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...

50 comments:

  1. Nothing can beat the taste of simple and comfort foods like these..looks good dear :)

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  2. A very comforting and delicious dish indeed.Very nice presentation.

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  3. Nice and comforting dish.Liked the bowl u have presented very much

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  4. I do make same but never added lemon juice..that's a gud idea...and the pic is very cute

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  5. This is similar to the Bengali ghee bhaat which is sweet. I love the kind of meals in temples ... so many kinds of curries and rice ... no wonder everything got over. That bowl looks so cute Somoo! :-)

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  6. Sounds really good dear. I think it is quick to make and would taste delicious when warm.

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  7. That looks cute your presentation, and the rice is delicious :)

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  8. I love the serving dish, so well presented and temple food surely tastes good.

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  9. love ghee anna and this one looks so comforting. I always love prasad food...and dont know why I can never recreate the taste at home.guess God's food is something special.
    between yesterday went to a oriya restaurant called Dalma. simply fallen in love with the food there. we ate some leafy greens (shaak) with bori they called it bari chura. please could you share the recipe? it was outstanding.

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  10. ghee come out well and perfect....nice presentation and bowl looks cute dear!

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  11. very new dish to me. love ur cute presentation.

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  12. This reminds me of the Meetha Kanika of the Puri Jagannath Temple and also from the Lingaraj Temple. The prasad from the temples are really heavenly.
    Perfect presentation.

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  13. Good to see a post from you after ages Somoo :) The dish looks delicious and reminds me of a trip to Puri when i was 8. Could taste teh prasad

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  14. Dear Sommu
    Now you are taking me back to my childhood days..How much do I miss the Mandira food, you cant imagine!!!
    I do cook kanika often as a party dish and will publish soon if I cook shortly.
    I am going to try this immediately .
    What about the Mahura recipe ? Bhuli gal na kana !! Mu bhuli ni ..ha ha
    Take care

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  15. I love the name! Thanks for sharing,loved ur serving bowl,so cute!

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  16. looks delicious..feel like having one...and very nicely presented too.

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  17. A very delicious and comforting dish.

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  18. Lovely flavorfull recipe dear looks great nice presentation

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  19. Cool..Makes me mostalgic now...I love the mandira bhoga

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  20. The most satisfying meal ever!

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  21. The rice looks very divine like prasadam dear. Nice post.

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  22. love ghee rice..and I love it that u chose to recreate the presentation in coconut shaped dish

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  23. thanks friends. yes makes us all remember the prasasd taste...

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  24. Very nice, wonderful and delicious ghee rice. Looks tempting and you have presented very nicely.

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  25. I just LOVE ghee rice!! Never tried it it veggie side dishes though-must give it a try. My mom used to make this awesome spicy chicken gravy that used to go so well with the ghee rice-yum :)

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  26. @babli and @malar - thanks.
    @sweta - it tastes lovely with mixed veg, try it...

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  27. What a coincidence..we had this for today's lunch :-) love this...loved your presentation :-)

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  28. NIce presentation, ghee rice looks tempting and yummy.

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  29. Very comforting and homely food my dear:)

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  30. @gulmohar, @valarmathi, @sara - thanks.

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  31. Ghee rice looks delicious and lovely presentation.

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  32. i love ghee rice thanks for wonderful recipe nice rice item

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  33. My fav,adding jeera n lemon is new to me...nice presentation

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  34. hey, thanks for visiting my blog and for your lovely comment..apreciated...ghee rice looks simple and delicious dear...such a comfort food.

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  35. Ghee rice looks so yum with nuts, very aromatic rice...and loved your presentation as well

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  36. this looks delicious. I remember this from my trips to Puri during family vacations!

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  37. I like the way it is presented.Simple n comfort food.
    Do drop in sometime

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  38. The dish as well as the container is superb

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  39. Nice name..Loved the presentation..Must try !!

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  40. Chitra - thanks and let me know if you liked it...

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  41. i remember this from jagannath temple visit. we kids used to wait for this rice. Beautiful presentation!

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  42. Hi,
    I believe this recipe is close but not really. Ghia Arna doesn't have any cashews or raisins. If you are talking about Kanika then you do not need any lemon juice, jeera. But you do need cinamon powder.
    Amlan

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  43. @Pattu - loads of temple in Odisha serve this! And they do add cashew and raisins to it...
    Kanika is different!

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