My maternal grandmother was a great cook. She had her own set of recipes for which she was very famous in the family. Few of them are pani puri , masala dosa , batate song and many more. Her all dishes had a very distinguishing taste. Her pulavs were also special.
Few days back, I got a request for the masala pulav from Anu, I tried this recipe which I had noted down from my mom’s diary. Due to sheer laziness, I used to make easy pulavs so far and had never tried this version. When I tried it, I simply loved it. It has the history of three generations now, so it ought to be something special.
Ashwini had blogged about another version of masala bhaath here, which is usually prepared during weddings.
I was not having coriander leaves when I prepared this. Hence the omission in the picture.
Ingredients: Basmati rice 1 cup Coriander seeds 1/2 tea spn Cumin seeds 1/2 tea spn Cloves 4-5 Cinnamon 2″ piece Pepper 3-4 Fenugreek(Methi) seeds 1/4 tea spn Turmeric a pinch Ghee 1 tea spn Chilli powder 1 tea spn or green chillis 3-4 Cardamom pods 2 Onion 1 Vegetables 1 cup Coconut 2 tbl spns Coriander leaves 4-5 strands Salt
Vegetables like green beans, carrot, potato, cauliflower can be used. I used ivy gourd(tendli) as mentioned by Ashwini and it tasted great.
Method: Dry roast coriander seeds, cumin seeds, 2-3 cloves, 1″ cinnamon, pepper, fenugreek seeds and turmeric. Powder them. Heat ghee and fry remaining cloves, cinnamon, cardamom pods and onion. Add chillis (or chilli powder) and fry till the onions turn brownish. Now add rice and fry for around 5mins. Add vegetables and powder. Fry for a minute, add around 2 and half cups of water and cook until done. Garnish with coconut and coriander leaves. Serve with salad or raita.
Serves : 2 Preparation time: 20mins
My mom’s pickles are very famous among our friends and family. She even gives them to most of the functions at the temples at our native. Her pickles had the perfect blend of spice, salt, asafoetida etc. She uses a very little oil in them. We always ask my mom to start a pickle business, but she thought we are just kidding.
I never like the store bought pickles because of oil. They look like made of oil and oil just spoils the entire taste.
I have been trying some of the pickles these days. I loved the bitter gourd pickle. When I was a kid, I never ate this, but my mom would keep ready a batch of this for my dad. He simply loved this.
Ingredients: Bitter gourd (cut into thin slices) 2 cups Green chillies (cut into slits) 1 cup Oil 2 tea spns Mustard seeds 1 and 1/2 tea spns Fenugreek(methi) seeds ¼ tea spn Turmeric ¼ tea spn Asafoetida ¼ tea spn Jaggery ½ tea spn Tamarind ½ tea spn Salt Mom adds 1 cup of chillis to 1 cup bitter gourd. I reduced the proportion because the chillies I used were too hot. Jaggery and Tamarind can be increased to suit the taste.
Method: Add 1 tea spn of salt to bitter gourd pieces and keep aside for 30mins. Squeeze off the water. Heat 1 and ½ tea spn oil and fry the bitter gourd pieces. Add turmeric and when the bitter gourd is half cooked, add chillies (if added in the beginning, chillies cook faster and bitter gourd remains raw). When bitter gourd and chillies get a brownish color, stop cooking. Let them cool to room temperature. Heat remaining oil and fry mustard and fenugreek seeds (fry on a low flame. If the amount of fenugreek becomes more or mustard gets burnt, the pickle becomes bitter). Add asafoetida and grind this to a smooth paste along with jaggery. Add the masala and tamarind extract (directly use the tamarind extract available in market without adding water, if using normal tamarind, extract thick pulp using water) to the bitter gourd-chilli mixture. Mix well. Check for salt (bitter gourd retains some salt from first step). If required, add salt. This pickle can be used soon after preparing. Store it in an airtight container in refrigerator. It remains good for around 15 days.
Pictorial:
