Vegetable Pulao

Rice main dishes are one of most popular in South India. There's a sense of comfort associated with varieties of rice creations and there's no denying that when it comes to rice, the possibilities are almost endless! 

One of the most well known is the humble Vegetable Pulao - there's nothing much fancy about it but certainly is most loved by rice lovers all over the Indian subcontinent. Packed with goodness from fresh vegetables and the comfort of spices and rice, it's a beautiful combination.

Here's my quick and easy version of the famous Vegetable Pulao.

 Ingredients: 1 cup cooked basmati rice, 1 cup chopped vegetables (such as carrots, beans, peas), 1 onion sliced thin, handful of curry leaves. For masala - 4 or 5 cloves, 1 small piece of cinnamon stick, 4 or 5 peppercorns, 1 or 2 fresh chillies, 1 spoon chopped ginger, half a bunch of fresh coriander, a few fresh mint leaves, 1 spoon of coconut. For tempering - 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, 1 teaspoon mustard seeds.

Make: In a wide base non stick pan, temper the cumin seeds and mustard seeds in the olive oil. Once it starts to splatter, add in the sliced onions and curry leaves. Saute then add all the chopped vegetables and let it cook in the open pan. Meanwhile prepare the fresh masala by adding all of the above masala ingredients into a mixer and grind to a paste using as much water as required. Add the masala paste into the pan with cooking vegetables and mix well. Add the cooked rice, salt to taste, mix well and simmer with the lid closed for about 5 minutes. 

Serve hot with raita or yogurt. Enjoy!

Honey Cake Eggless

Do you have foods that are associated with a favourite feeling or memory which adds to the fondness of that particular food? They do say food is much more than just for hunger and taste...it's a feeling, which us human beings love to hold on to. One such feeling of fondness for me is that of walking into the local Iyengar Bakery in Bangalore with scents of fresh baked goodies and laying eyes on that beautiful, juicy, honey drenched, soft piece of cake - Honey Cake!

Given all the love we have for it, I thought of giving it a shot at home and we were very happy with the results.

Here it is, my version of HONEY CAKE, eggless Indian style :)

Ingredients: 1 cup self raising flour, 2/3 cup caster sugar, 1/4 cup plain yogurt, 1/4 olive oil, 1/4 cup orange juice, 1 teaspoon vanilla essence, milk as needed. For the honey syrup, 1/4 cup water, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 large tablespoon honey. For jam topping, 1 tablespoon jam, desiccated coconut. 

Make: In a large bowl, mix the yogurt, caster sugar and oil until smooth. Add the flour, vanilla essence, orange juice and mix well until you have a flowy firm cake mixture. Add milk only if needed. Pour into a baking pan and bake at 160 degrees in a fan forced oven. Cake should be baked in about 25 to 30 minutes. 

While it is baking, prepare the honey syrup by bringing to boil, the water and sugar. Warm it enough to melt the sugar. Cool to room temperature then add the honey and mix well. 

Once the cake is ready, poke holes all around the top of the cake using a toothpick. Pour the honey syrup all over the cake and allow it to soak for about 10 minutes. 

For the jam topping, heat the tablespoon of jam until it is flowy, then spread over the cake. Immediately sprinkle desiccated coconut all over. Let it cool and serve :)

When you cut into it, you will see the cake will have soaked up the honey syrup giving it a juicy texture. Yum!!