Avarekalu-Menthya soppina bhaath - a single pot rice dish needing no pre-made powders

Before I forget to wish you all, Happy Sri Rama Navami to all my readers celebrating the birth of Lord Rama. By the time I got to writing this post, Ramanavami for 2015 had already slid into the past making me late again with my wishes. But as I always say, "better late than never". Hope you all had a good celebration, ours was simple with kosambari, panaka & hesaru bele payasa. Filling, very satisfying and saatvik :-).

On my not posting regularly, I won't even go there :-(.  I was thinking yesterday of making a really catchy poster to adorn my home page and say something to the effect of, "Gone missing, will be back as soon as life slows down a teeny bit" but then I thought if I have the time to think up and make up fancy posters, I might as well sit myself down and write the posts for some of the recipes that have been languishing in the draft folder for a while now. Ironically enough, I was attending a 3 day talk last weekend about life management and managing time was the topic of day-1 :-).

Here I am with a family favorite and extremely easy to cook up, one pot rice dish that brings together 2 of my favorite ingredients - fresh fenugreek leaves for its characteristic fragrance & taste and avarekalu (papdi lilva) for the love of beans :-). I have another delicious version of rice made with fenugreek leaves that uses Vangibhaath powder, check it out here if interested.

I believe I have already professed my love for avarekalu and written my ode to this humble beans many times over on the blog, here, here and here. Recently a reader from Michigan reached out to ask some questions about averekalu and I felt as glad as he did when he wrote back a week or so later to say he did find them in his local grocery store and made yummy dishes with it. It feels good to come across folks with similar tastes and I am glad my little posts spread some (avarekalu) love to others living away from home.

Nammamma made this version of the bhaath towards the end of avarekalu season when the beans would be mature and plump but not very juicy or fragrant. Back home in Mysore, the beans would first announce their arrive with that very distinct fragrance and as soon you picked them, your hands would undoubtedly be coated with a thin layer of sticky substance (we called it 'sone' in kannada, not sure if it has a name in other languages) which was all part of the avarekalu experience. Adding methi or fenugreek leaves perfectly complements the flavor in this rice. I made this rice recently knowing fully well that my few weeks of avarekalu enjoyment was coming to an end here.

This dish does not need any pre-made spice powders and is very easy to prepare. It has carbs(rice), protiens (beans), nutrients & flavor (fenugreek leaves) and hence makes a perfectly wholesome meal. This can be done in a single vessel from start to end - less cleaning, less wastage and environment friendly :-)

What do you need to make averekalu-menthya bhaath? 
2 packed cups of fresh fenugreen leaves
1-1.5 cups avarekalu (Papdi lilva)
2 cups rice (use sona masoori preferably)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 Tsp cumin
1 inch piece of ginger
1 inch piece of cinnamon
2 cloves
4-6 black pepper corns
3-4 green chilies (adjust to taste)
1/2 cup coconut (fresh or frozen)
1 Tsp salt (Adjust to taste)
2 Tbsp oil

How do you make averekalu-menthya soppina bhaath?

• Chop washed fenugreek leaves. 
• Wash and soak rice for about 20 minutes (this speeds up the cooking process)
• Take a heavy bottom pan (or pressure cooker) and heat it on medium heat. 
• Add cinnamon, black pepper & cloves and roast for about a minute until they warm up and become fragrant. Take them aside and let cool. 
• Make a rough powder of the spices when cool, add ginger, green chilies and coconut to the blender jar, use 1/4 cup water and grind into a fine mixture. 
• Add 1 tbsp oil into the pan (or cooker) and let it heat up. 
• Add cumin and when it sizzles, add chopped onion and let it sweat lightly.
• Add chopped fenugreek leaves and fry until they wilt, 2-3 minutes. 
• Add the averekalu (or other beans you choose) to the pan and mix it with the fenugreek leaves. 
• Add salt and mix them together. 
• Add the ground masala mixture and let it cook for just a minute. 

• Taste and adjust salt if needed. 
• Drain all the water from the soaked rice and add it to the pan. 
• I use 1:2 (rice:water) ratio for making these rice preparations, and add 3 & 3/4 cup (discount 1/4 cup used for grinding) water into the pan. 
• Let it come to a boil. 

• Close the pressure pan with the weight and cook it for 3 whistles. 
• If you like to open cook, reduce heat to low, cover the pan and cook until rice is soft. 
• Let it stand until it is warm. 

