Baked Rice

Give me good basmathi, some spices and some vegi. I am sure I can make a rice dish out of it. So when I see ideas from my blogging friends that has rice as the staring ingredient I have tto try those. The rice dish I tried today was an an inspiration from this post. I liked the idea of baking the rice so I tried it with my standard pulav recipe. I cook my pulav on the stove top so I have more control over it. You can surely do it in a cooker.

Ingredients:
- 1 cup basmathi rice - Wash and soak it before you start your prep work
- 2 cups mixed vegetable - (I used beans, carrots, peas and bell peppers, frozen black eye peas.)
- 1 cup small onion pealed.
- 1 big onion cut pealed and cut to round slices
- 3-4 potatoes cooked and cut to round slices
- whole spices (2 anise seed, small piece of Cinnamon stick, 2 black cardamom, 1 tsp fennel seeds, 1 tsp jeera seeds, fewe cloves)
- 2 tsp puluv/biriyani masala
- 2 green chilies slit
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp chili powder (adjust to taste)
- 2 tbsp oil
- salt to taste.

Method:
1. In a large pan (you need a pan to hold the vegis and rice) add the oil. Once hot add all the whole masala and cook till they turn brown.
2. Now add the small onions and saute till the outer layer changes color. Add rest of the vegetable and toss it around.
3. Mix in your spice powders (turmeric, biriyani masala, chili powder). Add salt to this and let it all cook for a few minutes. Now add the soaked rice to this vegetable. Add 2 cups of water. Bring this to a boil. Once it starts to boil reduce the heat and cover the pan.
4. Cook for 5-7 minutes. The rice should be three fourth's done by now. Turn off the stove.
5. In a separate bowl add the sliced potatoes and onion. Add some salt, little bit of chili powder and 1 tsp of oil. Toss them all around. This adds flavor to these vegetables.
6. In a oven safe dish spray some oil and add the cooked rice. Arrange the slices of potato and onion. Add 1/2 cup of water to this. Now cover this and bake for 15 - 20 minutes.

Now serve it hot with your favorite raita or subji.

Sending it to book marked reciepe hosted by Priya

Fajita/Burrito

We have a mexican restaurant near our house. They make fresh tortillas and it is super soft and yummy. We get that occasionally and I try to make some mexican dish. I made some veggie quesadilla for the kids and a veggie fajita for us. It was a delicious and healthy dinner.

Ingredients

Vegetable Stir Fry

- 1 Bell Pepper (any color)
- 1 Yellow Squash
- 1 Zucchini
- 1 Small Red Onion
- 3 tbsp Oil
- Red chile powder (to taste)
- 1 tsp Cumin

1. Cut all the vegetables into thin strips. Add oil, red chilie powder, salt and cumin.
2.Mix it well so that vegetables are coated well. Leave it aside for half hour.
3.In a frying pan add oil and once it is hot add the vegetables. Roast it for few minutes.
4.The vegetables should be crunchy.

Refried Beans

- 1 small onion
- 1 tomato
- 1 Jalapeno
- 1 can of black beans
Salt to taste

1. Chop the onions,tomato and jalapeno. Add oil to the frying pan.
2. Fry the onions until it turns transclucent. Add the jalapenos and tomato.
3. Drain the black beans and wash it in cold water. You can also add pinto beans. You can also soak the beans previous day and pressure cook it.
3. Once the tomato turns mushy, add salt. Add the black beans and fry it for few minutes and mash it with a potato masher.

Cilantro Lime Rice

- 1 tsp butter/oil
- 1 cup Basmati Rice
- 2 Bay Leaf
- 1 Lime
- 1/4 cup Cilantro

1. Soak the basmati rice in water for 1/2 hour.
2. In a frying pan add butter/oil. Once its hot add the rice and fry it for few seconds. Add 2 cup water and close the pan. Keep the stove in medium heat. Add salt to taste.
3. Once the rice is cooked in about 15 minutes, add lime juice and the chopped corainder.

Other Ingredients

- 1/2 cup lettuce chopped
- Salsa (I used store bought)
- Guacomole (I skipped it as I was lazy :-) )
- Mexican cheese

To assemble Fajita

1. Heat frying pan and add a 1 tsp of oil. Put the tortilla and heat it for few sec on each side.
2. Add the refried bean,vegetables,lettuce, salsa and Guacomole and some mexican cheese. Roll it up and heat in the tawa for few seconds

To assemble quesadilla

1. Heat oil in a fruying pan. Put the tortilla and heat it for few sec on each side.
2. Add the refried beans and vegetables. Sprinkle mexican cheese on top of it.
3. Cover it with another tortilla. Let it remain in heat until the cheese has melted. Remove from heat and using pizza cutter, cut the tortillia into wedges.