Mint rice (Pudhina)

This morning, tried my hand at a very humble recipe of Pudina (mint) rice with simple ingredients available at home. It’s a perfect comfort food for lunch/dinner and I loved its earthy flavor. Takes you less than 10 minutes to prepare this!

 

Ingredients

·         I bunch of pudina leaves

·         Soaked tamarind – (very small lemon-sized ball)

·         3 green chillies

·         Ginger – 25 gms

·         Cooked rice- 2 cups

·         Salt to taste

For seasoning

·         Mustard, broken urad and gram dal

·         Sesame oil

·         Asafoetida- 1 tea spoon

·         Turmeric powder- 1 tea spoon

·         Curry leaves

For garnishing

·         Roasted peanuts (de –skinned)

 

Get started

·         Grind the pudina leaves, chilly, ginger, tamarind & salt into a fine paste

·         Heat oil in a pan, add the seasoning ingredients and allow them to crackle

·         Add turmeric, asafoetida & curry leaves and the ground paste

·         Keep stirring for about 3-5 minutes until the moisture in the paste evaporates

·         Finally add the cooked rice and roasted peanuts for crunchiness

 

As I was finishing, it struck me that the same recipe with broken poha or dalia (instead of rice) would be more nutritious and taste interesting too. Tamarind can also be replaced with lemon juice (to be used after turning off the heat to avoid bitterness). Got to try these alternatives the next time!