Sheera in Microwave

Sheera is a popular sweet in Maharashtra. This is similar to the Kesari of South India. The ingredients are similar but the proportion  is different. Sheera is less in calories when compared to Kesari. Since the amount of sugar used is less, its not cloyingly sweet and can be had anytime of the day. I tried making it in microwave and it got done in less than 10 minutes.

You need

• Rava/semolina - 1 cup
• Milk - 1 cup
• Water-1 cup
• Sugar -1 cup
• Ghee - 2 tblspn
• Cardamom powder -1/2 tspn
• Cashewnuts,raisins - 1 tblspn

 Method

Take a tablespoon of  ghee in a bowl. MW for 30 seconds. Add cashew and raisins. MW for another 30 seconds. Remove the fried cashews and raisins. Add rava. Microwave for a minute. You can smell the aroma of roasted rava. I slightly roast and store the rava. If not, it might take another half a minute or so.

Measure out milk, water and sugar in another bowl. Microwave for 6 minutes. Stir in between so that the sugar is dissolved. It should be heated till the liquid starts bubbling. It took 6 minutes at 100% power in mine. Add the roasted rava to the liquid. Mix well. MW for 3 minutes. The liquid would have dried by now. It should be moist. Don't cook till it is dry since it will turn more dry on standing. Add cardamom powder, a tablespoon of ghee and garnish with roasted cashewnuts and raisins.

Sending this to Microwave Easy Cooking event hosted by Lata Akka , an event initiated by Srivalli.

Missi Roti

Today is last day of the Blogging Marathon. I thoroughly enjoyed blogging various rotis. Hope you readers also liked the various rotis I posted here. So here comes the last  recipe in the seven day series of Indian bread. I chose to blog missi roti. Missi roti is a combination of besan/chana dal flour and wheat flour/atta. Unlike other rotis where atta is not the main ingredient, this missi roti is very easy to roll. It can be rolled very thin too to make khakhras. With slight dusting with wheat flour, rotis doesn't break/stick to the board while rolling.

You need

• Besan - 1 cup
• Wheat - 1/3 cup
• Salt - 1/4 tspn
• Oil - 2 tspn
• Water to make soft dough

 Method

  

Take all the ingredients except water in a bowl. Add water to make a soft dough. Add water in parts else you will end up with a sticky dough due to besan. Rest the dough for 15 minutes.

Divide the dough into 6 parts. Roll out each portion into circle using wheat flour for dusting.  Heat a tawa. Place the roti. Flip and cook on both sides. Drizzle oil lightly. Enjoy the aroma of  besan while cooking the roti.

I served hot rotis with baingan ka bartha.

 

Check out my Blogging Marathoners doing Group 3 BM#4 along with me

Diabetes Diet/Management: Kamalika, Smitha, Suma
Kid Friendly Recipes: Anusha, Cool Lassi(e)
Seven Days of Soup: Priya Suresh
Seven Days of Indian Bread: Jayasree, Pavani
Seven Days of Cakes:Priya Vasu
Seven Days of Preserves: Gayathri Kumar, Vaishali
30 Minutes Meals: Priya Mahadevan, Srivalli

Bhatura ~ Deep Fried Indian Bread

For the Indian Bread series of the Blogging Marathon, today I decided to post a deep fried bread. Soft and fluffy bhatura served with chole is very hard to resist. As a kid, I liked to order bhatura for its big size. Bhatura is usually made with maida or all purpose flour. I have used half and half of maida and whole wheat flour/atta. Once its deep fried, though maida or atta, doesn't make much difference

You need

• Wheat flour/Atta - 1 cup
• All purpose flour/Maida - 1 cup
• Yogurt/curd - 1/2 cup
• Cooking soda - 1/2 tspn
• Salt - 1/2 tspn
• Water to make the dough
• Oil to deep fry

Method

Sift atta, maida, cooking soda and salt. Add yogurt to the flour mix. Knead to a soft dough by adding water.  Apply oil on the surface of the dough and cover with a damp cloth and leave it for an hour. 

Divide the dough into equal sized balls. Roll out the dough into circles. The size depends on the size of the kadai in which it will be deep fried later. I don't roll out into big circles, since that will call for more oil and I don't want too much of left over oil after deep frying.

Enjoy hot baturas with Punjabi Chole.

Check out my Blogging Marathoners doing Group 3 BM#4 along with me

Diabetes Diet/Management: Kamalika, Smitha, Suma
Kid Friendly Recipes: Anusha, Cool Lassi(e)
Seven Days of Soup: Priya Suresh
Seven Days of Indian Bread: Jayasree, Pavani
Seven Days of Cakes:Priya Vasu
Seven Days of Preserves: Gayathri Kumar, Vaishali
30 Minutes Meals: Priya Mahadevan, Srivalli

Pathiri / Rice Roti ~ Malabar Special

Today is day 5 of the blogging marathon. I am posting a recipe from my home state of Kerala. Pathiri/rice roti is mainly popular among the Muslims of Kerala especially to the north of Kerala. It is generally served with non-veg dishes. There are some more varieties of pathiri of which I'm not much familiar with. For many years. I did not have much idea of what Pathiri is. And I had thought it of as some thing non-veg since it was part of Muslim cuisine. And then much later, I saw the preparation in one of the cooker shows. After that I tasted it in a restaurant. The preparation as similar to the preparation of the outer cover for modakam.

I make it once in a while and I'm yet to get  it perfect circle while rolling. Though I need to improve in the looks department, I am able to get soft rotis. Probably, if I make it often, then I could improve myself. Here is how I make it

You need

• Rice flour - 1 cup
• Hot water - 1 cup
• Salt - 1/4 tspn
• Rice flour for dusting

 Method

 Take water in a vessel and add salt to it. Heat the water and bring it to rolling boil. Switch off the heat. Add the rice flour to it. Mix with a ladle so that the flour and water gets mixed well. Cover and keep it aside. When the dough is warm enough for you to handle with your hand, knead it to a soft dough. 

Pinch of lime sized balls. Roll it into thin rotis using rice flour to dust while rolling.

Heat a tawa. When it is medium hot, place the rotis. Keep flipping and make sure brown spots don't appear on the rotis. Usually pathiris are white in color. When you make thin rotis, the rotis will get cooked quickly. The flour is already half cooked when the dough is made using boiling water.

Serve hot pathiris with some spicy curry and I served with black chana masala.

 
Check out my Blogging Marathoners doing Group 3 BM#4 along with me

 

Diabetes Diet/Management: Kamalika, Smitha, Suma
Kid Friendly Recipes: Anusha, Cool Lassi(e)
Seven Days of Soup: Priya Suresh
Seven Days of Indian Bread: Pavani
Seven Days of Cakes:Priya Vasu
Seven Days of Preserves: Gayathri Kumar, Vaishali
30 Minutes Meals: Priya Mahadevan, Srivalli

 

Cauliflower/Gobi Paratha

This is day 4 of the blogging marathon. I chose to blog a stuffed paratha for today. When it comes to stuffed paratha, its aloo paratha that tops the list. Cauliflower is another versatile veggie which can be used according to one's taste. It absorbs the flavor very well. I find too many people get intimidated when to comes to making stuffed parathas. I think with some practise, its easy and you are guaranteed soft, delicious parathas.

You need

For the dough

• Wheat flour - 1.5 cups
• Salt - a pinch
• Gingerly oil/Nallenai - 2 tspn
• Warm water to make the dough

 For Filling

•  Blanched and grated cauliflower - 1 cup

 To grind

•  Coriander leaves - a handful
•  Ginger - 1 " wedge
•  Green chilly - 1 no
•  Cumin seeds -1 tspn
•  Red chilly powder -1/2 tspn
•  Salt - 1/2 tspn
•  Garam masala - 1 tspn. (I used kitchen  king)

 Method

Blanch the cauliflower in hot water with little turmeric and salt in it. Grate the flower. I used my veggie chopper to mince it.

Take all the ingredients under To grind in the mixer jar and pulse it till its a coarse powder. Mix the ground masala to the grated cauliflower. Leave it for 15 minutes for the flavors to blend in. Squeeze excess water after the resting time.

Divide the dough and the filling into five equal portions.

Take one portion of the dough. Roll into a small circle. While rolling keep the centre slightly thicker than the edges.

So when you keep the filling and gather the edges, that side will be slightly thicker too.

Keep the sealed side down and roll out the paratha dabbing with the flour to avoid sticking it to the board.

Heat a tawa and smear oil on it. Cook the parathas both side by flipping now and drizzle oil on the sides too.

Check out my Blogging Marathoners doing Group 3 BM#4 along with me

Diabetes Diet/Management: Kamalika, Smitha, Suma
Kid Friendly Recipes: Anusha, Cool Lassi(e)

Seven Days of Soup: Priya Suresh
Seven Days of Indian Bread: Jayasree, Pavani
Seven Days of Cakes:  Priya Vasu
Seven Days of Preserves: Gayathri Kumar, Vaishali
30 Minutes Meals: Priya Mahadevan, Srivalli

 

Rava Dosa ~ Instant breakfast

When I chose the theme Indian Breads for Blogging Marathon, I  had few different kind of rotis in my drafts to be posted. Later while I was checking the different varieties that fall under this category, I found dosas, pooris and bhaturas also fall under this. Though the first thing that comes to our mind is the roti. So here I am sharing one of my favorite dosa recipe. I mostly order Rava Dosa in restaurants when to comes to South Indian food. I never get bored of this. Rava dosa recipe is very simple. But spreading the batter to get crisp dosa is an art. There are many recipes with various ratios of rava, rice flour and maida. This is the recipe I have been following for many years. Initially my dosas would be very thick and not crisp. But with practise, I got it perfect. When it comes to rava dosa, you cannot compromise much on the usage of oil.

You need

•  Rava/Semolina - 1 cup
• Rice flour - 1 cup
• Maida /All purpose flour - 1/4 cup
• Salt

To season

• Oil - 1 tspn
• Jeera/Cumin seeds - 1 tspn
• Crushed pepper corn-1/2 tspn
• Green chilly - 2 nos, chopped
• Ginger - a small wedge, finely chopped.
• Curry leaves - 1 sprig

Method

Soak rava in water for around 45 minutes. Add water so that its 1/2 inch above the rava. On soaking, rava will absorb water. Meanwhile, heat oil in a ladle and do the seasoning.  Mix in maida, rice flour, salt and the seasonings to the soaked rava. Add water to make a loose batter. The batter should be slightly thicker than water. The batter consistency is very important to get crisp dosa.

  

Heat the dosa tawa. When it is very hot, use a katori/cup to spread the batter on the tawa. Pour the batter using the cup to the tawa in quick motion. Don't try to fill all the gaps. Few holes here and there is fine. Drizzle oil.

When the downside is cooked flip and cook the other side too till crisp.

Serve hot with coconut chutney

 

Notes:

Iron tawa gives better results than non-stick tawa

I usually use gingelly oil/nallenai for my dosa. With rava dosa, I find refined oil give more crispy dosas

The tawa should be very hot

Use a cup to pour the batter.  Hold your hand little above the tawa while you pour the batter. So when the batter falls on the hot tawa, small pores will be formed.

 

I'm sending this dosa to Breakfast Mela organised by Srivalli in celebration of her blog birthday.

Check out my Blogging Marathoners doing Group 3 BM#4 along with me

Diabetes Diet/Management: Kamalika, Smitha, Suma
Kid Friendly Recipes: Anusha, Cool Lassi(e)

Seven Days of Soup: Priya Suresh
Seven Days of Indian Bread: Jayasree, Pavani
Seven Days of Cakes:  Priya Vasu

Paneer Peas Rajgira Paratha

Rajgira/Amaranth flour is completely new to me.  I might have come across this flour in any of the food blogs and I'm sure I haven't bothered to find out more since I knew I would not able to find it in my area. Now that I am in a new city, I happened to see the packet of flour in a nearby provision store.  Telling myself that I can google and find out what could be done with it, I bought a packet.

Amaranth flour is made from the seeds and its gluten free. And its mostly considered as upvaas/fasting food when one abstains from eating any cereals. Since it is gluten free and cooked on fasting days, potatoes are invariably added while making tikkis/parathas. I was impressed with the nutritional information found here

Amaranth flour contains more fiber and iron than wheat and it is a good source of calcium. Amaranth flour is high in protein and when it is used in combination with other flours (such as wheat), the protein value is as beneficial as fish or poultry.

You can read about more about it from here, here and here

I did not add potatoes to my parathas and instead used wheat flour for gluten.

You need

• Rajgira/Amaranth flour - 1 cup
• Wheat flour - 2 tblspn
• Salt- 1/4 tspn
• Red chilli powder - 1/4 tspn
• Wheat flour for dusting

For Filling

• Grated paneer - 1/2 cup
• Fresh peas - 1/2 cup
• Green chilly - 2nos
• Lemon juice - 1/2 tspn
• Salt to taste

Method

Microwave peas for 5 minutes or blanch in hot water for 10 minutes. You can use fresh peas as it  is. But I don't like the raw smell of peas. Grind the peas and green chilly together. Don't add water. It need not be very smooth. The peas should be crushed enough that it doesn't stick out while rolling.  Mix the grated paneer, ground peas+chilly paste, lemon juice and salt in a bowl. Divide into 6 portions.

Take the ingredients for the paratha in a bowl. Add enough water to get a smooth dough. Divide the dough into 6 balls.

Take one ball and roll into a small circle. Place the filling.

Gather the ends and close it. Keep the closed end down and roll out into paratha. Dust with wheat flour as you roll. Since the rajgira flour doesn't have any gluten, be gentle while you roll.

Heat a griddle and smear oil on it. Cook the parathas on both sides. Drizzle oil around the paratha while cooking. Enjoy these delicious, soft parathas with a side of a cup  of curd and your favorite pickle.

Check out my Blogging Marathoners doing Group 3 BM#4 along with me

Diabetes Diet/Management: Kamalika, Smitha, Suma
Kid Friendly Recipes: Anusha, Cool Lassi(e)

Seven Days of Soup: Priya Suresh
Seven Days of Indian Bread: Pavani
Seven Days of Cakes:  Priya Vasu
Seven Days of Preserves: Gayathri Kumar, Vaishali
30 Minutes Meals: Priya Mahadevan, Srivalli

Pyaaz Makki Ki Roti

Srivalli has been organising blogging marathon for some time. This is the fourth edition, where the marathoners are divided into 3 groups and I decided to join the third group and this is my first in running a marathon. I opted to run along since the duration was 7 days only. My attempt to post continuously on my own for a week has never been successful. So wanted to test the waters and when you have a group to motivate you, I'm sure I will cross the finishing line. I will be blogging recipes on the theme- Indian Bread. So for the next seven days you will see varieties of Indian breads here.

The first on the series is Makki ki roti with the addition of onions added to the dough.

You need

• Makki ki atta- 1.5 cups
• Medium sized onion - 1, grated
• Green chilly - 1 no
• Hot water - about 1 cup
• Salt -1/2 tspn
• Wheat flour/atta for dabbing

  

You need

Mix all the ingredients except water, in a bowl.  Add hot water in parts to the flour mixture. Mix with a spatula. When the dough is warm to handle with your hand, knead it to a smooth dough. Add more water if required. The dough should be smooth and soft.

  

I used wheat flour to dab the rotis while rolling. Pinch a lemon sized dough.  Oil the rolling board or use a zip lock cover to roll the rotis. Pat the rotis using your fingers. Optionally can give a gentle roll with the rolling pin towards the end, for making it even.

Heat a cast iron tawa. Smear the tawa with little oil. When the tawa is moderately hot, place a roti.  When one side is cooked. Drizzle oil along the sides, flip and cook other side too. Serve hot. Usually its served along side with Sarson ka saag. I have served with fresh beans in palak gravy. Shall blog that recipe later.

Check out my Blogging Marathoners doing Group 3 BM#4 along with me

Diabetes Diet/Management: Kamalika, Smitha, Suma
Kid Friendly Recipes: Anusha, Cool Lassi(e)

Seven Days of Soup: Priya Suresh
Seven Days of Indian Bread: Jayasree, Pavani
Seven Days of Cakes:  Priya Vasu
Seven Days of Preserves: Gayathri Kumar, Vaishali
30 Minutes Meals: Priya Mahadevan, Srivalli

Vattayappam - Steamed Rice Cake from Kerala ~Indian Cooking Challenge

Indian cooking challenge for March was Vattayappam from my home state. The recipe given to us was Shn's. Shn has given a very detailed recipe. On a first glance, the recipe might look elaborate and complicated. But its not that difficult. It involves few steps more than preparing an aapam batter. Finally its steam cooked. I tried making dosa too with the batter. Thanks to Lata akka for the dosa idea. It too came out well. I loved the heady aroma from the combo of cardamom, coconut and sugar. It just filled the whole house. 

You need

To Grind

• Raw rice/Idli rice - 1 cup (I used idli rice)
• Fresh grated coconut - 3/4 cup
• Cooked rice - 2 tblspn
• Water - 1/2 cup

 To Proof yeast

•  Active dry yeast - 1/2 tspn
•  Water - 1/3 cup
•  Sugar - 2 tspn

 To Make Thari Kurukku/Rice porridge/Kuzhu

• Coarse ground paste - 2 tblspn
• Water - 1/2 cup

To sweeten and flavor

•  Sugar - 1/2 cup
•  Ghee - 1 1/2 tblspn
•  Cardamom/elaichi - 10-12 nos, powdered
•  Cashew nuts - 5 nos
•  Raisins - 1/2 tblspn

 Method

Wash and soak the rice for 6 -8 hours. Grind the rice with just enough water to make the grinding possible. When rice reaches the coarse texture, remove 2 tablespoons of the rice to prepare the porridge. Add grated coconut to the ground rice and continue to make a fine batter. When its almost done, add cooked rice and grind again. Don't remove the batter from the wet grinder/mixer jar. Leave it there.

Meanwhile, proof yeast Add sugar and yeast to warm water. Dissolve both the ingredients in this warm water and keep the mixture in a warm place for 10 minutes until it froths.

Mix the coarse ground rice in water. Transfer it to a pan and heat it. Keep mixing while it is getting heated and remove when a paste is formed. Take care not to form lumps. Leave it to cool.

Add the cooled porridge to the ground rice in the grinder and spin it once to blend it thoroughly. Next add the yeast mix and blend again by spinning for 2 minutes. Remove the batter to a steel bowl which can hold twice the batter. Leave it to ferment for 5 hours and the batter will double in that time.

Add sugar and give a gentle stir and ferment it to another 2 hours or so. The batter rises more after the addition of  sugar.  Heat ghee in a small pan and roast cashews and raisins. Add to the batter. Also add crushed cardamom to the batter

For steaming, heat water in a pressure cooker. Grease a cake tin or a similar steel vessel. Fill the batter to half of the tin. When the water starts to steam, place the cooker plate (the one with holes) or any other plate and keep the batter filled tin on top of that. Placing the plate will ensure that the water will not spill into the tin on boiling. Close the cooker with the lid. Do not put the weight/whistle. Let it steam cook for 30 minutes in medium heat. Check doneness by inserting a knife. If the knife doesn't come out clean, steam for another 5-10 minutes.  

Once steamed well, remove the tin from the cooker and leave it to cool. Gently remove the appam from the tin. I just ran a knife around the edge and tapped it at the bottom and inverted it on to a plate

Cut into wedges and enjoy with a cup of coffee or tea. I felt it can be served with a spicy kurma too.

