Nov 15, 2010

Nameless Rice Recipe

So, here’s the deal.

I made this tonight for dinner. But I have no clue what to call this. So, you can make up your own name for it. And if you can think of anything creative – let me know. It kind of belongs to the Pulav family.

Whatever we decide to call it, I can tell you that it was a very hearty tasty meal for all of us. There’s rice in here, then veggies, then some beans and some nuts and a whole lot of flavor. And it’s a one pot dish – which I love!


I really liked this combination of veggies I used for this dish. But I’m sure you can customize this to your taste and add your favorite veggies in there too.

Starting off with onions, I decided to use the pearl onions instead of the chopped big onions. You can try and talk me out of it if you really want to – but these pearl onions do have a ton of flavor that’s sometimes missing from the big mamma ones. Yes – it’s a pain to peel them, agreed. But they do taste better.



On the veggies front, I used red bell peppers, zucchini and tender green beans. And then for some protein, I added some black chickpea / kala channa. And for an extra crunch – some chopped almonds. What can go wrong with all these wonderful ingredients?


In a wide pan, add about 1 tsp oil. When hot, add about ½ tsp Jeera (Cumin seeds) and ½ tsp Sombu (fennel seeds). When they start to turn brown, add finely chopped ginger and green chilli. Then, add the pearl onions to this and fry for a min.


When that is done, add the rest of the veggies in here. You don’t have to cook them for a long time. Almost immediately, season them well and mix the rice. They will get cooked along with the rice.


Then, add the boiled black channa. Boil it just enough so that they can be squished between your fingers when pressed.


Next comes the seasoning part. I kept the seasoning part simple. Some turmeric for a colorful rice.


Some red chilli – as much spice as you can take. Ours is not much considering my little one also eats from this.



Salt – to taste. I love that my salt container has a whole write up on how to eat salt correctly and not eat too much of it which might lead to unnecessary health conditions. They conclude their speech with these words of wisdom - ‘Salt Responsibly’. How true.


And then some biriyani masala or your favorite pulav masala. I always use Ethnic Kitchens Nawabi Biriyani Masala – like the flavor of that thing!


This is not a required addition but for me it was more of cleaning my fridge and trying to use as much as I have in there. I had some blanched and peeled almonds sitting for a couple of days and decided to add them in here for a crunch. It sure was a great crunch for our almond loving family!


Well..I forgot to tell you to wash and soak about 2 cups of basmati rice before you start all this. Soak the rice in water for about 30 mins or so. Rinse the rice well and drain all the water and add it to the veggies in the pan.


Instead of adding regular water to cook the rice, I decided to use some veggie broth. I think this made all the difference between a regular pulav and a really flavorful one. I mean the flavor that lingers on your tongue after you take a bite and eat it all. That flavor. So, if you can don't skip this. Use a good veggie broth.


For 2 cups of basmati rice and all the veggies, I added about 4 cups of veggie broth. More broth will be added a little later. But this is good for now. Mix everything well together once. Add a little bit more salt to taste for the rice.


Close the pan with a lid and let this boil and cook for about 5 mins or until you see the rice soaking up all the broth.


Like this - this is still partially done rice. There is a little bit of stock left in the pot. At this stage, switch off the stove and move all of this rice to a baking dish.


Now add another half a cup of broth all over the rice.


You can do this step while the rice is cooking. Wash, peel and cut 3-4 potatoes into rounds.


Blanch for about 4-5 mins in hot water. Make sure the potatoes are not completely cooked - you should be able to cut them with a knife but not crush them with a finger..get it?


Cover the rice in the baking dish with the blanched potatoes and some circle cut onions.


Cover with foil and bake in a pre heated oven at 350F for about 20 mins.

After that, increase the temp to 425F and turn on broil and remove the foil and let the potatoes and onions get  broiled for about 5 mins or until you see them turn golden.


Like this.

These potatoes and onions were absolutely awesome to eat along with the rice.


There's some piping hot nameless rice.


I served with some of of my favorite "Tomato-Cucumber-Green Bell Pepper Raitha". And some fresh grilled mango. Just for a twist. I just cut long strips of fresh mango and placed it on a cookie rack right over a medium flame. Like this -




So, have you come up with a name yet?


Enjoy. Peace out!

28 comments:

  1. Lovely pulao with nuts, cereals and veggies. My name for this is 'MRIGANAYANI SPECIAL PULAO"

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  2. this is Awesome..no other word for it.. the potato slices on top really bowled me over..

    and the broth..omg..kala chana pulav? or SPicy Rice and potato casserole?

    thanks for this great recipe!

    pb
    http://kamalkitchen.blogspot.com

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  3. Who cares abt the name when the rice is tasty...looks and sounds very tempting

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  4. wow, its a nice one pot meal.Whatever be the name , it looks gr8 :)

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  5. Sounds stunning Anu, I love one pot meals and here you have come up with a really great twist and def its going to be a welcome change from the usual rice preparations..

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  6. Ha ha i second shanti aunty comment anu.. NAmeless rice sounds interesting and looks so good and yummy with all healthy stuffs. I will do this soon cos i too have fridge cleaning withing 2 days :) just kidding. Wonderful veggie combo anu sure will let u know.

