Brinji Rice with Coconut Milk | Brinji Rice

Brinji Rice, a delicious and flavorful one pot rice made with coconut milk. In tamil, bay leaf is known as "Brinji Elai", as this rice uses bay leaf as one of the flavoring spice, it got its name as "Brinji Rice". 

In today's recipe, i have made this rice plain without any vegetables, but you can add any veggies that can be used in vegetable biryani like carrot, peas, potato & so on. I like the mild flavor of this rice, you can serve this with simple ratia and/or with any spicy curry/korma. My personal favorite to have with rice is either chicken/mutton kulambu, both taste heavenly with brinji rice. 

I packed this rice a couple of times for ST's lunch box along with simple curry. One day, after lunch he called me and said how delicious the rice was and he had a really hearty meal. Do i need to say more about this rice?? It tastes best when it rests for 1 or 2 hrs, so that the flavor becomes intense and tastes delicious. 

Amma always says that the one pot rice like Kootan choru, Ulunthu Choru & Nei Choru all taste even better when you had at night, because in the afternoon, we have it immediately once it has been prepared and the flavor doesn't  get intensified in short span of time.

Related : How to make Nei Soru / Ghee Rice 

I didn't realise or even paid attention to that detail before because I like to have my food(even the sweets) hot. After i started to pack lunchbox, i was more aware of this and understood how the flavor gets intense with time and this rice is one among them and tastes best for lunch box. Now let's move on to the recipe!!
Related : How to make Chettinad Mushroom Biryani

Brinji Rice with Coconut Milk

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Rice | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Brinji Rice, Coconut milk rice, Bay leaf rice Brinji Rice, a delicious and flavorful one pot rice made with coconut milk. In tamil, bay leaf is known as "Brinji Elai", as this rice use bay leaf as one of the flavoring spice, it got its name as "Brinji Rice".

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Basmati Rice - 1 cup
Water -1 cup
Coconut Milk - 1 cup
Ginger Garlic paste - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 spring
Mint - a handful
Coriander leaves - a handful
Green chili - 2
Onion(medium) - 1/2
Tomato(medium) - 1/2
Cinnamon - 1 inch piece
Cloves - 3
Cardamom - 2
Bay leaf - 2
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt - to taste
Oil - 1 tsp
Ghee - 1 tsp

Procedure

Soak the basmati rice in water for 20 mins. First cut the onion into thin slices, tomato into small pieces, slit the green chili and keep other ingredients ready.
Heat the pressure cooker with oil, add cinnamon,cloves,cardamom & bay leaves, let it fry in oil for 30 secs.

Add the onions with pinch of salt, then add the curry leaves and green chili.

Saute till the onions are translucent, then add the mint, coriander leaves and ginger garlic paste.

Saute till it's aromatic, then add the tomatoes, give a quick stir and add coconut milk.

Next add the water, give a good mix, then add the turmeric powder.

Add enough salt, mix well and bring into boil.

Drain the water from the soaked rice and add into the pressure cooker, give a gentle mix and finally add the ghee. 

Close the pressure cooker with lid and cook it for 2 whistle. Let the pressure release by itself and open the pressure cooker and transfer the rice into another bowl to avoid further cooking of the rice.

Delicious Brinji Rice is ready to serve.

Related: Raita Recipe Collections 

Related : How to make Coconut Milk at home

Notes:

• For the given quantity of green chili, the rice has very mildly spice
• For a cup of rice, it needs 2 cups of liquid, so you can add more or less coconut milk and use water for the remaining.
• No need to cook the tomato until it's mushy like other pulao or biryani.
• For more coconut flavor, you can use coconut oil instead of flavorless oil.
• If you're using can coconut milk, make sure that it's pure coconut milk without any gum.
  

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Broccoli Paratha | Broccoli Stuffed Paratha | Paratha Recipe

Broccoli Paratha, a delicious paratha stuffed with mildly spiced broccoli masala.Next to the broccoli soup, this is my favorite recipe with broccoli. It's one of the easiest stuffings to make for paratha and also it's so customizable to suit your taste. 

For this paratha, I have followed the same procedure as my cauliflower paratha without much change and it turned out so soft, with some curd, it would be awesome, no need to make any side dish at all.

While making this paratha, I ran out of atta flour and also we were in the process of moving to a new place, so i didn't want to buy atta just to make this and again i would pack the leftover for shipping. 

Instead I have used whole wheat flour bought at HEB, the texture of this flour is quite different and also it has a darker color than the regular atta flour. I was a bit skeptical how it would turn out, to my surprise, it turned out so good. Usually I use whole wheat flour for chapathi only and never used before for stuffed paratha. 

Glad i did, now i can use whole wheat flour for parathas too. You may think that both atta and wheat flour are the same, right?? I too had the same opinion before using it regularly, but now i'm sure that the whole wheat flour available here in US based stores is different in both texture and taste compared to the atta available in Indian stores. 

Ok, let's check out on how to make these healthy broccoli paratha!

Related: How to make Aloo Paratha

Broccoli Paratha

Preparation Time : 20 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Paratha | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Broccoli Paratha, Broccoli Stuffed Paratha, Easy Paratha Recipe Broccoli Paratha, a delicious paratha stuffed with mildly spiced broccoli masala.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Whole Wheat flour - 1 cup
Oil - 1 tsp
Water - as needed
Salt - to taste
For Stuffing
Broccoli - 1 floret(small)
Oil - 1 tsp
Turmeric - a pinch
Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - to taste 

Procedure

Take the flour in a bowl, add salt & oil and mix it with flour well. Then add water to the flour.Mix it with your hand and gather it together as a single mass , now knead the dough well until the surface looks smooth.Cover it with lid and set aside for minimum 15 mins.

Cut the broccoli into the small florets, wash it in running water and drain it completely.

Put the florets into mixie jar and pulse it twice or thrice until it's fine. Heat the pan with olive oil.

Add the broccoli and saute it in the oil for 2 mins, then add all the spices(turmeric ,red chili & garam masala powder) and salt.

Mix it well with the broccoli and then cover the pan with lid and let the broccoli cooks well. Switch off the flame and the stuffing is ready.

Pinch medium lemon sized balls from the dough and roll it as smooth. Take the rolling pin and roll into small disc, place the stuffing in the center.

Pleat the sides towards the center and seal it. Keep the sealed edge downside and roll into thick paratha(if needed add more flour for dusting).

Do the same for all the dough. Heat the tava, grease it will oil and place the rolled paratha on it.

Cook it on both side until the brown spots appears on both sides. Remove it from the tava and place it on the plate. 

Tada, Healthy Broccoli Paratha is ready.Serve it with curd and pickle.

Related: How to make Triangle Paratha

Related: More Roti & Paratha Recipes

Notes:

• The dough should be pliable and smooth.
• Make sure to drain the water from broccoli well before put into the mixie jar.
• Adjust the spices for the stuffing as per your liking, you can add cumin powder if you like that flavor. 
• You can use atta flour also.
  

 

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Samai Puliyodharai | Millet Puliyodharai | Millet Recipe

Samai Puliyodharai, a spicy and tangy puliyodharai made from the little millet. Some millets(like little, kodo & barnyard millets) are used in the place of rice and taste very similar or even better than rice sometimes. 

Making puliyodharai with millets is another successful experiment of mine. As expected, it turned out so delicious and tastes as good as rice puliyodharai.  Since the millet grains are so little, the flavors blend so well and taste wonderful!!!

So far, i have tried this puliyodharai with the little & barnyard millet and both taste equally good.For this recipe, the millet should be cooked well and in the same time, it should be separate, even the slightest mushy millet would result in not so good puliyodharai(personal experience :-( . 

So make sure that the millet shouldn't be mushy. Without further delay, let's check out the recipe, but if you want to know what i have prepared yesterday under Whole Grains, here it is
Day 1 - Kambu Koozh

Samai Puliyodharai

Preparation Time : 30 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Millet | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Millet Puliyodharai, Samai Puliyotharai Samai Puliyodharai, a spicy and tangy puliyodharai made from the little millet.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Cooked Millet - 2 to 2&1/2 cup
Tamarind - a small gooseberry size
Sesame oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard & urad dal - 1/4 tsp each
Chana dal - 1 tsp
Peanuts - 1 tbsp
Cashews - 3 to 4
Curry leaves - few
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Adafoetida powder - 1/4 tsp
Jaggery - a small piece
Salt - to taste
To roast & grind
Red chili - 4
Channa dal - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Fenugreek seed - 1/2 tsp

Procedure

Soak the tamarind for 1/2 hr. Heat the pan and add all the ingredients listed under "To roast & grind" and roast till nice aroma comes and also the dals became golden brown

Remove from the heat and let it cool a bit. Then put it in a mixie/blender jar and grind into coarse powder.

