Spinach Coconut Rice ~ One pot variety rice/ Lunch-box meal

Planning a lunch box meal is a great challenge to most of us, its easy to get stuck with ideas and get bored preparing the same old recipes over and over again. We always make sure that lunch is full packed meal since breakfast in our house-hold does not happen regularly and adding to this the climate at times is chill doesn't make us hungry. 

Thai Prawn Fried Rice ~ for the spicy couple ;-)

My husband and I love Thai food, and once we moved to London we were craving for a good Thai restaurant and in the process of doing so, I came across a similar recipe in  a cook show on TV. And guess what that evening planned to surprise him and it was a winner. The presentation is equally important and anyone can give it a go, it will definitely be a sweet surprise for the person you are cooking this for. I did not make any sauce or curry to go with it since the rice had enough spice.


Ingredients I used :


Serves approx 2 people
Prawns - 300 gms (cleaned, de-veined, medium sized)
Spring onions - 1 bunch
Garlic - mince of 8-10 pods
Onion - 1 medium sized
Red chilli flakes - 1 tsp
Light soy sauce - 2 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1/4 tsp
Egg - 2 for scramble
Rice - 1 cup (preferably basmati/ long grain rice)
Oil - 3 tsp


How I did it :


Rice - The rice is the most important ingredient for this dish, hence it has to be done the right way, boil the rice so that it is cooked well and not mushy. Like you see in the picture, where the rice grains are separated well. I usually use the cooker to boil rice and  I let it cook for 4 whistles. Once this is done let it cool down to room temperature and pack it in a container and refrigeration it for at least 5 hours or best if it stays overnight. Usually I cook the rice in the morning, freeze it for cooking later in the evening. Remember you need not add salt or anything else while boiling the rice


1. In a hot wok/ pan heat the oil and add the garlic along with the prawns and onions, give it a good stir and let it cook for 3 minutes, add a bit of salt to this.
2. add the red chilli powder, soy sauce, red chilli flakes and stir well.
3. once this is done, now move this mixture to one end of the pan/wok and on the other end add the beat eggs with salt and scramble them, mix it all together.
4. now add the rice and spring onions give it a good stir and let it cook for 4-5 minutes.
5. serve hot


For Rice setting :


Take a small cup/ bowl dab little oil in it and grease the inside completely. to this fill the rice in the cup and press it inside so that the rice it fully packed in the bowl. Now reverse the contents of the bowl on the serving plate. Place 2 prawn pieces on top of the rice mold to give it a restaurant effect. You could even serve it with some vegetables in the side.


Tip -


- the rice needs to be cooked and refrigerated prior to doing the dish.
- soy sauce is usually salted hence watch with the salt
- you could even add some vegetables to this dish, do as you pleace

Arusiyum Paruppu Sadam / Parrupu Sadam / Dhal Rice~ Coimbatore Special

After marriage I had to learn a few recipes and this was the first of them all, since my husband is from Coimbatore and this was his favorite dish, I searched online to find the recipe. But as days went by I adapted it into my own recipe. Now this has become a staple dish at home, I make this almost every week or in a day when I am not sure what to cook, did you hear me right? Yea its a simple recipe and can be done when you are feeling really lazy.

Some people add vegies to this - carrot, beans or even potato, but we like it to be simple with just dhal. It can be paired with applam/ papads, curd and pickle as simple as that. 

Prep time ~ 20 mins

Serves ~ 2

Ingredients 

Rice - 1 cup

water - 2 1/2 cup 

Thoor Dhal/ Thovar Dhal - 1/4 - 1/2 cup

Tomato - 1 medium (finely chopped)

Onion - 1 medium (finely chopped)

Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tsp

Curry leaves - 6-7

Sambar powder - 2 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Jeera whole - 1/4 tsp

Hing - pinch

Salt - to taste

Oil/ ghee - 3 tsp

Corriander - to garnish

Method 

• Soak dhal and rice for 30 mins - 1 hour
• In a pressure cooker, add oil, add mustard seeds and let it pop, jeera, hing, curry leaves and onions, cook for 30 sec, add ginger-garlic paste and tomato let it cook
• add masalas and combine well, add the soaked rice and salt, add enough water to cook, at this stage taste the water to check for salt 
• close the lid and let it cook for 10mins/ 3 -4 whistles
• garnish with corriander and serve hot