Rice rice baby

This Sunday, skip your usual dal-chawal for a round of traditional rice preparations from Assam and Gujarat. We have also included a rice-based dessert, payasam for the times you want to indulge in all things that spell comfort

Palak rice with kulhad ki dahi

Ingredients

1 cup uncooked rice 1 to 1.5 tbsp oil Half of a star anise or few petals 2 green cardamoms 3 cloves 1 small cinnamon stick tsp cumin or shahi jeera 1 small bay leaf 2 cups palak/spinach 2 to 3 sliced green chillies 1 tsp ginger garlic paste or 2 garlic cloves 1 onion sliced 1 medium potato or any veggies to garam masala A pinch of little turmeric Salt, as needed Lemon juice, as needed

Method: Cook rice and cool completely. Wash palak thoroughly in ample water. Drain completely. Add it to a blender and puree. Heat a pan with oil, add spices and sauté for a min. Fry ginger-garlic paste until the raw smell vanishes. Add onion and fry until golden. Add the vegetables and sauté until they are tender. If needed sprinkle some water and cook. Sprinkle garam masala, salt and turmeric. Add palak puree and saute until the raw smell goes off. Add cooled rice, squeeze in the lemon juice. Mix everything well. Garnish with fried chillies. Serve hot.

Thukpa and sticky rice Ingredients: 30 gm noodles 60 ml vegetable stock 10 gm carrot 10 gm capsicum green 10 gm red and yellow capsicum 6 gm spring onion 15 gm onion 15 gm tomato 5 ml soya sauce 1 ml vinegar Salt, to taste A pinch of black pepper 90 gm sticky rice 3 gm ginger 2 gm garlic 2 gm 1 chopped chilli Oil for sauté

Method Cut all the vegetables and ginger, garlic in fine juliennes. Boil the noodles and keep aside. Heat the pan with oil. Add ginger, garlic, and sauté. After it softens, add all the vegetables and cook for two to three minutes. Add vegetable stock and adjust the seasoning with soya sauce and vinegar. Add the noodle to the pan. Cook further. Remove from heat. Cook the sticky rice in a different pressure cooker. Add a little salt and keep little extra water so that rice gets a sticky consistency. While cooking the rice, after the first whistle, cook it on slow heat for a few minutes. Check for doneness and remove from heat. Serve sticky rice with thukpa.

Payasam Ingredients 3 tbsp basmati rice or regular non-sticky rice 1 litre full cream milk or full fat milk 4 tbsp sugar or add as per taste 1 tbsp ghee

Method: Heat 1 tbsp ghee in a thick bottomed wide pan. Add 3 tbsp basmati rice. Stir the rice grains and sauté for about 30 seconds on a low to medium flame, or till you get a nice fragrant aroma from the rice. Do not allow the rice to get browned. Add milk which has been boiled before. The pre-boiled milk can be hot, warm or refrigerated. Stir well. Bring the milk to a boil first on a low to medium flame. Do stir when the milk is getting heated up, so that the bottom of the milk does not get scorched. After the milk has come to a boil, continue to simmer till the rice grains are cooked. Cover the pan in such a way, so that some of the steam can be passed through. Continue to cook further till the rice grains are completely cooked. Cook the rice grains in such a way that you can even mash them while stirring with a spoon or spatula. Once the rice grains are cooked well, add sugar. Stir so that the sugar is dissolved. Simmer for a further eight to ten minutes till the milk has reduced and the payasam has thickened. Serve plain or garnished with saffron, rose petals or sliced almonds. You can serve the rice payasam hot or cold.

Recipe credit: Twenty nine, Mumbai