Carrot rice.

Winter is the season where I buy carrots  regularly , the winter red carrots. I buy the thin slender ones.I eat one slender carrot daily preceding lunch.I love it ! I had been told in my childhood that carrots are good for weak eyesight & I have stuck to eating carrots during winters.Summer carrots, I am unable to munch on .Whatever remnant eyesight I still possess, is due to this carrot eating.

Since carrots were too many , I thought why not try some carrot rice. There are many  recipes on carroty rice. I wanted to use pressure cooker to make it a one pot meal. I chose this one from Indian Khana. I changed it a little. I skipped using garlic & onions.I added peas as I had them.

 I cut carrots in small pieces after peeling them .I put them in mixer & got very bit sized pieces .I was failing too lazy to chop them finely.Slender carrots do not grate properly.

Ingredients : 3/4 cup basmati rice,1/2 cup carrot bit sized pieces, 1/4 cup peas,1 green chilly roughly chopped, a few sprigs of curry leaves, 1/2 tsp grated ginger, 1/2 inch cinnamon stick, 1 star anise, 4-5 peppercorns, 1-2 cloves, 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, 1/4 tsp haldi, 1/4 tsp garam masala powder, 1tbsp oil, salt to taste.

Method : Wash rice & keep aside.

Take  the green chilly pieces, curry leaves & grated ginger into a mix by grinding in mixer without water.Keep aside.

In a pressure pan, heat oil.Add slightly crushed cloves, peppercorns, cinnamon stick, star anise, mustard & cumin seeds.They will soon get aromatic.

Add the   ground green chilli, ginger curry leaves mix. Fry nicely.Add green peas.Fry nicely so that all spices, coat the peas.Add carrot .Mix nicely.Add haldi. Mix all things nicely.After 2-3 minutes, add rice.Mix nicely.Add salt.Mix nicely.Add 1.5 cups water.Mix nicely.Add garam masala. Mix all with rice & water.Close the lid of the pressure pan.Put on the whistle on the lid.Pressure cook for 2-3 whistles. After cooker cools, take off whistle & fluff up rice with a fork.

Serve carrot rice with dahi or raita or papad or enjoy it just like that !

My recipe turned out too spicy maybe because I ground the green chillies, ginger & curry leaves. I had to add a dash of lemon juice before I ate it !

Sweet potato cutlets.

Sweet potatoes are full of fibres.Hence healthier than potatoes.My mom makes a raita with sweet poataoes.Just boil them till soft.Peel them, mash them.Add vagar of mustard, jeera, urad dal ,green n byadgi chillies,  urad dal, curry pattas ,haldi & hing.Add dahi.Mix nicely.Add salt to taste ! Mix once again ! This raita can be a dip as well ! Needless to add, I love it !

I made sweet potato cutlets earlier.I had posted the recipe as a  guest post on a friend's blog .

Its been years since that guest post.Hence, this post on my blog now.

Ingredients : 2-3 medium sized sweet potatoes-pressure cooked , peeled & mashed , 4-5 bread slice (white or brown ) , 1-2 medium sized carrots cleaned, peeled & grated, 2-3 green chillies, few curry leaves ( optional ) , 1 tsp flax seed powder ( optional ) , 1/2 tsp haldi, 1/4 tsp hing powder, 1tsp lemon juice, 1 tsp grated ginger, 2-3 tbsp oil , salt taste.

Method : Break bread slices into small pieces ( 4-5 ) .Add these broken bread slices in mixer.Add roughly chopped green chillies, kadi pattas, grated ginger in mixer. Churn the mixer for a few seconds.A powdered mix of bread , curry leaves, hari mirchi & ginger will be obtained. I love this mixing in mixer as this mix is easy to mix with other ingredients in making cutlets.And obviously ,I am lazy ! Keep aside.

In a large bowl, take the mashed sweet potatoes.Add haldi ,hing ,grated carrots .Add the powdered bread mix kept aside.Add salt, flax seed powder,& lemon juice. Mix all the things in bowl nicely .Knead it till a soft dough is obtained. I did not feel need to add any water. You can add water if you feel it is too dry.

Spread a tablespoon of oil on a tawa. Put on the gas so that the tawa starts heating up. Start making small balls with the dough. Press the doughs on greased palms & make medium to large sized  pedas by pressing the balls. Put these pedas on the heated tawa.Fry till they turn golden brown .Flip them up & fry on the other side till they turn golden brown on the other side as well.

Serve the cutlets with tomato ketchup or tomato sauce or chutni of choice.

Tip : One can add fresh dhania cleaned & finely chopped while mixing the dough. I am too lazy to do this. Grated & peeled beetroot can be added. This will turn the cutlets dark pink & more nutritious. Add spices of choice. Garam masala , dhania jeera powders etc. Though , I suggest, just add little. Spices should not mask taste of sweet potatoes.

Cabbage beans kootu

My friend has been making kootu for quite some time.Almost once every week.I asked her for the recipe & made it myself one day.It was liked by all.I mixed tur & moong dal in equal ratio.

Ingredients : 1/4 cup moong dal ,1/4 cup tur dal, 1/2 cup chopped cabbage, 1/4 cup beans cut in 1/2 inch pieces,1-2 green chillies,1 spring of kadipatta( curry leaves ),1 tsp cumin or jeera,3-4 peppercorns,1/4 tsp haldi ,1/4 tsp hing,salt to taste

Method : Wash moong & tur dal & add the cabbage & beans to it.Add water,haldi & hing  to this mixture & pressure cook for two whistles.Then lower the flame & cook on slow gas for 5-10 minutes.Let the cooker cool.

In the mixer ,grind  coconut,green chillies,peppercorns,kadipatta & jeera till it becomes a coarse powder.One can opt to make it into fine powder.I prefer little coarse.Keep aside.

Take the dal mix with the veggies into another vessel & add the ground mixture to it.Add salt.Bring this whole mixture to a boil on the gas.The kootu is ready.It is good for rotis as also rice.

Optional : One can make seasoning of oil ,mustard seeds & red chillies to add to the kootu.I prefer kootu without seasoning as cumin,coconut & other spices are already part of the kootu.

Optional Tip : I added vagar of mustard seeds, urad dal & byadgi mirchi to the kootu though it tastes well without vagar.That is how , in the snap above, the byadgi mirchi seems to be peeping out from the kootu in the katori.