Sholeh Zard – Persian Rice Pudding

This month in Mena's Cooking Club , I am travelling to Persia (Iran), and this is a sweet recipe chosen by our host Sanam of My Persian Kitchen. Sholeh Zard, a Persian rice pudding.

Sholeh Zard is very sweet and we had it as a dessert, however it is normally served as a Persian appetizer. The flavors are, saffron and rose water. Saffron has a very unique flavor and makes food yellow, naturally! Since saffron is very expensive, I have used a pinch and added turmeric powder to give that awesome color as you can see in the pics.

Serves: 6
Ingredients
1 Cup Rice - short grain variety
6 Cups Water
1 Cup + 2 Teaspoons Sugar
½ Teaspoon Saffron
1 Teaspoon Turmeric (for brighter color)
1 Cup Rose Water
1/4 Teaspoon Rose essence
1/3 Cup Almonds - silvered

Method

Bring 6 cups of water to a boil, add in short grain rice. Allow this mixture to boil until the rice is relatively soft. Keep removing the scum that rises to the surface.

Soak the saffron with a little warm water and keep aside.

Once the rice is soft, add in sugar, rose water, essence, almonds ( reserve few for decoration), turmeric and saffron water. Stir and let simmer till the sugar melts and the water is evaporated and rice is soft and still fluffy, add more hot water if needed.

Garnish with almonds and serve. Enjoy!

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Labels: Sweets & Desserts, Rice, Vegan, Continental Cuisine, Mena Cooking Club, Persia

Roasted Eggplant in Yogurt (Yogurtlu Patlican Kozleme)

This is a Turkish dish, this recipe is from the Turkish Cookbook.  This dish looked so simple and interesting that I had bookmarked it. 

This is my entry for the BM #50, theme Bookmarked recipes.

Ingredients
1 Big Eggplant / Brinjal
1 Cup Yogurt
2 Cloves garlic -  minced
1 Teaspoon Cayenne pepper or Chili flakes ( I used cayenne pepper)
1 Teaspoon Spearmint flakes ( dry mint crushed)
Salt to taste
For the Butter Pepper sauce
1 Tablespoons Butter
3 Flakes Garlic - crush it with a pinch of salt
1/4 Teaspoon Pepper - crushed

Method
Pierce the eggplant and roast them till the skin starts peeling off.  Let eggplant cool before handling. 
Peel off the skin and mash it with the knife.

For the Butter Pepper sauce
Heat butter in a pan add the garlic and pepper stir in for a second. The sauce is ready.

In a separate bowl, combine yogurt, minced garlic and salt. Mix well. Stir in the mashed eggplant to the yogurt sauce. Mix well.  Drizzle the butter-pepper sauce on top and a pinch of cayenne pepper and spearmint flakes. Serve this chilled.

I enjoyed this dish as my dinner, had it with garlic bread.  The butter pepper sauce  makes this dish yummy. Do give this a try.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#50.

Labels: Continental Cuisine, Blogging Marathon, Brinjal, Turkey

Bhendi Masala

This recipe is from a cooking show on television. What I, liked about this recipe is that, all ingredients used are readily available in the kitchen pantry. The gravy texture is smooth and thick. It's a mouthwatering , easy to make and taste very good. We had this Bhendi Masala with rotis, you can have it with steamed rice too.

This is my entry for the BM #50, theme Bookmarked recipes.

Ingredients

250 gms Bhindi / Okra
1 Large Tomato - grated
2 Teaspoons Desiccated coconut
2 Green Chillies - slit
1 Teaspoon Ginger-Garlic paste
1 Large Onion -  grind to paste
1 Teaspoon Cumin-Coriander Powder
1/4 Teaspoon Turmeric Powder
1 Teaspoon Red Chilli Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Garam Masala Powder
3 - 4 Tablespoons Oil

1/2 Teaspoon Sugar

A pinch Asafoetida

A sprig Curry leaves
Salt to taste

Method

Choose small size bhendis,  wash and wipe them dry.  Trim the top and the bottom .  

Cut them into 3 pieces and fry them in oil on high flame for 2 -3  minutes only ( do not cook them ). Remove and keep aside.

