Rice Stew with Capsicum and Black Olives

When you find a bowl of left over rice in your fridge, you tend to get creative.

Hundreds of variation can be made with plain rice; all we need is just imagination and ingredients.

I surf my fridge to see what else can I find? 

Hmmn! There is capsicum, , lime leaves, green chilies  and a tin of black olives……and yeah, I also have onions and garlic.

Okay, that should be enough to create a dish and then suddenly I see this small packet of Ching’s secret:  ‘New Chowmein Miracle Masala’

Now this packet has been lying in my fridge since it came with a magazine as sample piece - some two months ago - and I had been meaning to try this one but never had a chance…there is a graphic of noodles on the packet, but there is no hard and fast rule that I must use noodles, is there? The print is so fine that I can hardly read the instructions or the ingredients.

I cut open this packet and smell..okay…reddish brown masala smells quite good. (I am hoping it's vegetarian and does not contain any animal fat or some useless bone powder.) I take a pinch of this masala to taste…its salty, spicy and contains agnomoto so I decide to use this too…..That means I must not use too many chilies and not use any salt at all…..

I quickly slice the cucumber and tomatoes and keep it aside to go with the rice dish….

Then the cooking begins

Step one:

Crush 3 garlic pods with 3 dried red chilies in the pestle.

Step two:

Slice one medium onion, one medium tomato, one medium capsicum, 2 green chilies, 6 olives

Step three:

Heat one tbsp olive oil and fry the crushed garlic and red chilies, add onions, tomatoes, capsicum, and 1 cup cooked rice, stir well

Step four:

Add the Chowmein Masala, and 4-5 lime leaves, mix and then add corn flour solutions (1 tbsp cornflour to 1/2cup water) Stir till the sauce thickens.

Step five:

Add the chopped black olives.

Step Six:

Transfer the stew rice in the plate, arrange the cucumber and tomatoes

Click the picture for your FB profile to share with your friends whom you didn't invite and sit down to eat…hot, hot…

You may have a cup of green tea if you find the masala too hot……just tissue to wipe the nose will not suffice.......

Misal and Usal- The Favorite Street Food in my City

Misal and Usal are the favorite street food of Maharashtra, and anyone who has not tried this dish on their visit to our city, is really missing something. You are likely to find at every street corner and in every local hotel, the smaller the restaurant, tastier is the dish.

First and foremost, let me tell you the difference between Misal and Usal, or else, you might end up ordering the wrong dish.

You see, both Misal and Usal can be eaten with Indian bread rolls called Pav, to prepare Misal first make 'Usal' which is a water based curried preparation of cooked sprouted lentils and then, when topped with pohay, Chivda, farsaan, raw chopped onions and tomato it is called Misal. This is a healthy food made from tiny dried dark-green beans call matki (Moth beans). Some use the combination of 3-4 different kinds of beans.

Now beware!

Misal Pav is not for people with elite stomach, who are so delicate that even a small innocent chilli can scratch the lining of their intestine and they end up vomiting the whole day and might even need bed rest for a week or two, till their stomach learns to behave itself. 

No,Hello Mister NRI, this is not for you too.  

Many of my NRI friends get vaccinated before coming to India and still risk all that street food only on their last day of their visit.

How sad!

It is the food for rough and tough people who can eat almost everything, not caring about its hygienic values. It is for people who live in Maharashtra and who don’t use wet tissue papers before and after every meal. It is for people who enjoy spicy food that drifts them to nirvana.

The main ingredient that is used in Usal is ‘Goda’ masala.

Now you will ask me how do I make Goda masala? Ask! Ask!

Well...This is a paste which can be made and stored in air-tight bottles to be used as required. 

Okay, here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

150gms small coriander seeds

50gms cumin seeds

50gms dried red chilies

25gms white sesame seeds

25gms dried coconut

25gms cloves

10gms cinnamon sticks

10gms peppercorns

15gms bay leaves

10gms cardamom

1/2 tsp asafetida

I inch turmeric stick

Method:

• 1.     Roast coriander seeds, dried red chilies and cumin seeds
• 2.     Roast white sesame seeds and dried coconut separately
• 3.     Roast rest of the spices separately
• 4.     Mix all the roasted ingredients and grind it together
• 5.     Spread it for some time to bring it to room temperature, then bottle it and store it in air tight container.

