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Rice and some goodness :-)

September 16, 2017

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All of us have at least one of those cheat favourites we cannot do without. The labour of a whole week callously goes down the drain while munching hungrily on an order of French Fries or downing spoonfuls of a tempting chocolate cake. Warnings of well-meaning people about their health concerns, calorie count or even adverse effects fall on deaf ears, as we shrug them off and treat ourselves to another helping of it.

I’m not an advocate of dieting but on my cheat days, if I have to, I prefer to select the empty calories of my choice. I will gladly swap a roadside Pav Bhaji for a trip to Pizza Hut or enjoy some crispy Jalebis over a box of butter cookies. Moderation is the key and if we practice it well, I believe we’ll never have to sacrifice anything at all.

Rice is something most nutritionists and dieticians ask us to keep a strict check on or possibly omit completely from our plate. This is sacrilege for the likes of me because even though I’m a Marwari and rice isn’t our staple food, I love my pulao, biryani, fried rice and also the humble homemade daal-chawal (with dollops of ghee).

If you’ve read my earlier posts you’ve probably noticed that I used coriander leaves in almost all of them. Apart from their health benefits, coriander leaves can lend colour and taste to an otherwise bland preparation and I love using them generously in my cooking. So, combining my two food loves, today I’m sharing a rice recipe with you which has lots of coriander (and vegetables) in it.

Coriander Vegetable Rice

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Ingredients:

Basmati rice (soaked for 15 minutes) – 1 cup

Coriander leaves – 2 cups

Green chillies – 3-4 no

Ginger – Half inch

Garlic – 5-6 cloves

Mixed vegetables of your choice (roughly chopped) – 1 cup

(carrots, capsicum, green peas, potato, caluliflower, etc)

Onion (finely chopped) – 1 no

Cloves and black pepper– 8-10 each

Cinnamon stick – 1 inch

Bayleaf – 1 no

Hing (Asafoetida) – Quarter teaspoon

Oil – 2 tablespoons

Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. Grind coriander leaves in a grinder with green chillies, ginger and garlic. Add water as required until it has a smooth chutney-like texture.

2. Blanch the mixed vegetables in hot water for 5 minutes. Heat oil in a pan and when it is hot add the cloves, black pepper, cinnamon stick, bayleaf and hing.

3. After they splutter and change colour, add finely chopped onions and sauté till they turn translucent.

4. Add the mixed vegetables and sauté for 1-2 minutes, then add the coriander paste and sauté for another 1-2 minutes. The coriander paste must retain its lovely green colour.

5. Drain the water from the soaked rice and add it to the pan mixture. Keep turning the rice in the pan gently so it doesn’t break and also mixes up nicely in it.

6. Sauté till the rice grains looks shiny and separated and is coated well with the coriander mixture. Add salt and water as required. Cover with a lid and let it cook for 10-15 minutes.

7. Your Coriander Rice is ready! Garnishing isn’t required, simply serve (and eat) it with a lot of love. 🙂

You can have it with Boondi or Pineapple Raita and papad, or just like that.

Hope you liked it and want to try it out.

What do you eat on your cheat days? Do let me know.

Alexa Rank on Sep 16, 2017

Sep 16

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117 thoughts on “Rice and some goodness :-)”

  12. I too cant do without rice atleast one meal a day. I am always on a look out for new rice recipes to try out. I have tried a coriander fried rice but yours looks like a better tasting recipe. Am definitely going to try this.

  24. I love eating rice. I am surely going to try the recipe.Also I follow Rujuta Diwekar’s page and she always says we can eat rice only the quantity and the time needs to be taken care of. So if we eat our dinner before 7:30 daily, we can surely include rice in the diet.

      1. Sure!! But I tried brown rice too. But you know I have this doubt about it because when I soaked it in water for 1 hour before cooking it’s brown colour came off. I used Kohinoor. Don’t know why that happened

  35. I also use coriander leaves whenever possible. It adds to colour and flavour and as you mentioned the health benefits too. Many times the leftover vegetables also make some delicious biryanis.

  38. I’d admit I’m just not into cooking at all. So, I only prefer cooking those dishes which are quick and easy. And this one looks both easy and delicious. I’m definitely gonna try it out. Will keep a track of your blog too, for easy recipes. Cheers!

    1. If you do get down to making it, I’ll be super happy! This one is very easy to make and will give you confidence to step into the kitchen more. Please feel free to come here anytime, dear. 🙂

  41. I can bet on this that it will be delicious as i know (Cause my mom makes it). I love rice and just cannot complete my day without having rice. My om makes various dishes with rice but Coriander rice and pudina rice are my favorites!

  49. Thanks for sharing this recipe. As a foodie and passionate about cooking I would lovevto try this. Good food has always been my weakness ????

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