Pepper-Sesame rice - A fragrant, no add on needed easy lunch box recipe

Hope you all had a good weekend. We did. The last couple of weeks have been hectic and blurry with work, school and everything else going on around. Finally, this Saturday with DD away on a weekend event from school, me & BH decided on an impromptu Seattle visit. Weather was nice, neither sweaty hot nor nippy cold so we hopped on a bus to down town, did some ferrying and a lot of walking around in the down town. Were back home in time for Flora's dinner. Since I didn't pack any food, we gorged on a delicious veggie panini and some falafel before finishing off the day with a home made quick bhel puri. All in all, a wonderful day.

Here is one of my cell phone captures - the many moods of the Seattle needle. Enjoy.

Since it is the weekend, I thought I will share a little commentary of a movie I watched. No, this is not a regular feature on the blog, I promise before you stop visiting my blog :-). Maybe some day, I might start sharing the books I read and the occasional movies I watch. I will give you enough warning though :-). This was one of the movies I loved watching in a long while. I saw Silver Linings Playbook that won Jennifer Lawrence her best actress award in the recent Oscars. For starters, she deserves the award every bit. But the movie itself is so well made that I thought every one especially the director deserved an award. Some subjects are very delicate and at the same time hard to make a movie of and I felt the director came out with flying colors on this one. While there is enough comedy in the movie, it is not a light hearted take on the subject. The movie (based on a book) does not attempt to change any person to bring about a happy ending but shows that acceptance of the situation enables one to find the silver lining in life no matter how high the odds are staked against you. There is some really harsh and raw language, not recommended for kids at all.

Back to today's recipe, this is one of the rice varieties nammamma made infrequently. I am not sure what the reason was, especially since it is delicious and easy to put together. I had almost forgotten about it until I tasted it a few years ago in the temple here. Someone had brought it in on a Sunday as an offering and we all got to taste the prasadam afterwards. It is a proven fact (to me :-)) that the food you get to eat in temples is one of the most delicious food, somehow you don't seem to get the same taste when eaten else where. I think it is a combination of the food and the surroundings. So I got rehooked again and made it at home. Both BH and DD loved it and so this has become a frequent rice item in our kitchen.

It is a very fragrant rice with a combination of roasted dal, pepper and sesame seeds. I add the dry coconut just like nammamma to mellow down and balance the pepper a little bit. Amma also made the seasoning using ghee instead of oil which made the final product almost divine in taste :-). You can try that sometime when you are not watching calories. The powder stays fresh when frozen, so if you want to gain some time, make this powder in larger quantities but be sure to lock the fragrance in either a good zip lock bag or a container with tight lid immediately after grinding the powder. This rice itself taste better after it has sat for a while which is a big plus if you are planning to make this for parties, picnics or everyday lunches.

What do you need to make Pepper-Sesame rice? 
1 cup uncooked rice
1/2 cup urad dal
1 Tsp black pepper (adjust to spice tolerance)
1.5 Tsp white sesame seeds
1/4 cup grated dry coconut (Copra/kobbari)
1 Tblsp salt (adjust to taste)

Seasoning:
1.5 Tblsp oil
1 Tsp mustard
1 Tsp chana dal
1 Tsp urad dal
1-2 broken dry red chilies
4-6 curry leaves
2 Tblsp raw peanuts

How do you make Pepper-Sesame rice? 

• Cook rice so the grains are fully cooked but not mashed. As soon as it is done, spread it in a wide bowl and let it cool down. 
• Heat a thick pan on medium heat, add the urad dal and fry for a minute until it becomes warm. 
• Add the pepper corns and continue to roast until urad dal turns light pink, keep the heat on medium and continue to stir frequently.
• Add the sesame seeds once the dal turns pink and continue roasting for a minute. 
• Add the grated dry coconut, switch off and let cool.

