Torviewtoronto: rice

Showing posts with label rice. Show all posts

Karachi Biryani

This is a flavourful biryani that can be made with beef or mutton. The rice dish can be served with raita, yogurt salad, or salad.

This delicious rice gets its flavour from the chicken stock and spices. The carrots, raisins, fried onion, and chicken over the rice make this a one-pot meal. It is served with a flavourful simple salad.

Roasted Lamb

I usually serve roasted leg of lamb with rice similar to Mejadra that is garnished with cashews and raisins. I also add potatoes to the baking pan.

Almond Rice pudding

This almond and rice pudding or kheer is easy to prepare within about half an hour and it tastes delicious. It can be enjoyed warm or cold.

Pav Bhaji Rice - Mumbai Tawa Pulao

This fried rice type of flavourful rice dish is prepared with cooked rice and a combination of spices and vegetables. This dish makes a wonderful meal that can be served for lunch or dinner.

Eggplant Rice

Vangi Bhath Powder

1/4 cup grated coconut

1 tbsp coriander seeds

1 tbsp channa dal

1 tbsp urad dal

2 dry red chillies

1/2 tsp asafoetida powder

Dry roast all the ingredients for the vangi bhath or eggplant rice powder and grind them until it becomes a fine powder and keep it aside.

Sweet Saffron Rice

1 cup basmati or long grain rice

1 tablespoons ghee

water

1/4 to 1/3 cup sugar adjust to preference

2" cinnamon stick

1/2 teaspoon of saffron threads

4 cloves

3 whole cardamom

Pinch of salt

2 tablespoon raisins

North Indian Meal: Rice, Tandoori Chicken, Dal and Raita

I tried and enjoyed using four North Indian spices blends from Jaswant's Kitchen to prepare this meal. The blends are made with 100% natural ingredients. We can make delicious Indian meals without buying a variety of spices using the spice blends from Jaswant's Kitchen and following the recipes on their site. These blends make cooking Indian meals easy for those new to Indian cuisine.

Making Aromatic Rice in the Rice Cooker

1/2 tbsp ghee

1 1/2 cups basmati rice

2" cinnamon

2 bay leaves

2 cloves

2 cardamom

1/2 tsp salt to taste

1/4 tsp saffron

water

Tilda Steamed Basmati Rice

Tilda was the first company to bring Basmati to the Western World over 40 years ago and has become an international food brand selling in over 50 countries. Tilda Basmati rice has been available in Canada for many years. In 2013 a new range of partly steamed products were launched to give us the convenience of cooking rice in only 2 minutes.

Curry Leaves Herbal Porridge

This healthy herbal porridge known as kola kanda is served for breakfast in Sri Lanka. I use the method below to make this porridge, as it is easy and flavourful.

3 cups of fresh curry leaves

1 cup grated fresh coconut

2 cloves of garlic

3 to 4 cups water

1 cup well cooked red rice

1/2 tsp or more salt to taste

Rice flakes sweet treats made with organic coconut sugar

This delicious sweet treat would be a wonderful quick snack to have anytime especially in the evening for tea time.

1/2 cup Rice flakes (flattened rice or beaten rice or poha or aval)
2 tbsp coconut sugar* (jaggery) to taste
2 tbsp grated fresh coconut to taste
warm water

Put the rice flakes into warm water and leave for about 5 minutes. Squeeze the rice flakes and put in a bowl, discard the water.
Mix the rice flakes with the coconut sugar or jaggery and grated fresh coconut. Make it into bite-sized round shapes or serve it in individual dishes.

*Organic coconut sugar is a rich unrefined natural sweetener that is similar to brown sugar with a slight hint of butterscotch and caramel flavour. I have grown up with this delicious flavour has many traditional preparations of dishes are made with coconut sugar that is well known as jaggery.

The coconut sugar comes from the fresh nutrient-rich sap that is collected from tender coconut flower buds. The sap is gently heated in an open pan and boiled until it turns into granular form. This gluten free, healthy tropical favourite has no cholesterol and tastes delicious when included in beverages, cooking and baking.

As it is made with natural ingredients there are no preservatives or artificial flavour or colour. The low glycemic qualities and high nutrient profile of the coconut sugar puts less stress on our blood sugar levels compared to highly refined white sugar. This Grace Coconut Sugar 500g jars are priced at $6.99 and is available in the international aisle at Loblaw’s, No Frills, Metro, Food Basics, Sobeys, Freshco, Walmart, Longo’s, Highland Farm and local ethnic store.