• Fluff it gently with a spoon, and serve it warm with any kind chips, fryums or yogurt based raita. 

Notes: 

• You can precook rice (make sure you use the right amount of water to get fluffy rice) and mix the rest of the ingredients, I think the flavor is more enhanced when you cook them all together. 
• If you don't get avarekalu, replace it with mutter or green peas, frozen lima beans or other beans you prefer. 
• The spice comes from the black pepper, ginger & green chilies - adjust them to your liking. 

Menthya Ade dose(Ada Dosa) - Proteins and a dash of fiber in every tasty bite

Did you notice that I added an alternate pronunciation in my title? I find myself mixing dosa/dosai with dose when talking to my non-Kannadiga friends and I just wanted to be clear that the world famous dosas or the lentil crepes are simply called Dose (with a long 'e' at the end) in Kannada. As I keep mentioning, there are just innumerable varieties of Doses available and they just seem to be growing as chefs get more & more creative and experimental with the ingredients.

Ade Dose is a protein packed dosa (more than usual) because the proportion of lentils is much higher in this dosa as compared to the regular ones. I have seen really thick, almost rotti like Adais in some restaurants but I prefer my ada dosa to be light in texture. It is very easy to spoil this really tasty variety of dosa if you are not careful with the combination of dals. Urad dal lends the soft texture as does the rice & oats, at the same time too much of urad or moong dal make the dosa unfit for spreading, so if you are experimenting with other lentils, keep this in mind. I once ordered an adai in a famous resturant in the Bay area which looked and tasted just like leather slippers (not that I have ever had them for food:-)). The key to softer and fluffier ada dosa is the right mixture of lentils and rice. Adding oats is something I started a couple of years back and by trial & error reached the correct balance of rice and oats in this recipe. Addition of chopped methi leaves gives a wondeful aroma to the ade dose. Check out the notes for hints on replacement of ingredients. Some of my friends add Toor dal and also peanuts in this recipe but here is how I make it.

The advantages with Ade dose is that it doesn't need to ferment too much like the regular dosa and you can make them with a couple of hours setting time. A regular mixer will do very well for this batter as it doesn't have to be ground too long, but just enough for the lentils to turn soft.

On another note, I watched a movie recently called 'Morning Glory', it is probably a couple of years old and stars Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford and Diane Keaton. I guess the cast is what attracted me to the movie to start with and then a little bit of the story line. It is a very guessable, feel good end but has some wonderful moments. I completely enjoyed watching the workoholic Rachel McAdams run around like a headless chicken trying to get her morning show ratings up while trying to drag along a very  demoralized group of people, Harrison Ford is good as the crusty, bitter, once very successful journalist and Diane Keaton as always adds that extra splash of liveliness whenever she is on screen.

So this movie is about a young, executive producer of a TV show that has no pedigree, no big college tags on her resume, has been fired (for reasons not her own) from her job, gets into this 4 decade old morning show and has the mountainous task of getting its ratings up. Harrison Ford is just 'spending' time on the network because his contract allows him to do it and he doesn't want to do any piece that he doesn't deem 'serious enough'. Diane Keaton is a former AZ beauty queen who has been on the show the longest and has seen many, many EPs come and go. So why am I talking about a random, 2 year old movie on my food blog? Well, the movie ends with HF putting on an apron and cooking up a 'fluffy', delicious Italian Frittata while explaining to his morning show viewers that he cooks it only for people he cares for. For all the fun, frolic and chaos in the movie it actually touched a chord with some real touching advice on the importance of balancing work & life which I think was what resonated with me most. So now that I have told you the story and spoiled it :-), if you are looking for a movie to watch while on your treadmill, this suits the mood, pace and timing perfectly, that is what I did :-). It is on Netflix, so watch it if you get a chance.

What do you need to make Ade Dose/Ada Dosa? 
Makes about 20-22 home sized dosas
To soak: 
1/2 cup rice (I use regular sona masoori or long grain)
1/2 cup chana dal
1/2 cup moong dal
1/2 cup urad dal
1/8 Tsp fenugreek seeds
3-4 dry red chilies
Others:
1 cup quick cooking oats
1/2 Tsp black pepper
1 small piece of ginger
2 Tblsp chopped onion (optional)
1 cup finely chopped fresh fenugreek leaves
1 Tblsp salt (adjust to taste)
About 4.5 cups of water to make the batter
1-2 Tsp oil for making Dosas.

