THE RECIPE LARDER

Corn Pulao

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There is something about the farm  in full bloom, the birds happy with themselves, bees humming, butterflies swarming around, and our two dogs furtively chasing away the monkeys (who want to uproot our vegetable patches!). The entire happy cycle of nature makes my soul sigh in satisfaction.

This season we got bushels and bushels of corn from our farm in Mahabaleshwar. And strawberries. And radish.  And beans. And cauliflower!! And so many other small batches of pure organic vegetables. The taste and inherent sweetness of the freshly plucked organic vegetables is a  world apart from what we get in cities.

We had freshly plucked corn, and we all decided to have Corn  Pulao.

Fresh corn, fragrant rice, a one pot marvel.

This is a really simple recipe, very easy prep and damn tasty to boot! Just before adding the rice, you will realise that the corn looks so good, and it tastes and smells good too. At this point you can easily not add the rice and serve it as a veggies with any kind of roti! (we almost did that, as the smell was making us go crazy – and we were fast loosing patience).

Serve it with yoghurt and papad! Or eat it plain! You can easily increase or decrease the spices. What I have written in my recipe is not a very spicy version. The yoghurt, balances the spices.

Fresh rice Pulao, made with organic corn.

I hope you like the recipe as much as all of us did!

PS: here is the link to the youtube video to make your life a tad easier!

Cheers and Ciao!

 

 

Corn Pulao
Print Recipe
Easy one pot Corn Pulao, full of fragrant spices.
Servings Prep Time
4 Pax 15 min
Cook Time Passive Time
25 min 30 min
Servings Prep Time
4 Pax 15 min
Cook Time Passive Time
25 min 30 min
Corn Pulao
Print Recipe
Easy one pot Corn Pulao, full of fragrant spices.
Servings Prep Time
4 Pax 15 min
Cook Time Passive Time
25 min 30 min
Servings Prep Time
4 Pax 15 min
Cook Time Passive Time
25 min 30 min
Ingredients
Servings: Pax
Instructions
  1. Take the corn grains off the cob.
  2. Heat oil. When spluttering add the cinnamon, green cardamoms, cloves, black pepper(optional), and bay leaves one by one.
  3. Roast well, then add chopped onions.
  4. When translucent and semi brown, add the garlic and ginger.
  5. After a minute, add the green chillies.
  6. Now add the turmeric and red chilli powder.
  7. Fry for a while till the (spices) masalas all mix together.
  8. Add the corn and toss and mix well.
  9. Now add the hing water and mix it all together.
  10. Add salt and fresh corriander.
  11. Add the yoghurt, and mix into the corn.
  12. When well mixed and small bubbles appear, add the soaked raw rice.
  13. Mix all together and add the water.
  14. Mix, and cover with well fitted lid, to cook. Medium flame.
  15. Keep checking the contents so that it does not burn and catch at the bottom.
  16. If water reduces, and rice has not cooked, add a 1/4th cup rice and then add slowly as needed.
  17. When cooked, garnish and serve immediately.
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Sailani Dal

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Being Indian, and bought up on typical desi meals, Dal has been a staple dish served over lunch and dinner. After years and years of eating dal – Dal tadka, Gujarati Dal, Dal Langarwale, Kaali dal, etc etc, all felt so mundane – so overrated and so damned boring. At some point, I just lost faith in Dal!!

At a wedding recently, I saw the tag read Sailani Dal. Now that sounded completely new and something I had never heard of, let alone eat. I timidly tried a spoon, hoping my boredom towards dal would not bias my taste. My eyes sprang open, and my mouth instantly watered for more. I quickly filled up a soup bowl and made a meal of the dal.

The taste, the different flavours stayed in my mind for the longest time. It’s like one of those right moments when you read, smell or taste something, your senses just inhale it and push it deep into your conscious mind, keeping that memory forever fresh. And at any time when you bring it to your mind, it feels like it happened only a few moments ago.

Completely besotted, I went online for a hunt for the word “Sailani”. What was it? Turns out, it was the Maharaja of Sailana who invented this recipe. The Sailana’s hail from the Indian, Princely State of Madhya Pradesh. They were avid foodies and revamped recipes not only from their hometown but from all over India. In the 1980’s a book of their recipes was published but is no longer available easily.

The dal itself is super easy to make. Even the ingredients are minimal. The recipe calls for Toor (Arhar – Split pigeon peas). I urge you to use the best quality spices while making the Sailani Dal. Eat it with rice, or roti – it’s up to you. But eat it you must-

 

PS_ dedicating this recipe to my baby girl Kanak, who sits far away in the USA. She had loved this dal when I made it for her. HEY! Kanak – do try this out and send me pictures. KISS KISS!!

Sailani Dal
Print Recipe
Flavourful and by far the tastiest and easiest dal you could make.
Servings Prep Time
4 people 30 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Servings Prep Time
4 people 30 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Sailani Dal
Print Recipe
Flavourful and by far the tastiest and easiest dal you could make.
Servings Prep Time
4 people 30 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Servings Prep Time
4 people 30 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Ingredients
Servings: people
Instructions
  1. Soak the dal for 30 minutes. Wash well and drain the water.
  2. Add haldi and hing, along with 1 Cup of water and add to pressure cooker.
  3. Boil the remaining water, and keep it very hot. Set aside for use later.
  4. The cooked dal should be thick, not thin and watery.
  5. When completely cooked, place a heavy bottomed pan on medium fire.
  6. Add the oil and ghee.
  7. When hot, but not smoking, add the cloves and garlic.
  8. Sauté for a few minutes.
  9. Add the dal. Add the balance hot water.
  10. Add the salt and let it cook till it starts to boil.
  11. Add the kasuri methi and cook for a few minutes more.
  12. Serve hot.
Recipe Notes

The dal tastes better if cooked atleast 2 hours before it is consumed.

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Natural insect repellent. Spiders and Flies

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natural fly repellent

natural fly repellent

Ghastly flies buzzing around over every piece of food that is lying around? Spiders making their palaces on hinges of your ration cupboard doors? Join me — in my teeth gritting irritation!

I was- well for a lack of a better word “bugged”.I came back from a long vacation and opened my ration cupboard to find that an extended family of spiders had taken roost and claimed all the corners – the entire lot of cousins and uncles and aunts! Enough was enough! I mean you just look away for a few minutes and they come prancing in, ready to take over without paying any rent?!

I went on a savage google and pinterest hunt! Every single site suggested this trick – peppermint essential oil! Each site had their own version, so I made a hotchpotch of all and came up with my own recipe.

I ordered the peppermint essential oil online, to be delivered within 24 hours. Them spiders were not going to stay in my cupboard longer than I could help it! I got a spray bottle, made the lethal concoction and went psycho with the mixture.

peppermint essential oil with water

peppermint essential oil with water

Now I am writing this after a month of having sprayed the brew, and my hinges stay unoccupied and shelves devoid of spider debris (they create filth!) Its sheer pleasure to open a cupboard, peek into its — and not get gluey spiders’ web stuck on your nose and ears, leaving you with a feeling that the spiders are crawling around somewhere inside your clothes. UGH!!

My other ugh! is the common house fly. Bloody things are found hovering around every place you can rest your eyes on! Try eating a meal without inviting them? They get offended and land on every morsel about to go into your mouth, and then quench their thirst in your glass of water. I’ve had a few who thought they could swim in my class of cocktail, and then fly away feeling mighty pleased and tipsy!

Ewwww! Right?

Last night I was having a party at home. It is heavy, pelting rainy, season, we held the do indoors and had the bar set up under an awning outside our door near the car park. At 10 am, when I went to check the layout, I almost screamed blue murder! Flies – hordes of flies – gossiping in corners, flying around courting their mates! And this was to be a bar – with sugar syrup, and other nectarous medley of ingredients. Party time for flies. I was about to sit down with my head weighing heavy on my hands when “google” came up in my mind’s eye.

natural organic fly repellent

natural organic fly repellent

I was doing a jig in the evening when I went to get a drink! Not a fly- NOT ONE! All it took was a lemon and some cloves.

These hacks are all repellents and not killers. The smell of peppermint drives the spider batty and the cloves make the flies dizzy.Go forth and squash them gnats!

PS: For flies burning camphor has also proven very effective.

 

Natural insect repellent. Spiders and Flies
Print Recipe
Easy and effective remedy to repel spiders and flies.
Natural insect repellent. Spiders and Flies
Print Recipe
Easy and effective remedy to repel spiders and flies.
Ingredients
Spider Repellent
Fly Repellent
Fly Repellent 2
Servings:
Instructions
Spider Repellent
  1. Add the water into the spray bottles.
  2. Add the peppermint drops into the water and shake well.
  3. Spray in all the areas those blasted spiders congregate.
  4. Spray twice a week initially, then once a week should suffice.
Fly Repellent
  1. Bury 5 cloves in each half of the lemon. (see picture)
  2. Place in areas of high gathering of flies. Place in your cooking and chopping counters.
  3. Replace daily.
Fly Repellent 2
  1. Burn camphor in all places flies congregate.
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