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Tag: fresh mint

Brown Rice with Minted Green Peas

Brown Rice with Minted Peas I served this super healthy rice dish with the lentils I made yesterday. I love when I am able to make very flavorful dishes that are good for you. Especially when I am feeding my daughter and husband. As the cook in the family, I feel responsible for feeding them delicious and healthy food. I want to make sure my daughter grows up learning healthy eating habits.

This takes absolutely no time at all. I had cooked brown rice in the fridge so it didn’t take me long at all. You can also use the frozen brown rice available at Trader Joes. I always have some on hand. It is great for a quick meal.

For this dish, all I did was saute a shallot in some olive oil. I then added some sweet, frozen peas and chopped mint. The rice came next with a bit of salt. That it- all done. It was delicious with the brown lentils. It was a healthy meal we all enjoyed…
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Mango and Rice Salad

Rice and Mango Salad I love, love this salad. I utilized our favorite fruit in the house-mangoes. I make everything with this delicious fruit- entrees, appetizers, salads and dessert, oh, and some delicious drinks as well. I needed to serve a side dish with the shrimp curry I posted yesterday. I wanted to make some kind of a starch and also vegetables. I decided to make a rice salad (never made one before) and use mangoes, red peppers, green onions, cilantro and mint. How can you go wrong with all those delicious ingredients??

I made a fabulous dressing consisting of rice vinegar, honey and olive oil. It is amazing to me how just the right ingredients can make such a big difference in a dish. The tangy dressing made the rice salad absolutely delicious and it went perfectly with the shrimp curry.  We ate the rice salad a few days even after the curry was finished. It tasted better the next day.

This salad will be perfect with any grilled entree like hamburgers, hot dogs or even steak.  This will be a staple in our house for the summer.
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Lentils with Mint- Pudina Dal

Lentils with Mint To me there is nothing more comforting than a big bowl of well made dal (lentils). It is equivalent to Chicken Soup here- real comfort food.

In India the lentil variety is mind boggling. I am sure there are plenty of them I have never tasted. As part of my Indian pantry, I have at least 8 to 10 different kinds on hand at any given time. They are very reasonable to buy and great to make in a cinch. Some of the lentils have a tough exterior and need longer to cook- I have my trustee pressure cooker to do the job. A slow cooker works really well also- red kidney beans (rajma) and black lentils (whole urad dal) are ideal for slow over night cooking.

A well balanced Indian meal usually includes a vegetable- saag paneer or aloo gobi; a dal- masoor; a meat dish- keema or chicken. The dishes are served with homemade yogurt and freshly made rotis (bread) or rice. Obviously the dishes vary according to household and region but the staples remain the same- dal, roti and yogurt.

My parents are visiting from India- that means we will be getting fabulous Indian food. My Mom is a great cook- that is where I get my obsession of food. 

While she was unpacking her suitcase, she brought out a big container wrapped carefully in plastic wrap and all sorts of plastic bags. Out came one of my favorite mutton dishes- achari gosht. The word achari means pickled and gosht is mutton. She used to make this dish whenever we would go for a picnic or on a long train ride. The meat is cooked in pickling spices, and mustard oil and finished with vinegar; plus it does not have any water- all of these factors help with a long shelf life. It is absolutely delicious- I know what you are thinking- why didn’t she just make it here?- well, the goat meat you get back home is far more superior than here and a lot tastier- I will post the recipe soon.

Anyway, my point was that we ate the mutton dish that very night. I decided to make dal as an accompaniment. I mixed the masoor dal (pink lentils) with moong dal (yellow lentils). I wanted to keep the dish simple since the mutton dish was the star of the evening. I added a few garlic cloves and cooked the lentils with salt and turmeric. I added fresh mint from my backyard. The mint gave the dal a really fresh and light flavor- it was amazing. The whole meal was delicious and very enjoyable- brought me back to my childhood. My daughter enjoyed it as well!

This dal is perfect with any dish or just by itself with a bowl of fluffy white rice.

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