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  7. "Rangeela Rice", might be an apt name..
    Lovely recipe.. worth making

    Sujana
    http://worldofsujana.blogspot.com/

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  8. Im still thinking of a nice name, so yes, please wait for my comment tomorrow :)

    Psst, are you giving away any prizes for the namakarnam? :P

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  9. I totally agree with Sujana, u can name it as rangeela rice..

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  10. I would call it 'Dum Vegetable and chana Biriyani'. If you decide to use this name, please let me know. It is fun to name things like this.

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  11. Flavorful rice with some amazing ingredients! Great way to clean up a fridge!

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  12. wow Anu, you are a rockstar of cooking world. Love your creativity and wow that was simply superb, I mean I was reading through and could almost taste the rice. And love the mango in oven thingy, simply mind blowing. Superb !!!

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  13. Nick take on a dum pulao!! The mango slices loook yumm!!

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  14. Whats in a name, when the results are so good. Lovely rice and like it that it has loads of veggies in it.

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  15. One of the most disgusting recipes I've ever seen in my life!!
    Honestly, do you bloggers have nothing serious to do or what? You just cant put anything and everything you want in a recipe - then it wont be called a recipe... one would call it a crazy concoction!! The very fact that you yourself cant 'cook up' a name for your own 'creation' is proof of your so called 'imaginative cooking skills'
    Sorry to dissappoint your spirits, but, this is a real hard thing for me to digest ( pun definitely intended )

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  16. Now you obviously wont have the guts to publish my comment, I'm sure!!

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  17. Thank you all for the wonderful name suggestions and positive comments!

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  18. @ Anonymous - I'm sorry to disappoint you. From your comment, I can presume that you might not be a blogger. Hence, you might not know how us bloggers are. We love food and are passionate about food - that's why we spend our valuable time cooking and blogging about it. I don't expect you to understand too. Many of us do come up with crazy concotions which actually taste good. And all of us in my family did love this pulav. And to add to your nightmares - I might actually be making this again soon coz it really was good to eat.

    We all move on in life and maybe its your turn to move on from my blog if you are so not interested in what I have to blog. You can press the next button on your blogger tool bar - that might take you to some blog where they might teach how to raise cute chickens on a farm. You might like that.

    PS. I find it funny you call out my guts to publish your comment - but you still comment under Anonymous. Oh..the irony and pun on that!

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  19. I really loved the idea of covering biriyani wid potatoes n onions......sounds nice...ofcourse biriyani is all just left to one's imagination n taste...I would really say yes to this one..:)

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  20. @Mrig,Love your creative cooking skills and more importantly absolutely adore your response to the anonymous comment.

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  21. I'm glad to see this recipe here... this is the kind of rice I used to prepare when I started helping my mom... so it is very nostalgic.. and I do appreciate that it is creative...and definitely it is not necessary that you can eat only if it has some exotic name :)...

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  22. Firstly Anu, this is a briliant idea! I love that the rice has everything in it...perfect one-pot meal, and a nutritious one at that! I think you could call it 'Mixed Veggie and kala-channa Biryani with roasted veggies and dumm-ed aam on the side' :) :) Just my 2-cents. Whatever you choose to call it, I think it is simply Dumm-de-yum! :P

    Secondly, who the hell is that nasty person talking all that gibberish about you. Really, can people get down so low? I think there's a line people have to draw while giving out feedback. No one's forcing them to come see this right? Im glad you gave whoever that is, a befitting reply that should shut him/her up for good. You go girl, damn such louts who dont even know the kind of effort and hard work that goes into a blog.

    Big hug to you to make you feel a better and a little less bitter :)
    *Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugs*

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  23. yummy crispy spicy nutritious pulve
    name-the kamal of Mrignayani

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  24. Hi,
    Where do you buy Ethnic Kitchen brand spices? I live in southern Colorado....I wonder if I can get them on-line....Thanks!

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  25. Look nice and yummy...so colourful and nice...yummy mix of veggies...shallots...is a nice addition. Grilled mangoes...you are killing me woman!!!

    Shobha

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  26. I came here for the Laksa recipe and stayed on to check a few others. I loved what you did here with the rice and a whole lot of other stuff and the uniqueness of adding the potato and onions to make it just a complete meal. But what really made me comment was your superb response to the Anonymous comment. Those spineless fools (and you never know they could be a gutless blogger as well) always have to hit on anonymously. I dont have a blog, but I visit many and always smirk when I see a nasty comment and it is ALWAYS anonymous. So strange!! All they have to do is just move on... Angela

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  27. I stumbled on this blog very recently. Since then I am a regular visitor. I love the efforts you take to explain things in an organized yet attractive way. The hard work that goes behind this is just commendable. I am not a great cook, but I am really passionate about cooking and try to collect as many unique recipes. I really liked this creation of yours. Who is bothered of the name of the dish if it takes you to the real heaven. good work... Shiny

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  28. Very interesting recipe. Love it. Am surely gonna try it soon. Thanks!

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