Heat the pan with sesame oil, add the mustard & urad dal, let the mustard crackle, then add the channa dal & cashews and roast till it the dal & nut becomes golden brown. If you're using raw peanuts,add this stage and roast along with other ingredients, since i have used roasted peanuts and i added it later.

Extract the tamarind juice from the soaked tamarind and add into the pan. Add turmeric and asafoetida powder also.

Add salt and the grounded powder , mix it all well together and let it boil for around 10 -15 min in the medium flame.

Finally add the jaggery, roasted peanuts and curry leaves and let it sim for another 2 mins and switch off the flame.

Keep the cooked millet ready(Check here on how to cook millets in open pot).  Add the millets into the tamarind paste and mix it well together gently.

Tasty Samai Puliyodharai is ready. Serve it with your favorite curry. We had it with crispy arbi fry and coriander thogayal.

Related: How to make millet paal kanji

Notes:

• For the  given amount of chili, the spice level is moderate. Add more or less as per your liking.
• Sesame oil gives great taste to puliyodharai,so highly recommend to use it.
• You can drizzle some sesame oil on top while serving just to enhance the flavor.
  

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Beetroot Rice | Beetroot Pulao | Variety Rice

Beetroot rice, a quick to make delicious rice recipe with the grated beetroot. Next to beetroot raita, this is my favorite recipe made with beetroot. 

I have heard from many people saying that they don't like beetroot because of strong earthy flavor, if you're one among them, give a try on this, this rice recipe doesn't have that strong flavor, since the recipe has garam masala & ginger garlic paste, those flavors subside the strong beetroot earthy flavor. 

Mild sweetness from the beetroot along with those whole spices & garam masala make the rice  so delicious.This beetroot rice is an ideal recipe to pack for lunch box along with simple raita and chips. To be honest, i won't need any of those side dishes for this rice, as it is, it's so good, it's so flavorful and really very appealing.

Here in the recipe,i have used the basmati rice, but some times, i had tried it with jeeraga samba rice, that too tastes equally good. Personally i like the beetroot rice that have been made with basmati/ jeeraga samba rice than the regular rice. I guess, the rice flavor is also key in this recipe, but you can try with whatever rice variety you like, after all it's all personal preference right?? Now let's check out the recipe.

Beetroot Rice | Beetroot Pulao

Preparation Time : 1 hr | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Beetroot Rice,Beetroot Pulao, Variety Rice Beetroot rice, a quick to make delicious rice recipe with the grated beetroot.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Beetroot - 1 cup (grated)
Cooked Basmati Rice - 2 cup
Onion - 1 (small)
Green chili - 2
Curry leaves - few
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Garam Masala powder - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Oil - 2 tsp
Cashews - 4
Cinnamon- 1 inch stick
Cloves - 3
Cardamom - 1
Bay leaf - 1
Lemon - 1/2

Procedure

First cut the onions into thin slices, slit the green chilies and grate the beetroot. Heat a pan with oil, add the whole spices(cinnamon, cloves, cardamom & bay leaf), let it fry in the oil for 30 secs.

Then add the cashews, roast till it becomes golden brown, next add the onions, curry leaves & chili. Saute till the onions becomes translucent.

Add the ginger garlic paste, saute till the raw smell leaves, then add the grated beetroot, saute the beetroot till it cooks.

Keep the cooked rice ready. Once the beetroot is cooked, add the salt and garam masala. Give a good mix.

Add the rice, gently mix it with the beetroot masala and finally squeeze the lemon. Switch off the flame.

Tada, Tasty & healthy Beetroot rice is ready to serve. Serve it with onion raita & some chips.

Related: How to make Beetroot Pachadi 

Notes:

• You can use left over rice also for this beetroot rice.
• I have already added salt while cooking the rice, so while sauteing, just added salt for the beetroot alone.
• When you make variety rice, always add salt to rice while cooking itself, that will give balanced seasoning to the rice.
• For richer taste, instead of oil, use ghee.
• Ginger garlic paste and garam masala gives great flavor to this rice, so don't skip it.
• Depends on beetroot sweetness and your preference, you can adjust the green chilli and also if you want more spice, add 1/2 tsp of  red chilli powder also.
  

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