Brown Rice Bowl with Tofu and Veggies

Blogging Marathon# 61: Week 2/ Day 2

Theme: Meal Ideas

Dish: Brown Rice Bowl

My second meal idea after yesterday's South Indian meal this brown rice bowl with crispy tofu and vegetables. As I said yesterday, all of my dishes this week are centered around rice. We have started eating more brown rice these days, so I'm always in the look out for more recipes using it. This rice bowl recipe is from America's Test Kitchen newsletter.

This is a balanced meal with carbs, protein & veggies all served in one bowl. The list of ingredients is quite long but most well equipped kitchens will have all of the ingredients or a quick trip to the grocery store will do the trick.

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Wild Rice Salad with dried Cherries and Pecans

Hope all of you had a fun filled Thanksgiving weekend. Like always it felt really short and went by in a hurry. We had quite a busy weekend with family and friends -- lot of food and some shopping.

Here's a Wild rice salad recipe that I brought to the Thanksgiving party at our dear friends home. Recipe is from Cooking Light magazine. I tweaked it just a little bit to make it a little more tastier. It is colorful and festive looking. It is great addition to the holiday buffet table or as a filling weeknight meal.

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Jollof Brown Rice (African Tomato Rice)

Blogging Marathon# 58: Week 1/ Day 3

Theme: Bring on your Rice

Dish: Jollof Brown Rice 

After 2 days of Indian style rice dishes, I have an African tomato rice for the final day of this week's marathon. Tomato flavored rice is quite a popular side dish in west African menus. This recipe is from 'Vegan Eats World' by Terry Hope Romero.

Recipe uses brown rice instead of white and is baked instead of cooking on the stove. I've never baked brown rice before and was skeptical to follow the recipe. But I wanted to try it because when brown rice is boiled with more wet ingredients like the tomato paste, it tends to become mushy and cook unevenly. So to prevent that this dish is baked for a firmer, evenly cooked grains.

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Cherry Tomato Kurma

Blogging Marathon# 55: Week 1/ Day 2

Theme: Healthy Family Dinners

Dish: Cherry Tomato Kurma

For the second day of  'Healthy Family Dinners', I have a creamy and delicious kurma made with cherry tomatoes. This dish can be served with either rotis or simple vegetable pulao.

I have been cooking a lot with cherry tomatoes lately like this cherry tomato pachadi or this cherry tomato & kale pasta. I make sure to keep some handy to make quick pasta sauces or toss into salads for a juicy bite.

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Roasted Cauliflower & Rice Bowl

Blogging Marathon# 55: Week 1/ Day 1

Theme: Healthy Family Dinners

Dish: Roasted Cauliflower with Ras el Hanout & Rice Bowl

My theme for he first week of this month's blogging marathon is 'Healthy Family Dinners'. Ever since I signed up for this theme, I have been thinking what 'healthy' actually means. It has become such a subjective matter. what I think as healthy may not be really that healthy.
For example, recently I read somewhere that broccoli has to be eaten as fresh as possible and if it is stored in the refrigerator, it loses its nutrients. So if I cook something with broccoli after about 4~5 days from buying, does that mean it's not healthy or nutritious anymore? The more articles I read on this, the more confused and clueless I keep getting. So, I've decided not to worry about it too much -- I try to cook with fresh ingredients and keep processed foods to the minimum.

So for the next 3 days, I'm going to post 'healthy' dinners that taste good and are enjoyed by the whole family. Roasted cauliflower is my newest favorite and with all the amazing health benefits it has, cauliflower is sure a superfood. Roasting makes it so much more delicious and in this recipe, cauliflower is roasted with tahini and a Moroccan spice powder called Ras el Hanout. It is a very flavorful dish and I served it with some brown rice and veggies.

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Mango Pulihora with Brown Rice (Mamidikaya Pulihora)

Pulihora or puliyodarai is a popular rice based dish in South India. It is tangy and spicy and can be made in several different ways. Today's pulihora is one such variation using brown rice and raw mango. I already have 2 versions of Mamidiakaya Pulihora here and here.
Good quality raw mangoes are in the market now and I try to buy at least a couple every time I'm at the Indian grocery. I love making mango dal and quick chutnies with them.

I saw this recipe on a Telugu cooking show and have made it a number of times already. I have started to use brown rice more than regular rice these days and this recipe was perfect with it. Using brown rice adds much needed nutrients and also nice nuttiness to the dish.

