QUINOA PULAV




QUINOA PULAV
I started cooking with quinoa recently only after hearing the benefits about this super grain. This is my first attempt cooking with quinoa. I added only garam masala powder since the grains were very small and I didn’t want to bite into whole spices. If needed, a bay leaf can be added while cooking and removed just before serving. It did taste pretty good and the pulav was not too mushy. This can be had with a simple raita and pickle since quinoa is already a protein source and pairing it with chicken or fish is not ideal. Any vegetable side dish like baigan bhartha goes well with this pulav. Here are some interesting facts about quinoa: Quinoa contains all 9 essential amino acids that are required by the body as building blocks for muscles.It has magnesium, fiber, manganese and copper.
INGREDIENTS:
Quinoa, 1 cup.
Red onion, medium size, 1.
Roma tomatoes, 2.
Green chilies, 2-3.
Chopped vegetables like green beans, cauliflower, carrots around 1 cup.
Green peas, ¼ cup.
Ginger-garlic paste, 1 teaspoon.
Turmeric powder, ¼ teaspoon.
Chili powder, ½ teaspoon.
Garam masala powder, 2 teaspoons.
Salt as per taste.
Chopped mint and cilantro, 1 cup.
Water, 1-3/4 cups.
Salt as per taste.

PREPARATION:
Wash the quinoa grains well and soak them water for 20 minutes. Dice the onion and tomatoes finely and slit the green chilies into two. Heat a pan with some oil. When the oil is hot enough, add the diced onions and sauté it for a few minutes. When the onions turn brown, add the diced tomatoes, green chilies, and ginger-garlic paste and keep sautéing until everything is well blended. Now add chili powder, garam masala, and turmeric powder along with the chopped vegetables and green peas and keep sautéing under medium flame until the veggies are partially cooked and the masala powders lose their raw smell. Add salt and water and let it come to a boil. Then lower the flame and add the quinoa grains and mix everything well. Cook closed under low flame for 10 minutes until the grains are cooked and the dish turns a little bit dry. Switch off the stove and let it cool for 5 minutes. Add the chopped mint and cilantro leaves and fluff the grains with the fork. Serve with raita and pickle.

AWARDS AND VINAYAKA CHADURDHI CELEBRATIONS


AWARDS AND VINAYAKA CHADURDHI CELEBRATIONS

Happy Vinayaka Chadurdhi friends. Here is a photo of the celebrations at my home. We couldn’t get a clay Ganesh idol here, I have some small Ganesh statues with which I performed my puja. The neiveidiam I made were kozukattais, black chickpeas sundal, pongal, and vadas.

OATMEAL THAIR SADAM (OATMEAL WITH YOGURT)



OATMEAL THAIR SADAM (OATMEAL WITH YOGURT)
Dear friends, how are you all doing? We have settled down in our apartment, actually I finished unpacking and arranging everything the same week itself, I needed some more time with my short-term course I am doing with Penn Foster University and I am almost there. I am posting a photo of my kitchen in this post. Hope you all like my new kitchen.
Coming to the recipe, these days I have been substituting oatmeal for rice very often. This was one such crazy day when I thought if oatmeal goes well with sambar and pongal, why not try it with curd rice, anyway I love my curd rice to be gooey. I was very reluctant to post this recipe, though I had taken a few photographs of the dish. This afternoon I mentioned about this dish to my friend Viki on the phone and she seemed to like it very much, now I finally got the courage to post this recipe. Actually I loved this dish very much, this was much lighter and there was no significant taste difference at all. It went very well with pickle and I love this healthy version of curd rice. Here goes the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:
Regular whole-grain oatmeal, 1 cup.
Nonfat or low-fat plain yogurt, 1 cup.
Salt as per taste.
Mustard seeds, ½ teaspoon.
Broken red chilies or slit green chilies, 2.
Asafetida, 1 pinch.
Ginger, 1 very small piece.
Curry leaves, 1 sprig.
Wheat bran and ground flaxseed powder, 1 teaspoon of each, (optional).

PREPARATION:
Cook the oatmeal with water according to the package instructions and let it cool. I have added a teaspoon of wheat bran and flaxmeal to the oatmeal, these can be omitted too. Transfer the yogurt to a bowl, add salt and the cooled oatmeal and mix well. If needed, some water can be added to get the desired consistency. Meanwhile, heat a small pan and when the oil turns hot, add the mustard seeds and let it splutter. Then add the broken chilies, curry leaves, ginger, and asafetida powder and fry for a few seconds. Pour the contents of the pan over the curd and oatmeal mixture and mix well. Serve with any spicy side dish or pickle and enjoy.