Lemon Rice

Lemon rice is  nothing but lemon-flavored rice! As easy as that. It’s again one of the most popular quick-fixes we South Indians rely on. Is there an outing? A long train journey? Lemon rice will surely be one of your trusted companions to keep your tummy happy. It is as tasty as it is simple. Anyone can do this! 

Ingredients:

1. 1.5 cups of raw rice
2. 2.5 big lemons (This is an approximate that mostly works well. The tartness of the lemons vary widely, so it’s up to your preference to either increase of decrease the quantity, although I wouldn’t advise decreasing it.)
3. 1 teaspoon of bengal gram dhal or channa dhal
4. 1 teaspoon of split urad dhal / split black gram
5. 1 teaspoon of black mustard seeds
6. 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon of Hing
7. 1 Teaspoon of Turmeric
8. 1-2 dry red chillies
9. 2 green chillies, finely diced
10. A few curry leaves
11. Some coriander leaves
12. Salt to taste - about 1.5 teaspoons
13. Two tablespoons of vegetable oil/Olive oil

Preparation:

1. Cook the 2 cups of rice (the rice:water ratio depends on the type of rice, but it is usually 2 cups of water for 1 cup of rice, if you like your rice to be firm and al dente, else it is 2.5-3 cups of water per cup of rice)
2. Squeeze the juice out of the lemons. Add salt and turmeric powder to the juice.
3. In a deep vessel, heat the oil. Once the oil heats, splutter the mustard seeds. Following which, add the channa dhal, urad dhal, red chillies, green chillies, curry leaves, and Hing and saute for a bit. Once the pulses begin to brown a bit, turn off the heat. This is basically the seasoning.
4. When the rice is cooked, fluff it with a fork to make it light and fluffy. Mix the rice with the prepared seasoning.
5. Then, slowly add the lemon juice mixture to the rice, and mix the rice with all the juice. Check for salt, and tartness. Add more salt or lemon juice as per your taste.
6. Garnish with coriander leaves.
7. Let the lemon rice rest for at least 30 minutes before serving, so that the flavors meld. Serve with papad, chips, or vadams (basically anything crispy)

That’s it! There are a few variations to these basic steps. Some people toast cashews and raisins to make the rice more rich and flavorful. Some others mix the lemon juice and turmeric along with the seasoning, and then add the rice. Having tried all these variations, I can say that the taste remains just the same. One thing I perceived is that the lemons in the US are not as tart and sharp as the little Indian ones. So, I always find myself wanting more lemons than present. I’ve never tried making this with limes though... perhaps that will make a difference!

Bread Upma

Bread Upma? What happened to Rava Upma, Semia Upma, and other upmas endorsed by and perfected by Meenakshi Ammal and the rest, you ask. Good question. Although it seems like I often stray away from the aforementioned project (and book), I have been diligently trying out her recipes. I have a huge backlog of recipes/stories/dishes to post, but they are a little involved and require the most elusive ingredient of all - time. And right now, too many things are going on. So I am utilizing my lunch break to type out the simpler posts.

Bread upma is basically a quick-fix. Every South-Indian resorts to this when a meal needs to materialize within 15 minutes. It doesn’t involve roasting the rava/semia/bread or time to properly cook it, and hence becomes a tad more easier to make.

Upma presents itself as an empty canvas. You can add your own spices, seasoning, and vegetables once you understand the fundamental formula. Actually, every dish is like that. Once you connect with the basic principles, you’ll find plenty of room to innovate and adapt. But the core remains the same. So, it’s essential that one understands and masters the core.

Ingredients

1. 7 slices of bread (any kind of bread. Whole wheat, multi-grained is a healthy choice). Remove the crust, and cut the bread into bite-sized pieces. 7 slices may seem like a lot, but bread reduces in size as it touches heat, oil, and the spices.
2. 1 medium-sized onion, finely diced
3. 2 tomatoes, diced
4. ½ cup of carrots
5. 1 cup of mixed vegetables, such as beans, corn, any other left over vegetable (I usually have a bag of mixed vegetables in the freezer for such quick fixes)
6. 2 green chillies, finely sliced
7. 1 teaspoon of finely diced ginger
8. 1 teaspoon of mustard seeds
9. 1 teaspoon of jeera (cumin) seeds
10. 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder
11. 1/4 teaspoon of Hing
12. 2 teaspoons of curry powder (any spicy powder of your choice)
13. 2 tablespoons of vegetable/olive oil
14. Salt to taste
15. Coriander leaves for garnishing
16. A slice of lemon for garnishing

Preparation

1. In a pan, heat the oil. When oil is heated, splutter the mustard seeds. Then add the cumin seeds, chillies, ginger, turmeric powder, and Hing, and saute a bit.
2. Next, add the onions and saute till it becomes translucent or golden brown. Some people don’t like their onions well roasted, so it depends on your choice.
3. Add the tomatoes and saute till it becomes soft.
4. Now dump all the remaining vegetables and stir them all together.
5. Add salt, and curry powder. Saute till the vegetables are evenly coated with the spices.
6. Pour ½ cup of water, close the lid on the pan, and wait for it to come to a boil. Once the water comes to a boil, check whether the vegetables are cooked. Else, cook for a little while with the lid closed. Make sure all the water is evaporated. (The more finely chopped the vegetables, the faster they cook).
7. Once the vegetables are cooked, add the bread pieces. Reduce the heat to low, and gently mix the bread in the vegetable curry until all the pieces are evenly incorporated with the spices. The bread tends to soak up all the oil and turn mushy, so take care not to vigorously stir - you will then end up with bread paste. You may add a little more oil to fry/roast the bread before adding it to the vegetable mix. But I prefer to keep oil to a minimum.
8. Once the bread is mixed, turn off the heat. Garnish with a liberal bunch of cut coriander leaves, and the juice of half a lemon.
9. Serve with a side of spicy pickle or cooling yogurt.