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Healthy Cilantro Rice (with Brown rice)

Recently I started watching a Telugu cooking show where the chef, a holistic nutritionist -- Sridevi Jasthi, shows recipes that incorporate whole grains, healthy fats and seasonally available ingredients. I like these kind of shows because they show a totally different perspective on cooking healthy everyday food.

I have tried quite a few of her recipes and they have all turned out great. I will be posting them here periodically.

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Brown Rice Salad with Roasted Butternut Squash & Pomegranates

Hope all of you had a good Thanksgiving meal yesterday. We had our Thanksgiving party at our friend's house and we had some amazing food and great time chatting. I felt like I was in a food coma yesterday after eating all that food.

So today I have a healthy and light salad recipe to get back in track before the holiday and more noshing starts. This salad is very filling, colorful and tastes great. Using brown rice makes it fiber rich and fills you up very easily.

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Korea -- Miso Soup & Joomuk Bap (Vegetarian/ Vegan Recipes)

BM# 44: A-Z Cooking Series -- Around the World in 30 days
Country: K for Korea

Dish: Korean Miso Soup & Joomuk Bap
We are staying in Asia and visiting Korea today. I knew from day 1 that I would be doing Korea for K, since I live in a town that has a very high Korean population. We have a Korean grocery store in town and most of the stores have signs in Korean.
I hardly cook Korean food at home even though I have full access to all the Korean veggies, spices and other ingredients. I don't have much knowledge of Korean cuisine and I thought this is a good opportunity to give some Korean dishes a try.
I was under the impression that all of the Korean dishes have meat in them. But there are a lot of Korean dishes that are actually vegan. Buddhist temple food is completely vegetarian and/ or vegan. I found an amazing Vegan Korean blog called Vegan 8 Korean and they have some awesome Korean dishes. I have tried a few Korean dishes already, check those out here.

I made Korean Miso Soup that uses Korean Miso paste called Doenjang. But a good substitute would be red or brown miso paste. I found quite a few recipes that used anchovies and fish sauce, but I skipped them and used some vegetarian options instead. Most of the ingredients were bought specially for this recipe.

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Costa Rican Refried Rice & Beans (Vegan Recipe)

Cinco de Mayo (5th of May) is on Monday and I wanted to post a quick and easy recipe to make on that day. I found this recipe in Viva Vegan cookbook that fits the bill perfectly. If you have cooked rice and beans, then this recipe is a breeze to make.

Each Latin American country has its own version of Rice and beans. In Costa Rica and Nicaragua, it is called Gallo Pinto -- which literally means 'painted rooster'. It is a delicious mix of precooked rice, beans that are refried with extra vegetables, herbs and spices.

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Vegetarian Kimchi Fried Rice (Kimchi Bokkeumbap)

Blogging Marathon# 37: Week 3/ Day 1

Theme: Street Food from Around the World

Dish: Kimchi Fried Rice from Korea

My theme for this week's Blogging marathon got me very very excited. It is Street Food from around the world. Learning about the different dishes that are served as street food from various countries was very interesting and there are so many dishes that I wanted to make at home. But since we are posting for only 3 days, I had to narrow down my search to 3 dishes. Hopefully I can make the rest of my bookmarked dishes some time soon.
For the first day, I made Korean street food -- Kimchi Fried rice.From what I've read online, Koreans make fried rice with overripe kimchi that needs to be used up. I personally love fried rice because it s a great use of leftover rice and there are infinite variations to come up with.

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Corn & Rajma (Kidney beans) Pulao (Pilaf)

Blogging Marathon# 35: Week 1/ Day 3
Theme: Cooking with Corn
Dish: Corn & Kidney beans Pulao

After using sweet corn in this uggani and baby corn in this masala curry, I'm combining both of these corns in a rice dish today. Recipe idea is from a Telugu cooking show. Original recipe used baby corn and rajma (red kidney beans), but I put some sweet corn that I had in the fridge.

If you have cooked rice and beans on hand, this dish takes literally minutes to complete. I made this for my lunch today. I had very little time to cook before I had to go pick my daughter from her play school. As I said this is a super quick dish to make if you have everything ready. I was able to cook, click and then go pick my daughter right on time.

