Saturday, August 19, 2017

TINDORA MASALA BHAAT - KOVAIKKAI(IVY GOURD) RICE

Back home a week ago and still in the settling mode.  Right from back home, everyday is a busy day in one or the another kind.   Jr.H turned 10 years last week, I feel great about it.  Motherhood has made me to be stronger, increased my willpower, strengthened my endurance and perseverance, boosted my creativity and had helped me to shape myself as a better version.  

Last weekend went quickly on weekend mode purchases and cleaning stuffs.   Start of the week was a festive day which made me super busy at home.  We celebrated Krishna Jeyanthi on Monday and I prepared homemade traditional snacks and sweets for it.   Here's visual treat for you :-)..

With life driving me through multiple priorities both at work and personal level at the same time, I am trying my best to deal with it patiently.  I find no time to sit for blogging and many of my colleagues have already started asking for my next post. Juggling between work and personal roles and duties isn't easy.  When I return back home after long work hours and challenging work pressures, I need to charge myself fully and act immediately upon family requests.   For next few weeks, it's going to be maddening busy schedule and am preparing myself for it. 

The work is with very demanding schedules and dealing with a bigger responsibility.  In between, health is not cooperating much and kind of feeling ill and exhausted, so I took complete rest today without moving out from home. 


For lunch, I prepared one of family's favorite, Tindora Masala Bhaat - Kovaikkai Rice.  Everyone in the family like this vegetable (Ivygourd) very much.   I used homemade vangibath masala powder which enhanced the flavor to the dish.  The crunchy textured tindora blended well with masala powder and the spicy aromatic rice went well with pappads and plain curd.


Ingredients: 
Cooked Basmatic rice - 2 cups
Kovaikkai/Ivy Gourd - 300 g
Onion - 2 (sliced thin)
Chilly powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Vangibhat powder - 3 tsp
Salt - to taste
Oil - 5 tsp

For the Vangibhat Powder (dry roast and grind):
Asafoetida – a small piece
Red chilies – 8-10 (adjust according to your spiciness level)
Bengal gram – 4 tsp
Urad dal – 4 tsp 
Coriander seeds/dhaniya – 4 tsp
Peppercorns - few

To Temper:

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Bengal gram - 1 tsp
Urad dhal - 1 tsp
Cinnamom - 1" inch piece
Cloves - 5-6
Curry leaves - few

Preparation:
1. Wash and cut the ivy gourds length wise and slice the onions thin.  

2. Soak basmati rice for 15 minutes in warm water and pressure cook for 2 whistles.  Allow it to cool once the pressure releases.  This can be varied with normal rice too.

3.  Dry roast the items given in the section "Dry roast and grind" and make the masala powder ready.  I usually have this ready made in my kitchen shelf.  I make in smaller quantities and use it for a week which would  help me a jiffy weekday.
4.  In a heavy bottom, throw in the tempering items one by one and lastly add the onions and little salt for the onions.  Once the onions turns slightly brown, add the cut ivy gourds (tindora vegetable) and add remaining salt, turmeric powder.  Cook in medium flame for 10 minutes turning in between, this would make the vegetable softer and crispy.
5.  Once the vegetable has cooked softly, add chilly powder and masala powder and mix well.  Keep in high flame for 3-5 minutes until the powders blend with the vegetable.
6.  Add the cooled cooked rice and mix gently.  Care must be taken not to make the rice mushy, so you have to mix gently.  Check for salt and can be added if needed.  You can reduce the masala powder to suite your family spice levels.  

7.  Masala bhaat is ready to be served.  I served with plain curd and pappads which accompanied the dish very well.  I also prepared tomato rasam and bhindi fry for lunch and it turned out to be a complete meal today.


No comments: