Today’s cooking was only for my daughter and myself. I thought a one pot meal will be perfect for that. Since my refrigerator was stocked up with fresh vegetables, my first thought was to make biryani. My neighbour, Nirmala,had shared her delicious biryani recipe few days back. The recipe required pudina ( mint leaves) which I didn’t have.
Then I thought of moong khichidi. But my daughter is not so fond of khichidi.
Then I got this idea of making masala rice with Moong and all the vegetables that I had.
When served with raita, it became a perfect, wholesome and very nutritious one pot meal 🙂

Ingredients

Basmati rice- 3/4th cup
Yellow Moong dal ( pasiparuppu)-1/2 cup
Butter- 1 tbsp
Bay leaf- 1
Cinnamon- 1/2 inch
Cardamom- 4
Cloves- 4
Star anise- 1
Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
Red chilli powder- 1 tsp
Coriander powder- 2 tsps
Jeera powder- 2 tsps
Dry mango powder- 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Crushed and chopped garlic- 1 tsp
Chopped onions- 1/2 cup
Chopped tomatoes- 1/2 cup
Chopped carrots – 1/2 cup
Chopped beans- 1/2 cup
Chopped cauliflower- 1/2 cup
Chopped spinach leaves( Palak)- 1/2 cup
Chopped capsicum- 1/4th cup
Sliced almonds- 1 tbsp
Melted ghee- 1 tsp
Whole jeera- 1 tsp
Chopped coriander leaves- 1 tbsp

Method

Wash and soak rice and dal together for half an hour. Drain and keep it aside.

Heat butter in a heavy bottom pan.
To the melted butter add all the whole garam masala. Sauté for few seconds. Add garlic. Sauté for few seconds. Now add the onions and sauté again for few seconds.
Add beans, carrots, cauliflower, capsicum, spinach leaves and tomatoes one by one and sauté for few mins.
Add salt to taste, turmeric powder, coriander powder, jeera powder, chilli and dry mango powder and mix well.

Add the drained rice and dal and mix well very. Sauté for few mins.

Add two cups of water, mix well and check the seasonings.
Reduce the flame, close the lid with a pan and cook till rice becomes soft and dry. Stir once in between.
After switching off the gas, keep the pan closed for 10 mins, so that the rice becomes completely dry.

Heat ghee in a pan. Add the jeera and badam slices. When the badam turns slightly golden, add it to the rice. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with raita of your choice. I have serve with Papad and pomegranate raita 🙂

Recipe for Papad and Pomegranate Raita

https://anubala29blog.wordpress.com/2015/02/11/papad-and-pomegranate-raita/