Jeera Rice and Rajma

Me: Hey! Do I pack lunch for you tomorrow?

Hubby: Ye. But no rotis or dosai. We have had enough of them this week.

Me: Sigh! No mood to make anything elaborate.[..tell me something new, is what you might remark. But yes, laziness is my virtue. :0)...yet the 5 cm thing, which is usually referred to as the "tongue", refuses to swallow something which is not even remotely close to something called good taste.]

And so, I soaked Rajma the previous night so i can make quick Rajma the next morning. Namita, my neighbour in Chennai is whom I have to thank for feeding me with this recipe and thereby fueling my aspirations to write a cook book with conventional recipes that can be made in a "quick fix" manner. Well, the cook book is not yet in process. It might take ages I suppose, for me to pen/type out all of them. And given my snail's pace with such things, well, I leave the rest to your imagination.

Ok, what is with me and tangential topics all the time. I guess I follow the famous author Lakshmi Kannan's "stream of consciousness" mode of writing. The mind keeps wandering from one topic to another by holding onto some link in the thought process linking two instances or topics and the writing or blogging follows the same path too. I figured that yummy lunches are sometimes the result of not arduous hours spent in the kitchen but a matter of common sense and applying it in whatever you decide to do.

And so, I decided to make Rajma and dunked the idea of rotis and instead made Jeera rice. It took me about 25 minutes, including the preparation time to fix the lunch. And voila! I was prepared to receive compliments...and slink away from making breakfast too. We had Jeera rice and Rajma for both breakfast and lunch. Well, it was hot breakfast and cold lunch. But then, Rajma, whether hot or cold, would just taste as yummy..:).

So, here we go with our recipes.

Jeera Rice

Ingredients

Basmati Rice- 1 1/2 cups[rinsed and soaked in water for about 15-20 mins]
Cumin seeds-2 tbsp
Ghee/Oil-2 tsp
Elaichi/Cardamom-2 pods
Cloves-2-3
Cinnamon stick-1
Water-3 cups
Salt-as per taste

Method

1. Heat a kadai/wok and add the ghee to it.
2. When the ghee becomes hot, add the Cumin seeds, elaichi, cloves and cinnamom stick and fry for about 10-15 seconds
3. Add the rice and 3 cups water and salt and cook with the lid on until the water boils. Then uncover, reduce the flame and set a timer for 10 minutes. Switch off the stove in exactly 10 minutes. Else the rice becomes pasty.

Rajma
Ingredients

Rajma or kidney beans-1 cup[soaked for over 8 hours]
Onion-2[large]
Tomatoes-6[large]
Garlic pods-3
Green chillies-3-4
Cloves-3-4
Elaichi-2 pods
Cumin powder-1 tsp
Coriander powder-1 tsp
Garam masala-2 tsp
Cinnamon stick-1
Salt-as per taste
Ghee/oil-for frying
Water-2 1/2 cups
Green coriander-for garnish
Method

1. Blend Onion, garlic and green chillies into a smooth paste.
2. Heat oil/ghee in a pressure cooker and add cloves, cinnamon and elaichi and fry for about 10 seconds.
3. Add the onion paste and fry until brown.
4. Now add the tomatoes, chopped into small pieces and fry in low flame until the tomatoes are reduced to pulp.
5. Add salt, cumin and coriander powder and 1 tsp of sugar[optional] and stir well.
6. Now add the water and add the soaked rajma after the water boils.
7. Pressure cook for about 8-10 whistles in the cooker.
8. Wait until the rajma cools a bit and add the garam masala and boil once again. Adjust salt as per taste.
9. Garnish with finely chopped coriander and serve with hot Jeera rice.

I just went to check the pressure cooker and I realised it had just about enough Rajma to feed a friend, whom we were expecting to drop in, sometime this evening. Well, so much for wondering if I had made too much of it, when I saw that the pressure cooker was almost 3/4 filled with cooked Rajma.

Burp![that was the next door neighbour, to whom I had given a small bowl of the manna] :)