1. First wash the basmati rice once in water. Drain the water completely. Now add ghee to the pan and fry the basmati rice for 3-4 mins or until the rice is little hot. Now remove them from pan and keep it separately.

2. Now add 2 cup of water and let it boil for 5-8 mins. Now add the tomatoes and see if they are  3/4 immersed in water.  Close the lid and let tomatoes skin peel with the boiling temperature. This will take 10-12 mins to get tomato skin peeled. Now remove from water and keep them in a plate.  Let the tomatoes cool down completely.  Throw away the water used for boiling. Once cooled make a puree out of it.(You may ask..why I should boil the tomatoes and then pulp it instead of pulping directly?? well there's a big difference in taste according to me. This is how mom always made and it taste divine)

3. Now to the same pan add oil, do the seasoning mentioned above. Add cinnamon, cloves, bay leaf and stir for a min. To this add Onion slices and stir till they are tender.

4. Now add ginger garlic paste. Stir till the raw smell is gone. Now add green chilies and stir for another 2 mins. Now add the tomato pulp and mix everything together. Let it cook for 5  mins. To this add salt,turmeric powder, garam masala, chilly powder and stir it well.

5. Now take the same glass or cup that you used for measuring the rice. For 1 cup/1 glass rice use 1 and half glass of water. That is the usual measurement. Here we are going to add half glass of water and 1 cup of coconut milk for this biryani. It will be very rich and taste very good too.

6. Now once you are done adding the water and coconut milk let it boil for 2 mins. To this add basmati rice and mint leaves. Stir everything together and switch it off.

7. I always make my biryani in electric cooker. Now transfer everything to the rice cooker and switch on the cook button and tomato biryani will be ready in 30 mins. If you are using pressure cooker leave it for 3-4 whistle. If you like dum biryani style then you can keep a flat base pan below this pan and slow cook the process. Either way it will taste so damn good. Enjoy with Raita.

1. I usually make this spicy fried rice when I have lots of left over rice from previous day. The rice from previous day when kept in fridge gives a very nice grainy texture as seen in restaurants. If you still want to try this recipe with fresh rice, no problem just keep the cooked rice in fridge for 20 mins and start following the procedure.

2. Heat pan and add 3 tsp olive oil. To this saute veggies mentioned above one by one. Saute garlic first then carrot,peas,capsicum,cabbage and corn. Don't over fry, just stir fry. To this add soy sauce,salt,schezwan sauce, red chilly sauce(I used ching's brand for all the sauce varieties)

3. Now add cooked rice and stir for 5-7 more mins until the sauce is well coated. Now add pepper powder according to your taste and just add a tsp of ghee or butter and switch off the flame.


4. Now garnish with spring onion and mix everything well. Check for taste and you can add extra sauce according to your preference. Be careful when you add salt to fried rice since soy sauce has enough salt in them. The reason I add ghee to this fried rice is because of its excellent aroma. Don't skip it just add and see how yummy they taste.

1. Wash the leaves well and let it dry. Now dry roast the ingredients mentioned above and grind them to powder. Keep it aside.


2. In the same pan add the leaves and saute them for 2 min. Let it wilt , when they look moist enough remove it from pan.

3. Now add these  leaves to the powder that is still in our blender. Blend them all together. You will get like a nice paste.Do not add water.

4. Now heat pan again and do the tempering mentioned above. To this add the leaves pulp and let it cook for 5 mins. To this add salt,turmeric powder and hing and let it cook for totally 8-10 min.


5. Keep the rice ready and see to that the grains are separate for this particular rice.(TO ACHIEVE SEPARATE GRAIN ADD LITTLE OIL WHILE THE RICE IS GETTING COOKED) Let the rice and leaves pulp cool down. Now start mixing the rice slowly and see to it that they are mixed properly.


6. Now serve it with papad or potato chips. Yummy Gongura pulihora is ready to eat.

1. In a pan add little oil and fry the masala item mention above. Then make a paste of them using a blender. Keep it aside.

2. Wash basmati rice well . Add ghee to the pan and saute the rice for 3-4 mins. Now keep it separate in a plate or bowl.

3. Again add oil to the pan and saute jeera & cashew nuts. To this add onion and ginger & garlic paste and saute for few more mins.

4. Now add peas once it gets soft add palak/spinach leaves. Then add  the grind masala to this. Then add salt,turmeric powder and mix them all. Let the raw smell of the masala subside. Now add 1/2 glass water.

5. Now to this mix add basmati rice and let it cook for 5 mins. Now add the thick coconut milk and stir it again. For 1 glass of basmati rice we need to use 1 1/2 cup water.

6. I have used 1 cup thick coconut milk and half glass of water totally. Then garnish with mint leaves. I used rice cooker for this pulao. Once all the above steps are done transfer the rice mix completely in to the rice cooker.

7. Palak pulao is ready. Serve it with raita of your choice like boondhi raita , palak raita , okra raita.

1.In a kadai add oil and start saute dry red chillies, once they turn lite brown remove them otherwise it may burn dark. Keep it separate. To the same oil add mustard seed,channa dal,jeera,dhania seeds and saute it for a min and remove it. Let everything cool.