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Adzuki Beans & Brown Rice Burger with Sweet Potato Fries

Blogging Marathon# 33: Week 1/ Day 3
Theme: Combo Dishes - Tikkis/ Burgers
Dish: Adzuki Beans & Brown Rice Burger with Sweet Potato Fries
It has been unseasonally warm for the past couple of days and we are totally enjoying this weather. I took my mom, my almost 3 year old niece and my 1 year old to New York city (NYC) yesterday. We live about 20 minutes away from the city, but never go there to actually see places. I usually go there on business, either for a meeting or a seminar, never as a tourist.

I always wanted to take the NYC bus tour and finally did it yesterday. Its fun to sit on the open top double decker and see the sights of the city. I enjoyed the tour, but I want to do it again without the kids, so I can enjoy the city even more :-)

Well we came back home ravished and good thing that I had these adzuki bean-brown rice burgers frozen and ready to cook. All we had to was to bake some Sweet Potato fries and chop up some veggies for topping and in less than 30minutes we had a filling and delicious lunch.

Whole Foods sells Adzuki bean-brown rice burger. I never bought them but wanted to try that combo for a long time. Adzuki beans need only 2~3hours to soak and cook pretty quickly. In addition to the beans and rice, I added some bread crumbs, flour and a flax egg for binding. I flavored the burgers with Indian spices like kasoori methi and kitchen king masala. My focus group (my mom, sister and husband) liked them.

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Brown Rice Green Pulao (Brown Rice & Mint Pilaf)

I love the nuttiness of Brown Rice and cook with it quite often. I usually make plain brown rice and make side dishes, like Thai Panaeng Curry or Tempeh Rendang. Basically I like to pair brown rice with spicy Asian dishes and rarely with Indian curries. So when I saw this recipe for flavored brown rice recipe on one of the Indian cooking shows that I'm obsessed with, I know I had to make it. The original recipe used cilantro, but I used mint instead. A combination of mint and cilantro would be yummy too.

This is a very flavorful and healthy one-pot dish. Soak brown rice for at least 5-6 hours or even overnight for better taste and texture. Right now my mint plants are growing wild and I'm looking for variety of dishes to use as much of it as possible. This is the first in the series of mint/ pudina recipes that I've been trying in the quest for using up my excess herb.

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Brown Rice - Vegetable Bowl with Tahini Dressing

We start the 4th and last week of Blogging marathon for this month today. My theme for this week is "Calcium Rich Foods". Here's some information to know about Calcium intake.

Calcium is the most vital mineral for strong bones. It is also essential for blood clotting, muscle contraction, and nerve function. If we don't take in enough calcium, our body uses the calcium reserves in our bones to supply the muscles, heart and nerves. So it's important that we take the required daily dosage of calcium -- milk and other dairy provide over 50% of dietary calcium, it is also found in beans and legumes, some green vegetables, such as spinach and broccoli, and nuts and fruit.

Vitamin D is vital for proper absorption of calcium and produced when the skin is exposed to sunlight. About 15-20 minutes of sunlight a day on the face and arms during the summer months enables the body to store enough vitamin D to last the rest of the year. 

High intake of protein and sodium (salt) increases the excretion of calcium in the urine. Also high intakes of caffeine can reduce the absorption of calcium. 

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Almond Brown Rice Pudding

This recipe was love at first site for me. When I saw the recipe on Whole Foods website, I just had to make it right away. But that right away did not come for another 2 months, even though I was thinking of the dish a lot. It is a simple rice pudding with brown rice, almond milk and pureed dates and I usually have all the ingredients in my pantry & the fridge. What really caught my attention was the use of pureed dates in the recipe and I was imagining the combination of creamy almond milk with the rich sweetness of the dates even before making the dish.

It was so totally worth it when I finally made it, wasn't disappointed at all. It was slightly chewy, sweet and nutty - a perfect balance of taste & texture -- totally awesome. I used Lion brand date syrup that I brought back from India instead of pureeing the dates. I also used long grain brown rice, but short grain rice would probably make a more creamier rice pudding. So if you want to make this dish, try to get some short grain brown rice.

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Curried Brown Rice Salad

After indulging in some chocolate cupcakes & creamy egg salad, today I have a healthy brown rice salad that is perfect for picnics or make-ahead lunches. Recipe is from here. I followed the recipe to the T and the end result was a super hit at home. Slight sweetness from the dressing is complimented very well by the raisins and the addition of toasted almonds gives the required crunch to the salad. A must try for all salad lovers and also for those you are not into green salads (just like me).

I soak brown rice before I leave for work and cook it after I come back in the evening; I found that the rice has a better texture this way.