How do you make Ade Dose/Ada Dosa? 

• Soak all the ingredients listed under 'To soak' for 4-5 hours.
• Wash & drain the water. 
• Powder the oats in the mixer, add the chopped onions, ginger and soaked red chilies and grind it into a smooth paste adding water as needed. 
• Add the soaked dals and rice and grind into a semi solid smooth paste adding water. 
• Take the ground batter into a big bowl, add salt, mix it well and set aside for 3-4 hours. 
• When ready to make ade dose, add the fresh ground black pepper and finely chopped fenugreek leaves, adjust the batter to a pouring consistency and give it a good mix. 
• Heat a flat griddle on medium heat, when hot, pour a ladleful of batter in the center of the griddle and with a rapid motion spread it into a thin round of about 6" diameter. 

• Drizzle oil around the edge of the dosa and let it cook for a minute or until the edges start to lift up slightly. 
• With a flat spatula, flip the dosa over, let it cook for about 30 seconds and take it off on a plate, serve hot with any chutney or curry of choice. 

• Repeat for the remaining batter or for as many dosas as you want.

Notes: 

• If your mixer jar is small, do the grinding in batches and mix them together at the end.
• If you are not using oats, increase the rice to 1 cup and follow the same process.
• You can replace chopped fenugreek leaves with other flavorful greens such as spinach or drum stick leaves. Avoid greens that take long time to cook such as Swiss Chard or Kale. If you do not have access to these greens, add a handful of cilantro or coriander leaves while grinding the batter.

• You can replace dry red chilies completely with black pepper if you prefer that flavor.
• I like just a faint hint of onions in this recipe but if you prefer, you can increase the quantity of onions or add finely chopped onions to the batter before making dosas. 
• Setting aside for a couple of hours definitely softens the texture of the end product but take care not to over ferment so the sour taste sets in. The batter should be fresh tasting.
• The thickness and crispiness of dosa can be adjusted by adjusting the batter consistency.  

Methi Mutter malai - Punjabi fare contd

So I left you all with a little teaser on my makki roti side dish in my previous post, as I promised it is not the usual suspect. I didn't make the sarson ka saag with my makki roti but made another very Punjabi side dish for the roti with my favorite greens. So why is this so special? Some fresh green methi leaves, a bowl of green peas, definitely some badam/almonds and a cup of malai. Well for now assume it is malai or cream and i will show you how to create the same creamy richness by making some tweaks.

Gather some fresh, tender methi/fenugreek leaves and a bowl of green peas, you are almost halfway done to making a delicious methi mutter malai. Almonds/Badam is so quintessentially Punjabi for me, to prove the point - remember the scene in DDLJ where Ma tells the cutesy younger chutki to eat her badam every day without fail so she is healthy, smart, brainy and beautiful. Though born & brought up in the Southern part of India and much removed from Punjab ki Mitti, I love almonds for the healthy nutrition and use them quite liberally in my cooking for adding thickness, for bringing creamy-ness, for taste & texture. So go ahead and soak a handful of almonds to lend the creamy texture to the gravy.

Now onto the third part in the name of the dish, Malai. Here is where I beg to differ from the traditional cooking. Malai or cream is nothing but boiled/thickened whole milk or in other words it is tightly packed milk fat. While there is nothing wrong in indulging in cream/malai once in a while, I do not belong to the school of cooking where everything starts with butter or cream. I do enjoy them in recipes where using something different would compromise the taste, so to cut my long rant short, I used 2% reduced milk in my gravy.

Last crop for the year in my backyard

Methi mutter malai is not a spicy dish, but its mild flavor and milky finish allows it to accompany any kind of rotis. I haven't actually seen this on resturant menus here though I have had it in the road side dhabhas in India.

Fresh picked methi leaves

What do you need to make Methi Mutter Malai?
Serves about 4 people
2 packed cups of fresh chopped methi leaves
1.5 cups green peas - fresh or frozen
2 cups milk (I used 2%)
1 Tsp salt (adjust to taste)
1 Tblsp oil
1 Tsp cumin
1 Tsp finely grated ginger
To grind:
10-15 blanched almonds
2 Tblsp chopped onion
3 cloves
2 - 2 inches long cinnamon sticks
2 green chilies (adjust to taste)

How do you make Methi mutter malai?

