Oriental Egg Fried Rice served with a Fried Egg

Oriental Egg Fried Rice 

served with a Fried Egg

It was my husband's birthday and he declared that we celebrate it for the whole week. By celebrate, he meant, I cook all his favorite dishes through the week! :)
So in the list was - Chinese fried rice and Egg Biryani. Since I had already made Egg Biryani recently, I chose to mix up his wish and make an Oriental Egg Fried Rice instead! Win Win situation for both of us. Since this was something new for my blog as well. ;)
It is a running joke in my home these days that I only cook for my blog. Since I do not like to repeat my dishes as it doesn't offer anything new for my blog.

Cilantro Pot rice (Spinach Infused)

Cilantro Pot Rice (Spinach infused)

I absolutely love this rice preparation. It is also called as Coriander Pot rice and its served at one of my favorite vegetarian restaurants located in Ghatkoper, Bombay (Yes, I still prefer calling it Bombay rather than Mumbai. Its still got an old charm to it. :) ) Anyways, coming back to this recipe, I had tried to replicate this dish back home and managed to nail it after few attempts. The original recipe asks for Ajinomoto to be added to it. However this time I chose to not add it. Couple of times before, I added sesame seeds while tempering just to give it a different flavor. That was good as well. So this time, I tried something different. I infused spinach juice while cooking the rice to get the flavor into it. I was experimenting with this and was impressed with the result. It did turn out well. The spinach did not stain the rice though but just gave the right flavor to it. I made it for 6 adults, hence the proportions are more. You can alter it according to your need.
This dish is also my go to recipe when I have no veggies at home and want a quick fix. So do try it out and let me know if you like it too. :)

Egg Biryani

Egg Biryani

My husband has been behind me to make Egg biryani since the last few weeks. Somehow it just was not happening. Something or the other would crop up and we would get busy over the weekend, thus postponing making this recipe. This weekend, with a puppy face he made me to swear that I would make it for him. I couldn't refuse him so I planned to make this a Sunday meal.

In my growing years, my neighbors who were Maharastrians made the most amazing Egg biryani I had ever had. They would either always invite me and my brother over to enjoy it or send us a generous serving at home. This was a Sunday event mostly. 

My mom was a pure vegetarian, she never touched an egg all her life, however we and our dad would enjoy this yummy dish together. It was in fact our dad who first introduced the egg to us. Like some Tam Brahm homes, we had separate utensils to cook egg which my mom ensured remained so. Fun days!

Today while making this dish, it bought back many happy childhood memories of those hot afternoons where as a family we would enjoy a meal. It surely was an eerie coincidence that it is Father's Day today, hence I dedicate this dish to my Hero - My dad. Although I made this today for my other Hero - My Husband! :)

This dish today was even more special because I used some home grown cilantro for garnishing. I know it may sound silly, but I thought this cilantro was more flavorful than the ones from the store. :)

Palak Khichdi

Palak Khichdi

Healthy Hara Bhara Pulav

Healthy Hara Bhara Pulav

This is my version of the famous spinach rice. As you are aware, I always try to make healthy yet tasty recipes rather than the boring diet food. This time I again chose Edamame as one of my main ingredient. It is surely starting to make a weekly appearance in my menu! Well, we are not complaining as it is very nutritious and tasty. Hence I decided to mix spinach and edamame to make my Hara Bhara Pulav using brown rice of course.

Soya Pulav

Soya Pulav

During my childhood days, I always looked up to one person apart from my parents. She was some years older to me but was my role model in every sense. She was a great cook too. I have grown up eating at their house practically every day as we were neighbors, thankfully!  On special occasions, she would make this soya pulav which we would enjoy till our hearts are full. Over the years I have tried repeating this dish but it never turned out the same. Somehow it never occurred to me to check with her how she made it. Thanks to the development of social media, I am able to be in touch with all my long lost friends. So when I got this craving to eat Soya Pulav today, I pinged her and viola, I had the recipe with all the secret ingredients and procedure. Though I did tell her that I do not expect it to turn out the way she makes it. But her words really motivated me. She said, "You will make the best Soya Pulav, I am sure!" So here I am with my version of Soya Pulav and this is dedicated to my mentor Uma. Thanks for this recipe. Love you. :)

Vaangi Bhaat made in brown basmati rice

Vaangi Bhaat made in brown basmati rice

I have not been a fan of brinjals since childhood. My mom would literally force it down my throat whenever it was made. So over the years I have never naturally picked up brinjals during my grocery trips and somehow I was very fine with it. during my courtship days, I got to know that my husband loves brinjals and asked me if I knew to cook them. I was in a spot. I did tell him then about my aversion to this specific vegetable but I also promised to cook it for him. So post our marriage, he was waiting for the day I made something using brinjals. Well to defend myself, I have cooked it at-least thrice over the last two years of being married. So yes, I am getting there. So far I stuck to the conventional South Indian recipes of cooking this vegetable but I really wanted to experiment and try something more with them. In my growing years, I had Maharashtrian neighbors who made this dish called vaangi bhaat. I decided to try it today with my own twist. Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we did having it.

Protein Pulav

Protein Pulav

As South Indians, we are primarily rice eaters and have a weakness for it specially when on a diet. As all the famous diets tell you to avoid white rice completely for obvious reasons, we are left with not much choice. We have tried avoiding rice completely but in vain. So we decided to try brown rice and thankfully have not been disappointed. Both, me and my husband the veg pulav made in brown rice. I usually flavor the rice so much that it doesn't feel any different. Yesterday I tried to make the traditional soya pulav with this twist.

Brown Rice Mushroom Pulav & Egg Curry

Brown Rice Mushroom Pulav & Egg Curry

My hubby loves egg curry and has always asked me to make it for him, however I was not very confident that I could pull it off. I kept postponing this, much to the dismay of my husband. I knew he secretly hoped that I would surprise him one fine day. Well today was that one fine day! :)
While browsing through the internet for healthier vegetarian meal options which is high in protein as well, I stumbled upon mushroom biryani. My mind started working overtime on how to turn this recipe into a healthy one. I decided to use brown rice instead of white, I added more veggies and cooked it in just 1 tbsp of oil. Now I wanted to make some accompaniment to go with this and that is when it hit me - Egg curry! It was like now or never, I had to make it today. Specially when one is trying to loose weight, eat healthy, you really want to eat something tasty as well to keep you motivated. I immediately called up my friend in India and asked her to share their family recipe for making egg curry. I tweaked it a little depending on the spices available with me.

Lemon Rice

Lemon Rice

A south Indian's favorite meal - Lemon rice. Its a quick fix for all mothers. you just need lemons and rice. Again a popular item in weddings and all our happy occasions. Its tangy, spicy and tasty!

Brown Rice Pulao

Brown Rice Pulao

Being South Indians, me & my husband are a sucker for rice. It really is our weakness & specially when you are trying to shed those extra pounds off, eating rice doesn't help. So what do we do? Look for alternatives obviously. Meet Mr. Brown rice who initially I was very skeptical to even try! My husband said, "why not, lets give it a shot" & we landed up buying it from Walmart. It was stocked in my kitchen for more than a month now. I still had not made up my mind to try it. Finally yesterday I just thought - "What the hell, I will make it anyways, If it turns out well, then its our dinner, else my husband will have to finish it off! :)
So I decided to not take any chances & make it with all the spices & veggies to pep it up.