In the same pan fry the onion paste till light brown add asafoetida and garam masala, chilly powder, turmeric and fry till oil leaves. Add grated tomato and fry again till the tomatoes are cooked, then add desiccated coconut, cumin - coriander powder and fry well  till oil leaves the sides .  Add bhendi, stir fry till the masala coats the bhendi, then add 3/4 to 1 cup water  and let it boil well for 2 minutes.  Add salt,  ginger garlic paste,  cover and cook for 3 minutes till oil floats on the surface.  Add slit green chilly, curry leaves and switch off  the flame immediately.  

Serve with rice or rotis.  Enjoy !!!

Labels : Bhendi, Vegetarian, Okra, Main course 

Cabbage Poriyal

Cabbage is an excellent source of Vitamin C & K. It is also a very good source of fiber, manganese and vitamin B6. It has anti cancer properties. It is low in calories and high in nutritional value. 

Poriyal is a dry vegetable preparation flavored with generous amounts of fresh grated coconut. Cabbage Poriyal is a South Indian main course preparation . Poṟiyal serves as a side dish to a three-course meal of rice with sambhar or rasam and curd.

This is my entry for the BM #50, theme Bookmarked recipes.

Recipe source here
Ingredients

2 Cups  Cabbage - shredded
1 Teaspoon Mustard seeds
1/2 Teaspoon Urad dal
1 Green chilly -  slit
2 Whole dry red chillies - broken
A sprig of Curry leaves
A pinch of Turmeric powder
1/4 Cup  Coconut - grated
3 Teaspoons Oil
Salt to taste

Method

Heat the oil, add the mustard seeds and urad dal and let the seeds crackle. Add the green chilli, dry red chillies, curry leaves and turmeric powder and stir for few seconds.

Add the cabbage, salt, sprinkle water and cook over a medium flame till the cabbage is tender. Add the grated coconut, mix well and serve hot.

This vegetable is very tasty,  we enjoyed it, the aroma of curry leaves and crunchiness of the urad dal  gives a unique taste to this poriyal. 

Labels: Cabbage, Vegetarian, Main course, South Indian, Vegan, Gluten free

Barik Methi

Barik methi means tender leaves of fenugreek seeds. This vegetable is grown in the sand. We in Mumbai eat this a lot since this is available throughout the year. It has a little bitter taste, hence this vegetable is not liked by my hubby and daughter ... they simply dislike this vegetable. On the other hand I simply love this vegetable, even make a salad of it and enjoy eating this veggie. This vegetable requires a lot of washing, cleaning and water because its grown in sand, hence time consuming. It has a lot of water content, when cooked reduces to 1/4 the quantity. To balance the bitterness of this vegetable you need an equal amount of onions. I make this vegetable using different masalas. But today I, am going to share a very simple yet tasty recipe.

This vegetable is available in bundles unlike other veggies which are sold in kilograms. This vegetable is highly perishable and needs to be prepared the same day.


Ingredients
15 bundles Barik Methi
2 Green chilles - finely chopped
2 Medium Onions - finely sliced
1/4 Teaspoon Turmeric powder
3 Tablespoons heaped Oil

1 Teaspoon Sugar
Salt to taste


Method

Washing the Barik Methi

Take the bundles in a deep bowl filled with water and keep them immersed for 5 minutes. The sand will settle down then gentle lift each bundle and keep aside, again do this process two or three times. The last washing I do under running water. Take each bundle and hold it under the tap and with you fingers just wash the leaves and stem. Keep them to drain in a colander for 5 minutes.

Then lay each bundle on the chopping board and chop a little tail end of it. Then cut the thread ( a piece of grass) and throw it way and chop this in three to four pieces only.

In a kadai, heat the oil. Add onions fry till translucent, add the green chillies and saute for a minute, add the turmeric powder, methi and cook till the methi, stirring after every two minutes. When nearly cooked add the salt and sugar, again cook till the methi is done and the water evaporates. Once the water has evaporated, remove from flame and serve hot . This taste excellent with bhakris.  Happy eating!!!

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Labels : Blogging Marathon, Vegetables, Methi