Water amaranth / Ponnanganni keerai Rice

I love greens & love to experiment and cook them in different ways not that I don't like the traditional keerai porriyal,koothu,masayal,fry,molakosham.....Of late our in take of greens has been very limited.So I thought maybe I should try to include greens atleast once a week to our menu.My kids are not very ethu when it comes to eating greens & sadly like most moms I have to hide them by puring or mincing it.Hopefully they will grow to appreciate the goodness of greens & spare me the trouble of puring it.Till then its hiding the greens that will work for me =).

The recipe I am about to share is not just very delicious but extremely healthy.There are several greens which have loads of goodness but we tend to be shy in trying them.Today I would like to share with you the goodness of "Green gold-Ponnanganni keerai". True to its name this green is believed to be beneficial in improving eye sight,for clearer complexion,for curing piles & ofcourse for promoting hair growth.

Now that a lot of gyan has been shared lets move on to the recipe =).

 Ponnanganni keerai Rice:

Ingredients:

1. Water amaranth / Ponnanganni keerai :1 bunch (cleaned & washed well-atleast 4-5 rinses)
2. Shallots : 7-8 no's(peeled,washed & chopped finely)
3. Garlic : 3 flakes(finely chopped)
4. Tomatoes :3 (medium sized,chopped finely)
5. Cumin seeds : 1 tsp
6. Tumeric : 1 tsp
7. Red chilly powder : 1- 1 1/2 tsp
8. Green chilly : 1(uncut)
9. Tamarind pulp :1-2 tbsp
10. Mustard seeds : tsp
11. Curry leaves : 1 sprig
12. Dry red chilly : 2 no's
13. Salt : to taste
14. Oil : 2 tbsp
15. Ghee /Clarified butter : 2 tbsp
16. Cooked Rice : 3-4 cups ( amount used for serving 3 adults)

Method:

Boil about 1 cup of water in a large sauce pan.When the water comes to a boil add the greens,shallots,tomatoes,green chilly,garlic,cumin & tumeric powder.Cook it covered for about 5-8 mins.Remove and let it cool down to room temperature.Puree this when it cools and set it aside.

Now in a wok add the oil & clarified butter.Add mustard seeds,dry red chilly,curry leaves.When the mustard seeds begin to splutter add the pureed green's mix to it and cook for 5 mins.Now add salt,tamarind pulp,red chilly powder.

When the pureed greens starts emitting oil from the sides,its time to add the cooked rice.Blend everything well.The Keerai rice is ready to be served.It tastes best when eatten hot.
Vaddams / papadam /Vattal & fresh curd go very well as acompaniment with the keerai rice.The rice is quite filling one since w have been generous with the clarified butter =) but trust me your family will love every bit of it.

NB: The pureed green mix (before adding rice to it) could also be eatten as an acompaniment dish with curd rice / jeera rice / coconut rice / plain dhal rice & ofcourse parrupu podi =).

So the choice of serving it is totally your discreation.Do make it & let me know how well your family enjoyed it.

Happy cooking !

Cheers,

Green Rice loaded with the goodness of greens !

Hi my lovely readers,tell me how many of you find it difficult to make your kids eat the greens?I did =( Well like all smart mommies out there I thought to myself "darling if you want them to eat the greens then you need to be innovative there is now other way to it" ,so I made "Green Rice" for my kids and guess what they helped themselves at the table also went in for second serving.I for one pretended not to notice it at all {this is a trick with my kids that I follow....the more I fret & ask them to do something the more they test my patience but not doing just that =/ which is why I decided to IGNORE their act & surpisingly they fell for it =D.I couldn't be happier !}

Here we go at the recipe.

Green Rice:

Ingredients:

1. Greens: 1 cup(I used Mulai Keerai - Amaranth leaves) rinsed & cleaned
2. Mint leaves: few (abt 4-5)
3. Fresh Corriander leaves: a sprig
4. Fresh curry leaves: few (abt 4-5)
5. Shallots:3-4(peeled)
6. Green chilly:1 inch
7. Ginger:1 inch
8. Garlic:5-6 flakes{you can lessen/increase according to your preferrence,I used more  because my son is having a bad cold  that doesn't seem to go away =(  }
9. Cauliflower:two florets (seperated into tiny ones)
10. French Beans:3 chopped finely
11. Onion- 1/4th portion of a mid-sized onion chopped finely
12. Tomato-1/4th portion of a mid-sized tomato chopped finely
13. Cooked Rice: 2 cups (I made this only for the kids,if you want u can add more rice)
14. Mustard seeds: 1 tsp
15. Cumin seeds: 1 tsp
16. Tumeric powder: 1 tsp
17. Corriander-Cumin powder: 1 tsp
18. Butter: 1 tbsp
19. Cooking Oil: 2 tbsp
20. Salt: to taste

Method:

Grind ingredients1-8 (from the ingredients list)  in a blender finely,add a tbsp of water if needed.Keep it aside.In a frying pan add oil,mustard seed & cumin seed.When the mustard seeds begin to crack up add chopped onion and tomato & fry till the onion turns pink/ translucent.Add cauliflower,chopped beans,tumeric powder,cumin-corriander powder and salt.When the veggetable are almost cooked ;add the ground paste and cook it covered till it is done (till the raw smell of the greens & garlic disappear).Add butter.Check the taste (if you want it spicier you could add pepper/red-chilli powder).Add the cooked rice and mix everything well.Serve hot with fresh curd.

Do try and let me know how it went with your kids :)

Happy cooking !

Cheers,

If like me you have fussy eater kids this recipe that I am about to share is sure to make your life much easier :)

Fried rice with an Indianised twist!

Ingredents:

Rice: 2 cups;cooked & let to cool
Spring Onion: 3-4 sprigs;cleaned & chopped finely(the leaves & bulb included)
Mushrooms: 3-4 chopped finely
Coloured capsicums: 1/2 cup-chopped
Beans:1/4 cup chopped
Carrot:1/4 cup chopped
Green peas:1/4 cup boiled
Green chillies:2;deseeded & chopped finely
Tomato:1/2 cup-chopped
Ginger:1/2";crushed
Garlic:2-3 flakes;crushed
Soya sauce: 1/2 tsp
Garam masala powder: 1/2 tsp
Tumerc powder: 1/2 tsp
Butter/Oil: 1-1 1/2 tbsp
Salt: to taste

Method:

In a wok(kadai) add oil/butter.Add the chopped spring onion & crushed ginger-garlic.Fry till the raw smell disappears.Add the chopped tomato & green chillies and fry a while (3-5 minutes).Then add the vegetables(beans,capsicum,mushroom,carrot,peas)Now add tumeric powder,garam masala powder & soya sauce.Blend well.Cook till the vegetables are done(but donot over cook !)Add salt.To this add the cooked rice.Blend everything in.Add a dab of butter on top.Serve hot (here I have served it with fried hard boiled eggs;recipe on another post)

Try it out & watch your kids savour it up :)

Happy cooking !

Cheers,
Deepa