LIVE TO COOK

“Kalandha Saadham” literally translates to “Mixed Rice“.

If we need to whip up something quick or add variety to lunch boxes or planning for a picnic, these flavored rice varieties get the highest vote in households in India. “Kalandha Saadham” always reminds me of the Monsoon festival - “Aadi perukku“. This festival is celebrated around August when the water levels of the rivers raise after good rains.

My Grandma used make 5 Varieties of “Kalandha Saadham” and Packs each one in large containers. All the kids in my street would gather together and head to the nearby river bank (”Pudhaaru”) under the supervision of my grandma. After doing prayers and offerings to the river for the good produce, we will eat the wonderful “Kalandha Saadham” accompanied by “Vadaam” (Deep fried rice fritters). While Grandma rests under the shadow of the trees, we all will play in the sand, making sand sculptures and decorating with sea shells and conchs. (”Chippi or kilinjal, Sangu“).

Those were the wonderful days…….

This post is about one such flavored rice recipe from my collection. Corn Masala Rice, a simple recipe but rich in taste.

Ingredients:

1 Cup Brown Basmati or other Long Grain rice
1 Cup Fresh Corn Kernels
1/4 Cup Cashew nuts (Chopped)
2 Tbsp Ghee or Oil
1 Tbsp Cilantro (chopped)
2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Chilli Powder
1 tsp Sambar powder
1 tsp Sugar
1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
1/2 tsp Garam Masala
1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder
Juice of 1 Lemon

Method:

1. Heat the Ghee or oil in a heavy bottomed pan.
2. Add the Cumin and Mustard seeds. When they splutter, add the cashew bits and fry until they turn golden brown.
3. Add the corn kernels and spice powders. Stir fry until the corn is tender.
4. Add the Rice and fry till it turns pink.
5. Transfer the rice mixture to an electric rice cooker. Pour 2 cups of water and add the salt.
6. Mix well and cook until done.
7. Add the lemon juice and sugar. Mix well, garnish with cilantro and serve hot with yogurt.

This is my entry for the “Mixed Rice varieties” event hosted by EC.

I started thinking about the Seven sister states of India when Bhags announced the event RCI - North East India. I tried very hard to recall something about North East India. All I could recall was my Geography teacher reducing 2 points from my total points for my map locating skills. She asked us to point Manipur and Nagaland with their State capitals in the Map of India. I located them and used two different colored markers to differentiate the States and their Capitals. Unfortunately, the marker that I used on the small map provided for marking the capitals was frayed that Imphal (Capital of Manipur) took some of the territorial regions of Nagaland!

Well! To be honest, I knew absolutely nothing about these states and I thank Bhags and Lakshmi for providing me an opportunity to explore them. After looking at the different links provided in the Event Announcement post, I decided to try couple of recipes from Anthony’s Blog. I prepared his “Manipuri Khichdi” in my recent toy - Crockpot or Slow cooker.

After some success with “Slow cooker Venn Pongal”, I was confident that this khichdi will turnout well in slow cooker and it did. I served it with Manipuri Ootti. But for the ease of categorizing, I am posting it as a seperate post. So, stay tuned!

Ingredients:

1 Cup Brown Basmati Rice
1/3 Cup Toor Dhal
1/3 cup Chopped onions
4 Tbsp Peanuts
2 Tbsp Ghee or Clarified Butter
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
3 Cardamoms
3 Cloves
2 Bayleaves
2 Dried Red chilli
1 Clove Garlic (minced)
1/4 inch piece of Ginger (minced)
1 pinch Turmeric powder

Method:

1. Heat ghee in a medium sized pan.
2. Add Cumin seeds and when they turn brown, add other spices along with chopped onions.
3. when the onions are translucent, add minced garlic and ginger.
4. In a 5 quart Slow cooker insert, add the rice, dhal and fried onion mixture.
5. Add salt and turmeric powder. Pour 2 cups of water.
6. Cover and cook for 6-8 hours.
7. In a small pan heat a tsp of ghee or oil and fry the peanuts until golden brown. Mix with the cooked Khichdi and serve hot.