• Soak almonds in hot water for 30-45 minutes and peel the skin off.
• Grind all ingredients listed below 'To grind' into a very fine paste by adding 1/2 cup of water. 
• Heat oil in a big pan/kadai, add the cumin seeds and let them sizzle. 

• Add the ground paste, salt and milk and bring it to a boil. 
• Add the chopped methi leaves and mutter, reduce heat to low, cover the pan and let cook for about 25-30 minutes with occasional stirring to prevent burning.

• Add the grated ginger towards the end of cooking time and mix it in. 
• At the end of the cook time, milk would have thickened, methi & mutter would have cooked soft.

• Switch off, serve warm with hot makki rotis for a delicious meal. 

Notes: 

• I start with milk and let the methi & mutter cook in milk so the flavors are completely absorbed and milk turns thick & creamy.
• If using frozen green peas thaw them to room temperature, if using fresh green peas parboil them in hot water for about 5-7 minutes.
• I add grated ginger towards the end to retain the fresh gingery smell in the curry as this does gravy not have any other overpowering spices. 
• Grind the masala into a really smooth paste which helps the curry become creamier. 
• You can follow the authentic way of making this by replacing milk with 2 Tblsp of heavy cream and add the cream after methi & mutter are cooked.. 
• It is important to cook on low heat so that the leaves cook completely, raw onion smell goes away and milk turns thicker. 

Methi roti - fresh greens in soft rotis

As we get ready to welcome the Autumn and the subsequent Wintry weather, I am wrapping up on my kitchen garden for this year. It is always such a nice feeling to be able to look through my bed room window and plan the next day's meal based on what is available in the tiny patch in the backyard. I love the flavor and freshness the home grown veggies bring to the dishes. As we bid goodbye to a really beautiful Summer we had over the last few months, I harvested the last batch of methi (fenugreek) leaves this week. I love these slightly bitter tasting, extremely flavorful greens in any form. Since there wasn't much today, I decided to make some methi rotis with them for lunch.

DD keeps reminding me that I haven't posted many basic recipes here on the blog so she can make them on her own and surprise me :-), while the offer is really tempting I see myself backing out of really basic, every day kind of food unless I see myself adding some value to it. But here is a pretty basic recipe that can be made by anyone. Sometimes if I crave for methi rotis and do not have fresh leaves I use kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves) instead but be forewarned that is not the same as the methi rotis made with fresh leaves.

The methi rotis are packed with all the flavor of fresh methi leaves, a little goes a long way here. You don't need a lot of methi leaves to enjoy the taste (although more is merrier and you can add as much as you want) so you can jazz up your every day roti with a handful of methi leaves. Roasting the methi leaves brings out their flavor and softens the leaves which makes it easier to roll the rotis.

Whole wheat flour + couple spoons of oil + roasted methi leaves rolled into soft, hot rotis, we had them with some dal and tomato pachadi.

What do you need to make methi rotis? 
Makes about 10 regular sized rotis
2 cups wheat flour + 1 Tsp for dusting
3/4 cup water
1 cup chopped fenugreek leaves
3/4 Tsp salt (adjust to taste)
1/2 Tsp red chili powder
2 Tsp oil (divided use)

How do you make methi rotis? 

• Heat 1/2 Tsp oil in a small pan, add chopped methi leaves and saute for a minute or until it wilts.
• Add salt, red chili powder to the leaves and cook for another minute until the leaves soften. 
• Take the wheat flour in a wide bowl, add 1/2 Tsp oil, roasted methi leaves and mix it well. 

• Add water slowly to get a soft, pliant dough, cover and set aside for 30 minutes. 
• Remove the cover, knead the dough for a couple of minutes and pinch out lemon sized balls.
• Roll the balls into thin discs using wheat flour to dust as required. 

• Heat a flat griddle and roast the roti with a few drops of oil until it develops small brown spot on both surfaces. 

• Serve it with any side dish of choice, I like to eat the hot off the griddle methi rotis just like that - bite by bite. 

