Carrot Rice -- Spicy with a hint of sweetness

I went to my freinds house and came by this thing called Carrot Rice. I tried it out and it became and instant hit among my freinds.. so i thought i could share it will you.  Dont be fooled by the name ..and relate it to be one sweet dish ... instead it can be both spicy and a hint of sweetness to it at the same time.

Ingredients Needed:

2 cup rice -- cooked and let cool
6 carrots - shredded (use food processer for quicker version)
6 thai green chillies slid in two - increase with yr taste bud
1 onion - sliced
5 garlic -- crushed
2 tablespoon of urad dhal
1 tablespoon of jeera
1 tsp - garam masala
1 tsp - chili powder ( increase with yr spice level)
some cardamom, cinnamon, cloves
some mint , cilantro
some cashews - fried and kept aside for ganishing
some bell peppers (any color)- thin strips sauted in ghee and kept for ganishing
To make it

- add oil and ghee (just ghee if preferred)
- add cardamom, cinnamon and cloves - till aroma comes
- add urad dhall and jeera - till color changes
- add onions, garlics and green chillies and let it cook for some time
- add carrots, chillie powder and garam masala and let it cook until the raw smell goes off
(it will take some time, so be patient and while waiting i usually prepare the cashews and bell pepper)
- add salt to taste and a pinch of sugar
- add in the mint and cilantro
- finally add the rice and mix well ( keep the flame in low or off it if using the electric stove)
- add cashew and bell pepper to garnish


Tips:
1) Shredded carrots gives more juice and makes the rice even richer
2) If you are making it for the kids, just reduce the chillies and it will work well for them
3) The rice must be cooled and separated to make it nice and fluffy

---- Cooking is an art, so be creative with the above recipe -----

Egg Sambal -- Spicy spicy spicy

We  invited some friends over  for dinner yesterday, I had 2 set of menus to choose from ... one the tradisional Indian cooking ..of Sambar, kootu, etc. and the other would be the Malaysian style dinner. , since my friend wanted something different from the usual Indian food,...so the menu goes like this.... Ghee Rice, Veg Kurma, Egg Sambal (as hot as fire), cucumber mango salad and finally to ease out the fire ... mango strawberry milk shake. All of us had a blast of time and the most popular amont it was the Egg Sambal.

Sambal is a typical Malaysian food that we have for almost any meal.  It usually goes with "Nasi Lemak"  the aromatic rice made with coconut milk and accompanied with  boiled egg, peanuts, cucumber, the sambal and some extra fittings of anchovies, chicken or fish.  Will come to the nasi lemak recipe soon, but for now let me start of the spicy egg sambal.

You would need

• 8 boiled eggs
• 15  dried chillies (soaked in hot water for 5 minutes)
• 6 shallots
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 onion sliced thinly
• 1 stalk lemongrass thinly sliced (you can find it in the asian market)
• 2 stalks of scallions sliced
• tamarind juice from a marble sized
• 1 tablespoon of thick coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon of tomato ketchup (can be adjusted acc. to preference)
• salt to taste
• a pinch of sugar

Lets start

1. Boil the eggs. Fry the boiled eggs and cut it into 2 pieces.  In very little oil in a pan fry both side of the boiled egg to get a rough outer texture. Once fried cut the eggs into half . Well if you want to omit the frying part thats also perfectly fine .... just how you like it matters
2. Blend the chillie, garlic and shallot to a fine paste. A little oil added while blending helps to get a smooth paste. 
3. Heat about 3 tablespoon of oil to moderate heat.  Add the lemongrass  and the paste to the oil and stir well.  Keep the fire on medium low and saute the paste for some time. Just watch out and stir it continously to avoid any burning.
4. Once the raw smell of chillie is gone add the tamarind juice and keep stirring. Add the sliced onion and some of the scallions and let it cook for some time.  Add salt and sugar(optional) to taste.
5. When the oil starts to surface add in the tomato ketchup as it gives the glossy rich look and flavor.
6. Add the prepared eggs in the sambal with the coconut milk and give a final boil.
7. By this time you should have a beautiful reddish sambal with oil oozing out and all ready to eat.
8. Add some scallions for garnishing and waa laa .... the spicy spicy egg sambal is ready

Tips

• How spicy u want the sambal can be adjusted with the usage of ketchup and coconut milk. 
• You can prepare plain sambal as above minus the egg and coconut milk.  Store it in fridge for a week or 2 and pull it out on one of those days when cooking is not on your curb. Just add any of the below items, some coconut milk bring to boil and dinner is ready.
• You could add in the egg (boiled or omlette), shrimp, fried fish, fried anchovies, and  for dear vegetarian friends fried tofu, paneer or even fried potato would be excellent.
• Other than the normal combination of  "sambal nasi lemak". this also goes when with chapathis, ghee rice, plain rice, and a good side dish for rasam or any dhalls.

Enjoy the spicy sambal on a cool day

The kitchen masterpiece

Cooking as I see it is a beautiful art. We have to have the right amount of colour, texture and the creativity to make it a masterpiece.  The masterpiece of art would be a pleasure the eyes and mind. The masterpiece on the dinner table would not only stop there... it goes further... the eyes capture the beauty, the nose tells us about the aroma, the mind imagines about it, the mouth gives us the pleasure of taste and finally the heart gives us love ...not only for the food ...but most importantly the cook behind the food... which in most cases would be our moms ....to all the moms who cooked love and served them as  food.

With time.... the tradition has been passed on..Now.... from being the child who fusses about eating the greens, now I have be the mom who have to ensure my kids eat the greens.  So its my turn to serve love as food... And i hope it will spread the love around. Enjoy cooking !!!!!