Spanish/Mexican Rice

Like I mentioned before, my kiddo is a picky eater. She hates eating rice. Other day they had Spanish rice at the day care and her teacher said the kiddo loved it. I was like - my kiddo and eating rice, couldn't believe that. Over the weekend I searched couple of recipes over the internet for Spanish/Mexican rice and made this version. It was a huge success. Little monster loved it.

Ingredients:

• Basmati Rice: 1 cup
• Tomatoes(medium sized): 2
• Green Bell Pepper (chopped): 1/2 cup
• Garlic cloves: 2
• Tomato Paste: 2 tsp
• Chicken broth: 2 cups
• Red Onion(finely chopped): 1/2 cup
• Cilantro(finely chopped): 2 tbsp
• Green onions(chopped): 2 tbsp
• Salt to taste
• Oil: 2 tbsp

Procedure:

1. Add oil to a pan and when the oil is heated, add the onions, garlic cloves and green pepper and cook them until the onions turn brown.
2. I used whole garlic cloves, so that it is easy to remove them later. You can actually cut them into to small pieces and add. I did not want to take chances with my little girl.
3. Now add the chopped tomatoes and the tomato paste and cook until the tomatoes turn soft.
4. While the tomatoes are cooking take another pan and add little oil and slightly toast the rice on a very low flame.
5. Now add the toasted rice to the tomatoes and add the chicken broth. Adjust the salt.
6. Pressure cook until you get two whistles or cover the pan with a lid and cook until the rice is fluffy.
7. Garnish with cilantro and green onions.

Note: You can add jalapeños or red chilli powder to make it little spicy.

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Vegetable Cutlets

My mom used to make different varieties of snacks for us to eat by the time we returned from school and these vegetable cutlets were my all time favorite. She used to make something different and fresh every day.
She always tried to make them healthy using lot of vegetables and very little oil and she always served them with fresh fruits of the season.
My little kiddo is a very picky eater. So the other day I decided to make these cutlets for her.
I used potato, carrots, beans and green peas - all the vegetables that the kiddo loves.
She likes to eat cooked vegetables, but does not like them in curries or rice.
So, did she like the cutlets? No, can you believe that? She only wanted to eat her boiled veggies which is good. I was just trying to get her used to different foods.
Hubby was also not hungry so he did not eat them either.
What did I do - ate them for dinner and for breakfast next day. Glad I made something I like. I could finish them.




Ingredients:

• Potatoes: 2
• Carrots: 2
• Green Peas( fresh or frozen): 3/4 cup
• Green Beans: 1/2 cup
• Whole wheat bread: 2 slices
• salt to taste.
• Chopped Cilantro: 3 tbsp
• Cumin(Jheera) powder: 1/2 tsp
• Coriander(Dhania) powder: 1/2 tsp
• Garam masala: 1/4 tsp
• Aamchur powder: 1/2 tsp or you can use 1 tsp of lime juice.
• Egg: 1
• Oil

Procedure:

1. Chop potatoes, carrots and beans into medium sized pieces.
2. To a pressure cooker add these cut vegetables and green peas, add salt and little water just enough to cook the vegetables.
3. cook until you get 2 whistles.
4. While the vegetables are cooking, add the bread slices to the mixer or a food processor and grind for few seconds. you will get soft bread crumbs. Add the bread crumbs to a plate and set them aside.
5. beat the egg in a small bowl and set that aside.
6. Remove the pressure cooker lid and drain any excess water from the vegetables and slightly mash the cooked veggies.
7. Now add salt, cumin powder, coriander powder, garam masala, chopped cilantro and aamchur powder or the lime juice to the veggies and mix well.
8. Add 3 tbsp oil to a small pan and heat it.
9. Now take a big lemon size vegetable mixture in the hand and make into a small patty.
10. Slightly apply the egg around the patty with the hand or with a brush.
11. Do not dip it into the egg.
12. After the egg is applied, dip the patty in the bread crumbs and make sure it is coated well with the bread on all sides.
13. Now add the patty coated with bread to the pan and fry until until it turns brown on both the sides.
14. Repeat the process with the remaining veggie mixture.
15. Serve with ketchup.

Note: You can even deep fry them in oil for more crispy cutlets. You can add some green chillies or red chilli powder to the veggies.

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Stuffed Okra - Bendakaya Ullikaram

Ingredients:

• Okra: 10
• Onion(large sized): 1/2
• Cilantro( chopped): 3 tbsp
• Ginger root: 1/2 inch piece
• Green chillies: 4
• Salt to taste
• Curry leaves: 4
• Fresh shredded coconut: 2 tsp

Seasoning:

• Urad dal: 1/2 tsp
• Mustard seeds: 1/2 tsp
• Cumin seeds: 1/2 tsp

Procedure:

• Make a paste of green chillies and ginger and set it aside.
• Cut the okra length wise into two slits to fill the stuffing.
• In a bowl add the chopped onions, green chillies paste, salt, chopped cilantro, shredded coconut, Curry leaves and mix well.
• Add oil to the pan and add the seasoning ingredients.
• When the mustard seeds start spluttering, stuff the okra with the onion mixture and drop them slowly into the oil.
• Cover with a lid and cook slowly on a low flame until the okra is completely cooked.
• Serve with hot steamed rice.

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Cilantro Rice/ Kothimeera Rice

Long time back when went to Vegas, we ate at a Mexican restaurant in Venetian. We ordered something( I don't remember what it was) and they served cilantro rice as a side dish. The side dish was so good that I don't remember the main entrée. Me and my husband loved that rice. It looked like a simple recipe and I could taste cilantro lime and ginger. I thought of trying that after I get back home, but never really made it again. I usually make the Indian version of the cilantro rice with ginger garlic, tomatoes and garam masala etc. but I just loved this simple rice with not much of the seasoning dominating the cilantro and ginger.
I had some left over rice from yesterday and an extra bunch of cilantro. So tried my hands at making the Vegas Cilantro rice.
Only thing I added in my version which was definitely not present in the original one was onions. But I liked the crunch of onions in the rice.
Except for the onions it tasted similar to the one I had in Vegas.

Ingredients:

• Cilantro: 1 bunch for paste
• Finely chopped cilantro( for garnishing): 2 tbsp
• Long Grain white rice or Basmati Rice( Cooked): 2 cups
• Oil: 3 tbsp
• Onion(medium sized): 1/2
• Mint Leaves: 5
• Ginger root: 1/2 inch piece
• Salt to taste
• Creole Seasoning: 2 tsp
• Green chillies: 4
• Lime juice: 1 tbsp
• Chopped green onions: 2 tbsp

Procedure:

1. Chop cilantro and make it into a paste in a blender along with the ginger root and green chillies and set this paste aside. Add little water for pureeing if needed.
2. Chop onions into small pieces.
3. Add oil to the pan and when the oil is heated, add the onions and 1/2 tsp of salt and cook them.
4. When the onions turn soft and brown, add the mint leaves and the cilantro paste and cook for few minutes.
5. Now add the cooked rice and mix well. add the creole seasoning and adjust the salt.
6. Add lemon juice and garnish with chopped cilantro and green onions.

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