Chicken Sausage Rice

This is a very easy dish when you really want to eat non vegerian and you cannot lay hands on anything other than frozen sausages. As i said earlier we were fasting last week and hence my daughter really wanted to eat sausages her favourite!!! I usually make this dish when I am really lazy but I made it today just to satisfy her taste buds and yes she was indeed happy to eat them all.

Ingredients:
Rice - 1 cup
onions - 1 medium
ginger-garlic paste - 1 tbsp
green chillies - 4
carrot - 1 medium
fresh or frozen peas - ½ cup
chicken sausages - 5
salt to taste
garam masala powder - 1 tsp
coriander leaves - ½ cup, finely chopped
olive oil or any cooking oil - 1 tbsp

Method:
Cook rice separately and set aside to cool.
Peel and slice onions finely. Wash and slice green chillies lenghtwise.
Wash, peel and chop carrots in to small pieces.
Defrost peas if using frozen peas.
Cook chicken sausages in boiling water till tender. Cool and slice them into roundels.

Now heat oil in a non stick kadai. Add sliced onions and when slightly brown add ginger-garlic paste and continue stirring till nice and brown. Now add slit green chillies, chopped carrots, peas and chicken sausage roundels. Add salt and garam masala and stir fry till the sausages are lightly fried.

Now mix in the cooked rice. Stir well till all the rice is spiced up. Cover and cook for another
5 minutes on low flame. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot with raitha of your choice.

Schezuan Fried Rice

Veg Fried Rice has always been our favourite. Even if I prepare this dish every week sakshi and RK have no issues. Hence I tried this variation of fried rice which i got from Tarla dalal's Rice Recipes and I am glad i tried it.

Ingredients:
Basmathi Rice - 2 cups
garlic - 4 cloves
vegetables - 1 cup (carrots, capsicum, cabbage and beans)
spring onions - 2 stalks
schezuan sauce - 2 tbsp ( recipe below)
oil - 1 tbsp
salt to taste

Schezuan Sauce: makes ¾cup
Dry red chillies - 12 to 15 (kashmiri or Begdi)
white vinegar - 3 tbsp
garlic - 3 cloves
sugar - 2 tsp
sesame oil - 1 tbsp
salt - 1 tsp

Soak the dry red chillies in warm water for 10 to 15 minutes. Drain out all the water from the chillies and discard it. Grind all the ingredients except the oil in a blender to a fine paste. Keep aside. Heat oil to smoking point and pour over the paste. Mix well. Allow to cool and store refrigerated in an air tight container. Use as and when required.




Method: Schezuan Fried Rice
Heat a pot of water and get to a boil. Wash the rice and add to the boiling water. Add salt and cook till the rice is just done. drain off the water and set the rice to cool on a paper towel. This step can be done well in advance if preparing for a party.
Peel and finely chop garlic. Wash and finely slice all the vegetables. Wash and chop separately spring onions green and white.



Heat oil, add chopped garlic and saute till it turns golden in colour. Add spring onion white and veggies and saute for 2 to 3 minutes on high flame. Add schezuan sauce and cook for another minute. Add cooked rice, spring onion greens, salt and mix well. Toss for a few seconds till all the ingredients are well mixed. Serve hot.

This dish is on its way for the Event HARVEST: THE FESTIVAL OF RICE hosted by Sudeshna at Here I cook

Methi (Fenugreek) Pulao

This recipe is from my amma and she makes it quite often as methi has high medicinal properties inspite of its bitter taste. This Pulao is a complete and healthy meal by itself when served with raitha of your choice.

Ingredients: serves 2-3
Rice - 1 cup (Basmathi/sona masoori or any rice)
methi leaves - small bunch
Onions - 2
green chillies - 2
clove - 2 (optional
cinnamon - 1" (optional)
ginger - 1"
garlic - 4 cloves
tomatoes - 2 medium
garam masala powder - ½ tsp
red chilli powder - ½ tsp
turmeric powder - ½ tsp
water - 2 cups
salt to taste
refined oil/olive oil - 1 tbsp

Method:
Wash methi leaves till the water comes out clear(not muddy) For the final rinse add salt and leave for 10 minutes and then drain the leaves on a colander. Chop the leaves finely.
Wash rice well in running water and keep aside to soak for 30 minutes. Drain it and keep aside the water in which the rice was soaked.
wash and peel ginger and garlic and blend to a smooth paste.
Peel onions and slice them finely.
wash and chop tomatoes into fine pieces.
wash and slit green chillies.

Heat oil in a deep bottomed non stick kadai, when hot splutter cloves and cinnamon then add chopped onions, slit green chillies and ginger-garlic paste and saute till brown. Add chopped methi leaves and saute for around 5-7 minutes until the leaves are wilted and turns dark green in colour. Now add red chilli powder, turmeric powder and garam masala powder. saute for about 30 secs and add chopped tomatoes. Mix well and cook till tomatoes are soft and nice.

Now add salt and rice and saute on low flame for around 3 minutes till the rice turns opaque. Meanwhile make 2 cups of water with the water that was used to soak the rice ( so that the nutrients of the rice are not gone a waste). Boil the water separately in a vessel and add to the methi-rice mixture. Increase the flame to high and get the mixture to a boil.
Cover the lid, reduce the flame to medium and cook for around 7 minutes without interfering in between. Put off the gas and forget it again for another 5 minutes. Don't peep to check if the rice is cooked. After 5 minutes or so, open the lid and tranfer the pulao into the serving bowl and serve hot with raitha of your choice!!

Vegetable Fried Rice

This is one of the easiest and most commonly made rice dish. It is light on your tummy satisfying your taste buds as well. A very healthy complete meal if relished at home, goes well with chilli vinegar. the recommended rice is Basmathi but since this rice was out of stock and was lazy to go the grocer downstairs ;)) opted for sona masoori rice and liked it better than basmathi rice!!!

Ingredients:
Sona masoori Rice - 1cup
Garlic - 4 big cloves
spring onions - 4 stalks
capsicum - 1 small
carrot - 1
cabbage - 1 cup shredded
pepper - 1 tsp
salt to taste
soya sauce - 1tsp
vinegar - 1 tsp
red chilli sauce - 1 tbsp
olive oil - 3 tsp

Method:
heat a pot of water and get to a boil. wash the rice and add to the boiling water. Add salt and cook till the rice is just done. drain off the water and set the rice to cool on a paper towel. This step can be done well in advance if preparing for a party.You can also make it the previous day if you tend to panic on the D day.
Peel garlic and chop them fine.
wash and chop the spring onion greens and whites separately.
wash and deseed the capsicum and chop into small squares.
wash and peel the carrots and chop them into small squares.
wash and shred cabbage thinly.

Heat 2 tsp olive oil, add garlic and saute till light brown and add spring onion white and saute. Now add chopped carrots, capsicum and cabbage and saute on medium to high flame. Add salt and pepper and mix well. Push aside these veggies to the side of the pan and heat another tsp of olive oil and add cooked rice and saute till rice is warm and nice, mix the veggies with the rice. Now add soya sauce, vinegar and red chilli sauce and mix well. Add spring onion greens at this point and saute for another 3 minutes and u are done. Serve hot for the best results!!!

Palak Pulao ( Spinach Rice)

During Pregnancy or even otherwise one is advised to eat a lot of green leafy vegetables to keep ourselves healthy and fit. Spinach is one such easily available green leafy veggie containing amino acids, iron, vitamin C and folic acid. But always make it a point to add lemon juice to the spinach dish since vitamin C content in the lemon juice helps the body to absorb the entire iron content from spinach.

As the richest source of folic acid, spinach is a very valuable food during pregnancy and lactation. Megaloblastic anaemia of pregnancy occurs because the mother is deficient in folic acid. This deficiency of folic acid occurs as this substance is required for the developing foetus. Regular use of spinach during pregnancy will help prevent the deficiency of folic acid. It will also prevent threatened abortion and accidental haemorrhage, deficient absorption of food by small intestine associated with lassitude i.e. tiredness, shorness of breath, loss of weight and diarrhoea. Spinach is also good source of nutrition for nursing or lactating mothers and improves the quality of their milk.

Sakshi my daughter used to have days like RED DAY, GREEN DAY, YELLOW DAY etc signifying the importance of that particular colour when she was in KG1 and she was supposed to wear that particular colour dress and talk a few words about that colour and to make everything nice I used to cook that colour lunch for her when she was back from school. This dish is one among them i made for green day.

Ingredients:
spinach - 1/2 bunch
basmati rice - 1 cup
water - 1-1/2 cups
onions - 1 medium
ginger-garlic paste - 2 tsp
green chillies - 4 slit
salt to taste
a knob of butter
oil or ghee - 2 tsp

Method:
wash and clean the spinach. chop them coarsely. Heat a knob of butter in a pan and add chopped spinach and fry till they shrink. let it cool. grind them to a smooth paste in a blender.


In the same pan heat oil/ghee and add chopped onions and fry till brown, then add ginger-garlic paste and slit green chillies. Fry for a minute. Now add ground spinach and mix well. cook for 2 minutes. Now add rice and saute for another 3 minutes. Now add 1-1/2 cups of hot water and salt and get to a boil. Cover the pan with a lid and cook for exactly 8 min on low flame without opening the lid to see if its cooked or not. Put off the flame after 8 minutes and forget it for another 5 minutes. Tranfer to the serving bowl and serve it hot with raitha of your choice.

Vegetable Pulao

This dish is very simple and delicious!! and every household has their own way of preparing it. But hold on, this is healthy with veggies as usual but it has soya granules which is packed with important nutrients like calcium, magnesium and B complex vitamins and fibrous too. The best part of making this pulao is ur kidos will not even realise that they are eating healthy food that is soya.

Ingredients:

Basmati Rice - 1cup

water - 2 cups (hot boiling water)

onion - 1 big, thinly sliced

ginger-garlic paste - 1tsp

green chillies - 4, slit

veggies - 1cup (beans, carrot, peas, baby corn)

soya granules - 2tbsp

garam masala - 1tsp, optional

coriander leaves - 1 handfull, chopped

olive oil - 2tsp (choose any oil)

lemon juice - 1tsp

Wash and soak rice in water for 30 min. Soak soya granules(not chunks) in hot water for 15 min, drain and sqeeze the granules and keep aside. Heat oil in a kadai, add sliced onions, fry till brown and nice aroma fills the kitchen. Now add ginger-garlic paste and green chillies, saute for a min. Add veggies, soya granules, salt cover and cook for 5 minutes. Drain the rice and add to the cooked veggies, saute for another 3 min. Take care not to break the rice. Meanwhile heat 2 cups water, when it a starts to boil add to the rice mixture. Get the whole mixture to a boil add salt to ur taste, garam masala, lemon juice.

Cover and cook on a low flame for exactly 8 minutes. Do not peep in to the kadai now and then to check the rice....it will cook by 8 minutes. Put off the gas and forget it again do not open to see. After 10 minutes tranfer to a serving bowl. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve it with raitha of your choice.