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Friday, February 9, 2007

Capsicum - Peas Rice & A Me-Me


I wanted to participate in Pooja's VOTW . I prepared a dish, took pictures and could not draft the recipe for green peas week because of the time constraints. Last week, we celebrated our eleventh wedding anniversary and also did lot of shopping - packing sort of things for my husband's visit to India. Now I have plenty of time, though it is difficult to sit alone at home feeling vacant. I had many food pictures on my computer which needed drafting. So, I thought this is the right time to do it.

I am posting a recipe for Capsicum rice today. One of my classmates, during my college days used to bring some rice dishes which were prepared using vangi bhath powder. Capsicum rice used to be one of them. Her mom used to fry capsicum, potatoes and green peas together and add vangi bhath powder and rice to it. I omitted potatoes in the dish. This is a very simple preparation and less time consuming.

Ingredients needed:
Rice - 1 cup
Chopped capsicum - 1 cup
Green peas (fresh or frozen) - 1/2 cup
Vangibhath powder - 2 Tbsp
Salt - As needed
Oil - 2 Tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - A few
Cashews - 1 tbsp (optional)

Preparation:
Cook the rice.
Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, cashews and curry leaves. When mustard seeds start to splutter, add capsicum and green peas. Stir it, cover with a lid and lower the heat. Keep stirring in between till the capsicum pieces become tender.
Then add the vangibhath powder, salt and fry it for a couple of minutes on low flame. Add the rice and mix well till all the rice is well coated with the cooked masala. Adjust the salt and powder if needed. Turn off the stove and let it sit for 10 minutes.
Serve hot.

Note:
If using frozen peas, add them almost at the end.
Any one colored peppers can be used. I used all colored peppers just to give color to the dish.
Store bought MTR vangibhath powder also works fine. You can reduce / increase the quantity of vangibhath powder used according to your taste preferences.

Pooja also tagged me for '5 things you don't know about me'.
Thank you Pooja for tagging me. This is the first time a fellow blogger tagged me for this kind of thing. Since, it is a food blog, I am going to talk more about food.
1. I never dreamt that I would own a food blog. My mom have no idea about my blog yet. She would be shocked to see this. Why? I never prepared a complete meal (or for that matter a decent meal.) until I landed in USA. By that time, I was 25, I was married a little over three years and my son was an infant. Before leaving India, My mom and I jokingly even predicted my son would be the only kid on the face of the earth who will never know what good food is. I hurriedly filled a book with my mom's recipes. I had no idea what quantities of ingredients went in what recipes. My mom who never used measurements in her cooking had hard time explaining me. But once I landed here and started cooking, I enjoyed it. I even started cooking from the recipes that were on websites which caught my attention. I went on experimenting and learnt through my mistakes. Now, I love to cook especially for people like my husband, who enjoy it and unfazed by my constant experimentation (& the final product which lands up as food on his plate).
2. I enjoy teaching. I worked and volunteered as a teacher in the same schools in which I studied. It was fun working with some of the people who used to be my teachers. I taught high school kids. Now, when my daughter starts going to school full time, I want to work again with little kids who are developmentally delayed.
3. I enjoy reading anything that I can lay my hands upon. I am least bothered about the subject of the book as long as it sustains my interest. Books have been my greatest friends all through my life. When we were in India, I would not spare even the old newspapers used to pack groceries. Now, I take a trip to library atleast a couple of times in a month.
4. I was a picky eater till my kids were born. You would not have wanted me on your guest list, if you have known me a decade ago. I used to eat only a few selected veggies even though my mom cooked deliciously using all varieties of vegetables. Now to be a good role model to my kids, I started eating all most all vegetables. (Note that I said all most. I have still some reservations and am skeptical when it comes to new foods.) My MIL even to this day believes that I don't eat anything.
5. I hate to even smell garlic. But I love coconut in anything and everything. God has enjoyed playing a big practical joke on me. I wound up with a man who loves to eat garlic and loves to hate coconut. I cook garlic dishes exclusively for him.
After I started writing this, I realised that I can go on and on. It was only 5 things. So, I think I need to stop here.

7 comments:

FH said...

I saw this post in the morning but couldn't get in!Anyway,that rice dish wonderful.Very colorful and lot of nutritious things in there.
Lovely MeMe!You should let your mom and MIL know about this blog.They will be very happy!:)
I think your kids will be quite okay,tasting all these goodies.Are you Dharwad?

Suma Gandlur said...

Asha,
Thank you.
I guess my last name was misleading.We are from Andhra and I grew up in Bangalore.In a way, nanu bengaloorinavalu.

Anonymous said...

suma that is such an arresting picture. great recipe. do you have the recipe for vangibhath powder or do you get it readymade?

bee
www.jugalbandi.info

Suma Gandlur said...

Bee,
Thanks.
I do know how to prepare vangibhath powder. Will post a recipe soon.

Anonymous said...

Hey suma
your rice dish looks delicious and loved ur meme... even my SIL hates garlic:) One silly question how do u manage to eat in resturants??
BTW i make ravva ladoo same way u make..

Suma Gandlur said...

Padmaja,
Thanks.
Your question reminds me that I am still a picky eater.
I thought nobody makes rava laddus this way. Whenever I go thru a rava laddu recipe, the binding agent is always ghee or sugar syrup.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful picture!