Colorful Bell Pepper Rice

Having switched to brown rice on a regular basis, having a white rice dish once in a while is a treat for my husband and I...

I made this bell pepper rice yesterday with veggie kurma. I had bought red, yellow and green bell peppers to make paneer jalfrezi for some guests. In the end I changed my mind and cooked something else for the guests. So, I had the red and yellow peppers in my fridge and I decided to try out something new.

Bell Pepper Rice:

Ingredients:

1. One large Yellow Bell Pepper (finely cut)
2. One large Red Bell Pepper (finely cut)
3. 5 or 6 finely cut baby carrots
4. 1 to 1.5 cup(s) of white basmati rice
5. Finely cut half onion
6. Finely cut 2 cloves of garlic and half-an-inch of ginger
7. 2 cloves
8. 2 teaspoons olive oil
9. 1 teaspoon ghee
10. 2 spoons of crushed black pepper
11. 2 or 3 red chilles
12. 1 or 2 pods of cardamom
13. 1 or 2 spoons of salt (add according to requirement)
14. Half cup of frozen peas (optional)

Cooking Method:

1. Soak the white basmati rice in water for 10 to 15minutes.

2. Turn the rice cooker on and keep the setting to 'cook' and add 2 spoons of olive oil. (alternatively you can use a pan to cook this dish).

3. When the oil is warm, add cloves and cardamom.

4. Add the finely cut red and yellow bell pepper and fry for 2 minutes.

5. Drain the water from the soaked rice and add that to the rice cooker.

6. Add salt and add 2 to 3 cups of water. Adding excess water can cause the rice to become mushy. So, eyeball the amount of water just enough to soak the rice-veggie mix.

7. Turn the rice cooker setting to 'cook'. Now add the cut carrots, crushed black pepper, peas and red chilles to the rice. Rice cooks within 10 to 15 minutes. Make sure to not over-cook the rice, by keeping in 'warm' setting for a long period of time. Transfer the content to a bowl.

8. Add 1 spoon of ghee to the rice-mix to give it some more flavor. This is optional. The rice tastes good without adding ghee.

9. Fry finely cut onions, garlic and ginger and add to the rice-mix.

Bell pepper rice tasted great with veggie-kurma. I found the recipe for veggie kurma here. I added only 1 teaspoon of coconut for health reasons and still the kurma tasted really good.

Remakes...Remakes...Remakes....

I was recently watching snippets of the movie (Kuzhanthayum Deivamum) on SunTV in which 'kutti padmini' acted and I immediately realized that the crux of the movie was similar to the movie Parent Trap that Lindsay Lohan acted. Suddenly I realized that the english version seemed to have released later than the tamil version. I thought it was not possible for an english movie to be remade from a tamil film, so I yahooed the movie. I found that the first Parent Trap was taken in the 60s and the Tamil version was taken after that. The second Parent Trap was taken after this. Also I found a Hindi movie also remade from Parent Trap.

The story is about twin girls who accidentally meet and switch places to re-unite their separated parents. It is a cute story, but I cannot understand why Indian cinema always get their ideas from western movies. :-)

Tofu Eggplant Sautee

Preparation Time: 25 to 30 min

Inspired from Vegan Cooking

Ingredients:

• 2 cups reduced sodium soy sauce
• 1 cup rice vinegar
• crushed red chilli flakes (2 or 3)
• 3 spoons white or brown sugar
• 2 or 3 spoons of rice flour
• 1 packet of extra firm tofu
• 1 or 2 chinese eggplant
• 5 to 10 basil leaves
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 inch ginger
• 5 or 6 spoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon sesame seeds (optional)
• 2 spoons crushed peanuts (optional)

Cooking Method:

1. Cut Tofu into cubes. In a cooking pan add 3 spoons of olive oil. Fry tofu with minced garlic in the oil until it turns brown on both sides. Keep aside.

2. Cut chinese eggplant into big chunks. Fry eggplant with minced ginger and very little salt until eggplant is cooked.

3. Mix soy sauce, chilli flakes, rice vinegar and sugar in a bowl. Also add 2 to 3 spoons of rice flour to make the mix thick

4. Add the fried tofu to the eggplant. Add the soy sauce mix on step 3 to tofu and eggplant. Saute for few minutes in reduced heat.

5. Add fresh basil leaves and saute for few more minutes.

6. Add crushed peanuts and sprinkle some sesame seeds after transferring it to a bowl or container.

The above recipe is healthy, quick to prepare and tastes great with brown rice and is quite filling.

Great Wall (panorama)