A SIMPLE VEG FRIED RICE

Anything "fried" is delectable. My Doddappa used to say "even grass, fried with a dash of salt & oil would also taste good may be". But these days, with less nutritious food that we intake & no exercise, fried food may prove unhealthy. Kya Kare????? Kaash (क्या करे ????? काश) we could do something about our taste buds. May be if we did not have them, we would have eaten only a healthy diet. Atleast me, I can hardly resist all these fried snacks & stuff. I know & understand very well that they are not good, but in vain.

Rice is prepared in many delicious ways. When I get sick & tired of being veggie veggie (veg gravies & dry, side dishes with rice), I think of just relishing on a "only rice, without side dish" preparation. I know eating veg, is good for you, but I love all those stuff that is not good for me. That is how I am !!! While on road, some days earlier, I came across this veggie slogan on a car.



"BE KIND TO ANIMALS,GO VEG" How true, but how boring!!!!!

Okay so I was speaking about "YUMMY!!! ONLY RICE" preparation without any veggie side dish. So then, I prepare some Pulao, or some Biryani or a Fried Rice of anything (vegetable) that I have at home. And it takes very less time to prepare. Hence one day I prepared this simple, very easy & yum veg fried rice.





Ingredients:

White Basmati Rice (Long Grain rice) - 2 cups
Carrots - 1 medium, chopped thin, one and a half inch in length
Round Beans - 4-5, chopped into any shape & size of an inch
Fresh Peas or frozen - 1tbsp, washed
Green Chilli - 2-3, chopped to any shape
Onions - 1 medium, Chopped length wise
Cashew Nuts - 1 tbsp
Salt to Taste
Ghee - 2 tsp
Oil - 1 tbsp
Ajinomoto - Essence of taste, a pinch (optional)



Method:

Wash & soak the rice in water for 5-10 minutes. Now cook the rice either in a cooker or by boiling it in water in a vessel. But remember, we need the rice to be grainy & not over cooked. If you prepare it in a cooker, just add a bit of salt to taste & 2 tsp ghee, with water, a little less than normal. That helps it to cook without being overcooked & grains looking grainy. Once cooked, transfer the rice into a deep bottomed, wide mouthed vessel, which would help in mixing.

Meanwhile par boil all the chopped vegetables, except green chilli & onions, in another vessel.
Once done drain the water & keep it aside.

Now in a pan fry the cashews till golden brown with a little oil & empty it into the vessel with rice.



Now saute all the par boiled veggies with a tsp of oil, salt & the optional ajinomoto, on high flame. Do not burn them off.



When it looks glossy empty the veggies into the vessel with rice.



Now saute the green chilli & onions, one after another, with a dash of salt & oil, on medium flame. Empty them to the vessel with rice.





Now lightly blend all the ingredients, with care not to break the rice grains.



You can use forks to toss them all together.





Serve hot either with a raitha (curd mixture) or it is good to be relished by itself.

HALASINA HANNINA DOSE(Jackfruit Pancake,Pellakai tha Dose)

Halasina Hannu Sole(ಸೋಳೇ) is used in preparing this dosa. Dosa, as it is, is very tempting. And if it is jack fruit dosa, it is even more. I love this dosa & so does my hubby. It has a very unique taste & color. It is yellow in color. Even has a very delightful aroma to it. I prepare it on a non stick pan where as my mom prepares it on a roti maker.



As far as I've seen, amongst the people I know, who owns a roti maker, it is only mom who uses it to the core. She uses it to prepare rotis, rottis, dosas & pancakes etc., People ask her surprised as to how she manages using it multi purpose, when they can not manage cooking rotis on them.??????? That's how mummies are. Be it my mom or my mom-in law, they can prepare anything under the sun. I do understand their knowledge comes from experience. They are simply awesome.



I salute all MOTHERS for that extra ingredient they use in their cooking - which is a dash of LOVE!!!!



To Everything You Do, Just Add A Dash Of LOVE!!!!

So here's how we prepare this yellow Jack fruit Pancake, which is a very very simple procedure.

