Sagu
Most of the restaurants in Bangalore serve setdosa – mixed vegetable sagu or puri and sagu. This spicy, delicious, filled with vegetables sidedish makes a great side for so many dishes. My brother started making this and now my aayi makes this very often. When I tried this, it was a hit with my family. Set dosa recipe is here .
Ingredients: 2 cups vegetables (carrots, potato, green peas, beans) 1/2 cup onion 1/2 cup tomato 5-6 curry leaves 1 tea spn mustard seeds Oil Salt For the masala – 1 tbl spn hurigadale (putani/dalia/roasted chana dal) (optional) 1 cup coconut 1/4 cup coriander leaves 1/4 cup onion A small piece ginger 3-4 garlic 3-4 green chillies 4 cloves 1/2″ cinnamon 2-3 cardamom 1 tea spn coriander seeds
Method: Pressure cook the vegetables with little salt for 2 whistles. Grind the ingredients under masala without too much water. In a pan, heat a little oil, add mustard, curry leaves. Add 1/2 cup onion and fry for few minutes. Add 1/2 cup tomatoes and fry for few minutes.Now add masala and fry till the raw smell goes away.Add the cooked vegetables, adjust salt. Cook till the masala boils for few minutes. Serve hot. Serves :5-6 Preparation time : 30mins
Spinach Chickpeas Biryani
We are huge biryani fans. I usually try to make different kinds for variety and keeping it exciting. This Spinach Chickpeas Biryani is something I make often. It is full of nutrition and tastes delicious. I usually make this on weekdays, which means this has to be a quick dish or atleast something that does not need hands-on time. This works perfectly, with all the shortcuts I manage to take.
Pictorial:
Spinach, coriander leaves, ginger, garlic, green chillies
Grind to a smooth paste with just little water
Pressure cook chickpeas
Cook basmati rice with black cardamom, cloves, cinnamom, salt
Fry onions
Add tomato (I used green tomatoes, use any kind)
Add the paste
Fry till the oil separates
Add chickpeas, carrots
Add the rice on top, then saffron milk
Cook on very low heat for 30mis
Ingredients: 2 cups basmati rice 1 cup chickpeas 1 cup spinach 1/2 cup coriander leaves 4 green chillies 2 cloves garlic 1″ ginger Few strands saffron + 2 tbl spn milk 2 tea spns biryani masala 1/2 cup chopped carrots 1/2 cup onions 1/2 cup tomatoes 3 cloves 2″ cinnamon 2 black cardamoms (or green cardamom) Salt Method: Wash rice and add 3 cups water (little less than needed to completely cook rice), salt, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom. Grind together spinach, coriander leaves, green chillies, ginger, garlic and little water. Heat oil and fry onions. Add tomatoes (I used green tomatoes, use any kind), salt. Now add the biryani masala, fry for few minutes. Add the paste, fry till the raw smell goes away. Now add the cooked chickpeas, carrots, cook it down to a thick gravy. Cover the gravy with cooked rice. Add the saffron to warm milk and mix it to get the bright color. Spoon the milk on top of rice. Cook on low for 30mins. Switch off heat and leave it undisturbed for another 15mins. Serve hot with raita. Serves :4-5 Preparation time: 90mins Notes : You can layer it in multiple layers of rice and chickpeas gravy. I just layer the rice on top of gravy to save time. Add a layer of fried onions on top for extra crunch. Any biryani masala is ok, here is a homemade version . Instead of cooking on stovetop, it can be finished in oven. I just prefer stovetop cooking.
