Kothamalli Sadham - Coriander Rice

This is a one pot comfort meal which would give you an utter satisfaction to your taste buds.  Some years back, while having food at a restaurant in Chennai, DH ordered mini meals and he asked me to prepare something kind of this at home upon his first bite.  I was so surprised that because he hardly gives his first hand appreciation for any meal especially at hotels.  I tried many times after but never felt a complete satisfaction  about the outcome until I tried from Raks Kitchen, whose recipe I mostly try which has never failed.   She has made this without onion but I added onion which gave a touch of very mild sweetness to the dish.  In addition to that, I added ginger to give a pungent taste as my family likes it.

Ingredients:

Basmatic Rice - 1 cup

Coriander leaves - 1 bunch

Green chilli - 3

Coconut milk - 1.5 cup

Salt - as needed

Ginger - 1 inch piece

Onion - 1

To Temper:

Oil - 1 tsp

Cardamom - 1

Cinnamon - 1 inch piece

Bay leaf - 1

Preparation:

1. Soak basmati rice in warm water for 15 minutes.

2. Wash the coriander leaves in running tap water to remove the dirt, if any.

3. Grind it along with green chillies and ginger.  Make sure not to add much water as water in the coriander leaves would suffice or if needed add little while grinding.

                          

 

4.  Take milk from coconut ( You can use store brought coconut milk too but I always prefer to use homemade stuff).

                         

 

5.  In pressure cooker, add a tsp of oil and throw in tempering items one by one.  

6. Then, add sliced onion and once the onions have turned brown add the ground coriander paste.  Add necessary salt as well.  Let this be in flame for 2 minutes until the raw smell disappears.

                       

 

7.  Now add the coconut milk.  Also add the basmati rice at this stage.  Water should be drained from soaked rice before adding.

                     

 

8. Close the lid and pressure cook for a whistle.  Once pressure releases, mix well and garnish with fried cashew nuts.

I have packed coriander rice, plain raita, masala vadai, curd rice, homemade pickle, fruit mango, potato chips (shop brought), and pomegranate juice for lunch to DH.  Later could see some smile in his face, what else a woman need from her people :-)....