Sprouts Pulav

Sprouts is one of the richest source of protein and I got the idea of making Pulav with it from my sis Reva who is a big fan of sprouts.This is also a kid friendly dish and a clever way to introduce sprouts into their diet.You can use store bought sprouts or home made ones.....I used home made sprouts. Here is the quick method to make sprouts at home followed by the recipe for Sprouts Pulav..Enjoy!
To make Sprouts:
Wash nicely & then soak Whole Green Moong dhal in water on day 1. The next day i.e day 2, drain all the water and leave the moong closed in a container for the entire day. You will see that the moong has begun to sprout nicely on day 3. You can refrigerate this sprouted moong and use it upto a week easily. It can be added to Salads, soups, Kurma or rice.
Sprouts Pulav:
Ingredients:
Basmati Rice- 1 Cup
Onion- 1 thinly sliced
Green chilly- 3 slit
Sprouts- 2 cups
Red bell pepper- chopped- 2 tbsp (optional)
Coconut milk- 1 cup
Garam masala powder- 1 tsp
Salt to taste
To make into paste:
Ginger- 1 inch piece
Garlic- 2 pods
Cinnamon- 1 small stick
clove- 1

To Temper:
Bay leaf- 2
Cloves-2
Cinnamon- 1 stick
cardamom- 2

Method:
Wash and Soak the basmati rice for 10 mins. Drain the excess water and keep it aside.
Heat oil + 1 tsp of ghee and add the tempering items.When the nice aroma of masala rises, add the slit green chilly and sliced onions and saute them nicely. Now add the masala paste and saute well until the raw smell goes away. Then add the sprouts and saute nicely until it mixes well with the masala. Now add the chopped red bell pepper(this is optional, I added it to make it colorful). Then add the washed basmati rice to this masala and mix well. Sprinkle a tsp of garam masala powder, salt to taste and transfer this to a rice cooker. Add a cup of coconut milk + a cup of water(I used rice to water ratio as 1:2, use appropriate ratio based on kind of rice used). Cook for 20 mins or until rice is cooked well. Garnish with roasted cashews and serve with raita & chips.
Yumm yumm Sprouts Pulav is ready!

Vegetable Fried Rice

This is the Indo-Chinese version of vegetable fried rice which is pretty simple to make. This tastes well with some indo-chinese side dish like manchurian or even just ketchup.So here goes the recipe...
Ingredients:
Basmati rice- 1 cup
Vegetables- Green onions, Carrot, beans, cabbage,
green pepper, cauliflower- 2 cups- finely chopped
Ginger garlic paste- 1 tsp
Green chilly-2 slit lengthwise
Salt & pepper to taste
Soy sauce - 1 tbsp
Method:
Cook the basmati rice such that the grains are separate and cool it in a plate. In a wok, heat some oil and when hot add ginger garlic paste, saute for a min, then add the green chilly and chopped bulb of green onion(spring onion). Now add all the chopped veggies except for the green pepper & cabbage. Sprinkle some salt and cook the vegetables lightly....they should be crisp and not mushy.Finally add the soy sauce, pepper, cabbage and green pepper & saute for another min. Now add the rice, salt to taste,mix well & cook for another min. Finally add the leaves of chopped green onions and serve hot.

Ghee rice

This is a very simple & easy to make rice item that can be done in a jiffy in the morning to pack for lunch. Some call this as Brinji rice too. This goes well with some nice spicy channa masala or any Kurma. Though this looks plain, trust me it tastes soooo rich & tasty
So here goes my recipe....
Ingredients:
Basmathi rice- 1 cup
Coconut milk-1 cup
Water-1/2 cup (I use 1:1.5 as ratio for rice to water,
so took 1 cup coconut milk and 1/2 cup water)
Onion(thin sliced lengthwise)- 1
ginger/garlic paste- 1 tbsp
salt to taste
Ghee- 3 tbsp
Green chilly- 3

For tempering
cloves-2
cinnamon- 1 big stick
bay leaf
cardamom- 2
star anise- 2


Method:
Heat ghee/oil in a skillet add the whole masala(mentioned above) for tempering. when the nice aroma of the spices come add the green chilly, ginger/garlic paste & onion and saute' it. Sprinkle some salt to help the onions get cooked faster. make sure the onions don't turn brown as this will change the color of the rice. Now wash the rice and add to this and saute' for a min. Then transfer this to a rice cooker and add salt to taste, coconut milk and water and cook. Before serving add another spoon of ghee. ...This is ghee rice so you cannot avoid the ghee part unfortunately :)
Ghee rice is ready! See I told u it's real easy...isn't it?Do try it and let me know how it turns out.
This is my entry to Srivalli's Rice mela.

Based on the valuable suggestion received from Srivalli, I'm also sending my already posted old entry 'Poha' to the Rice mela event. Thanks Srivalli for the encouragement.