Ingredients:

Jack Fruit - 1 big bowl, peeld & sliced to thin strands
Raw Rice - 3 cups
Salt to taste
Oil - As required

Method:

Soak the rice in water for 2 hours. Then wash it & drain the water. Now grind the rice & sliced jack fruit with very little water. Grind till you get a smooth textured batter. Now shift the batter into a vessel, add salt to taste & little water if the batter is too thick. The consistency you require is that of a normal dosa batter. Mix well.



Heat a dosa tawa or the roti maker. Once very hot just sprinkle water on the tawa & wipe it off with a cloth. This is to make the tawa suitable for the batter to be spread on. Take a ladle full of batter & pour it on the tawa & spread it with the back of the spoon.



Pour a tsp of oil around the dosa or the pancake, & let it cook, covered.





Once done on one side, just turn it over to cook the other side of the dosa.





After it is done, just remove & serve it hot with any chutney or sauce or honey.





It would also taste good, all by itself.

HALASINA HANNU HITTU(Jackfruit Dumpling,Pellakai Gatti)

Halasina hannu fruit is used to prepare this hittu or dumpling. It is one of my favorites amongst all the Mangalorean delicacies.

As children, we always looked forward to our lady folks preparing this. It used to be a celebration for us as kids. As we did not really know how they prepared it, we thought it involved a huge process. May be like they were literally manufacturing this stuff to be served hot. LOL!!!!! How funny was this thought!!!!!

Then, there were no gas stoves or even if it was there, they used the traditional choolahs or WOLE (ಒಲೆ) in Kannada, made of clay where the firewood was used as the fuel for cooking.

Anyways atleast now we know & understand that it is not manufactured but prepared with their very own hands, carefully, with all their love.

To prepare this hittu (ಹಿಟ್ಟು) , they use the leaves of teak wood tree, called as sagwan leaves. The leaves are washed & dried & then used in the preparation. This type of usage is found in coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi in state of Karnataka in India. The leaf has a very tasteful aroma & color once it is steamed. That adds the color, aroma & taste to the delicacy.



Ingredients:

Jackfruit - 1 medium bowl, peeled & sliced to thin strands
Raw Rice - 3 medium cups
Pepper Corns - 1 tsp
Jaggery - 1/2 cup, scraped, depending on the taste of the jackfruit (very sweet or less)
Salt to taste
Cardamom - 2
Sagwan Leaves - 7-8
Coconut - 1/2

Method:

Soak rice in water for 2-3 hours. Wash the rice & drain the water. Grind the jackfruit & rice along with peppercorns to not so smooth texture. Which means medium texture. Not very smooth, not so coarse. Then add jaggery & cardamom & grind further for 2-3 minutes.







Meanwhile wash & dry the sagwan leaves.





Remove the batter from the grinder.



Add salt & small cut pieces of coconut.



Mix well to the consistency of dosa(pancake) batter. Now pour the batter on the leaves one by one.
Pour & spread with the help of the back of a spoon.













Once the batter is spread evenly, seal the spread by covering it from all four sides. Keep a steamer ready to cook these dumplings.





Dry a big banana leaf to get rid of its stiffness by just swiping the leaf over the fire.



Place the leaf on the base of the steamer above the water compartment.



And arrange these sealed spreads in a steamer.









Steam cook for an hour on high flame. Just keep a check to see if it is cooked. To check just peirce a pack with the help of a fork. When it is cooked you would see the sealed pack has turned pink. The color of the leaf turns pink.









Once done let it cool & then relish.

P.S. Variation: Do not have to worry if sagwan leaves are not available. The batter can be spread on banana leaves instead. And for people who do not like to chew on the coconut while eating your hiitu or the dumpling , can add grated coconut instead.



There is another variation to this preparation.

Not the preparation as such, but the way you eat it. Because my hubby does not like eating the steamed hittu or the steamed dumpling all by itself. But he loves it when I fry it for him, in a little oil. That tastes yumm tooooooo. You slice the dumplings & then shallow fry it in a pan.





For either of these ways you eat it, you just eat it all by itself without any side dish.