Ingredients:
Brown Rice – 1 cup (I used brown basmati)
Red onion – ½ cup, finely chopped
Red pepper – ½ cup, finely diced
Chickpeas – 1 cup (½ of a 15 oz. can), rinsed and drained
Cilantro – ¼ cup, finely chopped
Raisins – ¼ cup
Sliced Almonds – 2tbsp, toasted

For the dressing:
Lime juice – 3tbsp (from one medium sized lime)
Agave nectar – 2tbsp (original recipe used honey)
Extra virgin olive oil – 2tbsp
Curry powder – 2tsp (I used MTR brand curry powder)
Salt & Pepper – to taste

Method:

• Cook brown rice and set aside in a wide bowl to cool. (I use 1:2 rice:water ratio-bring the mixture to a boil and simmer covered for 25-30minutes until all the water is absorbed and rice is completely cooked).
• Add all the other ingredients for the salad except for the toasted almonds to the rice and mix gently to combine. In a small bowl, whisk all the ingredients listed under dressing.
• Pour the dressing over the rice and mix gently, taking care not to mush the grains. Garnish with toasted almonds and serve either at room temperature or chilled.

Let’s check what my fellow marathoners have been cooking up for Day 6 of BM#6 (Can’t believe we are almost at the end of the marathon—time just flies!!).

Egg Fried Rice

I am excited to be one of 25 bloggers joining Srivalli @ Spicing your Life for a 7 Day Blogging Marathon. I'm probably the last one posting on the First day. It has been a busy day and we got back home later than usual and when I sat down to download the pictures from the camera, there seems to be some technical problem. Well anyway I didn't want to miss out on the marathon and I'm trying to catch my fellow marathoners. May be by the weekend I'll be on track.

So for the event, Valli asked us to choose from several themes and my theme for the next week would be "Kid-Friendly" recipes. I'll try to make the recipes interesting for adults too, so you will come back to visit again tomorrow. :-)

To kick off, I made this quick and easy egg fried rice using a combination of brown and white rice. My son is in a stage where his dislikes are growing exponentially. One day he doesn't like any green stuff like cilantro, broccoli, spinach etc and another day he doesn't like any red stuff carrots, red peppers etc. So it is a constant challenge to come up with something that he would eat willingly and without complaint. He loves eggs and would eat egg rice or omelet without much fuss. So I try to add some veggies, rather inconspicuously, so he sees the fried egg more than the veggies. I pack it up for his lunch and I'm told he eats the whole box without a problem. Having cold cooked rice on hand makes cooking this dish a breeze.

Ingredients:

Brown Rice/ White Rice - 1 cup

Onion - 1 small, finely chopped

Carrot - 1 small, finely chopped

Green chili - 1, slit

Ginger + Garlic paste - ½tsp

Green pepper or red pepper - 1 small, finely diced

Peas - ¼cup

Eggs - 2, lightly whisked

Red chili powder - ¼tsp

Soy sauce - 1tsp

Salt - to taste

Method:

• Heat 2tsp oil in a pan; add onions and green chili. Sauté till the onions turn translucent, add carrots and other veggies.
• Cover and cook until the veggies are tender, about 5 minutes.
• Add chili powder, soy sauce, salt and pepper. Mix well.
• Add eggs and cook until they are set or done to your liking. If using cold rice, microwave for just a minute to heat it up.
• Finally add rice to the egg mixture, mix well and cook for another 2 minutes. Serve hot.

Don't forget to check out what the other Marathoners are cooking up in their kitchens.
Azeema, Bhagi , Champa , Sowmya , Gayathri Anand, Gayathri Kumar, Harini , Jay, Minu , Meena , Padma , PJ, Priya Mahadevan , PriyaSuresh, PriyaVaasu, Rujuta , Saraswathi , Santosh, Savitha, Shanavi, Smitha, Srivalli , Suma, Usha, Veena.

Multi Grain Bread

Vegan Mofo Day 16:

OK Guys... Finally after a lot of deliberations & discussions, we've added a Kitchenaid Stand mixer to our ever growing kitchen appliances list. I had to take the storage space available, usage and the price into consideration. I do bake almost every week and I thought I can re-organize my counters to accommodate the new arrival, but the price was still an issue.

So when I saw Kohl’s had it on sale for $199.99 ($259.99 Retail), got another 30% off for using Kohl’s credit card; so I ended up paying $150 (that’s including tax), with another $20 mail-in rebate. So I’m a happy to get a Kitchenaid that is 2nd in Consumer Reports rating for less than $150.

