Results

Some of you must be thinking, why am I posting so many rice preparations. My answer is – “that’s what I am cooking these days”. One time cooking for both lunch and dinner is working very well for me. Though both of us can eat out and survive, we don’t prefer to do it frequently. V is very happy that he can eat different kind of pulav/biryani so often. I use as many as lentils, vegetables, egg in these dishes so that we don’t miss out on any nutrition.

This pulav can be called as a fusion between a biryani and khichdi. Perfectly cooked sprouted moong gives a very nice flavor to this dish. I could have added some other vegetables to it, but I wanted to keep it simple. We both enjoyed it very much.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup moong
1 and 1/2 cups basmati rice
1/2 cup onion
1/2 cup tomato
2-3 sprigs coriander leaves
1 tea spn biryani masala
1 tea spn ginger paste
1 tea spn garlic paste
1 tea spn cumin seeds
2 cardamoms
2 bay leaves
A pinch asafoetida
1 tea spn red chilli powder
2 cloves
1″ cinnamon
Salt

Method:
Sprout the moong.
Heat oil and add cumin seeds, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaves, cardamom. Add onion, ginger, garlic and fry till onions turn translucent. Add tomatoes, salt and cook till tomatoes turn mushy.
Add rice and fry for few minutes, add turmeric, biryani masala, chilli powder and fry again.
Now add the sprouted moong, 3 cups water, coriander leaves, mix gently, cover and cook till done.

Serves : 3-4
Preparation time : 45mins

Pictorial:

Finally we have started using salmon regularly. I have been cooking it with slight modifications every time. We love grilled salmon with different spices. This is one such recipe I tried recently. It tasted great.

Ingredients:
18oz salmon fillet
Olive oil

Spinach paste (Make a paste of following) -
3/4 cup chopped spinach
1 tea spn ginger
1 tea spn garlic
4 green chillies
3 cloves
1″ cinnamon
1 tbl spn lemon juice
Salt

Method:
Apply the paste to salmon piece and keep it aside for about an hour.
Heat a grill pan (or outdoor grill), spread some olive oil. Grill the salmon till done (I remove the skin after one side is done, like I did for this recipe).
Serve hot.

Serves : 1-2
Preparation time : 20mins

Pictorial:

I started using almonds in my cooking few days ago. I had used it to make pesto because I did not have the nuts required for it. So I thought I could use it in Indian dishes too. The first time I tried it in place of coconut, it worked very well. Unlike peanuts, they don’t give any distinct flavor to the dish. I used to put peanuts in many dishes before and now, I have started using almonds.

So last week I tried this beetroot kurma with almond paste instead of coconut. It turned out great. Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:
2 cups beetroot pieces
1 tea spn mustard seeds
5 curry leaves
1/4 tea spn tamarind extract
Salt

Almond powder- Heat oil, fry all the below ingredients and powder them
1 tea spn chana dal
1 tea spn coriander seeds
1 tea spn cumin seeds
1 tea spn urad dal
A pinch asafoetida
2 tbl spn almonds (Use coconut if you don’t have almonds)
4 red chillies
Oil

Method:
Cook beetroot in pressure cooker. Peel it and cut into small pieces.
Heat oil, add mustard seeds, curry leaves. Add beetroot, salt, tamarind, spice powder, a little water. Mix well. Cover and cook for 2-3mins.
Serve hot with rice or chapati.

Serves : 3-4
Preparation time : 30mins