Notes:

1. The consistency of the battery is important. The batter should be similar to idli batter. Not too thick and not  runny.
2. The batter should be fermented well to get a spongy texture
3. Sugar can be increased if you have sweet tooth. With the quantity mentioned in the recipe, its mildly sweet.

Coffee Ice Cream ~ Summer Special

Its going to be three weeks since I posted a recipe here. The break was not intentional. Two back to back trips and some deadlines to be met at work, I did not get the time or the inclination to blog. And I could not visit any of the blogs too.  After a break, I have the starting trouble to get it started.  For the last two days, I have been trying to post a recipe and finally I am at it. I decided to post an ice cream which is apt for the summer. I referred the recipe at Tarla Dalal's.  I followed ingredients mentioned in the recipe  but went with my intuition regarding the quantity. You don't need an ice cream maker for this and yet get a soft, creamy ice cream.

You need

• Milk - 1 cup
• Fresh cream - 1/2 cup (I used Amul)
• Cornflour - 1/2 tblspn
• Sugar - 1 tblspn
• Instant coffee granules - 2 tspn
• Hot water - 1 tblspn

Method

Take milk in a bowl. Stir in the corn flour and mix so that no lumps are found. Heat the mix and bring it to a boil. Add sugar. Keep stirring so that no lumps are formed and it doesn't stick to the bottom. When the milk turns slightly thick, remove from fire and leave it to cool. 

Add fresh cream, coffee solution and vanilla essence to the milk mix. Whisk to blend. Freeze in a shallow steel container. After two hours, when it is almost set, whisk to break the crystals. Use a wire whisk or a hand blender. Freeze again and repeat the whisking once more when it is set. Then freeze it for 4 hours to set it completely.

Remember to increase the cooling temp of your fridge. Also chill the container before adding the ice cream mix for faster freezing. Adding chilled cream also helps.

Scoop and enjoy the ice cream. The quantity was enough to serve 3. The coffee flavor was very strong. Adjust the amount of coffee granules according to your taste. When my cousin tasted the ice cream, he was surprised to taste coffee flavor and asked me which brand sells this flavor. Should I say anything more about the taste and texture of the  ice cream.

Eggless Pumpkin Apricot Cake

Initially I had planned  to use the apricot received as part of the Arusuvai Friendship Chain in a baking recipe. And I bookmarked few recipes too. I tried a cake using the recipe from Allrecipes. The original recipe was for two cakes. Since I wanted to bake a single cake, I halved the ingredients. I replaced eggs with flaxseed meal and used whole wheat flour (atta) in place of all purpose flour(maida). Except for these two changes, I have followed the original recipe. 

I chose this recipe since I have never baked with pumpkin puree.  Its just mixing the wet and dry ingredients and no creaming/whisking required here. Actually you can do all the mixing in one bowl as mentioned in the original recipe. Since I am used to doing it separately and also wanted to be sure that the wet ingredients are combined well for even distribution.

Ingredients

• Dried apricots  -8 nos  1/4 cup puree
• Pumpkin puree - 1 cup
• Whole wheat flour - 2cups
• Baking powder - 1 tspn
• Baking soda - 1/2 tspn
• Ground cinnamon - 1 tspn
• Salt -1/4 tspn
• Caster sugar  - 1 cup (I powdered granulated sugar not very fine)
• Flax seed meal - 1 tblspn mixed in 4 tblspn of water
• Vegetable oil - 1/4 cup

Method

Prepare the apricot puree

Soak the apricots in boiling water for half an hour. Water should be enough to cover the apricots. Puree the apricots in a mixer grinder. Add some water while grinding. The puree should measure 1/4 cup. You can use the soaked water to make it to 1/4 cup.

Prepare the pumpkin puree

Take 250 gm of pumpkin. Peel and deseed the pumpkin and then chop it into cubes. Steam cook in the pressure cooker or microwave until it is tender. Puree the pumpkin to get 1 cup of puree.

To bake

Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and sugar in a bowl.  In another bowl, add flax seeds mixed in water, apricot and pumpkin purees. Make a well in the centre of the fry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients and mix until they are just combined. 