• Make a fine powder of the cooled ingredients, and mix it along with salt into the rice with light fingers taking care not to break the rice grains or mush them up. 
• Heat oil in a pan, add the seasoning ingredients and fry until mustard crackles and peanuts are roasted well. Add the seasoning to the rice. 

• Let the rice settle in with the flavors for 10-15 minutes before eating. 

Notes: 

• Freshly cooked rice is best in this recipe though you can use left over rice. Make sure to break up the rice grains if using left over rice. 
• This rice becomes fragrant with the roasted urad dal and pepper and it is important to dry roast the ingredients on medium to low heat taking care not to burn them. 

• You can make the dal powder in a large quantity and freeze the remaining in a zip lock bag or a container with a tight lid. 
• I do not use asafoetida or turmeric powder in the seasoning as I like the flavor of roasted urad and pepper. 

Vegetable Biryani - a magical ride on Aladdin's magic carpet

Fried rice, pulav/pilaf and biryani - is there a real difference between these? You bet there is. I had made vegetable pulav for a pot luck party once and my friend and host made vegetable biryani. Her poor, uninformed husband had to only open his mouth and ask, "are they both not the same?" before he had both women jumping in to explain and enlighten him on the nuances of each of those dishes and how they each held their own perfectly well :-). So for the uninitiated, though the ingredients list may look similar on these two recipes, the preparation is vastly different and so is the end product. While pulav has the spices ingrained in the cooked rice and the flavor surrounds the dish, biryani has rice and spices coexisting but not necessarily blended all the way though at the same time every grain is infused with the flavor of the masala. And where does fried rice fit in, somewhere in between depending whether you made rice first and mixed with other ingredients and let them cook together :-), it is like fast food in the world of pulavs & biryanis with milder spices. I will reserve that discussion for another day while we focus on the famed vegetable biryani for today. If you are looking for a pulav recipe, you will find it here.

Biryani making is a connoisseur process, it is slow and deliberate and takes you, the cook through steps leading to something utterly out of this world. You just have to let yourself go with the flow of the process (not recipe really), let your senses lead the way as you drop the spices in and believe in yourself. I picture myself taking a ride on Aladdin's magic carpet, going to hitherto unvisited beautiful lands and feeling light as a feather and a bowl of steaming hot biryani with a cup of cool raita is all I need to keep me cozy in this imaginary journey.

Hyderabad is famous for its Moghul biryanis, while these are heavily meat laden, the same technique is used to make a delicious vegetable biryani for the non meat eaters. While I am not a native Hyderabadi, nor have I eaten this famed dish in its city of origin, I am confident that the Biryani recipe below is nonetheless very flavorful and can compete with any Hyderabadi restaurant making it.

I have a real useful tip a Persian friend shared with me that is so simple and elegant I wondered why I didn't think of it before. Look for it in the recipe and notes section.

The ingredients list is long and the recipe/procedure looks laborious, I have arranged them in groups and sequenced them for easy following. Once you get the hang of what is going on, I assure you will find ways to make this more efficient to suit your working style.

What do you need to make vegetable biryani? 
Makes 5 servings
To pound/grate/food process: 
1.5 inch long fresh ginger root (wash & peel)
2-3 green chilies (adjust to taste)
2-3 garlic cloves (adjust according to preference)
To roast and powder: 
1 Tblsp saunf/
1 black cardamom
1 green cardamom
1 dry bay leaf/tej patta - use 2 if it is small
4-6 black pepper corns
1 Tsp black cumin/shahi jeera
2 cloves
2 pieces of 1 inch long cinnamon
1/2  nutmeg
4-5 strands of mace/javintri
Vegetables to parboil:
1 cup green beans - sliced in the middle and chopped to 1 inch long pieces
1 cup thin chopped carrots
1 cup cauliflower florets
1 cup green peas (optional)
Other ingredients:
2 cups good quality Basmati rice
1.5 Tblsp salt (adjust to taste)
1 cup yogurt (preferably home made and a day old)
2 packed cups chopped mint leaves
2 cups of finely chopped tomatoes
2 cups of thinly sliced onions.
1/4 Tsp saffron soaked in 1 Tblsp milk for 20 minutes or longer
1/2 Tsp ghee
4 Tblsp oil
2-3 potatoes (washed and cut into 1/2 inch thick discs)

