Saffron Vegetable Pulao

When ever there is no time to cook elaborate lunch and kids are almost hungry what we do is, drop some ingredients in the cooker and make a pulao. That's what happens with me too but this time with saffron and nuts!

Ingredients

3 cups Biryani rice (Jeera samba rice)or Basmati rice
2 cups sliced onions
2 tsp ginger-garlic paste
2 green chillies slit into two
2 tbsp ghee
2-3 tbsp oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
4 green cardamom pods
1 cinnamon stick
1 big bay leaf
4-5 cloves
1/2 tsp garam masala
10-12 Saffron strands
10-12 mint leaves
2 tbsp cashew nuts
2 tsp raisins
1/2 cup peas
3 tbsp beans finely chopped
2 tbsp chopped vegetables of your choice like carrots or cauliflower
salt to taste
coriander leaves to garnish

Preparation

In a pressure pan heat 2 tbsp oil. Add cumin seeds and let them splutter, add bayleaf,cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, cashew nuts, raisins and fry for 30 seconds or till you smell the aroma. To this add onions,green chillies, ginger-garlic paste and saute well for a minute. To this mixture add mint leaves, peas, beans, other vegetables of your choice, garam masala, salt and saute again. Wash the rice and add it to the pan. I used biryani rice which is found in the name of Jeeraga samba rice. If not basmati rice can be used. Saute the rice on medium flame along with all the vegetables for a minute. Now add 3 and half cups of water for biryani rice. For basmati rice 6 cups of water. Also add 2 tbsp ghee, saffron strands and pressure cook for 3 whistles. When the pressure is off, garnish the Pulao with fresh coriander leaves and serve with raita.



I have tried many recipes from Dear Rak's blog and here are some

Jangiri/ Imarti From Raks Kitchen



Rasmalai from Raks kitchen



Brinjal Chutney



Sending all Raks recipes to Blogger's Marathon event hosted by Jayasri

Ginger Lemonade

Ingredients

2 inches ginger, grated
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 cup sugar
4-5 cups water
2-3 lemon slices
mint leaves
ice cubes
kiwi or any fruit slice to decorate

Preparation

Combine the ginger and sugar with two cups of water in a pan. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring continuously until the sugar dissolves. Simmer for three minutes.
Strain the syrup with a tea strainer and set aside to cool.
Combine the syrup with two and a half cups of water. Add the lemon juice and stir well. Pour into individual tall glasses, add the ice cubes, lemon slices, mint leaves. Decorate the glass with kiwi or lemon slices and serve.

Sending this to Siri and Sara's Healing Food-Ginger and Garlic!

Stuffed Spinach Fritters (stuffed Palak Bajjis)

This is a lovely snack for tea time.

Ingredients

10-15 big size palak leaves(spinach)
oil for deep frying

for stuffing
2 Boiled and mashed potatoes
2 finely chopped green chillies
1 onion finely chopped
salt to taste
1/2 tsp garam masala

For batter
1/2 cup Gram flour
1/2 cup rice flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp chilli powder
water to mix batter

Preparation
Wash the spinach leaves gently so that they do not tear. Wipe with dry cloth so that there is no water on the leaves.
Prepare stuffing by mixing potatoes, onions, salt, garam masala and geen chillies.
Gently spoon the stuffing on the spinach leaves and fold them carefully as shown in the picture.


The leaf will stick together because of the potato filling.
Prepare bajji(pakoda) batter by mixing all the batter ingredients. Dip the palak fillings in the batter and deep fry in oil till brown and crisp. serve hot with chutney and chai:)



Sending this to "Food Palette series green"