The batter consistency is similar to that of muffins. At first, I had mixed flax seed meal in 3 tablespoon of water. But I found the batter to be very thick and added. another tablespoon of water to get muffin batter consistency.

Bake in a greased and dusted tin at 180 C for 45 minutes or until the skewer inserted comes out clean

The cake was moist and airy. The cake is just sweet enough for my palate. If you prefer it be very sweet, then increase the sugar by 1/4 cup more. After tasting, I felt addition of a handful of nuts/tutti fruity/chocolate chips will be better to make it more than just a plain cake. Else a butter cream frosting would have complemented the cake well but decided not to go for it since I did not want to add more calories.

I will be sending mystery ingredients, as part of the Arusuvai Frienship Chain, to Rajani of Healthy Slurps and Rituparna of ChocolatesAndDreams

Beetroot Aur Mewa Pulao ~ Arusuvai Friendship Chain Season II Recipe

Arusuvai friendship chain season II is back. Thanks to Sayantani for reviving it. This friendship chain was kick started by Lathamma and Srivalli and Bharthi took it forward. In the first season, I received the mystery ingredient from Gaurav and I had sent to Harini/Sunshinemom. And I am glad I could be a part of this during the second season too. 

I received a lovely parcel from Veena . She sent me a lovely recipe book along with a hand written letter. Thank you so much, Veena. The book that came with the ingredient is right for the season with summer recipes from Chef. Sanjeev Kapoor. Veena mailed me saying she forgot to scratch the ingredient name in the hurry to mail the parcel. So asked me to take a guess at the ingredient with out looking at the label. On the first look, I thought it to be dried dates. But on closer look, I knew it was apricot. I made two dishes using the apricot. I made a pulao and had packed it for my husband's lunch box.  My  husband who doesn't give a feedback unless asked for, remembered to tell me the lunch was good, when he was back  from office. 

I followed the recipe from here and had scaled down the ingredients quantity to suit the amount of rice I had
taken.

You need

• Basmati rice/ any long grain rice - 1 cup (I used Surti Kolam)
• Water - 2 cups
• Beetroot - 2 small ones
• Ghee - 2 tblspn
• Pepper - 15 nos
• Bay leaves - 2 nos, torn
• Onions - 2 medium, julienned
• Raisins - 2 tblspn
• Almonds,cashews - 10 each
• Apricot - 5 nos, quartered
• Fig - 5 nos
• Garam masala - 1/2 tspn
• Mint leaves - 10 nos
• Salt to taste

Method

Wash and soak rice in 2 cups of water for half an hour. Heat ghee in a kadai or thick bottomed vessel. I used pressure cooker vessel. Add pepper,bay leaf and onions. When onions turn pink, add raisins, cashew, almonds, fig and apricot. Saute for few seconds. Drain the rice and reserve the water.Add rice, saute for three  minutes and then add the drained 2 cups of water.  Bring it to a boil. Add salt, garam masala and torn mint leaves. Cover and cook on a medium heat. When the rice is half cooked, add the grated beetroot and gently mix. Cover and continue to cook till it is done.

After adding the grated beets, don't mix it thoroughly. Give a gentle mix so that the rice doesn't turn red fully. And you will have shades of light red and dark red in rice as shown in the original recipe. I gave a thorough mix only to realise later what the 'mix lightly' in the recipe intended. This is only for the visual appeal and doesn't affect the taste at all.

If you find the water is less, you can add little amount of water so that it cooks well and also doesn't get stuck at the bottom.

This dried fruits and nuts beet pulao  along with a bowl of raita and roasted potatoes made a tasty lunch. The pulao did not taste on the sweet side even with the beet and the dried fruits added to it. The pepper sufficiently balances the taste.

P.S. Sayantani could not assign any blogger so that I can send the ingredient and keep the chain going. She says she either doesn't have the confirmation or the address of the blogger to give me. So, if any of you would  like to receive from me, please send your mailing address to Sayantani at -  ahomemakersdiary@yahoo.in. You can leave a comment here and I shall co-ordinate with Sayantani and get in touch with you.