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 !

Cauliflower in tomato carrot gravy

I have started cooking Cauliflower in the Bengali way. Well, in this method, break down the cauliflower into florets.Put these florets in a vessel filled with water. Add 1/4 tsp turmeric & a tsp of salt to the vessel.Bring the water containing the florets in water to a boil on a gas stove. .Put off the gas.Drain the water. The cauliflower florets are ready to be cooked.This method removes residual pesticides from cauliflower. Cauliflower is sprayed with too many pesticides. Hence, this method to make it safer for consumption.

I had boiled  cauliflower florets in salt turmeric water & kept in the morning. I was trying to prepare a gravy when the bell rang. It was the gas pipeline fellow .He said he is going to check for leakage in gas pipeline. He checked & found all to be fine. He then put off the gas supply as they were fixing the gas pipelines all over the building where I reside. I knew,that I will have to use the microwave. The gas supply was to be restored by six in the evening.I decided to use the microwave to make the sabzi.

Ingredients : 200 gm Cauliflower florets boiled in salt turmeric water , 1tbsp oil, 1/2 tsp jeera, 1 medium carrot peeled , 2 tomatoes-chopped into cubes, 1/2 tsp flax seed powder ( optional ) , 2-3 green chillies roughly chopped, 1/2 tsp grated ginger,  few curry leaves,1/4 tsp black pepper powder,  1/4 tsp garam masala powder, salt to taste.

Method : Grind the chopped green chillies, grated ginger & curry leaves into a grainy mix. Keep aside.

Grind chopped carrots & tomatoes into a fine paste. Keep aside.

Take oil in microwave able vessel & add cumin seeds to it. Microwave on high for 1 minute.Add grated chilli-ginger-curry leaves mix to the vessel.Microwave on high for a minute.Add carrot tomato paste to vessel.Remember that cualiflower florets have been boiled in salt water.Microwave on high for 2.5 minutes. Add 1/4 water & salt to taste  to vessel. Add flax seed powder to vessel. Give the mix in vessel a good stir with a spoon. Microwave again on high for another 2.5 minutes. Add cauliflower florets to vessel.Give the vessel ingredients a stir.Microwave on high for 2-3 minutes. Give the ingredients another good stir. Add  pepper powder & garam masala powder & give it another stir. Microwave on high for 2-3 minutes.Put off microwave. Let it cool.After five minutes, take out the vessel from microwave. Serve with rotis and or pulao .

As flax seed powder was added, the gravy was quite thick .So very doubtful , if this gravy can be had with plain rice in place of dal.Though with pualo, its should work out fine.