This Goda masala is what gives that authentic taste to the Maharashtrian dishes.

But if you are in hurry and don’t have a prepared ‘Goda masala’, you could take a cup of grated coconut and one big onion sliced length-wise, fry with garlic(one pod) and ginger(small slice) and grind it with dry garam masala.

Now let us concentrate on preparing Misal Pav

Step 1

In Matki, dried lentils are used. 1 cup of beans are soaked for 7-8 hours, and then wrapped in moist towel for another 7-8 hours till you see the beans sprout.

Step 2

Take marble-size tamarind and soak it in one cup of water, boil it and extract the pulp.

Step 3

Grind the following ingredients into smooth paste: 1/2tsp cumin seeds, ½ tsp peppercorns. ½ tsp fennel seeds, 2 cloves, 1tbsp coriander powder, pinch of asafetida, 5 red chilies, 1inch ginger, 2 medium onions, 2cloves garlic, 3tbsp fresh grated coconut.

Step 4

In a pressure cooker, steam-cook the sprout beans and thinly sliced potatoes. Mash the potatoes when soft.

Step 5

In a separate pan, heat 2tbsp oil and splutter 1tsp mustard, add 1tsp sugar and one finely chopped onion, sauté till light brown.

Step 6

Add red chili powder and the ground paste that you made in step 3, fry till oil leaves the sides.

Step 7

Add the cooked sprouts and potatoes that you made in step 4,

Step 8

Add the ‘goda’ masala, garam masala, salt and the 1 cup tamarind extract pulp that you made in step2

Step 9

Keep it on medium flame and cook it till the gravy becomes thick but liquidy.

Your Usal is ready, you can have it with Indian bread(pav)

For those who want to eat Misal, wait, there is more.You must follow the next step

Step 10

Take a large bowl, just enough for one serving. Serve the Usal and top it with farsan, chiwda, red chili powder, finely chopped onions, green chillies, tomatoes, and coriander leaves, squeeze few drops of lime juice on it.

Serve it with bread.

Ps: For those who live out of India, the Sev and the Farshan packet you can find it at Indian grocery stores.

Okay I am drooling now………

Sol Curry

It’s always good to learn to make things that we like the most, or else, we will be always waiting for somebody to cook for us, whenever we need to have that particular dish.

Not that our friends/family mind, they will always be happy to cook for those who appreciate their cooking but then, no harm in learning the skill, no?

Every time, I have lunch at my friend’s home, the drink that I like the most is ‘Sol-curry’, its’ pungency, tanginess  and sweetness combination makes it a refreshing appetizer. Sometimes I mix it with rice and vegetables, and sometimes, I have a glassful at the end of the meals.

In many Malwani homes, this drink is used as a good digestive supplement and is served at every meal.

One of the important ingredients that is used in Sol curry is Kokam, which is very beneficial for health. It is used for treating skin rashes and indigestion. Kokam has cooling properties and it also controls pitta level in our body.

Last time, I had loved it so much that I had asked my friend for a recipe, but instead of extracting fresh coconut milk, I had used coconut milk powder that we get at supermarket, so naturally it was flop.  So this time, I asked my friend to make it in front of me. And this is how she made it:

Collected all the ingredients

1 cup grated coconut

Finely chopped green chilies

½ inch ginger

2 cloves garlic

4 tablespoons coriander leaves.

3-4 kokam leaves.

Salt to taste

Ready, steady, go:

Step 1:

Transfer into the mixer coconut, chilies, garlic, ginger and 2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves and warm water.

Step 2

Grind it to a thin paste.

Step 3

Strain the coconut milk. Do the step 2 and 3 several times, adding warm water each time to the coconut husk collected each time after straining, till the husk is completely dry and no more milky.

Step 4

Add the remaining coriander leaves, kokam leaves and salt to the strained coconut milk.

Step 5

Serve it chilled.

That was the simplest way of making but if I were to make, I might try a bit differently.

I would like to temper cumin seeds, curry leaves, garlic, asafetida, kashmiri red chilies, mustard seeds and few coriander leaves and pour it over freshly squeezed coconut milk.

How would you make it? Have a variation?