Cabbage & Coconut Brown Rice

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. 

Prawn (Shrimp) Dum Biriyani

This is an easy 3 step recipe. Fry Prawns, half cook rice, layer rice over prawns and cook.  I followed the Varevah chef's recipe. Have to tell you, he is a talker, I was not a big fan of his work becos he spoke too much before he started cooking. Half the time I would loose interest and move on. But my friend Subha recommended that I follow his recipe for chicken dum biriyani and it was a huge success. So I followed his recipe for prawn dum biriyani as well. 

Tips to know before you start:

• Soak rice half hour before you start.
• When cooking rice, salt water generously
• When frying prawns, do it in batches, we want to fry them so they have crispy out side and only half cooked, not boil and cook them fully.
• Use a heavy bottom pan. 

Ingredients:

• Oil - 4 Tblsn
• Prawns (shrimp) - desired amount
• Chili powder -  To taste
• Coriander powder - 1 Tspn
• Salt - To taste
• Ginger garlic paste - 1 Tblspn
• Basmathi Rice - 2 Cups (Soaked in water for half hour)
• Biriyani masala - 1 Tblspn (I would recommend North Indian brands, cos they are light and has whole spices in them)
• Coriander leaves - 1 cup
• Mint leaves - 1/2 cup
• Curd - 1 cup
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tspn
• Cinnamon Sticks - 2
• Cloves - 4-5
• Fried onion - 1 cup (Store bought fried onions or sauté onions till dark brown and use them)
• Ginger garlic paste - 1Tblspn
• Green chillies - 3-4
• Cumin seeds - 1 tspn 
• Caraway seeds (Shahi Jeera) -  1 tspn
• Orange food colouring - 1tsp

Steps:

Fry Prawns:

• Marinate prawns with 1tspn of the following- salt, chilli powder, coriander powder and ginger garlic paste. 
• Heat couple of table poon of oil in the pan you plan to make the biriyani. When oil is hot, add 1 cinnamon stick and 1 tspn of cumin seeds.
• Then add prawns in batches and fry till they are crispy and brown on the outside ( No.4 in picture). 
• You can start cooking the rice simultaneously (No.3 in picture)
• Remove just the prawns from the pan and leave the oil in the pan to finish cooking the biriyani.

Cook Rice:

• When the prawn in marinating, Boil water in a large vessel.
• Drain water from the soaking rice. 
• When the water starts boiling, add, 2 tblspn of oil, caraway seeds, 1 cinnamon stick and couple of cloves.
• Salt generously. The water needs to be slightly salty when you taste the water. 
• Add the rice and cook till its 90 % done. 
• Drain rice.
• You will find that your rice will be done, about the same time you finish up with the prawns. So use the oil in the pan to do the next step.

Finishing:

• In the same pan used to fry the prawns, add a bit more oil if you need, and add Curd, green chillies  coriander leaves, mint leaves, biriyani masala, turmeric powder, fried onions and 1 tsp salt and sauté. (No.5 in picture)
• Stir in the fried prawns. Sauté for a minute or 2. (No.6 in picture)
• Add the cooked rice on top of the mixture. (No.8 in picture)
• Sprinkle a handful of fried onions, coriander leaves, and Orange food colouring over the rice. (No.9 in picture)
• Cover and cook over medium high heat for 7-10 mins.
• Turn off heat, gently stir the rice and mixture together. Cover again and let it rest. 
• As tempting as it might be to eat it immediately it tastes better if it rest for 15 to 20 mins. Trust me :)

Simple Coconut rice (Thengai Saadam)

Coconut rice is my all time lunch box favorite. All you need is potato chips to go with it :) Or you could just have it when you want to eat something light and flavorful.

 Ingredients:

• Rice - Cook 2 cups of rice. (Use Basmathi rice or Raw rice for more flavor) 
• Coconut : 1/2, coarsely ground. (Use a Blender/ mixer grinder and grind it without adding water.)
• Salt - To taste
• Oil - 1 tblspn (use edible coconut oil, if you have it)
• Mustard seeeds - 1 tsp
• Urad dal (Ulunthu) -1 tsp
• Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Gram dal (Kadalai Paruppu) - 1/2 Tsp
• Cashew nuts - 3-4 chopped (optional)
• Ginger - 1/4 inch, finely chopped.
• Curry leaves - 1 strand.
• Dry red chillis - 2.

Steps:

• Cook rice like you usually do and let it cool. (Let the rice be firm not mushy). Gently fluff the rice so they are not sticking to each other.
• In a pan, add oil, once hot, add mustard seeds. Let it crackle. Then add cumin seeds, Urad dal, gram dal, ginger, curry leaves, chilli and cashew nuts and keep sauteing (Everything else, except the coconut and rice). You dont want the cashews to burn, but slightly change color.
• Once the cashew changes color, add 1/2 tsp salt. Lower the temperature a little and add the coarsely ground coconut, keep sauteing till all the coconut it covered in oil and the raw smell is gone.
• Turn off the stove and add the rice. Gently stir so the coconut mixture and rice blend together. 
• Taste and sprinkle more salt and stir again.
•  Your done! :)