Tag Archives: Indian

Golden Basmati Rice with Peas

This little Indian side dish is beautiful. Golden-yellow rice with bright green peas–I love a meal with strong, vibrant colors. And it’s so easy! This is the bed for the Tikka Masala dish I’ll be sharing with y’all next week. I used this Pastor Ryan recipe as a basis once before for my Pasilla-Spiced Pumpkin Basmati recipe, but I really wanted to share the basic, easy version. Easy, that is, if you have a rice cooker.

‘Cause if you don’t, you’re no friend of mine!

Just kidding–you’re all my friends. But I’ll at least pity you and cry salty, salty tears on your behalf. I don’t know what the heck I’d do without my rice cooker.

Don’t know what to eat? Rice with butter! Need something filling and cheap to accompany an expensive piece of fish? Rice! Need to focus all your attention on the meat/protein portion of the meal? Toss the rice in the cooker and fuhgettaboutit!

I hope you’ve taken my words to heart.

Ingredients

(Serves 4)

2 cups basmati rice
4 cups water
4 TBS butter
1 TBS turmeric
1 tsp salt
2 cups frozen peas (or more, to taste)
Cilantro to garnish, optional

Put the rice, salt, and turmeric in the rice cooker and stir everything around until combined.

See that pile of turmeric?

I didn’t stir mine in, so it clumped together. No harm done since I tossed it vigorously once the rice was cooked, but it would have been easier if I’d stirred it in beforehand. Anyway, add the water and butter, and cook in the rice cooker until done.

Add the frozen peas a few minutes before serving, and toss them in the hot rice.

The heat of the rice will cook them to the perfect temperature.

If desired, garnish with cilantro.

Serve!

Wow. Are we really, um, done here? I don’t think I’ve ever posted an easier recipe, or one with so few instructions. Are you proud, Carrie?

Click here for printer-friendly version: Golden Basmati Rice with Peas

Quick & Easy Chickpea Curry

 

This recipe is another Tasty Kitchen winner, shared by Amy from Very Culinary in this post. It immediately had appeal to me for many reasons, starting with the ‘quick’ factor, continuing with the onion and garlic, and ending with the spinach. My stomach clamoring for the dish, I quickly made it a priority to cook up a batch. And is it ever good!

It takes only 30 minutes or less to get on the table, but the flavor is wonderful and deep, as if it had been cooking for much longer. And in case you still need convincing, it’s cheap and healthy and vegetarian (if you dig that thang). In fact, if you want to be a hog-wild health-a-tron, you could even leave out the 2 TBS of butter. So grab ye a can of chickpeas, and let’s make this.

Side note: do you think I should change the name of this blog to “The Health-a-Jenna-Tron”? It has a certain ring to it. Then again, with my liberal use of heavy whipping cream and butter, I may be nailed for misleading the innocent. However, I do plan on using the new adjective ‘healthatronic’ or the noun ‘healthatronicon’ from here on out. Webster’s dictionary, take note!

Ingredients

4 TBS olive oil

1 large onion

2 tsp ground ginger (or 1 TBS fresh)

5 cloves garlic

1 TBS sugar

2 tsp curry powder

1 tsp salt

pepper, to taste

2 TBS tomato paste

1-15 oz can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained

1-14.5 oz can diced tomatoes

1 TBS lemon juice

2 TBS butter

4 cups spinach (or 1 bag)

1/2 cup water

First, dice the onion.

Do a quick mince on the garlic.

Please don’t be afraid of using 5 cloves. For me 5 cloves = holding waaaaay back. My soul was whispering “Use 12 cloves! Use 12! You know you want to!” I think it’s unhealthy to ignore your soul, so next time I will heed its voice. (My voice? Its voice? My voice?: to be discussed in the very far future, possibly by somebody different on a different blog)

If you’re using fresh ginger (I would have, but my gingeroot had become a dry shriveled beast in the fridge), mince that up too. Oh, and drain the can of chickpeas.

Prep work = done!

Heat the oil in a Dutch oven or pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic, ginger, sugar, salt, black pepper, and curry powder.

Cook for about 3 minutes, stirring frequently so that the curry powder doesn’t burn.

Add the tomato paste . . .

. . . and cook for another 2 minutes, stirring to incorporate it evenly.

Add the drained can of chickpeas, the can of diced tomatoes (with the liquid),

the lemon juice,

and the butter.

Give it all a lovely stir! My it’s smelling good around these parts.

Simmer it uncovered for 10-12 minutes, until the chickpeas are tender but not mushy.

Now! Stir in the water . . .

. . . and the spinach. I used a whole bag, and I didn’t regret it for one second. It’s healthatronic for you.

Stir the mess about until the spinach is just wilted (about 2 more minutes).

Perfect! Now taste and re-season with more salt and pepper if needed.

Serve the curry over steaming hot rice.

So good.

Let’s move in for the kill.

Besides being incredibly flavorful, it’s also so beautifully colorful! Like a small fiesta is taking place on my plate, mariachi band and everything.

What a perfect weeknight dinner.

And on that note, I am so glad that the week is almost halfway over. I don’t know what it is about my eyelids this week, but they seemed to have gained weight over the weekend and become particularly difficult to prop open.

Click here for printer-friendly version: Quick & Easy Chickpea Curry