There's only one way to start losing weight. No wait, there are two. One is to exercise and second is to eat right.
I am not much of a cook, I don't have a fancy kitchen or even a basic one. I am lazy to cook.
So many excuses and a lot of weight gain later, I decided to go and buy some fresh veggies last night.
I headed over to Spar where I was spoilt for choice for greens. They had just bought in some organic produce from Gopalan farms. I have spotted this brand only recently and they have a nice variety of herbs and good green produce that is made organically. They are not too expensive either.
I grabbed quite a bit of stuff like fresh palak, coriander, rosemary, curry leaves, spring onions, cauliflower and mint. I wanted to pick up lettuce too as they looked really nice and crispy but I wouldn't have eaten everything so I decided lettuce for another day.
I have learnt cooking only through trial and error. I never learnt any cooking when I was at home.
When I had to leave for college, cooking just happened as the mess food really sucked and I missed home while I stayed in a hostel for six long years.
I try recipes online and from time to time, I end up with some good food.
This meal can be prepared in a jiffy.
Do you want to know what I used to make it?
Read on for the recipe.
Fresh organic Spinach(palak)- 1 cup
Sona Masoori Rice(you can use basmati)- 2 cups
Garlic-12 pods
Ginger- 2 inch
Green chilli-2
All spice leaf- 2 ( you may use bay leaf) I grow all spice leaves in my garden so I pluck them fresh
Onion- 2 Big
Tomato- 1 very ripe
Coriander leaves- handful
Cardamom powder- 1/2 tsp
Clove- 3-4
Star Anise- 1
Cinnamom stick
Garam masala powder- 1 tsp
Pepper powder- 1.5 tsp
Chilli powder- 1/4 tsp
Asafoetida- a pinch
Flax seeds- ground- 1 tsp
Any oil- I used sunflower oil, just enough to cook the veggies. 3 tbsp( you can use more if you want it to be rich)
Wash and cook rice. I use a rice cooker as I always mess up the regular way. In the rice cooker, you get really well done rice in 15 minutes. While cooking rice, add few drops of oil and salt to the water.
Keep aside.
Now for the chopping,
Finely slice the onions.
Chop the tomato
Peel the garlic and ginger. In a grinder, make a paste out of garlic, ginger, green chilli, flax seeds.
Heat 2-3tbsp oil in a pan, add all spice leaves, clove, cardamom, star anise. Let it release it's aromas.
Add garam masala powder, asafoetida, pepper, chilli powder, saute for 5 seconds before adding, the ground up paste of ginger, garlic, green chilli and flax.
Saute 3 minutes. Add sliced onions. Saute till they turn transparent. Add the tomato.
While this takes a little more time to cook, cut up your spinach leaves. I didn't use the stem, I wasn't sure if I could. I finely sliced the leaves. Then ground them up in the grinder to form a coarse paste.
Once the tomatoes were done, I added the spinach into the mix and sauted. Keep covered for 3 minutes.
Spinach doesn't take time to cook.
You may add some ghee or more oil if you want at this point.
Add required salt.
Taste the gravy, add in the cooked rice, coat the rice well with the masala and keep covered for ten minutes till the rice absorbs all the flavour. Garnish with cilantro. Switch off heat and leave it covered till serving time.
Tadaaaa!! I was really happy with how this turned out :)
ps- Onions have gotten so expensive!!!! Rs.70-80 for a kg!! *faint*
I am not much of a cook, I don't have a fancy kitchen or even a basic one. I am lazy to cook.
So many excuses and a lot of weight gain later, I decided to go and buy some fresh veggies last night.
I headed over to Spar where I was spoilt for choice for greens. They had just bought in some organic produce from Gopalan farms. I have spotted this brand only recently and they have a nice variety of herbs and good green produce that is made organically. They are not too expensive either.
I grabbed quite a bit of stuff like fresh palak, coriander, rosemary, curry leaves, spring onions, cauliflower and mint. I wanted to pick up lettuce too as they looked really nice and crispy but I wouldn't have eaten everything so I decided lettuce for another day.
I have learnt cooking only through trial and error. I never learnt any cooking when I was at home.
When I had to leave for college, cooking just happened as the mess food really sucked and I missed home while I stayed in a hostel for six long years.
I try recipes online and from time to time, I end up with some good food.
Do you want to know what I used to make it?
Read on for the recipe.
Fresh organic Spinach(palak)- 1 cup
Sona Masoori Rice(you can use basmati)- 2 cups
Garlic-12 pods
Ginger- 2 inch
Green chilli-2
All spice leaf- 2 ( you may use bay leaf) I grow all spice leaves in my garden so I pluck them fresh
Onion- 2 Big
Tomato- 1 very ripe
Coriander leaves- handful
Cardamom powder- 1/2 tsp
Clove- 3-4
Star Anise- 1
Cinnamom stick
Garam masala powder- 1 tsp
Pepper powder- 1.5 tsp
Chilli powder- 1/4 tsp
Asafoetida- a pinch
Flax seeds- ground- 1 tsp
Any oil- I used sunflower oil, just enough to cook the veggies. 3 tbsp( you can use more if you want it to be rich)
Wash and cook rice. I use a rice cooker as I always mess up the regular way. In the rice cooker, you get really well done rice in 15 minutes. While cooking rice, add few drops of oil and salt to the water.
Keep aside.
Now for the chopping,
Finely slice the onions.
Chop the tomato
Peel the garlic and ginger. In a grinder, make a paste out of garlic, ginger, green chilli, flax seeds.
Heat 2-3tbsp oil in a pan, add all spice leaves, clove, cardamom, star anise. Let it release it's aromas.
Add garam masala powder, asafoetida, pepper, chilli powder, saute for 5 seconds before adding, the ground up paste of ginger, garlic, green chilli and flax.
Saute 3 minutes. Add sliced onions. Saute till they turn transparent. Add the tomato.
While this takes a little more time to cook, cut up your spinach leaves. I didn't use the stem, I wasn't sure if I could. I finely sliced the leaves. Then ground them up in the grinder to form a coarse paste.
Once the tomatoes were done, I added the spinach into the mix and sauted. Keep covered for 3 minutes.
Spinach doesn't take time to cook.
You may add some ghee or more oil if you want at this point.
Add required salt.
Taste the gravy, add in the cooked rice, coat the rice well with the masala and keep covered for ten minutes till the rice absorbs all the flavour. Garnish with cilantro. Switch off heat and leave it covered till serving time.
Tadaaaa!! I was really happy with how this turned out :)
Published by coralcrue
Posts