Mejadra rice from the fabulous Jerusalem cookbook

Jerusalem cookbook is a fabulously written book filled with beautiful pictures and delicious recipes. I enjoyed travelling to Jerusalem through this book. The authors Sami Tamimi is from the muslim east and Yotam Ottolenghi is from the Jewish west. They both have lived in Jerusalem in the 70s and 80s as children and left in 1990 to Tel Aviv, then to London. They both met each other in London and became good friends and business partners. Both the authors feel that Jerusalem is "home" because it defines them. I think many of us call "home" a place that defines us and not necessarily where we live, it is where our hearts find comfort, excitement and joy.

Jerusalem has a diverse group of people living there from a variety of background, which influences its cuisines. The authors say when we look at the greater pictures there are lots of similarities in the food that is made and enjoyed in Jerusalem i.e. cucumber and tomato salad, stuffed vegetables, pickles etc...

Throughout Jerusalem they have a common middle eastern hospitality that goes back to the days of prophet Abraham or Ibrahim (Peace Be Upon Him).

The food is what break down the boundaries of conflict that people in Jerusalem have set. The authors say, "It takes a giant leap of faith... to imagine that hummus will eventually bring Jerusalemites together, if nothing else will."

We have been forewarned by the authors that the recipes are modified to suit the western modern lifestyle as the ingredients are adjusted to availability, less oil and ease of making. Therefore the recipes may not represent the realities of how the food is really made in Jerusalem.

I liked reading the religious history of Jerusalem that was in the beginning of the book. The authors say that if people acknowledge the city as part of the "world heritage" and share, accept and coexist then it would be peaceful. I found the dishes in the book full of flavour and comfort and would really encourage and recommend this book, which is available at bookstores and online.

Here is a comforting rice and lentil meal, known as Mejadra that we enjoyed. This recipe is adapted from the book as I changed it a little bit because I can easily find ready-made fried onions at the Indian/Middle Eastern section of the grocery store.

1 1/4 cups green or brown lentil

1 1/2 cup crispy fried onions*

2 tsp cumin seeds

1 1/2 tbsp coriander seeds

1 cup basmati rice

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp turmeric

1 1/2 tsp allspice ground

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon ground

1 tsp sugar

1 1/2 cups water

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp or more to taste pepper freshly ground

*In the book they thinly slice 4 medium onions. Then coat the onions with 3 tbsp flour and a tsp of salt before frying it in a cup of hot oil over medium high heat, for about 5 to 7 minutes until the onions are golden brown and crispy.

Next time, I will reduce the lentil by 1/4 cup and lightly crush the cumin and coriander seeds before toasting.

Place the cleaned, washed lentils in a small pan and cover with plenty of water then bring to a boil and cook for 12 to 15 minutes until the lentil are soft but still have a little bite.

In a saucepan over medium heat toast the cumin and coriander seeds for about a minute or two. Then add the rice, olive oil, turmeric, allspice, cinnamon, sugar, salt and pepper. Stir to coat the rice with the oil then add the cooked lentil with the water. I made sure there was a 1" of water after putting the rice into the pan. When it comes to a boil, cover with a lid then simmer over low heat for about 15 minutes.

Remove from heat, lift off the lid and quickly cover the pan with a clean tea towel and seal tightly with the lid and set aside for 10 minutes. Add half the fried onions to the rice and stir gently with a fork. Pile the mixture of rice and lentil on to the serving platter and top with the rest of the fried onion. Serve warm with yogurt or raita.

Millet flour steamed meal (puttu/ pittu)

1 cup millet flour

1/4 cup coconut grated

2 to 3 tbsp water

1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt to taste

Dry roast the ground millet flour. Add the grated coconut, salt and sprinkle water 1 tbsp or less at a time. Using the finger, crumble the mixture.

Don't use a lot of water, the mixture should be a crumble it should not be too wet or sticky.

Heat a pan that can attach a steamer with 1 cup of boiling water. When the water is boiling and the steamer becomes hot, put the mixture over the steamer and steam for 2 to 3 minutes.

Don't steam for a long time as the pittu will harden.

Serve this pittu or puttu with curry, sambal or jaggery.

This quantity will serve 1 to 2 people.

A reminder :) I am guest hosting Jagruti's Know your flours: Millet flour event from July 10th to August 9th; hope you can link your entries on the post. Check out the delicious entries that are already linked.

This goes to cooking with seeds rye and millet and SIC series event #1.

