Thursday, May 20, 2010

Mandira Randha Ghee Anna or Ghee Rice

Here I present Ghee rice (Mandira means temple and randha is cooked) as cooked in Orissa temples. Rice served in temples is usually called Ghee Anna. When I was in Orissa this time, we had several trips to temples and ate lunches at those temples. The simplicity of this satvik food - rice, daal and mixed vegetable is awesome. We had some friends over last weekend at very short notice. Since my mother in law doesn't eat onions, garlic on Sundays, she prepared this simple prasad food. Unfortunately everything else got over, so I couldn't take pictures, so here I present the Ghee rice.

Ingredients
2 cups of cooked Rice
2-3 Bay leaves
handful of cashew nuts and raisins
1 tablespoon of ghee
1 tea spoon of Jeera or Cumin Seeds
1 tea spoon of lemon juice
Salt to taste (optional)

How To
Cook Rice with a little bit of salt (Salt is optional). Make sure the rice is not over done.
Heat a pan. Add ghee and bay leaves and the nuts and the cumin seeds.
Once the seeds splutter, add the raisins and take off the heat.
Add the lemon juice to the rice and add the seasoning from above and mix well and serve fresh.

The food from the temples comes in clay pots and hence the inspiration to serve in this coconut shaped serving dish...

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Badi Chura

I know the Oriya food veterans will laugh at this post. Anyone and everyone can make this badi chura. It is a constant fixture in Oriya meals, especially with pakhala (rice with water combination - about which I have to post one day).
Badi is dried lentils and is usually made in fall and stored away for the year. It comes in handy as a quick side dish when you have to put a meal together in a jiffy. Here is a link to Sharmila's site on what Badi's look like and how they can be made in an oven.


Ingredients
Few Badis
1 small onion chopped
few green chillies chopped
a couple of crushed garlic
salt
1 tea spoon Oil for frying the badis

How To
Heat the oil in a pan and shallow fry the badis and keep aside.
Just before serving, mix the rest of the ingredients and serve.
The crunch of the badi with the smell of garlic and  onions is therapeutic.