How do you make Vegetable Biryani? 
Prepare Biryani masala powder:

• Heat a heavy bottom pan on medium heat, add all the spices listed under 'To roast and powder' and fry them on low heat with frequent stirring for 5-7 minutes until the spices start to give out a nice aroma. It is very crucial not to burn these, your only choice is to start over. 

• Switch off, let cool and grind them into a fine powder. Keep in a covered container until ready to use. 
• You can make this in larger quantities and refrigerate in air tight containers for later uses or prefer to purchase store bought biryani masala. I make it fresh just for the day. 

Preparing the vegetable sauce:

• Par cook the chopped vegetables and peas (if using) until they are al dante. They should just lose the rawness but not be cooked. You can do this in an open vessel with enough water to cover all the vegetables or microwave them for 6-8 minutes. 
• Drain the water and reserve the vegetables. 
• Take the ginger, garlic and green chilies into a mortar and pestle or a food processor and make them into a coarse paste. 
• Heat 2 Tblsp of oil in a wide kadai/pan, add the sliced onions and fry until they are pink on medium heat. 
• Increase the heat to high and continue to fry onions until they crisp up a little. Set aside.
• Add the remaining 2 Tblsp of oil, add the ginger-garlic-green chili paste and fry for a minute. 
• Add the prepared biryani masala and mix it well.
• Add the chopped tomato to the same pan, add 1/2 Tsp salt and let it cook on medium heat until it becomes completely mushy. 
• Add the chopped mint and fry for 2-3 minutes until the leaves wilt completely. 
• Add the yogurt and mix it in.
• Add the par cooked vegetables and give them a nice stir to get coated with the rest of the ingredients in the pan. 

• Continue to cook for 3-4 minutes until the sauce bubbles up and the liquid evaporates. Switch off, cover and keep aside until ready to use. 

Preparing the rice: 

• Soak basmati rice in 4 cups of water for 30 minutes. 
• Wash, drain the water. 
• Bring to boil about 8 cups of water in a big pot with 1/2 Tsp of ghee. 
• Add the drained basmati rice to the boiling water, reduce heat and cook covered for 7-8 minutes just until the rice grains plump up. 
• Drain the water by pouring it into a colander, run cold water on the rice and let it drain. 

• Pour the soaked saffron all over the rice and give it a gentle mix. 

Assembling and cooking biryani:

• Put a wide and thick bottom pot on the stove.
• Arrange the potato discs all over the bottom of the pot in a single layer to cover. 

• Spread a 1 inch thick layer of rice on top. 

• Spread a layer of vegetable sauce on top. Spread the fried onions on top.
• Spread the remaining rice in a layer and repeat on top with the remaining vegetable sauce. 

• Cover the pot with a snug fitting lid, keep the heat at the lowest and cook for 30 minutes or until the rice grains look all fluffy and your kitchen smells like something from the far away Aladdin's land :-)

Serving Biryani:

• Do not try to mix in the contents, the layering will ensure that every scoop you take has a fair share of all the ingredients. Scoop out spoonfuls including the bottom most potato layer onto a plate. 
• Serve it with a yogurt based raita and maybe some roasted papads or chips on the side. 