For my first attempt, I made “Multi-Grain Bread” using Peter Reinhart’s recipe from “The bread baker’s Apprentice”. The recipe called for kneading for 10 minutes in the stand mixer, but I took it out after 5 minutes and kneaded it by hand for another 7 minutes.

Ingredients:

For the Soaker:

Coarse cornmeal (polenta) or quinoa or millet or amaranth – 3tbsp

Rolled oats or wheat or buckwheat or triticale flakes – 3tbsp

Wheat bran – 2tbsp

Water – ¼ cup

For the Bread:

Bread flour – 3cups

Brown sugar – 3tbsp

Yeast – 2tbsp

Salt – 1½tsp

Cooked Brown Rice - 3tbsp

Milk or Buttermilk – ½ cup (I used Soymilk. You can also use water instead)

Water – ¾ cup, at room temperature

Honey – 1½ tbsp (omit if vegan)

Method:

• Prepare the soaker the night before you plan to make the bread: Mix all the ingredients in a small bowl. Water is going to just cover the grains and helps in hydrating. Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature overnight.
• Next day make the bread: In a mixing bowl or in the stand mixer bowl, add flour, sugar, yeast and salt. Stir together using the paddle attachment.
• Next add water, milk and honey. Stir until ingredients form into a ball. Change to the dough hook and knead for 8-10 minutes. Alternately knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 12 minutes.
• The dough is quite sticky to begin with; after kneading it is tacky but not sticky and becomes smooth with a shiny surface.
• Transfer into a large oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 90 minutes or until doubled. One tip from the Kitchenaid manual that helped me with proofing the dough in this cold temperature is to turn on the oven at 400°F for 1 minute and turning it off. Then put the bowl (covered with a kitchen towel) in the center of the oven.
• After the first rise, take the dough out and roll it into a ¾ inch thick rectangle of 6” wide and 8 – 10” long. Then roll it from the short edge to form into a loaf, pinch the edges to seal and transfer into a lightly greased 9” x 5” bread pan.
• Spritz lightly with cooking spray; cover loosely with plastic wrap (and a kitchen towel) and let rise for another 90 minutes. At this point, you can also make individual rolls instead of making into a log.
• Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake on the center rack for 20 minutes. Individual rolls should be done baking by then. If baking the log, turn the pan 180° and bake for another 15 minutes.

Bread should have a golden brown crust and should make a hollow sound when thumped on the bottom. Remove bread from the pan immediately and let cool for at least 1 to 2 hours before slicing or serving.

The bread has a slightly crunchy crust and the interior has a nice texture from the added grains.

It is perfect for breakfast with some peanut butter and jelly or with any sandwich accouterments or just to to dunk in soup . Well worth the effort I must say.

Chinese (My) Style Green Rice

Vegan MoFo DAY 2:

This is an extremely easy and versatile dish that is quick to prepare and makes for a great weeknight meal and the leftovers are awesome for lunch. I add all available green vegetables and the variations are endless. I used green pepper, cabbage, green onions, edamame & avocado, but broccoli and any green leafy veggies will work just as well. I love to add buttery avocado just before serving so it doesn’t change color on me (in more scientific terms oxidize).

Ingredients (Serves 2):

Green pepper – 1 small or ½ of large, diced
Cabbage – ¼ of a head, finely chopped
Green onions – 1 bunch (5-6 stems)
Edamame – ¼ cup (thawed if frozen)
Avocado – 1 Brown
Rice – 2cups, cooked
Garlic – 2 cloves
Red Pepper flakes – a pinch (or more to taste)
Soy sauce – 1-2 tsp
Sriracha (or any other hot sauce) – to taste
Salt & Pepper – to taste

Method:

• Heat 2tsp oil (preferably peanut oil) in a medium sauté pan; add crushed garlic cloves and red pepper flakes; once garlic starts to turn light brown, add all the veggies.
• Sauté on medium flame until the veggies are tender (I like them lightly browned around the edges so I cook them on medium-high flame), season with soy sauce, hot sauce, salt and pepper.
• Next stir in the cooked rice, mix well; check the seasoning.
• Just before serving peel, slice and dice the avocado and mix into the rice and Enjoy!!

I packed this up for lunch and added avocado before eating, so picture has none of the buttery goodness.