Why are you on Orkut or FaceBook ?
Why would you want to see pictures of the girl-you-hated-in-Kindergarten holidaying in Corfu while you are shoveling snow in some god damn suburb of New York ?
How will it help to know that girl from section C third grade who used to come over for homework help has just been hired by the company who rejected your resume thrice ?
Why would you want to see your one time crush smiling at you from his profile pic, svelte wife, fat kids and a steel gray BMW in tow ?
Why would you in midst of a hectic day forgo lunch and pause to fish out a picture of yours from last summer when your tummy was still in and post it on Facebook ?
Why would you write comments like "Cho chweet baby" and "Best Couple ever" on your networked friend's pics when you really don't care a nickel about the baby or couple ?
Why would you want to see a person's life in delta(t) time and ruin yours in +t time ?
Why do you want to connect to people whom you you took no effort to remember even two years back when you were not Orkutting ?
Why do you hate Brown Rice ?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind
Early summer my neighbors had heaped me with bushels of mint leaves. I am not sure if Mint leaves come in bushel but any way I want to use that word so "bushel of mint leaves" it is. I am not a huge fan of Mint and anyway there was too much of it. When those leaves were almost wilting and crying for help I put them in the blender with few green chillies, made a paste and froze the paste. Result was my freezer was full of Ziploc bags holding pretty green frozen cubes of mint.
Most of those cubes I used to make a Pudina Rice with Brown Rice. Brown Rice is kind of a staple at our home for Saturday Lunch, if we are having a Saturday Lunch at all. Also if there is a Saturday Lunch it is usually a one pot meal, quick, easy convenient. The Mint Rice or Pudina Rice suits that purpose to the hilt. Flavorful it imbibes the Brown Basmati with a fragrance and taste that makes a Brown Rice hater just forget that he discriminates rice by color & creed.
Note: I am not on Orkut or Facebook, don't go finding me there. The questions are triggered by this very honest post and comments from real life friends
Read more...
Pudina Rice/Mint Rice
Prep
Soak 2 cups of Brown Basmati for half an hour. You can also use White Basmati but then the water required to cook will vary.
Make a paste of half of a large red onion(or 1 small red onion), 4-5 cloves of garlic, 1" of peeled ginger and 4 tbsp of Mint Leves (Pudina) paste. Add 2-3 green chillies to make the paste, I didn't because Saturday Lunches are for everyone in the family even the non-chili eaters. Note: My neighbors had given me lots & lots of mint/ pudina over summer, which I had transformed into a paste which I then froze, so that is why I say paste here. I am not sure but I think a bunch or two of mint would suffice. Update on 12/21: I did this again last week and this time I added corriander leaves along with the mint to make the paste. beautiful end result.
Start Cooking
Heat Oil
Fry 1/4 cup of cashews to lightly brown, remove and keep aside
Temper the oil with 4 clove, 2 green cardamom and 1" thin stick of cinnamon
Add the onion + garlic + ginger + mint paste and fry till you see the oil seeping out of the sides of the masala
Add 1 tsp of coriander powder, half a potato chopped in quarters, and any veggies you like. I added 1/3 cup of peas & carrots. Cauliflower cut in small florets would have worked very well too. Fry for 3-4 minutes with a little sprinkle of water
Drain the rice, smear with little ghee and add to above. Add 1/4 tsp of Biryani Masala and fry the rice for a couple of minutes
Add water to measure. For 2 cups of Brown Basmati I added about 5 cups of water. Read your rice package for directions.
Add salt and let the rice cook. Once the rice is cooked add the fried cashews and a pinch of sugar if you like sweet.
There your one pot meal is ready in no time
Serve with a papad, some yogurt or raita on the side and a salad of cucumber & radish
Similar Recipes:
Brown Rice -- Methi Rice
Brown Rice -- Tomato Rice