Notes: 

• Biryani cooks perfectly well if you have a pot with a snug fitting lid. The idea is to let it cook in slow and low heat for a long time and give the spices time to work their magic.
• If you do not have a snug fitting lid for the cooking pot, don't sweat, use any lid that will cover the top of the vessel, wrap a dish towel around so as to not let the steam escape. 
• If you really want to create the 'handi' effect, make a chapati dough with wheat flour and water, knead it into a 1 inch thick rope, stick it all around the top of the vessel locking any crevices between the lid and the vessel. You can later cut this steamed wheat rope to small chunks, bake it in the oven and eat it as a ghatta with dal. Will post the recipes another time. 
• You can use store bought fried onions to garnish on top but I prefer to fry the onions and add them as a layer in the biryani itself. 

• It is important to have extra amounts of water and watch closely when the rice is cooked for the first time, you just want it to plump up and not really cook. Extra water and the ghee helps it to not become starchy. 
• After you assemble the biryani, the rice cooks in the sauce itself and there is no need to add more water. 
• Layering the bottom of the pot with potatoes prevents burning or sticking, creates a shield between the heat source and the biryani and makes it cook slower. And you get to eat the yummy caramelized potatoes along with the biryani :-).

Tuppanna/Ghee rice or is it really?

The other day I was looking at my posts and realized I didn't have many rice varieties yet. Rice based one pot dishes are so common place in our lives, I don't realize probably they can very well be posted and talked about. Whether it is a festival or get together or a picnic, we usually have some kind of rice. Some need an accompaniment to go along while some stand all by their own individual merit. Nammamma has a wonderful chef hand when it comes to rice varieties, these are generically termed 'Bhaath' or 'kalasidanna' (kalasu~mix, anna~rice) in Kannada. It has something to do with the bhaath pudi or spice powder she prepares or the way she mixes it with her hands or the way she almost always lets a rice bhath stand for atleast 30mins-1 hour before serving, there is something very definitely nammamma in those bhaaths.

I am here with one of nammamma's signature rice dishes, we called it Tuppanna (Tuppa~ghee or clarified butter) but I don't see why because this doesn't have a lot of ghee in it and nor is it the common ghee rice you see everywhere. It has coconut in it but again is not the usual coconut rice where the coconut is roasted. And I have not eaten this anywhere else other than in my mom's kitchen so I definitely think it is one of her own creations which became a hit with family and hence stayed on :-). We all loved it as kids when nammamma made it, my daughter looks forward to the days I make it, so I think it definitely has earned a place here.

In school I had a classmate who used to come to school from atop the famed Chamundi hills in Mysore as her father was one of the priests in the temple. Though we used to visit the hills and the temple atop quite frequently, we were still visitors to the hills and in that small child world we were in, it seemed strange and awesome that someone I knew actually lived on the betta(hills). We had gone on a field trip from school to the hill top one day and this girl had taken our group to her house for lunch. Lunch was a simple affair and had steaming hot rice with piping hot rasam/saaru and buttermilk. Her mother had made some papads to go with and as we sat down on the floor for lunch in the big dining area, I saw someone next to me break the papad into the rice and eat it with it. Strange how some images get stuck in the brain, right? I don't know why I remember that still but that was the first time I saw anyone eat rice and papad with no rasam or sambar or anything else. I followed suit and infact liked it a lot. That is the closest I have seen anything come to nammamma's Tuppanna.

Tuppanna does not have any spices in it, is mildly sweetened with a spoonful of sugar and ghee. It has crispy papads turned soft and cruchy kadle bele in every bite. This is an acquired taste and some of you may find it very demure in taste or lacking punch, this rice is not flashy in color or spice but it is different and can stand alone without needing any side dishes. We made this on Varalakshmi Vrata as one of the naivedyam items.

What do you need to make Tuppanna? 
1 cup rice (I used sona masoori), long grain will work too
1 Tsp sugar
1 Tsp salt (adjust to taste)
1 Tsp ghee/clarified butter
3-4 plain urad dal papads
1/4 cup chana dal/kadle bele
3/4 cup fresh grated coconut
1/2 Tsp cumin seeds
oil to deep fry papads

How do you make Tuppanna?

