Methi Chana Pulao (Fenugreek leaves and Chickpea Pilaf)

Blogging Marathon# 50: Week 2/ Day 2

Theme: Methi Dishes

Dish: Methi Chana Pulao

Apart from curries, lentil dishes and rotis, methi is great to use in rice dishes too. I have made spicy pulao with methi and paneer before, but today's pulao is quite mild with just a few whole spices. This recipe is my adaptation of my cousin's methi pudina rice. She usually serves the rice with a spicy curry, but I added some chickpeas to the rice to make it wholesome.

This is a one-pot dish and can be whipped up in no time (if you have the methi leaves all prepped and ready to go, that is). I usually store my cleaned methi leaves in an airtight container in the fridge once I get back from the store and then use them as needed during the week.

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Turkish Bulgur Pilaf (Firik Pilau)

I made this Pilau or Pilaf to go with the Turkish Fasulye/ Barbunya Pilaki that I made last week. The recipe is from 'The Middle Eastern Vegetarian' cookbook by Sally Butcher. The original recipe uses Freekeh is young green wheat and has been used for centuries in the Middle east. It is a versatile and nutritious grain and can be used in soups, salads, cakes and bread, as a cereal and can be used in place of rice.

After all that information on freekeh which I thought I had in my pantry, I was bummed to see I used it all. So I went to plan B and used bulgur instead. Roasted buckwheat can also be used instead of freekeh. The pilaf turned out delicious even with the substitution.

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Jordanian Rice Pilaf (Vegetarian Mansaf)

Blogging Marathon# 48: Week 3/ Day 2

Theme: Biryani of different Styles

Dish: Jordanian Rice Pilaf 

For Day 2 of this week's blogging marathon, I have vegetarian version of Jordanian National dish, called Mansaf. Traditionally mansaf is made with lamb but the vegetarian version is filled with lots of vegetables. This recipe is from 'The New Middle Eastern Vegetarian' cookbook by Sally Butcher.

I bookmarked almost all of the pilaf recipes from that cookbook. Some of the Middle Eastern Pilafs are quite elaborate with lots of flavors and textures. This Jordanian pilaf is one of those elaborate dishes. Rice is layered with spicy vegetable layer which is in turn smothered with some sharp creamy garlicky yogurt sauce called jameed (or laban moutboukh). According to the author, the secret of Mansaf  is the inclusion of this yogurt sauce. Jameed is made with strained yogurt.

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Warm Farro Pilaf with Dried Cranberries & Kale

It's November and the beginning of holiday season. I can't believe that the stores here started selling Christmas trees from early October. From my experience, it is better to buy them when you see them in the stores even if it is ridiculously early in the season because by the time you are mentally ready for the holidays, all the stores will be out of holiday stuff and you will have nothing to decorate the house (true story -- from about 2 years ago). So now-a-days I go shopping with an open mind, hopefully I'll find a great deal on summer patio set in the middle of winter -- you never know ;-)

Holiday season also means lots of parties and food. I pulled out my old magazines and bookmarked quite a few recipes for this time of the year -- some festive and some seasonal -- all perfect to entertain for the holidays. So my self imposed theme for 'Cooking from Cookbook Challenge' for November & December will be holiday/ seasonal specials.

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Turkish Bulgur Pilaf with Veggies

I thought bulgur was used to make Tabbouleh only until I ate this pilaf. I should have known, bulgur to Turkish is like rice to South Indians -- the many variations of rice we enjoy is incredible. So bulgur
is used in both savory and sweet preparations. Bulgur is made from groats of several different wheat species. It looks like our wheat rawa and it probably is Turkish wheat rawa -- I'm not sure (if any of you do, please add your comment below).

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Udupi Vegetable Pulao

Blogging Marathon# 38: Week 2/ Day 2
Theme: Gourmet Rice Dishes 
Dish: Udupi Vegetable Pulao

For day 2 of BM# 38, I made this flavorful Udupi Vegetable Pulao. I saw this dish being made on a Telugu cooking show and really liked the coconut based spice/ masala paste that is added to the veggies. This is a one pot dish that is sure to wow everyone.

