Saturday, October 1, 2011

Pomegranate Pulao Rice (Madulam Pazha Sadam/ Anaar Rice) - Indian Style

Doesn't it sound exotic? Pomegranate has unique sour and sweet flavors and I was thrilled to try this out when I saw this on a TV show by Mallika Badrinath. She is one of the first chef-celebrities who inspired me to cook while I was young. My first recipe was Toasted Bread in Sugar Syrup (or something along those lines) which she taught in a "Kids can cook" program. I remember I tried it under the supervision of both my grandmoms and they approved it as well as enjoyed the "dessert" :)

Now, about Pomegranates...Wikipedia tells me that it symbolizes fertility in China, for its numerous seeds and the fruit is associated with prosperity and fertility in Hinduism (probably for the same reason). Ayurveda uses every part of Pomegranate plant (root, bark, flowers, fruit, leaves) for medicinal purposes. So, yeah, its healthy and  full of nutrition and this rice is just the perfect way to get pomegranate into your kids' tummies, who refuse to eat the fruit as such.

Pomegranate Pulao / Rice


Ingredients -


Rice - 1 cup (You may use Basmati if you like longer grains)
Pomegranate (ripe) - 1

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Urad dal / Black gram dal - 1 tsp
Channa dal/ Bengal gram dal - 1 tsp
Green chillies - 4
Dry Red chillies - 2
Cashewnuts - about 15
Curry leaves - a few
Oil - 1 tbsp + 1 tbsp
Salt - to taste (~3/4 tsp)
 

Method -


Cook rice and spread on a wide plate greased with 1 tbsp oil. This is to make sure the grains are separate. Allow rice to cool for a while.

Meanwhile, cut open the pomegranate with a knife and get the edible seeds in a bowl, discarding the white membranes covering them.


Juicy Pomegranate

Use an electric mixer/blender and extract the juice from it. Then, strain it and save the juice and throw away the small seeds.





Now, take a kadai, heat oil and let mustard seeds splutter. Follow with urad dal and channa dal.

When the lentils turn a little reddish, add finely chopped green chillies, 2 dried (cut into 2) and a handful of cashewnuts (chopped, if you like).


When they are fried for 2 minutes, add the cooled rice and gently mix. Don't over mix.You could switch off the flame now.


Microwave the extracted pomegranate juice for 2 minutes on High and then add it to the kadai. Turn heat ON to LOW. Let the juice get completely absorbed by the rice on low heat. That's it :)


Garnish with coriander leaves. I didn't have any today, yet it tasted awesome.

Pomegranate Pulao/Rice

Serve with papads or vadaams.

Sending this to CWS : Rice Event hosted by Kaarasaaram.com


2 comments:

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