Notes: 

• Quantity of water given above is pretty close to what you would need to get a soft dough, different brands of wheat flour absorb water differently so watch out for it and adjust water. 
• Keep the dough covered with a wet paper napkin or muslin cloth for about 30 minutes and also knead the dough for 3-4 minutes or until it is soft and elastic to touch. These make soft rotis. 
• Don't roll these rotis very thin as they need to puff up and form layers when cooked. 
• Be adventurous and add other spice powders such as amchoor powder or garam masala per your taste. You can use ground green chilies instead of the red chili powder for a different taste.

Menthya Matvadi palya - Fenugreek flavored, lentils loaded dry curry

If you haven't heard this name before, it sounds funny. Well, it sounds funny even if you are familiar with it. I really don't know the origin of the name. But just walk with me past the funny sounding name and let me introduce a recipe bursting with flavors. I love greens and menthya soppu or methi or fenugreek leaves are my favorite. This is one of the items regularly on my grocery shopping list (yes, I have a list but mostly stray away from my list:-) depending on what catches my eye in the grocery store). In spring and summer, I grow my own menthya soppu. If you love Menthya soppu like I do, go ahead and give this healthy recipe a try. It is wholesome with proteins, greens and just a tiny spoon of oil.

This year, I have menthya growing in multiple containers on the deck to be harvested at different times, smart yeh? There is so much difference in the freshness and flavor of a home grown menthya soppu and a store bought bunch. It is easy to grow menthya in containers and you do not have to fret for not having a backyard vegetable patch. Make sure you take a pot of atleast a foot and half depth so the roots can grow into the soil. If your pot is not deep enough, the roots will get squiggly and go all around the soil horizontally which makes them stringy to bite. Deeper pots ensure the roots go in and you can pull them up easily and chop the ends. The sprouts show up on 4th day if the weather is warm enough and continues to grow. You can harvest tender and flavorful menthya leaves in 2.5-3 weeks.

Back to today's recipe, matvadi palya or maatoti palya (as we called it when we were kids) is an easy to prepare dry curry that goes well with your rotis/chapatis or rice. I follow nammamma's suit and make a yogurt based gravy such as raita or majjige huli to make a complete meal. The palya can be eaten just by itself which is what I love do :-)

What do you need to make Menthya matvadi palya? 
1 cup toor dal/togari bele
2 cups chopped fresh menthya soppu/fenugreek leaves
1 inch piece of fresh ginger root
3-4 green chilies (adjust to suit your spice tolerance)
1 Tsp salt (adjust to taste)
2 Tsp grated coconut (fresh or frozen)

For seasoning/vaggarane: 
1 Tsp cooking oil
1 Tsp mustard seeds
1/8 tsp asafoetida
3-4 curry leaves
1 red chili broken into 2-3 pieces

How do you make Menthya matvadi palya? 

• Soak toor dal in 3 cups of water for 1.5 - 2 hours.
• Wash, drain the soaked toor dal.
• Take the drained toor dal, green chilies and ginger into a blender/chopper and pulse them to a coarse paste. Use 1-2 Tsp of water if needed for the blender to operate - See notes. 

• Clean menthya leaves thoroughly and chop them discarding the root ends. 
• Add salt, coconut and chopped menthya soppu to the ground mixture and mix well. 

• The mixture needs to be steamed until the dal cooks. I use my presssure pan, with water at the bottom and a pan containing the dal-greens mixture in it.

• Steam it (no weight if you are using pressure cooker) for 20 minutes, switch off, take the pan out and let it come to room temperature.

• Using your fingers or a fork, break the cooked mixture up and fluff it up. 
• In a wide pan, heat a Tsp of oil, add mustard, asafoetida, red chili pieces and curry leaves. When mustard splutters, add the cooked mixture in and give it a good mix. 

• Let it roast on low heat for 5 minutes before taking it off the heat. Serve it piping hot with rice or rotis. 

Notes: 

• I use my Indian mixie/grinder in pulse mode for this and do not use water while grinding - use small portions to allow the mixie to do its job. 
• The toor dal needs to break down but not become a paste, so take care not to grind for long.
• You can use your idli stand and place small balls of the dal-greens mixture for steaming in it. 
• Use fresh, tender menthya leaves and feel free to load it with extra leaves in this recipe. 
• There is no onion, garlic in this recipe. Remember it is the menthya soppu in the limelight and do not over crowd it with ingredients.

