1. Coconut Pulao
Ingredients: 1 cup long grained, washed Rice, 2 cups grated Coconut, 1 tbsp Ghee, 1 Onion-medium sized and finely sliced, 4 Cloves, 2 Cinnamon 1 inch sticks, 2 green cardamom, ¼ tsp Turmeric powder, ¼ tsp Sugar, 1 ½ tsp Salt, 1 medium sized Onion-thinly sliced and fried, 8-10 Cashew nuts fried, 1 tbsp Raisins fried.
Method:
1)Blend the coconut with 2 cups of warm water to extract 2 cups of coconut milk. Keep aside.
2)Heat the ghee in a pan and sauté the onion, cloves, cinnamon sticks and green cardamom for approximately 3 minutes.
3)Add rice and stir fry for 1 minute. Add turmeric powder, sugar, salt and coconut milk. Stir well. Bring the mixture to the boil. Lower heat and simmer till the rice is cooked.
4)Serve garnished with fried onion, cashew nuts and raisins.
Serves: 3
2. Kashmiri Mixed Vegetable Rice
Ingredients: 1 ½ cups Rice, 4 tbsp Ghee, 4 Cloves, 2 Black Cardamom crushed, 500 gm Cauliflower cut into florets, 250 gm Potatoes -peeled and cut into 4 pieces, 250 gm Green Peas shelled, pinch of Asafoetida, Salt to taste, 1 tsp Turmeric powder, 4 cups of Water, 1 tsp Ginger powder, 2 Green Chillies, 1 fresh Ginger-1/2 inch piece, slit and julienned.
Method:
1)Clean, wash the rice and keep aside.
2)Heat the ghee in a heavy-bottomed pot, add cloves and black cardamom and stir. Add the vegetables, asafoetida, salt and turmeric powder. Stir for 1 minute.
3)Add rice and mix well. Add water, ginger powder, green chillies and ginger. Cover and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. When the water is almost absorbed, cook covered, on low heat, for 5-7 minutes. Serve with yoghurt or pickle.
Serves:4
3. Vegetable Biryani
Ingredients: 1 tbsp Bengal Gram, 1 tbsp Kidney Beans, 1tbsp Split Red Gram, 1 tbsp split Green Gram, ¾ cup Rice, 3 tbsp Vegetable oil, 3 Cinnamon 1 inch sticks, 6 cloves, 2 Bay leaves, 15 Green Cardamom, 1 tsp Garlic-chopped, 120 gm Tomatoes, Salt to taste, 2 cups water, ¼ cup Almonds-fried, 2 tsp Mint leaves-chopped, ½ cup Onion rings-fried.
Ground to paste: 2 tsp Coriander powder, 1 tsp Cumin powder, ¾ cup grated Coconut, 1 tsp Red Chilli powder.
Method:
1)Soak the Bengal gram, kidney beans and red gram together for 1 hour. Soak the rice and split green gram together in a separate container for 1 hour.
2)Drain the water from both the containers and add ¾ th cup of fresh water to the container containing
Bengal gram and cook on medium heat till tender.
3)Add 1 ½ cups water to the pot containing rice and cook on medium heat until almost done. For the paste grind the spices with a little water.
4)Heat the oil in a pan, add cinnamon sticks, cloves, bay leaves and green cardamom. Sauté for 30 seconds. Add garlic, tomatoes and ground paste. Cook for 4-5 minutes or till oil separates.
5)Mix the pulses, rice mixture, salt and water together. Cover and cook on low heat till done. Serve hot garnished with almonds, mint leaves and onion rings.
Serves:4
