leftovers – Indian Culinary Center, NYC

Meat Pulao (rice casserole) with leftovers and a Raita

July 25, 20171 Comment

A couple of weeks ago I made a beef curry which was wonderfully delicious.

https://indianculinarycenternyc.wordpress.com/2017/07/10/sunday-beef-curry-with-potatoes/

What was leftover was not enough to feed 3 people – the number of people in my household and so I repurposed it into a pulao (rice casserole). This was enough to happily feed 3 people and it was also a new dish from leftovers.

I like to cook this way and following are the instructions to make the rice.

I have several recipes for rice on the blog and as most of my recipes, these are suggestions and feel free to use what you have.

Saute an onion and a tsp. of cumin in a tsp of oil. Cook for about five minutes and then add the leftover beef curry (or any curry you may have on hand). Heat through and add frozen peas if you like. Now add a cup of basmati rice (more if you have a lot of leftovers). Stir well and brown the rice a little. Next add 2 cups of water (a little less if there is a lot of sauce in the curry) and bring to a boil uncovered. Taste the water for seasoning – add some salt if you need it.

When the water comes to a boil, lower the heat to a simmer and cover for about 15-20 or until all the water has been soaked up.

Let stand for a few minutes.

In the meantime I made a raita (a yogurt dish with various ingredients like cucumber, onions, tomatoes or herbs).

I had a boiled potato that I diced, a tomato and sliced a red onion. Mixed in plain yogurt. Seasoned with salt, cumin powder and dried mint.

Now serve the rice with the raita.

You have a new and delicious dinner.

Until I cook again!

Missi Roti (Indian flat breads)

March 22, 2017September 26, 2017Leave a comment

Yesterday on face book I posted a simple dinner of parathas that my mother made for me. It got a lot of like and an interest in the recipe. There are so many ways to make this versatile bread – this is one way. I hope you try it and add it to your cooking repertoire.

Home made bread is a big deal in Indian homes. And by big deal I mean we eat it almost every day and most of it is made at home, at least when I was growing up.
There is roti, paratha, poori – most of which I have talked of in the past. I want to talk about what we call Missi Roti (why it’s called that – I am not sure). I tried to research it, trust me. This is all I got other than recipes: A Missi Roti is actually a normal roti, made with the normal dough as described earlier, to which various other types of flour and spices have been added. There isn’t any fixed recipe for this – it’s each one to his own here. One simple example would be to mix equal proportions of whole meal wheat and gram flour with some red chilli powder, salt, kasuri methi(fenugreek) and perhaps a little cuminseed, add some water and make a soft dough. You could also knead in a little oil if you like. When done, cook on a hot griddle like a normal Roti.

What’s in a name. Let’s just get to learn how to make it.
My mom typically makes this when there is leftover lentils – which is often.

I used 3 cups of durum wheat flour (found in Indian stores – use whole wheat instead)
1 cup of chickpea flour (optional)
1-2 cups of left over cooked lentils
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 tsp. methi (fenugreek leaves)
chopped cilantro
grated ginger (optional)
salt
1/2 tsp ajwain seeds (found in Indian stores)
2 tbs oil plus more for cooking the bread

You might not need to put any water – depends on the amount of liquid in the lentils.

Knead the dough with all the ingredients just until it comes together and you are able to handle it without it being too sticky.

This is what the dough should look like.
If you like, form a small ball, flatten it and cook it to check for seasoning.

Let the dough rest for about 30 minutes. If you refrigerate it, make sure you let it come to room temperature before cooking.

Form golf size balls of the dough and roll out into discs.

Use an iron skillet (a tawa) or a non stick pan to cook the bread.
Cook on one side for a couple of minutes – flip and brush a little oil on both sides.

My mother makes several rotis and stores them just a little underdone.

You can freeze these and when ready to eat – heat in a toaster oven or on a skillet.

These bread are traditionally eaten for breakfast with yogurt and pickles or butter.

I hope you try this bread – it is a great way of cleaning your refrigerator.

Until I cook again!

Meat Ball Pulao (Pilaf)

July 13, 2016July 13, 2016Leave a comment

Some of you may remember I had made giant meatballs last week in a tomato sauce when I was cooking for my Super who was retiring.

I had made so many and I decided to make a rice dish with the left overs.I do this with many left over dishes – rice is comfort food for me and it can take on so many forms.

In Indian food rice is never a side dish – it is easily the main star.

Start with sauteing an onion in oil.

At this stage I would’ve added some whole spices like cloves, cinnamon stick and cardamom but the meatballs were plenty seasoned and there was also the tomato sauce.

After browning the onions, I added the sauce of the meatballs and then about 2 cups of Basmati Rice. Brown the rice for a couple of minutes and then add 3 cups of water.