Brown rice is considered to be healthier than white, and that's about all the compliment I can give for it. Taste wise, white rice wins hands down any day. Brown rice is chewy and simply can't be substituted for white rice in all dishes. Trust me, I had the genius idea to make dum biriyani with it - What an epic fail!.. I know, I get over ambitious sometimes. So my next couple of posts are going to be my success stories, how I made brown rice flavourful and delicious.
I have always enjoyed cabbage poriyal (stir fry) and white rice, I would start eating before my mom poured any curry over my rice. So I thought, why not improvise and make a one pot dish. A good thing about this recipe is that the rice to cabbage ratio is less, meaning, there is less rice and more cabbage. So you can eat without worrying about your calorie intake, and moreover your getting all the health benefits of brown rice. This recipe turned out really good for me, I hope it does for you too.
Ingredients:
- Brown rice -1 cup ( I used brown basmati rice)
- Water - 2.5 cups for cooking the rice and little more for cooking cabbage
- Cabbage - 1 (small sized), chopped (about 2-3cups chopped)
- Onion - 1, chopped
- Garlic - 4 pods, finely chopped
- Green chillies -3, slit
- Oil - 1 tblspn
- Mustard seeds -1 tsp
- Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
- Coriander powder - 1 tsp
- Biriyani masala - 1 tsp
- Chilli powder - to taste
- Salt - to taste
- Desiccated or shredded coconut - 2 handfuls
Steps:
- Wash the brown rice and cook it in 2.5 cups of water (or as directed in the package).
- Heat the oil in a pan, when oil is hot, add mustard seeds and let it crackle.
- Slightly lower the heat and add the cumin seeds, chopped onion, garlic and green chillies and sauté.
- Once the onion turns colour, add the coriander powder, biriyani masala powder chilli powder and salt (some biriyani masala powder has salt added, so taste and add the necessary amount of salt). Sauté well. Add little extra oil if you feel the mixture is too dry.
- Now add the cabbage and mix well with the onion and spice mixture.
- Sprinkle about 1/4 cup of water and close the pan. Let the cabbage cook on medium heat. Stir occasionally.
- Once the cabbage is cooked, add the coconut and stir well. Cover for a minute.
- Open the lid, turn the heat up and add the cooked brown rice and mix well.
- Taste, add salt if needed. Turn off the heat, cover with lid. Wait for few minutes before serving.
