Sesame Rice (Ellu Satham)

October 18, 2011 — Chelvi S

I had some left over rice and was wondering what to do.  I wanted to do some thing quick and simple.  Making fried rice or vegetable biryani will take a lot of time.  So I settled with the sesame rice which is easy and quick to make.  I mixed white and black sesame seed for this recipe.  Black sesame seed has high nutritional value since it has the skin.  Also black sesame seed has a much stronger taste and flavor.  But you can completely replace the black sesame seed with white one.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup cooked basmati rice
  • 2 tablespoons black sesame seeds
  • 1 tablespoon white sesame seed
  • 1 teaspoon shredded unsweetened coconut (optional)
  • 3 dried red chilies
  • 1 teaspoon sesame seed oil
  • 1/8 teaspoon mustard seed
  • 1 teaspoon urad dhal
  • ½ teaspoon cumin seed
  • 1 strand curry leaves

Method:

  • Dry roast sesame seeds until they start splattering
  • Dry roast one red chili and coconut until coconut is quite dry (lightly golden).  If not using coconut, just dry roast chili for a few seconds (make sure it does not get burned and start smoking)
  • Add sesame seed oil to a saucepan and add mustard seed
  • When they start splattering, add urad dhal and fry for about 25-30 seconds in low flame
  • Now add cumin seed, curry leaves and the rest of the dried red chilies (bread the red chilies into 3-4 small pieces) and sauté for about 30 seconds
  • Add rice, ground sesame seed mixture and salt to the saucepan and cook on low flame for about a minute.  Sprinkle just a little bit water and cover the saucepan.  This is to keep the rice moist and soft
  • Serve warm with appalam or moar milagai (curd chili)
Posted in Main Courses, Quick Dishes, Rice & Pulav dishes, Sri Lankan Tamil Cuisine. 2 Comments »

இனிய பொங்கல் நல்வாழ்த்துகள்

January 15, 2011 — Chelvi S


இனிய பொங்கல் நல்வாழ்த்துகள்

Thai Pongal is the harvest festival celebrated by tamils throughout India and Sri Lanka (nothern part of Sri Lanka).   According to the tamil calendar, January 14th (or 15th) denotes the first day of January.  So according to a tamil saying “தை பிறந்தால் வழி பிறக்கும்” means the comencement of January (தை) paves the way of new opportunities.  Also its  the first day of spring and farmers thank the god surya (sun) for the good harvest.

Pongal is celebrated by making sweet milk rice.  Traditionally in Jaffna, Sri Lanka pongal is made in a new clay pot early in the morning – during sun rise.  Milk is added to the clay pot and when it starts boiling over, uncooked rice is added to the pot and cooked.   When the milk boils over, its considered good luck and brings prosperity in the following year.  Traditionally the pot is placed facing east  when making the pongal (sweet milk rice).   When the rice is cooked Jaggery, raisins, cashew nuts, ghee and cardamom are added.

The day after Thai pongal is called “Maattu Pongal” which means honoring the cattle that worked in the fields with the farmer.  In  Jaffna, Sri Lanka on the Maattu pongal, cows are bathed and their horns are painted.  Then pongal is made for the cows and they are worshiped.

Posted in Main Courses, Rice & Pulav dishes, Sri Lankan Tamil Cuisine, Uncategorized. Leave a Comment »

Kara Pongal (Spicy Pongal)

September 26, 2010 — Chelvi S

Ingredients

  • 1 cup long grain rice
  • ¼ cup mung beans (split lentils)
  • 3 cups water
  • ¼ cup lukewarm milk
  • 1 teaspoon cooking oil (canola preferable since it does not have any smell)
  • 1/8 teaspoon mustard seed
  • ¼ teaspoons black pepper
  • Small piece of ginger
  • 2 green chilies
  • 2 dried red chilies broken into 2 pieces
  • Curry leaves
  • Pinch of asafoetida (Hindi: hing, Tamil: Perungayam)
  • 2 teaspoons ghee (clarified butter)
  • Salt to taste

Method

  • Wash rice and  lentil
  • In a saucepan bring 3 cups of water to a rolling boil
  • Add rice and lentil to the saucepan and add a pinch of salt
  • Cook until rice is well done
  • If needed add hot water (I added extra 1 cup of water)
  • Now add milk and cook for a minute or two
  • Cover and set aside
  • Chop ginger into fine pieces and chop green chilies into small pieces
  • Add oil to a skillet and add mustard seeds and black pepper
  • Once mustard seed start splattering add ginger and green chilies
  • Fry for about 3 minutes
  • Now add curry leaves and dried red chilies and fry for another minute
  • Add asafoetida and mix well and add this fried mixture to the pongal and mix well
  • Add 2 teaspoons ghee and mix well
  • Serves: 2
Posted in Dinner, Lunch, Main Courses, Rice & Pulav dishes, Sri Lankan Tamil Cuisine. Leave a Comment »