Herbal rice porridge

This is a famous herbal breakfast known as kola kanda (herbal leaf rice porridge). This porridge can be enjoyed any time of the day. We usually eat it with a piece of jaggery.

1 cup red rice

2 cups gotukola leaves or mukunuwenna chopped

3 cups water

1 3/4 cups coconut milk

1 tsp salt

jaggery optional to serve

Wash and drain the rice. Cook the rice in generous amounts of water until the rice is very soft.

Puree the gotukola leaves in a blender with 3 cups of water and strain through a sieve. Use about 1 cup water strain, then puree again with another 2 cups strain until the leaves are dry and the juices are extracted.

Add the strained herbal water to the rice with the coconut milk, salt and boil for 3 minutes.

Pan fried fish curry

1 steak of king fish

3/4 tsp chillie powder

1/2 tsp coriander powder

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp garam masala

1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tbsp tamarind pulped in 1/4 cup water

2 tbsp oil

2 tbsp onion

2 tbsp tomatoes

1 green chillie chopped

1 tsp garlic

1/2 tsp ginger grated

1 tsp curry leaves

1 tbsp coriander leaves to garnish

Marinate the fish with the spices and tamarind for about 1/2 hour.

Heat the oil, fry the fish and turn carefully to fry the other side. Add onions, tomato, curry leaves, ginger, garlic and the remaining marinate.

Cook the fish covered in low medium heat until it is fully cooked, turn it once in between without breaking the fish.

Serve it as a side with rice or bread.

Check out my post go green lunch boxes :) on Createwithmom

This goes to healthy diet food event easy healthy lunch.

Nut pilau

Recipe to dress up rice, nut pilau

1 cup basmati rice

1/2 tsp saffron strands crushed

1 tbsp rose water or orange flower water

1 tbsp ghee or butter

1" cinnamon stick

2 cardamom pods

2 cloves

2 bay leaves

1 tbsp each pine nuts, blanched almonds, blanched pistachios, cashews

1/2 tsp salt

water 1" higher than the rice

garnish with fried onions optional

Blanch the almonds and pistachios remove the skin. Cut the almonds, pistachios and cashews two half or smaller.

Wash and soak the rice for 1/2 hour. Soak the crushed saffron strands in the rose water and leave a side.

Heat the ghee and fry the nuts till it is aromatic. Keep sautéing to make sure that the nuts don't burn. Add the whole spices, then sauté the rice until it is opaque.

Add salt, saffron rose water, and water 1" higher than the amount of rice. Cook the rice in low heat covered for 20 minutes. Let it stand for 10 minutes covered after removing from heat before serving.

This goes to Serve it stir fried, colourful palette

Live life well

I was invited to attend a media event at the Maple Leaf Garden Loblaws, which opened in November 2011. It had lots of choices and unique features worth looking at such as its ACE bakery that makes artisan bread from scratch everyday, the 18 foot wall with 400 varieties of cheese, patisseries, tea emporium, fresh juice that is squeezed on location, tables with pictures of events that happened at the Toronto Maple Leaf Garden and many more...

The tour was very informative. I had fun meeting the organizers, folks that work at Loblaws, the chefs at the PC cooking school and in-store dieticians. I enjoyed a delicious vegetable soup, barley risotto served with scallop and a berry crumble that was made by the chefs.

Here is the adapted recipe for Wild mushroom barley risotto with scallops from PC blue menu recipes.

2 cup shitake mushrooms *

6 cups of water

2 tbsp olive oil

3 cloves garlic finely chopped

1 tsp salt to taste

1 cup pear barley

2 tbsp or more fresh parsley and thyme

parmesan cheese to garnish optional

* Can use only shitake or use 1/2 cup dried chanterelle, 1/2 cup dried portobello mushrooms and 1 cup shitake for the mushroom stock. Boil the mushroom with the water and turn off the heat. Let the stock stand covered for 20 minutes. Take the mushrooms out of the stock by squeezing the water, chop and leave aside. Keep the stock in low heat.

Heat oil over medium high heat, then cook onions for 2 minutes, add garlic then add sliced mushrooms and 1/2 tsp salt. Cook for about 3 to 5 minutes till the mushrooms are tender. Stir in the barley.

Then add mushroom stock 1 cup at a time, stirring constantly allowing the stock to get absorbed before adding the next cup of stock keep doing this till the barley is cooked to desired consistency about 1/2 hour. It is cooked uncovered. Add parsley, thyme, remaining salt and the cheese if you are using. Leave aside.

scallops

2 tbsp oil

1 bag 400g scallops thawed and drained

salt and pepper to taste

2 to 3 tbsp water from the mushroom

Heat oil over medium high heat cook scallops for 2 to 3 minutes until it cooks through turning it once. When touched if it springs back it is ready. Add about 2 to 3 tsp of water from the stock. Serve hot with the risotto.