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Cabbage-Pudina Pulao (Cabbage Mint Pilaf)

Can't believe there's only 10 days left for Christmas. But the weather here has been sending quite a few signals that it is almost winter and holiday season is just around the corner. We had 2 snow storms this week and the temperatures are below freezing. Can't wait for winter to end even before it started :-)
After that brief weather report, here's what's cooking in my house. I made this quick and easy (almost) 1 pot dish for one of our meals last week. Recipe is from a Telugu cooking show. I already have 2 cabbage rice recipes on the blog, but this one has whole garam masala spices and ground masala that gives a nice flavor to the dish.

In the original recipe, rice was cooked with the veggies in the pot making it a 1-pot dish, but I cooked the rice separately and added it to the veggies at the end. All in all it is a tasty variation to regular pulaos and can be prepared in short amount of time.

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Semya Pulao (Vermicelli Pilaf)

BM# 34: Week 4/ Day 3
Theme: Cooking from Sapana's blog
Dish: Semya Pulao (Vermicelli Pilaf)

It has been a busy day and I'm very late for the 3rd day post for BM# 34. I was busy prepping for the Thanksgiving party and also finishing up the necessary shopping. Weather was lousy today, gloomy, cold and rainy -- totally uninspiring and dull.

I was planning to make one of Sapana's Chole recipe. I had already soaked the chickpeas, but by the time we came back from shopping, we were starving and I didn't have time to cook the beans and make the curry. Instead I made this quick to make Seviyan Pulao. 

I make semya pulao often, but the addition of tomato, garlic masala paste is new and added lot of flavor to the pulao. Also using carom seeds in tempering is a different element. It tasted great and we had a filling lunch.

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Mango Coconut Pulao (Pilaf)

After trying Mango curry, I was ready to expand my raw mango recipe repertoire. So when I saw this recipe for Mango-Coconut Pulao on a telugu cooking show, I promptly noted it down.

With Summer being in full swing in our neck of woods, fresh green mangoes are widely available in the Indian groceries. I always make sure that I get a few, so I can use them to make pappu (dal) or this aam ka panna or this masala curry. But this mango coconut pulao is simple to make and is perfect one-pot meal for weeknights.

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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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Corn Pulao

Blogging Marathon# 27: Week 4/ Day 3
Theme: Miscellaneous - Cooking Rice on Stove top
Dish: Corn Pulao/ Pilaf

I made this one pot Corn Pulao for my lunch today. Rice is cooked along with the veggies. There was a time when I tried to cook rice using the open pot method, it would either end up uncooked or burnt at the bottom. I have gotten better over time and now I make decent rice dishes without using the pressure cooker.
This corn rice has both corn kernels and baby corn. It is lightly spiced, so I served it with some tomato raita. It makes for a filling and delicious weeknight meal. Add some paneer or soy chunks or other protein to make this a complete meal. This is another recipe adapted from the Telugu cooking show I have been talking about a lot in my previous posts.

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Black-eyed Peas Pulao (Pilaf)

For day 3 of BM, I have yet another protein packed rice dish and this time the protein happens to be black eyed peas (check out my Egg biryani and Pudina Paneer Pulao recipes). 

All of the 3 rice dishes I posted this week involve 3 different cooking methods. For the biryani, rice is cooked ¾th of the way and then finished cooking “dum style” with the masala. For the pulao, I cooked the rice separately and then mixed it with the spiced vegetable mixture. For today’s pulao, I cooked the rice with the masala to make it a one-pot dish. 

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Paneer Pudina Pulao (Paneer-Mint Pilaf)

I hope you noticed the alliteration in the post title, the actual title for this post should have been Paneer-Pudina-Potato-Peas-Pulao. That seemed too long, so I took just the 2 main ingredients for the title.

I wanted to put my bounty of mint plant to a good use, so I used a lot of mint (as you can tell from the pictures), but the quantity can be easily reduced if you don’t like the pronounced mint flavor. For this dish I cooked the rice separately and added it to the mint masala mix (another alliteration). Other vegetables or beans like carrots, green beans, cauliflower or chickpeas etc. can also be added. 

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