• Cook rice in water taking care to see the grains are well cooked and soft but not mushy. 
• Soak chana dal in water for 45 mins to an hour until it becomes soft.
• Wash the chana dal and drain the water completely.
• Spread the rice in a wide plate, add ghee, salt, sugar and grated coconut on top and let it all sit until rice is cool enough to handle. 
• Deep fry the plain papads one by one, drain oil and keep aside.
• In the same oil, add drained chana dal (take care to stay away from the oil as it splatters some at this time) and fry until dal turns pink and crisp. 

• Add cumin seeds just before removing the chana dal from the oil, fry for 30 seconds and remove everything onto a plate using a slotted spoon. 
• Add the fried chana dal & cumin to the rice and gently mix in everything with fingers (do not put pressure or the rice will turn into a mush).

• Break the fried papads into 6-8 pieces and mix it in the rice. Let it sit for 10 minutes before serving warm. 

Notes: 

• Use only plain papads as the masala varieties tend to hijack the real taste of this dish. 
• Do not use Basmati rice for the same reason as not using the masala papad. 
• You can microwave the papads instead of frying but I would recommend oil fried papads in this recipe. 
• Soaking the chana dal until it softens gives it a totally different texture - it is crunchy but not hard to bite unlike the regular dal in any south Indian seasoning. So make sure you soak the dal before hand. 
• When chana dal cooks completely, the sizzling in the oil stops, this took a solid 6 minutes for the 1/2 cup I was frying, so be patient during this step and remember to mix a couple of time during the process with a spoon.
• Freshly grated coconut gives the best taste in this dish but you can make do with good quality frozen coconut also. 
• Mix in papad pieces into rice not more than 15-20 from serving else they will become too soggy. 

Handvo - Love affair continues with Gujarati snacks

I have already professed my love for Gujarati snacks with recipes blogged here and here. I am more partial to their snacks than anything else. Handvo (or Handwa) is a Gujarati snack made with soaked rice and mixed lentils. There are as many variations of the dal mixture as there are dals :-). Having said that, typical Handvo consists of toor dal, chana dal and urad dal with an addition of moong or masoor dal. Can you already see that this is not protein deficient dish by any means? The traditional version is cooked with a lot of oil but baking this dish with oil used only for seasoning keeps it healthy. Baked handvo is cut into wedges(or any other shape you prefer) and served with a coriander/mint sweet-spicy chutney as a snack.

When I cook dishes that are not native to me (those that I didn't grow up eating), I always start with an analysis of similarities and differences between the new dish and something I am familiar with. If you think about it, Handvo has some resemblance to the South Indian Dosa/Dose or adai. After all, ingredients are similar (proportions though vastly different) and traditionally it is pan fried with an oil base which is the same concept of uttappa(m)s, right? I am glad someone in a Gujarati house hold figured out how to make a Handvo with rice and lentils while some one down South made a Dose because both are equally welcome in my kitchen :-). I will not go any farther on this though because if DD had her say, she would definitely do a 'Mom, stop comparing things weirdly', because according to her, I killed the fun of Harry Potter series by constantly quoting story lines from Indian epics such as Mahabharata and Bhagavata :-). For the record, I love the Harry Potter books. It is a different story that she is still hooked to HP and keeps reading the books over & over again. 

But I guess the point I was trying to make above is that cooking is more an art than measurements, there are techniques you need to be aware of but once you know the basic process, every cook can weave their individual magic wands and make the dish unique. BTW, that is the excuse I use every time one of my preparations falls short against nammamma's :-)

If you are entertaining friends or family, think about Handvo as one of the starters since the batter can be prepped ahead of time. All you need to do before the party starts is to pour the batter into the pans and bake it. I have seen the Handvo flour in Indian grocery stores here but have never tried it myself. I prefer my old fashioned way of grinding the batter at home.