Rice with Mung Beans

July 1, 2010 — Chelvi S

Ingredients

  • 1 cup uncooked rice (basmati)
  • ½ cup dried mung beans
  • ½ cup string beans chopped
  • ½ cup carrots chopped
  • ¼ teaspoon canola oil
  • ¼ teaspoon mustard seeds
  • 4 – 5 cloves
  • About 10 whole black pepper
  • Strand of curry leaves
  • Pinch of asafetida (hing)
  • 2 teaspoons ghee (clarified butter)
  • 1 tablespoon cashew nuts broken into small pieces (optional)
  • Salt to taste

Method

  • Cook rice and set aside
  • Soak mung beans in water for about 4 hours
  • Add enough water and cook mung beans until mushy
  • Steam carrots and string beans until done
  • In a covered sauce pan add oil and add mustard seeds
  • Once the mustard seeds start splattering add black pepper and cloves and fry for a minute or two
  • Add curry leaves and fry for a minute
  • Add carrots, string beans, mung beans, hing and rice to the saucepan and mix well and cook for about 3 – 4 minutes.  If needed add a 1 tablespoon of water at a time to prevent burning
  • Add salt, cashew nuts and ghee and mix well
Posted in Dinner, Lunch, Main Courses, Rice & Pulav dishes. Leave a Comment »

Tofu & Vegetable Pulav

June 23, 2010 — Chelvi S

Ingredients

  • ½ cup chopped green beans
  • 1 medium carrot (yields about ½ cup chopped carrot)
  • 1 cup cauliflower florets
  • 8 oz extra firm tofu
  • 1 tomato (would yield 1 cup puree)
  • 1 teaspoon canola oil
  • 3 garlic cloves chopped into fine pieces
  • ¼ teaspoon fennel seeds
  • 1 strand curry leaves
  • 2 tablespoons bisibella bath paste (You can buy them from any Indian store)
  • 1 cup uncooked rice
  • 1 tablespoon ghee (clarified butter)
  • Salt to taste

Method

  • Cook rice and set aside
  • Chop green beans into ¼ inch pieces
  • Snip off top and bottom end of carrot.  Brush off the dirt from the carrot and quarter it length wise.  Chop them into ¼ inch pieces
  • Break the cauliflower into very small florets
  • Steam the above vegetables until tender
  • Chop tomatoes roughly and puree it a food processor
  • Add oil to a skillet and add chopped garlic
  • When it turns lightly golden, add curry leaves and fennel seeds and fry for about a minute
  • Crumble the tofu and add to skillet and fry until all the water is absorbed and tofu turns light golden
  • Add tomato puree, bisibella bath paste, steamed vegetables, salt and cook for about 3 – 4 minutes
  • Add cooked rice and 1 tablespoons ghee and mix well and leave on low flame for about a minute or so.
  • Serve warm with mango pickle or any other pickle

Yields: 2 – 3 servings as main dish

Posted in Lunch, Rice & Pulav dishes. Leave a Comment »

Soy Chunks Pulav

June 8, 2010 — Chelvi S

Soy chunks is called “soya meat” in Sri Lanka due to its texture and probably taste.  Soya meat is normally used to make curries, cutlets etc.  Since I am a vegetarian, I thought to make a pulav out of soya meat which is quite high in protein.  To make a non veg pulav, you can replace soya meat with meat like chicken or goat.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup dried soy chunks
  • Hot water to soak soy chunks
  • 1 cup shredded cabbage
  • 1 medium carrot scraped
  • ½ cup green beans chopped into ½ inch pieces
  • 1 ½ tablespoons canola oil
  • 1 strand curry leaves
  • 4 – 5 cloves
  • 2, ½ inch cinnamon pieces
  • 2 – 3 whole cardamom
  • About 10 – 12 cashews chopped
  • 2 tablespoons raisins
  • 1 tablespoon ghee/clarified butter
  • 2 tablespoon vegetable pulav mix (I used the powdered one)
  • 1 cup rice (uncooked)

Method

  • Cook rice either in a rice cooker or stove top or pressure cooker and set aside
  • Soak soy chunks in hot water for about 10 minutes
  • Squeeze water.
  • Add 1 tablespoon canola oil to skillet and fry soy chunks until they are crispy.  Set aside
  • To the same skillet add ½ tablespoon canola oil and add green beans and stir fry for about 5 minutes.
  • Add cabbage and fry for another 5 minutes
  • Add carrots, pulav mix and fry for another 3 – 4 minutes and set aside
  • To the same skillet add ghee and add cloves, cinnamon, cardamom pods, cashew, raisins, curry leaves and fry for about 2 – 3 minutes
  • Add cooked vegetables, cooked rice and mix well on very low flame
  • Add salt to taste
Posted in Dinner, Lunch, Rice & Pulav dishes. 1 Comment »
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