Curd Rice with Pomegranate

Simple, delicious, satisfying, cooling - how well this description fits for a bowl of curd rice. There are oh so many variations you can make of a curd rice, and each and every of them tastes just as good as the other.

This one here uses pomegranate and all I can say is the sweet, sour and the spice, all makes this a good one.

The quantity of the yogurt to use really varies and depends on what type you are using and also how thick or thin you want the consistency to be. Curd rice consistency should be on a denser side and not runny. Also, curd rice is supposed to make atleast a couple of hours before you serve, so that the flavours set in. If the rice turns out to be very sour, you can add a little milk and mix evenly to set the taste rite. If you are travelling for a few hours and carrying curd rice, its a good idea to add a little milk to the prepared curd rice, for it to curdle and be just right when eating.

Ingredients

Cooked rice, slightly mushy and cool- 1 cup

Yogurt/Curd - 3/4 cup or more

Green chillies, chopped - 2

Curry leaves - 4-5

Udad dal - 2 tsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Jeera/Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Hing/Asafoetida - a generous pinch

Grated ginger - 1 tsp

Pomegranate - 1/2 cup

Cilantro - a little, chopped

Milk - 1/4 -1/2 cup ( if needed)

Salt - to taste

Oil

Method

- In a small pan, heat a tbsp. of oil and add mustard seeds, when they begin to crackle, add the udad dal, cumin seeds, hing and when slightly browned, add the green chillies, ginger & curry leaves. Pour this mixture on top of the rice.

- Add salt, pomegranate, cilantro and the yogurt to the rice and mix everything evenly. Add more yogurt (and milk) if necessary.

- Ready to serve, but let it rest for about 30 mins and its even better.

- Goes best with some pickle and papads.

Note : Replace green/red halved grapes with pomegranate and its another delicious variation.

Mango Dal..

A few years ago, I tasted this Mango Dal for the first time at a friends place and ever since fell in love with it. I love the use of raw mangoes in curries and dals, but a whole dal based with raw mango, is just pure comfort food for me. I could eat this dal everyday without any complaints and works great for us as my family loves it too..

This is how I make my Mango dal, as adapted from my friends recipe.

Ingredients

Toor dal, cooked and mashed - 1 cup
Raw Mango, cut into chunks - 2 1/2 cups

Chopped onions - 1 cup

Chopped ginger - 1 tsp

Green chillies, slit lengthwise - 4

Turmeric - 1/4 tsp

Garlic, chopped - 3 cloves

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Curry leaves - 5

Salt - to taste

Oil/ghee

Method

- Cook the mango with the onions, ginger, chillies, turmeric, and salt in about 2 cups of water. Cover and cook till the mango pieces are tender but not mushy.

- Add the cooked dal to the above and add water if needed to make the consistency thick or thin and cook.

- In a separate small pan, heat ghee/oil and add garlic, saute till it turns golden in colour, add the cumin seeds and curry leaves. Pour this seasoning over the dal mixture and keep covered till serving.

- Serve hot with rice.

Back to blogging - and a Milky Marble Cake.

Going back home is always great. The family, food and the whole atmosphere back home is just pure bliss. I stayed for three months, seems long, but I didn't know how time flew. Well, any amount of time feels short when I'm in India, so that's another story. Getting back to routine just feels tougher now, not to mention cooking and cleaning ( well, am home all the time, so that's nothing much rite ??)..

Anyways, I thought let me start blogging. But then, nothing has been happening in the kitchen, so am blogging about something which I had before going on vacation. I don't know the frequency of the posts that will happen here, but I hope to not go missing out of the scene. Ya, reminders and nudges are welcome :)..

Coming to today's recipe, its a Milky Marble Cake which I had made many months back for a friends anniversary. It was something which I had seen in one of the books and had in mind for a long long time. The actual recipe calls for a Madeira cake, but the procedure seemed very lengthy, so I just followed shortcuts which I always do with most of my cakes. I went a little overboard with the marbleing, but this was a first time, so some concession there :).

For the Cake that I made, you will need the following. I have used the store-bought cake mix. All the quantities are rite, except for the chocolate bars, I am just writing down from memory.

Ingredients

Ready Cake Mix (Sponge Cake) - 1 pack plus you will need the eggs, oil and water as mentioned on the pack.
Semi Sweet baking Chocolate/Chocolate chips - 4 oz.
Milk Chocolate Bar ( Hersheys/DairyMilk/any veriety) - 1 bar, approx. 4 oz.
Lemon Juice - 1 tbsp
Lemon Zest - grated from 1 lemon
Cocoa powder - 2 tbsp
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
Icing sugar (Confectioners) - 3/4 cup
Toothpick

To make the Marble Cake :
- Prepare the Cake mixture as per the instructions on the back of the pack. Divide this prepared mixture into 2 parts. Keep one as it is and to the second one add about 2 tbsps ( or as per your preferance) of cocoa powder. To adjust the consistency, you can add a little milk and mix it evenly.
- In a greased 9" round cake pan, dusted with some flour and lined with a parchment paper cut out to round shape, pour in alternate spoonfuls of the plain mixture and the chocolate mixture.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 325deg F till done or until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Take out and cool on a wire rack. Once cooled, I like to place it on the serving plate, so that you don't need to shift again.
- Next is to make the Chocolate curls. You will need 3oz. of the chocolate bar, make curls using a peeler. Spread out the curls on a thick sheet of paper.
- Melt the remaining chocolate and set 2 tbsps. aside. Spread the rest of the melted chocolate around the sides of the cake.

- While the chocolate is still soft, coat the sides of the cake in chocolate curls. Do this gently by slightly tilting the cake on one side and rolling the curls on it. Do not press heavily.
- Next is to make the Glace. Sift the icing sugar into a bowl. Add the lemon juice and mix the sugar evenly to form a glace of the consistency of pouring cream. Spoon this icing onto the top of the cake evenly and spread to the edge.

- Drizzle the reserved 2 tbsps. of the melted chocolate over the icing. While still soft, run the tip of a toothpick through the chocolate and icing to create the marble effect. And its ready...

- The inside of the cake looked like this picture below..