go out with my friends and do the regular cool stuff.  Her rule was I shouldn’t go out anywhere but all my friends, both girls and boys were welcome to our house anytime.  During the early years of my adoloscence this was really frustrating.  You know how it’s like right?  All your friends would go out for a movie, except you.  The next day they would discuss the previous day’s happenings in detail and you will be left alone without nothing to talk.  But I did have company, one of my friend’s grandparents also wouldn’t allow her anywhere, so we formed a mini group within our big group and we became very close.

When I mention about my grandmother, I should definitely mention about her contemporary fashion sense.  Nobody can imagine how many dresses she used to get me, both sarees and churidhars.  She used to buy 2-4 sets at a time.  95% of the sarees I have now were bought by her.  She had such an excellent taste.  She used to select sarees for my mother too and nobody would believe that it was selected by her.  Recently she had also started giving hair cuts for my mother,  to her colleagues disbelief.  They would ask her which beauty parlor?

How can I forget to mention how skilled she was in handicrafts?  She used to do a lot of embroidery.  That’s how I managed to pass the needle work subject in my school.  I was too lazy to do it and she would do it for me.  She loved working with different kinds of beads and has created masterpieces.  She used to get all worked up one month before Navarathiri (Dassera) and would start planning and creating things to keep a grand golu.  She was so creative. I definitely owe her for the little bit of creativity I have.  Did I mention that she was a very good packer?  It’s no joke, she can pack so efficiently,  whether it was a small suitcase for a two days journey or any other big stuff for that matter.

Although I wish she could have lived for some more time to see my son speak fluently and converse with him, I’m happy that she had a peaceful death.  I’m really fortunate to have had a grandmother like her.  Not only that I’m also proud of my mother for being with my grandmother (her mother-in-law) all these years.  My grandmother was really fortunate to have had a daughter-in-law like her.

When I write about my relationship with my grandmother, I can’t deny the fact that we (my husband and myself), are not giving that chance to my son and his grandmothers (my mother and mother-in-law).  My husband has also had his share of living with his grandparents and he cherishes those memories.  I really feel very bad about not being able to give my son that experience.   

My grandmother was also an excellent cook.  I think I have her cooking DNA in me, to some extent.  I last tasted her cooking back in 2006, when she was 78. It had not changed at all.  Her kootu (dal), sambar and koora (vegetable curry) tasted exactly the same as they tasted 20 years back.  She was especially a master in preparing sweets like lavanga latha, padhir peni and other elaborate Diwali snacks.

Out of all her recipes, 3 of them stand out, because they are simple yet tasty and unique.  It’s the fire roasted tomato chutney, spring onion (scallion) and mung dal side dish for chapathis and spring onion pakoras.  I would like to share the tomato chutney recipe here because it has become my husband’s favorite too.  This chutney is a very good accompaniment for dosas and idlis.

Ingredients:
Tomatoes medium size 2-3 nos./half a can of fire roasted tomatoes.
Urad dal 2 tablespoons
Channa dal 2 tablespoons
Red chilly 1 big
Salt 1/4 teaspoon
Tamarind very little (optional)
Oil 2 teaspoons to roast the dals (preferably sesame oil)

For Tempering:
Oil 1 teaspoon (preferably sesame oil)
Mustard seeds 1 teaspoon

Procedure:
1. If you have a gas stove, roast the tomatoes over the flame directly until the skin turns black and it starts to peel. It is going to be a little messy only. Then peel off the skin and cut the tomatoes and let it cool down.  If you have an electric range like me or not interested in roasting the tomatoes over flame, you can use the canned fire roasted tomatoes instead.  I got Hunter’s brand Fire roasted tomatoes diced with garlic (14.5 oz/411 gms).  In this case empty the contents of the can in a colander and drain the liquid and reserve the liquid for later use, for making rasam etc. Half a can of tomatoes is enough for the above measurement of dals.  Try to remove as much liquid as possible.

2. Meanwhile in a small saucepan add oil and after it heats add the dals and red chilly and fry until golden brown.  Transfer it to a plate and let it cool. If you use raw tamarind you can fry it with the dals.  I do not use tamarind while preparing the chutney.

3. After the dals cool, put the contents in a small mixer and pulse it a few times to get a coarse powder.  It should not be ground fine.  It should be like Idli Milagai Podi.

4. Now add the tomatoes and blend it 2-3 times until the dals and tomatoes mix together to form a chutney consistency. You can add little water at this stage if required.

5. Add another teaspoon of oil, after it heats add the mustard seeds and pour it over the chutney and mix it well.

6. Serve it with hot idlis or dosas and enjoy!

This is my entry to Pratibha and Pritya’s Jhiva for Love Event.