Spinach Carrot Pulao & Paneer Fry

One dish meal is always a life saver. Served with a simple raita, can make a very good satisfying meal. This pulao can be made in a jiffy. Not much chopping required. If you have the chopped veggies at hand, this is very simple and no grinding of masalas needed. I wanted to make a tasty one dish meal with minimum work and finally it turned out to be the way I wanted. It was very flavorful with the whole spices and crunchy while biting into the crisp carrots.

Ingredients

Chopped spinach - 2 cups Carrots chopped into small cubes - 1/2 cup Rice - 1 cup Onions sliced - 1 nos Red chilly powder - 1/4 tspn Ghee/oil - 1 tblspn saunf - 1 tspn Cardamom - 2 pods Cloves - 3 nos Cinnamom - 1" Poppy seeds - 1/2 tspn Wash and soak the rice in 2 cups of water for 30 minutes. If you are hard pressed for time, you can avoid soaking. Still it comes out well. Heat ghee/oil in a pan. Add all the spices. Roast till fragrant. Add sliced onion and suate till they turn pink. Add chopped carrots and cook till it is tender but crisp. Add chopped spinach and cook till the they wilt. Drain the rice and reserve the soaked water. Tip off the soaked rice. Saute for 5 minutes. Add salt and red chilly powder. Add the reserved water. Cover and cook in the same kadai. Stir the rice in between. Rice will be cooked in 20 minutes. You can either microwave for 25 minutes or pressure cook for 2 whistles. I have served with MW roasted papad, pan roasted paneer and cucumber raita. Cucumber Raita Grated cucumber, 3 slit green chillies, a teaspoon of jeera/cumin powder and salt is mixed to a cup of whipped curd. Garnish with some chopped coriander. Paneer fry Cubed paneer - 15 nos For marinade Hung curd - 1 tblspn Tomato sauce - 1 1/2 tblspn Pepper powder - 1/2 tspn salt Beat all the ingredients of marinade till smooth. Marinate the paneer for 30 minutes. Sprinkle few drops of oil on a tawa. Place the paneer pieces and cook on low flame. When one side is browned, flip the paneer and cook the other side too. This makes a good starter too. Spinach Carrot Pulao is going to Srivalli's Rice Mela JFI:Carrots hosted by The Cooker Sapadu Ready Event hosted by Aartee of Nalabagham

Roulade

It's a great pleasure to know Jxxx recently. We've some similarities such as buying a "weird" oven which had given us lots of headache and fun too! There are some sense of humour between our conversation. The most similarities is we've a same interest, BAKING!

We just notice we're baking swiss roll in the same time without telling each other until I saw her posting. And it'd given us so much things to talk about through the comments corner. That, I feel so much interesting.

I baked two roulade days ago, they're almost the same which is rolled with chocolate sponge with oreo biscuits crumbs. It's just the decoration had a bit different which had added strawberries. The oreo chocolate roulade taste richer whereas the strawberry chocolate roulade is much refreshing.

Recipe:

5 whole large eggs
125g sugar
1g salt
100g plain flour

2g baking soda
15ml oil
50ml milk
20g cocoa powder
200ml whipping cream

20g caster sugar

1 pack of oreo biscuits (punch it into crumbs)

some strawberries

How I made it:

1. Mix cocoa powder, milk and oil until a thick paste.
2. Whip the eggs and gradually add in sugar. Whip until very light yellow and fluffy.
3. Fold in shifted plain flour and baking soda. Do this gently.
4. Fold in cocoa paste (1) until well combine. Pour into a rectangular baking pan with baking paper.
5. Bake at 200'C preheated oven for 15 minutes.
6. Remove the cake together with the baking paper onto a wire rack and quickly put the whole thing into a big plastic bag until it completely cool. (Make sure no air will go into the plastic bag. This is to prevent the cake drying and keep moisture so that it wouldn't crack during the rolling process.
7. When the cake completely cool down, whip the cream until thicken. Fold in some oreo crumbs. Spread the oreo cream onto the cake evenly and roll in carefully.
8. Spread some leftover oreo cream onto the cake roll surface and garnish with oreo crumbs.
9. Put it in the fridge for an hour before slice. Best served in two days.

Madulam Pachai Payaru Sundal or Pomegranate Green Gram Salad

MADULAM PACHAI PAYARU SUNDAL or

POMEGRANATE and GREEN GRAM SALAD

This post goes to the POM Wonderful Content hosted by Jenn of the The Foodie Blogroll (weekly give away) and POM Wonderful ($5000).

Here is a simple recipe that contains two very delightful ingredients. Combining freshly sprouted green gram, and the ruby red pomegranate, make this dish not only a powerhouse of nutritional benefits, but also entices with visual appeal, and a lovely taste.
Whole green gram or payaru is used in the preparation of Sundal for various occasions. Sundal can be called a cooked salad, mainly prepared out of soaked or sprouted whole lentils. South Indian Meals prepared during weddings and other festivals always include two varieties of Sundals or Kosumaris. Kosumaris are similarly made of soaked lentils, but are not usually cooked.

Many caterers are innovative and they introduce variations in the traditional dishes which are appreciated by the connoisseurs. One such innovative dish that I tasted at a thread ceremony is Madulam (Pomegranate) Pachai Payaru (green gram) Sundal. It was a real treat to the eyes and palate.

INGREDIENTS:
Sprouted Green Gram Dal (whole mung beans) – 1 cup
Pomegranate peeled with membranes removed (aril) – 1 cup
Green chillies – 2
Curry leaves – a few
Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp
Asafoetida – 1 pinch
Salt – 1 tsp
Turmeric powder – 1 pinch
Lime juice – 1 tbsp
Vegetable Oil – 2 tsps
Fresh coconut slivers – 2 tbsps

Water for cooking - 2 cups

METHOD:
1. Prepare by soaking the whole green gram over night, or for 12- 14 hours.
2. Wash and drain the green gram, and cook it in 2 cups of water to make it soft. Don’t overcook it, as it spoils the texture and taste, and also destroys the nutrients! If you use more water its okay. However, I avoid it, as I don't like to drain the grains and away all the nutrients along with excess water!
3. Heat oil in a pan. Add asafoetida and mustard seeds.
4. When the mustard splutters, add chopped green chillies, curry leaves and turmeric powder.
5. Next add the cooked green gram and salt and sauté for a minute.
6. Add lime juice and the coconut slivers and blend.
7. Turn off heat.
8. When the Sundal becomes cool mix in the red pomegranate seeds.

This delicious and colorful sundal can be relished as a side dish , or as snack by itself.

This yummy vegan sundal also goes to Vegan Ventures, Round 2, at Suganya's Tasty Palettes blog.