Variation: 

• You can replace Chana dal/kadle bele for toor dal but nammamma always makes matvadi palya with toor dal as it makes the menthya soppu flavor stand out better than chana dal. 
• You can use a combination of chana dal and toor dal (use 1:1) for a blended taste. 

Methi Muthia - snack from Gujarat

I love Gujarati food, the first time I ever tasted a Gujarati meal was at this restaurant near Edison in NJ called Jhupdi which my brother & SIL took me to. It has been years and I still remember how I fell in love with their Undhiyu, I can feel the taste of it on my tongue even now :-), well you know what I mean.. There is a small family run eatery in Fremont, CA called Krishna and they serve you a Gujarati Thali just like one you might get if you visited someone's home. The phulkas are soft, fresh and directly from the tawa. I relish everything in a Gujarati thali except for the rasam which is too sweet for my taste.

A few years back, one of my colleagues S got married, he is from Ahmadabad and his wife was a sweet, young girl who was just out of college. When we had a pot luck at work, she had made sheera (sweet sooji pudding) and doodhi/bottlegourd muthias and sent it with S. They were both gone in such a hurry that people really wanted to meet the cook behind the delicious dishes. The moment I see/taste a new dish, I go after the recipe and asked S to get the recipe and to my surprise next day when I went to work, he handed me this very meticulously typed instructions from dear E to make the yummy muthias. I still have that print out in my collection of recipes but don't need to refer to it anymore as I have made it so many times and know it by heart. Thanks E for the delicious muthias and generous sharing of a family recipe.

I have made changes to E's original recipe to suit the way we like it and I experiment with the vegetables since I am confident now of the basic recipe. I know this is a traditional recipe and here is my way of making the delicious Methi muthias as I love methi to bits :-).

What do you need to make Methi muthias?
1 cup wheat flour
1 cup basan/chick pea flour/gram flour/kadle hittu
1/2 cup fine sooji/chiroti rava
1 cup chopped fresh methi leaves/fenugreek leaves
11/2 cups grated bottle gourd
2 Tblsp fresh ginger+green chilies paste (I used about 5 green chilies and an inch of ginger root and pounded them together in mortar-pestle)
1 Tblsp salt
2 Tblsp cooking oil
1 Tsp baking soda
1 Tsp sugar

For Tadka/vaggarane:
1 Tblsp cooking oil
1 Tsp mustard seeds
1 Tsp white sesame seeds
3-4 curry leaves

How do you make Methi Muthias?

• Mix the grated bottle gourd, methi and salt in a wide bowl and set aside for 10 minutes.
• Squeeze out the vegetables and keep the water aside, this is very nutritious and you can use it in any of your soups, gravies etc.
• Mix ginger-green chilies paste, sugar, baking soda and oil with the vegetables.
• Add the wheat flour, basan and chiroti rava into the bowl and mix it to get a soft mass. 
• Your exact amount of dry flours depend on the water content from the bottle gourd, so adjust them - I keep the wheat flour and basan equal and sooji at half the other two as we like the taste better with this proportion. 
• Squeeze out big tennis ball size of the mixed dough and roll them into thick logs. 

• Arrange them in your pressure cooker vessel and steam (no weight) for 30 minutes on medium heat. 

• Let the cooked logs cool down before cutting them into 1/2 inch thick discs.

• Heat oil in a wide pan and add mustard, sesame seeds and curry leaves into it. 
• Once the mustard and sesame seeds splutter, add the cut muthia discs into it. 

• Keep the heat on medium and stirring occasionally roast the muthias until they turn light brown. 
• Serve it with your choice of chutney/dip. 

Variations: 

• Add palak/spinach instead of or in addition to methi leaves. 
• Change the proportion of the flours - wheat flour makes muthias dense, rava turns them crisper and basan is for the taste, adjust to suit your taste.
• You can use grated carrots, finely chopped onion in muthias. 

Tips: 

• Squeeze the water content as much as you can out of the bottle gourd and keep it aside, I prefer to add the water later if needed than having to end up with an liquidy paste that will consume lot of dry flours and leave you with large portions of bland muthias :-)

Eat your greens - Menthya soppina bhath (methi leaves rice)

I love greens and usually end up bringing home atleast 2 varieties of greens with every round of grocery shopping I do, honestly there are so many different ways you can cook greens and it is easy to incorporate the nutrients in every day meal. I am sure I can cook greens for more than a week without repeating a preparation, will keep the counting to another day :-). Though I like all types of greens, menthya soppu/methi leaves/fenugreek leaves have a special place in my heart, just because they are so naturally flavorful. This is one of things that vanish very quickly from the Indian grocery store isles every week on the 'fresh veggie day', I know there are lot methi fanatics just like me out there. Methi is very easy to grow even in pots and that is exactly what I do from time to time to beat the crowd :-).