What do you need to make Handvo? 
Makes 2 - 8 inch pans
1 cup rice - any long grained rice will work, I typically use Sona masoori variety.
1/4 cup toor/tuvar dal or togari bele
1/4 cup chana dal or kadle bele
1/4 cup masoor dal or moong dal - I used masoor dal this time
2 Tblsp urad dal or black gram
3 cups tightly packed grated bottle gourd
5 green chilies - adjust to taste
1/4 cup sour yogurt - a day old works best
1 inch long piece ginger root
1 Tblsp grated coconut - fresh or frozen - optional
1 Tsp sugar
1 Tsp salt
For seasoning:
1 Tblsp oil
1 Tsp mustard
1/4 Tsp asafoetida
4-5 finely chopped curry leaves
1 Tsp red chili powder - optional
For garnish:
1 Tsp white sesame seeds

Optional - chopped cabbage, chopped cilantro, grated carrot - I haven't used any of these this time though I usually load up my Handvo with finely chopped cabbage or grated carrots.

How do you make Handvo?

• Wash and soak rice and the dals together in water for about 6 hours. 
• Rinse, drain the rice and dals and grind it with green chilies and ginger to a coarse paste with as little as 2 Tblsp of water. 

• Wash, peel and grate bottle gourd (thick grates is preferred here) - see notes for additional vegetables

• Add the bottle gourd grating along with yogurt, salt and sugar into the ground mixture, set it for fermenting over night or atleast 6-8 hours. - see notes for fermentation tips
• The batter would have thinned down a little with the yogurt and bottle gourd juice and will look fluffy and porous with fermentation, mix grated coconut into the batter. It is important to use as little water as needed while grinding.
• Heat the oil, add mustard, chopped curry leaves and asafoetida. Let mustard sizzle & pop, switch off the stove, add the red chili powder, mix it well into the oil. Pour everything into the batter and mix well. 

• At this time, taste the batter to check and adjust sugar, salt, red chili powder per taste. you can add more green chili-ginger paste at this time if you like. 
• Spray 2 - 8 inch pans with cooking spray, pour the batter to 1/2-3/4 inch thickness and sprinkle sesame seeds all over. 

• Pre heat the oven to 350F, bake the Handvo for 30 minutes. a toothpick or knife pushed in the center of the pan should come out clean. 
• A more traditional way of making this is to pour the batter into a thick cast iron pan (about 1inch thickness), drizzle oil around the sides, cover and cook on low heat until the bottom side gets the crispiness of your liking, gently turn it over and continue cooking on  the other side without covering the pan until both surfaces are roasted well and a toothpick comes out clean when pushed through the center.
• the stove top method needs a little bit more attention than baking and results in a deep roasted texture if you prefer. i love to use my cast iron pan for this.
• Switch the oven to broil (high) and broil for 3 minutes to get a nice brown coating on top. Keep an eye on the Handvo during broil as oven settings differ and it can burn the dish in a matter of minutes.

• Let the Handvo stand for a couple of minutes, cut wedges and serve it with coriander or mint chutney or ketchup as a tea time snack. 

Notes: 

• If you are adding additional vegetables, make sure all of them together make 3 packed cups. Keep bottle gourd to atleast 2 cups so you get the right consistency of batter. You can squashes or cucumbers for a different flavor. 
• The Handvo batter needs to be fermented well, if you are in a hurry and do not have overnight waiting time, go ahead and add 1/2 Tsp of cooking soda into the batter and leave it for about 30 minutes before baking. 
• Addition of coconut makes the Handvo lighter, but this is a personal preference. skip it if you don't want to use it. 
• Broiling the Handvo at the end is important to get the crispy layer on top, but keep a close watch during the broil cycle. 
• The batter should not be ground very smooth, the texture should be a little grainy. 
• Do not pour the batter thinner than 1/2 inch as it changes the texture of the finished product and makes it chewy. 
• Reheat Handvo pieces in the conventional or toaster oven to get it to taste as good as new.