Mix Vegetables and Rice Casserole

As per me Casserole are the perfect comfort food. When you are not in a mood to cook a complete meal with different variety of veggies, proteins, carbs etc. and still want to eat something light and healthy at home while sitting in front of a TV, it does wonders.

One such comfortable yet healthy recipe is mixed veg and rice casserole. In the recipe shared below I am using fresh lentils (daal), but you can easily substitute this with any leftover daal from previous day.

Ingredients:

1.       Rice, washed and soaked for upto 1 hour -  1 cup

2.       Arhar/Tur dal (yellow lentils or any other as per your choice), washed and soaked upto 1 ½ hour – 1 cup

3.       Curry leaves – 5-6

4.       Cumin seeds – ½ tea spoon

5.       Medium size onion – 1

6.       Peas – 2 Serving spoons

7.       Carrot chopped finely – 1

8.       Capsicum chopped finely – 1

9.       Beans chopped in small either small pieces of diagonal slits – 8-10

10.   Cauliflower flowerets – 6-8

11.   Green chilies sliced – 2

12.   Optional vegetables like mushrooms, eggplant etc can be added

13.   Turmeric powder – ½ tea spoon

14.   Red chilli powder – ¼ tea spoon or as per taste

15.   Garam masala – ¼ tea spoon

16.   Dry mango powder/ Amchoor – ½ tea spoon

17.   Sambhar powder – 1 tea spoon (use this with arhar daal. If you decide to use any other daal just omit this masala)

18.   Clarified butter or desi ghee – 1 serving spoon

Method:

1.       Wash the rice and daal separately and soak them for a couple of hours.

2.       In a pressure cooker add ghee and let it heat.

3.       Add cumin seeds and wait for them to splutter. Add green chilies and curry leaves after that and stir for 30 seconds.

4.       Thinly slice the onions and add them to the pot. Sauté till onions turn translucent.

5.       Add remaining vegetables one by one, stirring each one of them for a minute or so after adding. Add capsicum as the last vegetable as it cooks quite quickly.

6.       Let the vegetables fry for about 2-3 minutes and then add all the dry spices except for salt. Stir for another minute.

7.       Drain water from daal and add it to the pot. Mix and stir for 1-2 mins.

8.       Remove water from rice and add to the pot. Mix well.

9.       Add about 3 cups of water and salt to the pot. Close the lid of pressure cooker and cook on high flame.

10.   Cook on low flame for about 5-8 mins after the first whistle.

11.   You can cook this in an open pot as well. In this case the water to be added will be around 5 cups. You can adjust the water as per the consistency you like your casserole to be in.

The best thing about this dish is that there are no rules. You can add any leftover daal or veggies to it. Many times I am confronted with a situation where I have just one carrot, half a cauliflower, a lonely piece of capsicum lying about in my fridge demanding attention. In such cases such casserole recipes comes to my rescue.

So do not ponder over the leftovers now and enjoy this simple meal.

Curd Rice with a Twist

Curd Rice is famous recipe from southern parts of India and is normally consumed at the end of a meal. This recipe is authentically cooked sans any spices and hence is very light on stomach.

Here I am presenting a little twisted version of it and hope you will enjoy it as an option when you feel like eating light on stomach khichdi.

Ingredients:

1. Rice - 1 cup
   
2. 1 cup boiled american corns 
3. 2 capsicums finely chopped
4. curry leaves - 6-8
5. chana daal - 2 spoon
6. urad daal (white) - 2 spoons
7. Ginger finely chopped or grated - 1 spoon
8. 2 green chilies finely chopped
9. 2 cup curd
10. salt to taste
11. black pepper to taste
12. mustard seeds - 1 spoon

Serves : 2 people

Method:

1. Cook rice by boiling them in more that double the amount of water. We need rice to be a little over cooked for this recipe .
2. When rice is done, then drain them by removing access water and let them cool.
3. Heat a pan and add 1 spoon oil to it.
4. When oil is hot add mustard seeds and let them splutter.
5. Add urad daal and chana daal to this and let it cook for 2-3 mins.
6. Add green chilies, curry leaves and ginger to the pan and give a good stir for another 2 mins
7. Now add boiled corns and capsicum to the pan and stir well. Let this cook for 2 mins and then turn off the flame as we do not want the vegetables to over cook.
8. Whisk the curd and add it to the rice bowl. Stir well while mashing the rice with spoon.
9. Add some salt and pepper according to your taste to this and mix again.
10. Now add the prepared vegetable tampering to the bowl and give one final stir.
11. This can be consumed as it is or chilled with some chutney or home made pickle.

Lemon Rice

Ingredients:

1. Boiled/Precooked plain rice - 2 katoris
2. 2 medium size Onion
3. 2-4 Green chillies
5. Kari patta - 9-10 leaves
6. Lemon juice of 3 medium size lemons
7. Mustard seeds -  1 spoon
8. Bengal gram/Chana daal - 1/2 katori
9. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tbl spoon
10. Sambhar Masala - 2 tbl spoon
11. Red chilly powder - 1/2 tbl spoon
12. Salt to taste
13. Refined oil to cook - 2 spoons
14. Peanuts - 10-15

Serves: 2-3 people

Method:

1. Soak Bengal gram overnight in normal water or for 1/2 hour in hot water.
2. Heat oil in wok and add oil.
3. Once oil is hot add mustard seeds and let them crackle.
4. Add slitted green chilies and let them fry for 30 seconds on slow flame.
5. Add kari patta leaves.
6. Now drain water from chana daal and add it in wok. Let it cook while stirring for 3-4 mins.
7. Thinly slice the onions and add them to wok. Cook for another 3-4 mins or till the time onions turn golden brown.
8. Put turmeric powder, red chilly powder, sambhar masala powder and salt. Mix well.
9. Add pre cooked/boiled rice to the above and 2 spoon water. Mix well and cook for 2-3 mins.
10. Add lemon juice and stir. Turn off the flame.
11. Stir fry peanuts in 1 spoon oil till done and add on top of the rice.
11. Serve hot with curd and chutney.

Tips:

1. Do not cook rice after adding lemon juice as it may turn bitter.
2. This is an authentic lemon rice recipe. You can add vegetables like carrots, capsicum etc for variation and more taste.