Mixed Vegetable Masala Pulao
All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts
William Shakespeare, As You Like It
The unpredictability of the past few days has sparked a flurry of comfort cooking, easy simple comfort cooking. This rice dish is simple, full of essential honest flavors. It is a Masala style Mixed Vegetable Pulao in the simple traditions of South Indian Vegetarian cooking, tempered with mustard, asafetida and curry leaves perked up with bright and cheerful turmeric.
As my daughter settle’s in to middle school, she brings back memories from the recesses of my world. Sixth grade or class six as we called it was an interesting time, and I was introduced to the most amazing teacher who helped me muddle through life’s increasingly bewildering landscape, Shakespeare, Hardy and the world at large. It has been a long time since, I thought of Shakespear, but believe it or not at a certain point of time I used to be quite the fan, pre-kids, I even dragged my husband over to Central Park to the summer stage.
The work world continues to be muddled almost as murky as the grey and rainy day, I watch the cloudy and turbulent East River as the train pulls into New York City. I am back to the days of four years ago, when I was unsure of where I would hang my hat. The kids are older, they are loosely aware of the tension I am bringing into the house. People complain often about monotony, I have long since learnt that there is a value to the tested and tried. I am not as much of a hopper as I used to be. I am a strange one, somehow, when I am out of sorts I tend to sleep more, of course, I could do worse things.
The kitchen is for adventures, lack of sameness and experimentation and I am happy to keep it contained there. Not all change is bad, after loads of working through and trying I am all squared away to making the new site change. This in fact, is my first non transition post. The recipe index and other things are coming along but slowly but surely, we are moving onto a new virtual home. How effective this move will be time will tell, will I be able to keep up with a post a day from next week as I had planned time alone will tell. For today, I am happy with the new logo and post, and shall add letting everyone else know about things to my list of things to do.
This recipe makes for a great lunchbox dish and of course a soccer season special.
A wholesome earthy one dish meal, full of colorful fresh fall vegetables mixed with the flavors of South India.
Ingredients
- 11/2 tablespoons oil
- 11/2 teaspoons mustard seeds
- 8 to 10 curry leaves
- ½ teaspoon asafetida
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- ¾ cup of chopped mushrooms
- 1 cup of mixed vegetables (Green beans, carrots and green peas)
- 1 tomato, finely chopped
- ½ teaspoon red cayenne pepper
- 11/4 cups of basmati rice soaked washed and drained thoroughly
- 2 cups of water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¾ teaspoon turmeric
- Chopped Cilantro to Garnish
Instructions
- Heat the oil and add in the mustard seeds and wait until the seeds begin to crackle. Stir in the curry leaves. Add in the asafetida and mix in the grated ginger.
- Stir in the mushrooms and mix vegetables and stir well.
- Add in the chopped tomato and stir in the red cayenne pepper and gently mix in the basmati rice.
- Stir in the water and bring to a simmer. Add in the salt and turmeric and cover and cook on medium low heat for 20 minutes. Check for doneness and let the rice rest for 15 minutes.
- Add in the chopped cilantro and grated carrots and serve garnished with the cilantro.