Lemon juice actually spruces up all the flavors of a dish. I never used to add lemon juice at the end of most dishes, for I feared the dish would be overpowered by the intense lemon flavor. But, trust me, a small amount of lemon juice amplifies the flavors of the dish, and doesn’t stand out as being tart and lemony.

Chocolate Espresso Cheesecake

So, finally, here is the cake that was baked for Anand’s birthday this year. Having never tried a cheesecake before, I bravely ventured into it and tried Ina Garten’s Chocolate Espresso Cheesecake. To date, this is the most sinfully delicious cake I’ve ever baked! I couldn’t bring myself to stop licking the cake batter off the sides of the dish :). It was so fantastic that I wanted to cry.

The cake’s crust is graham crackers + butter + cinnamon. The filling is a whole lot of cream cheese + melted chocolate + coffee + sour cream + vanilla + almond extracts + baking soda, powder and salt. And the topping is chocolate ganache. Can it be more chocolatey? Highly rich, sinfully decadent. I loved the mocha flavor. But thank God there were about 13 of us to share all the calories and be content with a small slice of the cake :). 

 

Lessons Learned:
I did learn a few lessons though. I was surprisingly not daunted by making a cheescake, for I trusted Ina and her recipes so completely and blindly! I followed every step carefully, but still forgot to add ½ teaspoon of Kosher salt. I don’t think it dramatically changed the cake. But, what did happen was - the top of the cake cracked a lot. Apparently, this is a common problem with cheesecakes due to uneven heating of the pan. So I’m guessing my spring-form pan wasn’t that great. But to avoid such cracking, experts advise that the cheesecake be baked in a tray of lukewarm water to ensure even cooking. It’s called a water bath. I was so disappointed that Ina missed out this crucial step, and couldn’t stop sighing at how perfect her cake was in comparison to mine! But oh well, next time I’ll try the water-bath. And perhaps place the pan on the second rack in the oven - a little away from the heat. Due to the cracking, I had to add the chocolate ganache on top. I was initially thinking of eliminating this extra dose of chocolate, but the cracking forced me to cover it all up with yummy chocolate.

Secondly, I didn’t particularly care for the cinnamon in the crust. I just wanted chocolate and coffee flavors, and the cinnamon was distracting. I would skip the cinnamon the next time. But on the whole, this is a great recipe!

Jeera Cheddar Cookies

As a child, I used to love the melt-in-your-mouth butter biscuits. Later, I grew up and butter-biscuits grew out of my reach, but its cousin, jeera biscuits, became my favorite. Good for me, Anand loves it too, and always asks for them. So I always look for an opportunity to make them, with slight variations here and there.

This time, I tried this alluring recipe to make shortbread jeera cookies. I’ve tried both the fruity and savory versions of the shortbread cookies twice, and they have come out really well both times - especially the orange cookies - yum! The only minor changes I made to the savory version were - I skipped the thyme, added shredded cheddar instead of Parmesan cheese, and went heavy on the jeera - I added about 3 teaspoons. The thyme does add a nice aroma to the cookies, though.

It seems like this blog is more about recording recipes from a ton of sources, than coming up with innovative recipes of my own! It’s turning into a tribute to all these wonderful sources! Oh well, I’ll need more time to experiment a little more. Since most of the dishes I make are usually to entertain or to whip up something within a constrained time period, I really don’t feel like experimenting anything in that frenzied state.

Anyway, the recipe is quite perfect. It results in cookies that are crumbly, cheesy and cumin-y! The best part is, it envelops the whole house with the lovely aroma of butter and toasted cumin!

Almond Kulfi

In my tradition, a person has two birthdays per year. In addition to having a zodiac sign, Indians have a lunar sign based on the star that’s present during the time of one’s birth. So we get to celebrate two birth-dates! One is based on the Solar calendar, and the other is based on the lunar calendar that predicts when our  particular “star” rises. You can imagine how much fun this is for kids! They get goodies and wishes on two days!

Since we pay more importance to the lunar calendar, the star birthday is special. So, for Anand’s star birthday, I decided to make Kulfi! Since I now own popsicle molds, I was excited and eager to try Kulfi. While Anand is a huge fan of ice creams, I am not really one. Kulfi is the only exception. And it had been ages since I had one. When I was young, rare trips to Marina beach usually ended with Kulfis. As my cousin and I competed with each other on who would eat the Kulfi the slowest (so that the winner can taunt the loser!), it would melt and drip onto our clothes and muddied slippers, much to the rage of our moms. The smell of Kulfi stained clothes, the salty beach, and the feeling of gritty sea-smelling mud transports me back to a small fragment of my childhood. So, there were so many reasons to learn to make Kulfis.

Kulfi is basically condensed milk/cream, sugar, and nuts that get frozen into popsicles. It can even be refrigerated and relished as a rich creamy dessert like rasmalai. I personally prefer the latter version to the former. No matter which version, kulfis are as delicious as they are fattening!

 
I followed the recipe from here, and the resultant Kulfis were fabulous! The only minor change was that I used almonds instead of pistachios. The recipe clearly explains every single step, and I precisely ended up with 6 Kulfis! So if you follow the measurements, you can’t go wrong! It’s extremely easy!