Tag: Rice

Haalbai | Akki Haalbai | How to make haalbai?

Soft, fudgy rice and coconut milk barfis
9/05/2016 4:27:39 PM vindhyadesai

Ganesha Chaturthi is a 3 or 5 or 10 day long festival for some people. If you celebrate Ganesha Chaturthi for more than one day, it is mandatory to make at least one sweet dish as offering/naivedya to Lord Ganesha. After making sweets like holige (poli), kadubu or other traditional ones from sweets list one will need a recipe that is simple, easy and light on the stomach. Haalbai is one such recipe, soaked rice ground into a thick batter with coconut milk lightly flavoured with elaichi it is a super easy sweet to make. It does not need resting time after preparing. Just plan to soak rice a few hours before making this sweet. Only water can also be used in place of coconut milk but coconut milk adds a subtle taste and makes haalbai pliable because of the oils in it. If you want to keep this vegan use vegetable oil in place of desi ghee. ... “Haalbai | Akki Haalbai | How to make haalbai?”

Dosa Batter | How to make dosa batter? | Dose Hittu

Homemade dosa batter for hotel style dosas
08/28/2016 9:33:47 PM vindhyadesai

The secret to make crisp yet soft dosas without using a lot of oil is in the batter. Dosa batter should be fermented to the right consistency for good, tasty dosas. Different people make dosa batter in different ways, few add cooked rice, few add puffed rice and few add rice flakes (poha). I use poha which makes the dosas light and fenugreek (methi) seeds for fermentation and colour. There are few more secret ingredients revealed in below recipe. Look out for the notes mentioned in the recipe for important pointers. ... “Dosa Batter | How to make dosa batter? | Dose Hittu”

Uddina Bhaat | Urad Dal Rice | Ulundu Sadam | Uddina Anna

Aromatic and flavourful urad dal rice
08/12/2016 8:00:33 PM vindhyadesai

One more traditional recipe from Tamil Nadu & Karnataka. A simple yet aromatic and flavourful urad dal rice. This can be made for ceremonies, for lunch box or even for travel. It stays good at room temperature for a day and is best served with yellu gojju/yellu tuvayil along with roasted papad and yogurt. Try other bhaat recipes from FOI. ... “Uddina Bhaat | Urad Dal Rice | Ulundu Sadam | Uddina Anna”

Puliyogare | Puliyogare Gojju | Pulihora | Puliyodarai | How to make puliyogare?

Traditional Iyengar puliyogare with homemade gojju
08/02/2016 5:46:18 PM vindhyadesai

Tangy, sweet, spicy and even slightly bitter, all tastes in one dish. Puliyogare has to be one of those dishes. Traditional Iyengar Puliyogare made at home is an excellent dish for festivals. You can make the gojju ahead of time and store it and make puliyogare quite easily for your lunch box or even for a quick picnic. It is just mixing in gojju evenly with cooked and cooled rice. Cooked rice should not be sticky and you can eat the most wonderful puliyogare at home. The prasada/offering they give at temples has a unique taste. I would say this one will come quite close and it’s homemade, so no complaints. There are a few steps to make the gojju. I have segregated them to make it easy and each stage can be done separately. ... “Puliyogare | Puliyogare Gojju | Pulihora | Puliyodarai | How to make puliyogare?”

Bisi Bele Bhaat | Bisi Bele Bhath | How to make bisi bele bhaat

Favourite and festive bisi bele bhaat
06/27/2016 9:27:47 PM vindhyadesai

Bisi Bele Bhaat (BBB) is the default dish for a big function like weddings in South Karnataka. It is a crowd favourite dish and made for most festivals and grand celebrations. It is a thick rice and lentils dish with loads of vegetables, fragrant spices and topped with cashews and groundnuts. Very filling and super tasty, generally served with masala corn flakes, potato chips and mixed raitha. Use freshly made masala and your BBB will be a hit. BBB is probably one of those dishes which people like it best when homemade rather than hotel style. Not many restaurants serve good bisi bele bhaat. So, why not try making it at home.
There are quite a few steps, keeping everything organized makes it easy without making you feel overwhelmed. Make dry BBB masala previous day or first thing before starting bisi bele bhaat. I have learnt this recipe from many people each with their own proportions for masala but credit has to go to my friend’s mother who gave me her handwritten recipe which I tried with some variations. Enjoy! ... “Bisi Bele Bhaat | Bisi Bele Bhath | How to make bisi bele bhaat”

Pudina Vegetable Pulao

Minty green mixed vegetable pulao served with a cool raitha
05/07/2016 4:13:19 PM vindhyadesai

One of my favourite dishes to cook when I started to experiment in the kitchen as a school girl, was a big pot of vegetable pulao. I used to cook vegetable pulao adorned with cashews, raisins and toasted bread croutons. On Sunday afternoons, no one was allowed inside the kitchen at home, chopping up vegetables, making rice, grinding the masala, I used to like to make everything myself. This is one of my favourite rice dishes to make on a weekend. Fresh mint/pudina leaves along with a few spices are the base flavours to this super flavourful rice. I generally serve it with a simple mixed vegetable raitha. Any other raitha or just plain yogurt will also go well with this pulao. ... “Pudina Vegetable Pulao”

Spinach and Peas Risotto

Creamy comforting risotto for a cold winter night
04/22/2016 9:27:57 PM vindhyadesai

Risotto is a creamy rice dish from Italy. Wine, butter are generally added to traditional risotto dishes. Here, I do not use any wine. It can be made with different kinds of vegetables, stocks. The rice grains used in a risotto are round short variety like Arborio rice. These days you will find them labelled as ‘Risotto Rice’ available in cartons in supermarkets. Risotto is a very comforting dish, it is easy to make but getting the right consistency is very important. Cooking on low flame and adding the broth/stock little by little are the keys to a perfect creamy risotto with rice cooked al-dente (to the tooth) ... “Spinach and Peas Risotto”

Tomato Bhaat | Tomato Rice

Mildly fragrant and tangy tomato rice
04/16/2016 6:35:03 PM vindhyadesai

A tasty and flavourful rice for that busy working day. Easy to make and liked by most, tomato rice can be served with any raitha or just plain yogurt/curd. When I have excess tomatoes at home I always make tomato bhaat or tomato gojju both South Indian style. ... “Tomato Bhaat | Tomato Rice”

How to cook rice

Cooked plain regular non-sticky rice for bhaat/pulao
04/15/2016 10:12:49 PM vindhyadesai

Cooking regular white rice for a bhaat or pulao and it turns sticky? I will illustrate and explain here a fool-proof method for cooking regular white rice which is non-sticky, non-starchy and easy to mix into a spicy South Indian pulao or that tangy lemon rice. You will no longer have a messy lump of rice in tasty masala. This method uses good old Sona Masuri rice a very popular variety in Karnataka and other southern states. The first method is the ‘Absorption method’. In this method, a measured quantity of rice is cooked with required amount of water till all the water is absorbed. ... “How to cook rice”