2. Now wash and dry the gongura leaves. Make sure they are dry otherwise they wont stay fresh for long. If the leaves are dry then pachadi will stay for a week or more.
3. Now add little oil and fry the leaves for few mins till they become soft, now collect in a bowl. let it cool.

4. Now add all the fry items in a blender and make a coarse powder out of them. To this finally add gongura leaves and blend them in pulse mode for few mins. The leaves should be 95% done but not completely like paste.

5. Collect them all in a bowl. Now in a pan heat oil and add the seasoning mentioned above and pour the tempering on top of the gongura item and mix everything well. Now add salt and see how it taste. Yummy tasty pachadi is ready to eat. Serve it hot with white rice on ghee as topping. Yumm its so droll worthy dish.

NOTES:
1. Adding hing and garlic is very important so do not skip this step. They give so much flavor to this dish.
2. Usually gongura leaf has a nice sour taste to it,if you find the leaves less sour you can add little bit tamarind. Here in USA the leaves don't taste the same all time. So test the taste and add tamarind piece if you need it.
3. Add oil as mentioned in this recipe,this helps in keeping the pachadi for more than a week. You can store in fridge too.
4. Serve it with rice,dosa,idly or chapathi. They taste excellent.

1. In a pan add oil or ghee and do the seasoning mentioned above.
2. To this add ginger,garlic and saute for a min. Then add onion,green chillies .

3. Now add cabbage and peas, when done add turmeric powder,chilly powder and salt. Stir them well. To this add cooked rice and stir them well.

4. Finally garnish with coriander leaves and serve it with papad or potato chips or with raita.

Methi Rice is simple to make and tasty heavenly with ghee and garlic inside....

1. Boil basmati rice separately in cooker. Once done remove them and add 2 tsp ghee to the hot rice. This step is important because they give very good aroma when mixed ghee with hot rice.

2. Now in a pan add little ghee/oil and once hot,add jeera and let it fry for few sec. To this add onion and garlic. Let it saute for a min or two. To this add finely chopped methi leaves and stir it well.(I always add salt to the methi leaves to take the bitter smell out)

3. When the leaves are little sauteed, add salt and turmeric powder. Keep stirring and add little chilly powder and stir well again.

4. Now add the hot rice and mix everything together. Yummy tasty smell will cover your whole house. Once blended well switch it off.

5. Hot hot methi rice is ready. Serve it with dal or raita. Simple yet elegant rice mix.

Notes:
I never add beans,spring onion to kids recipe because there is no point they will not like it anyway so its better to give them what they want all kids will love this combo.Corn,carrot and peas are all kids fav don't you agree???

1. Boil basmati rice first. When they are done keep them cool for 10-15 min in fridge(this process is done to get that perfect separate rice)

2. Now add oil and start saute onion,carrot for few mins. To this add finely chopped garlic(the flavor is so good your kids will love it)

3. Then slow;y add corn,capsicum and peas and stir well for few mins. To this add salt and pepper. Do not add salt and pepper to rice that perfect white combination wont come.
Also when its seasoned to veggies they are more flavorful.
4. Now take the rice from fridge and stir them along with rice. Perfect separate rice with restaurant look can be achieved in no time. Switch it off. Just before removing the rice from pan, I always add a tsp of ghee to rice to get a very nice aroma. Kids will love it.

5. Now vegetable fried rice is ready. Easy for lunch box and ready in 20 mins. Yumm even we adult can resist its taste.

1. In a pan add oil saute the seasoning mentioned above.Add one by one like mustard,urad,fenugreek,channa dal,dry red chillies,curry leaves,jeera and then peanuts. Fry them well.

2. Now add tamarind pulp paste. Add 1/2 glass water or more according to the consistency required. Let it boil for few mins. To this add hing,turmeric powder and salt. Let it boil for 10 more mins until it thickens and oil oozes out at center.

3. Now switch off from flame and collect it in a bowl.

4. Cook rice and pour little oil on it to get separate rice grains. Let the rice cool down to this add tamarind paste and mix them well. All rice should be well coated with tamarind paste. Yummy tasty rice is ready to serve.

5. Love this with any curry or with just plain potato chips. yummmm....

1. In a pan dry fry the given ingredients mentioned under vangi bhath powder. Fry each one separately. Then when they cool down grind them fine or little coarse.
2. Now in a pan add oil and do the seasoning mentioned above, to this add brinjal first then onion and saute it till they become little soft and tender. Now add the powder and stir it for some time.


3. Take the cooked rice and add little ghee on top of it and then mix it with this veggie and masala and mix them well.


4. See that the masalas are well coated in rice. To this add required salt and switch off the flame. Finally add little lemon juice to get that mild tangy flavor and keep it closed.

5. Very tasty and very simple to make. You can send this for lunch box or give kids,everyone will love it. Serve it with papad or chips or raita.

1. In a pan add oil saute garlic, ginger,onion and scotch bonnet or jalapeno for few mins.

2. Soak rajma or red kidney beans a night before and next day boil them and keep it separate. Now add it to the onion mix.

3. To this add long grain rice and stir it for a min. To this add one and half cup hot water and one cup coconut milk and stir it again. To this add salt and pepper powder and close it with a lid. Let it cook well.

4. Now to this add red kidney beans and stir it well. Then finely chop thyme leaves and add to rice. This is very important because the flavor is very good.

5. This is how jamaican bean rice is made.