simple masoor dal khichdi

Khichdi is my absolute favorite, and the easiest recipe to make. It's got my two favorite things - rice and daal! I could eat khichdi day and night for the rest of my life and not complain. This recipe is adapted from Madhura's Kitchen.

Ingredients
1 cup basmati rice
3/8 cup whole masoor daal  - yes, 3/8th. That's 1/4 cup + half of a 1/4 cup
1 tsp ghee - or adjust to your liking
1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)

pinch of asafetida (hing)
1/4 tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
1/2 tsp coriander powder (dhaniya)
1/4 tsp red chilli powder (laal mirch)

Salt to taste - I added about 1-1/2 tsp

2-3/4 cups water - I used a bit more 

Steps

1. Wash both the rice and daal together in cold water until clear water runs.
2. In a pressure cooker (and a pressure cooker it has to be, because this daal will take forever to cook otherwise), heat up some oil first.
3. Add cumin seeds - sauté for a bit.
4. Add asafetida and turmeric powder. Sauté for a few seconds.
5. Add coriander powder and red chilli powder, and mix well.
6. Add the washed rice and daal and mix well so that the rice and dal grains are coated with ghee.
7. Then add the water, salt to taste, and once the water comes to a boil, put on the lid and cook for 12 minutes. When cooking in a pressure cooker, I don't do whistle numbers because my cooker is smaller than what most people have and if I go by whistle numbers, I'd have undercooked food :( Though, 12 minutes was just enough to get the daal cooked thankfully!
8. After 12-13 minutes, turn off the heat and let the pressure release in its own time.
9. Open the cooker, scoop out a serving and serve with a dollop of ghee. Or with a side of pickles and raita (recipe on the BEST raita in the whole wide world...coming soon!)

open burrito

So I've lived a very sheltered life until undergrad. Among many other awesome eateries, for the first time in 2005, I was also introduced to Chipotle (back then, I pronounced it chip-ottle like in "bottle"). Seemed to be the place most Indians went for vegetarian meals, so slowly, I grew to love the taste of the guacomole-laden veggie burrito. I only ate out when I was at the point of starvation (which in college was often). The crispy spiced fajita veggies with the soft black beans and perky lime-cilantro rice gave my rumbling stomach acids something to pounce on immediately. Of course, I'm proud to be one of the customers that always asks for more rice and more veggies.
It was, and still is, one of the best combinations of carbs and protein! Tortillas aren't my favorite part of a burrito, so in this recipe, I've eliminated it.

Ingredients           Serves 2
1 cup cooked basmati rice - this will be 2x the amount you need!
Juice of a 1/2 of a lemon
Lots of chopped cilantro - no measurements here! You can never have too much cilantro! :-)

1/2 cup Fat-Free Refried beans (Casa Mamita) - I wish I had the time to boil real beans! :-(

1 ripe avocado
1/4 cup chopped onions
1/4 cup chopped tomatoes
Salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp vegetable oil
1/2 onion sliced length-wise
1/2 bell pepper sliced length-wise
Taco seasoning to taste


Steps

1. Mix the 1 cup boiled rice with the juice of a half a lemon, salt, and chopped cilantro. This will be more than you need for two servings, but I'm including the measurements I used to keep it accurate. You can always use your leftover rice to make traditional South Indian lemon rice.
2. Cut open your avocado and scoop out all the goodness into a bowl. Add chopped onions and tomatoes and mash well. Add salt, pepper, and chopped coriander to that and mix!
3. In a hot pan, pour some vegetable oil and sauté the onions and bell peppers sliced length-wise, with some taco seasoning, for 5-6 minutes.
4. Open your can of Fat-Free Refried Beans and thoroughly warm up about 1/2 cup of that, on the stove-top (or the microwave if you prefer).
5. Construct your open burrito. Add 1/4 cup (or more if you want) of rice to your serving dish, then layer on 1/4 cup of the beans, then half the cooked veggies, and top it off with guacamole. Lunch for today!

peas pulao and rajma

Last night I made peas pulao in the rice cooker, and rajma in the pressure cooker. Cookers have made my life easier. Since we eat with our eyes first, I tried my hand at getting a taste through pictures. I don't have a fancy camera [... at least not yet... ;-) ], so I tried taking pictures with my Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini instead.

Ingredients

• 1 cup basmati rice
• 2 cups water
• 1/2 cup peas and carrots (frozen) - I later realized this wasn't enough :-s

Steps

1. Wash the uncooked rice enough times so the water runs clear. This helps the rice not be starchy and sticky.
• If you like sticky rice though, you can overcook it with a little more water so that it's a bit more mushy.
2. I combined all my ingredients (washed rice, 1 cup water a stainless steel container. My rice cooker used to be non-stick but is all scratched up on the bottom now, so I fill it up with about 2 cups of water, and then place my container in the rice cooker and turn it on.
• This uses more energy in the long run, but I'm particular about wasting the rice grains when they stick to the cooker. It also helps if you overcook it this way because unlike with cooking rice in a saucepan (which some people do), this won't burn the rice from the bottom if you end up forgetting about it.
3. I forget how long I let this go for, but after the water boils, I think it should take about 15-20 minutes.

Rajma is one my all-time favorite recipes. I love the way the flavor makes me feel. Food for me isn't just something for survival - it's art, it's luxury, it needs to be savored, both while creating it and while enjoying it. While cooking isn't always easy, it's satisfying to create meals that not only taste good, but look good. :-) 

Unfortunately I was so engrossed in cooking, of course I didn't write down any measurements :-( First actual recipe post = not a great success. Next time though I'll make sure to...next time. Until then, enjoy the pictures!