This is the berry crumble.

Loblaws will be having in-store dieticians that offer many services i.e. teaching and advising the public about healthy eating for healthy living. You can ask any nutritional related questions such as heart health, diabetes, family nutrition, weight loss, etc. Next time you are shopping make sure to get their knowledgeable tour that is free and the information booklets that also have coupons.

There are over 400 Blue menu products to choose from, so we can introduce a variety into our everyday meals. PC has a new attribute on their packages with a + and - sign, which indicates the level of sodium, omega 3 and fibre.

Healthy eating is not expensive it is about moderation and balance.

Some of the tips that the dieticians gave are; to use less saturated foods which is better for us, to entirely avoid trans fat, naturally occurring sugar in fruit and vegetables are good, a range of colourful food has benefits, and sodium helps the body maintain water balance and transmits nerve impulse so it is good in moderation.

You can learn many things from the PC cooking school i.e. making your own baby food, classes for different age groups, baking, gourmet cooking, learning new skills i.e. making sushi, pastries etc.

Glad I got to share what I enjoyed, please do visit and use their services at Loblaws to live life well :)

If you would like a list of the dieticians, email me.

Cuban rice

I got to try Aunt Tia's Cuban rice from Kokopelli's kitchen. It was easy to make and tasted fabulous. This 9 oz. package serves generous amount of flavourful rice for 4 people and was ready in 1/2 hour.

The ingredients in the package were white rice, onion, red bell pepper, vegetable base, roasted garlic, chipotle chile powder, salt and a blend of Kokopelli's herbs and spices.

All the instructions were also on the label so it was a breeze to make it; everything is explained well and it would be easy even for the person making rice for the first time.

All I had to do was sauté the rice with 3 tbsp oil until it was opaque, then add 2 cups of water and the seasoning mixed in 2 tbsp hot water. Mixed all the ingredients, covered and cooked in low heat for 20 minutes. Switched the cooker off after 20 minutes, fluffed the rice with a fork and let it sit covered for 10 minutes before serving. The rice tasted fabulous on its own so there was no need for side dish at all.

The package also came with a recipe for Chicken adobo, if you wanted to make a side to go with the rice.

I liked the beautiful aroma of the rice when it was cooking. All the ingredients are natural, no preservative, no flavour enhancers, no MSG, low fat, and that everything was included in the package I didn't even add salt.

Beef curry with cashews and coconut

Friends, Check out this recipe for nei paniyaram and a game that will (might :) bring memories.

For the meat curry with cashews and coconut

1 to 2 tbsp oil

3 tbsp onion

4 tbsp tomato

1 tbsp curry leaves

1 aniseed flower

1 tbsp garlic

2 cups beef or mutton cubed with or without bones

3/4 tbsp chillie powder or more to taste

1/4 tbsp turmeric powder

1/2 tbsp garam masala

1 1/2 tbsp coriander powder

1 tbsp tamarind pulp in 1/4 cup water

1 cup water

2 tbsp fresh grated coconut

1 tbsp cashew nuts crushed to a powder

Mix the meat with the spices and leave aside, it doesn't need to be marinated.

Heat oil, sauté onion, garlic, ginger, curry leaves, aniseed flower. Then add the meat with the spices. Add the tomato and tamarind to the meat and mix well. Add the water and cook covered in medium low heat till the meat is well cooked and soft. Can use a pressure cook.

Add the coconut and cashews after the meat is well cooked. Cook uncovered till the water evaporates. Serve hot with rice or bread.

This goes to MLLA #43 and savoury sunday.

Pages

Karachi Biryani

Rice with Chicken

Roasted Lamb

Almond Rice pudding

Pav Bhaji Rice - Mumbai Tawa Pulao

Eggplant Rice

Sweet Saffron Rice

North Indian Meal: Rice, Tandoori Chicken, Dal and Raita

Making Aromatic Rice in the Rice Cooker

Tilda Steamed Basmati Rice

Curry Leaves Herbal Porridge

Rice flakes sweet treats made with organic coconut sugar

Mejadra rice from the fabulous Jerusalem cookbook

Millet flour steamed meal (puttu/ pittu)

Herbal rice porridge

Pan fried fish curry

Nut pilau

Live life well

Cuban rice

Beef curry with cashews and coconut

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