Mint Rice

First of all, let me wish all of my wonderful friends a very Happy 2012 :) Hope the new year has been good so far!Its been good for me.Just that I'm lagging behind on my blog!Happy Pongal to everyone too.

I've been away for 2 reasons one my laptop has been broken and this Pongal season brought us a new one and secondly we were away on our Christmas break(which was also our getting well break...yes all of us sick and recovering :( ).So now I have a new laptop(whistles...I've been admiring it :) Dell Inspiron) and thanks to which I'm slowly back to blogging! I just can't even begin to tell anyone how i missed my blog, and it dawned on me that I am addicted to blogging :)

This is my first entry to Kalyani's Magic Mingle(MM).The idea behind MM is each month the blog partners would be given 2 magic ingredients and we need to use both of those magic ingredients in our dishes :) exciting idea isn't it?I was sad when I knew i couldn't post this month, because even though the ingredients for this month - Cinnamon and chillies, initially scared me i eventually found an easy idea-Pudhina/mint rice.Flavored rice is such a blessing, especially when packing lunch boxes.Even my LM seems to like this one.

Magic ingredients

I made pudhina rice often since DH has started carrying lunch.Its quick, easy and tasty :) 3 good enough reasons to make it.

This is how i make it.You need

Rice 2 cups (i used boiled rice)
Onions 1 medium sliced finely
Garam masala whole1 inch pieces 2, cardamom 2 nos, cloves 4 nos
Aniseed 1 tsp
Water 5 and half cups
Curd 1 tablespoon
Salt to taste
Butter/oil/ghee 1 tablespoon + 1 tablespoon

Grind to a paste
Mint 1 small bundle/handful
Cilantro 1 small bundle/handful
Ginger 1/2 inch piece
Green chillies 1 (as much as you need)
Cashews 5(you can add more)

•  Heat butter in a pan, fry the washed and drained rice in the butter until the rice turns white and set aside.
• Heat the pressure cooker or heat bottom pan in which you are cooking the rice, heat the butter or oil, add the whole garam masala once it pops, add the chopped onions and fry till soft.
• Add the ground green paste and fry well for 2 minutes.Now add the curd and stir well.
• Add the fried rice and stir well in the green spice mix.
• Add the required amount of water for the rice to cook.
• Add salt to taste.
• Cover and cook for about 15 minutes on medium flame.
• Once the pressure cooker cools down, fluff the rice with a fork.

• Serve the pudhina rice with fried potatos and raita.

Tips:

• I have used boiled rice which can be well substituted with basmati rice.
• The amount of water used will vary from rice to rice.If using basmati rice, you need 2 cups of water for every 1 cup of unsoaked basmati rice.If the rice is soaked, less than 2 cups about 1 and half cups would be sufficient.

Sending this to Magic Mingle @ Sizzling tastebuds and Let's cook #11~Rice@TicklingPalettes