Menthya soppina bhath (methi leaves rice) is a one pot dish, very easy to prepare and needs only the usual suspects you will have in your kitchen. Bhath is a generic term used in Kannada for various rice preparations such as Vangi bhath, bisi bele bhath, vegetable bhath etc, they have some common and some unique spices in each and the proportion and preparations turns each one quite distinct from the other. Nammamma is an expert 'Bhath' cook, she has a trick up her sleeve for most preparations of this genre which I am going to share with you today :-). Again, this recipe is very flexible and forgiving, so you can add/delete some of the ingredients based on availability and your taste, I will show you how in the variations.

What do you need to make Menthya soppina bhath?
1 big bunch of methi leaves - pick the leaves, wash them thoroughly and chop finely
1 cup cooked white rice - make rice in your usual method insuring that the grains are well cooked but separate
Juice of a small lime sized tamarind soaked for 20 mins in warm water or 1 Tsp of tamarind paste
2 Tblsp Vangibhath powder (I used MTR brand, will post my home made powder soon)
2 Tblsp salt (adjust to taste)
2 medium sized potatoes boiled to hold shape and cut into bite sized pieces
1 Tsp ghee (clarified butter)
1 Tblsp fresh/frozen grated coconut
1/2 Tsp crushed jaggery/brown sugar
1 Tsp cooking oil
1/2 Tsp turmeric powder

Fresh Methi leaves picked and washed

Ingredients for Vaggarane/seasoning:
1 Tblsp cooking oil
1 Tsp mustard seeds
1 Tsp urad dal/uddina bele
1 Tsp chana dal/kadle bele
2 Tsp raw peanuts
1 pinch asefoetida

How do you make Menthya Soppina bhath?

• Heat 1 Tsp oil in a pan, add the finely chopped methi leaves and let them wilt for a few minutes stirring once in a while, keep the pan on medium heat
• Once the methi leaves are cooked, add salt, vangibhath powder, turmeric powder, tamarind paste or tamarind juice, jaggery/brown sugar and keep stirring for a few minutes until any water content is absorbed and it becomes a semi solid paste.
• Add the coconut gratings and give it a stir.
• Spread the cooked rice in a wide bowl/plate and pour the methi paste on top of it.
• Toast the cooked, cut potato pieces in the same pan until they crisp up a little and keep it aside. 
• When the rice is cool, mix it together by hand so the grains are well coated by the paste, taste and adjust salt/jaggery. 
• Add potato pieces and mix lightly.
• Prepare vaggarane or seasoning: Heat the oil, add asafoetida, mustard seeds, dals and peanuts and stir it until mustard crackles and peanuts are done. Pour it on top of the rice and mix it well. 
• Add the ghee and mix the rice once more and keep it aside for atleast 30 minutes to settle in before serving. **
• A faintly sweet, spicy and methi flavored bhath is ready to eat, you can serve it with a yogurt based raita or roasted papads.

Cooked methi leaves with the masala

Menthya soppina bhath ready with Vaggarane

NOTE: Adding the ghee and leaving the bhath for a 'settling time' enhances the taste greatly, but I assure you that impatient ones will not be disappointed if they were to taste it right off the the stove like BH does at our home :-)

Variations:

• You can omit potatoes, use green peas - if using frozen, defrost and fry them along with the methi leaves. If using dry peas, soak overnight and boil them till tender. 
• You can add 1 Tsp grated ginger while frying methi leaves to get a slightly 'gingerish' flavor
• You can use dry coconut (kobbari) gratings instead of fresh coconut for a nuttier flavor.

Tips: 

• Cook rice with a 1:2 (rice:water) ratio to get fluffy rice, add a few drops of cooking oil to keep the grains separate. 
• Let the rice cool down before mixing the paste to get the  right texture.
• Pouring hot methi paste on top of steaming rice gets the juices to flow into the rice and make it flavor rich. 
• You can choose to omit the ghee if you are health conscious, I put it only when I have company.