Fried Rice in Microwave Oven

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Today I thought of helping some people. The first thing that came to mind is those of my friends who are away from home in a completely different country and continent. Many of my friends are away for an onsite job to USA, UK and Australia. Many of them never ever have entered the kitchen, and then are in an absolute soup staying away from home and cooking their daily dinner. The fried rice I prepared is a very simple one. To make the task simpler I prepared it in the microwave oven.

Ingredients:

Rice (Chal): 1 bowl, 100gm

French Beans: 3 – 4

Carrots (Gajor): 2 small sizes

Cauliflower (Ful kopi): 2 -3 florets

Peas (Mator shuti): 1 tablespoon

Sugar (Chini): ½ teaspoon

Cashew nuts (Kaju badam): 5 – 6

Raisins (Kismis): 10 -12

Sunflower oil (Sada tel): 1 tablespoon

Cinnamon (Dar chini): 1 one inch size

Cardamon (Choto elaichi): 2

Salt to taste

Preparation:

• Wash the rice well keep aside for the water to drain out
• Cut all the vegetables into one centimeter sizes
• Break the cashew nuts longitudinally into halves
• Soak the raisins for 10 mins
• In a microwave safe deep vessel pour the oil, the cut vegetables and salt. Put it in the microwave oven and cook on microwave high (800 watts) for 6 to 7 mins
• Take the fried vegetables out and keep aside
• In another microwave safe bowl pour the rice and add 2 bowls of water, the rice to water ratio should be 1:2. Cook the rice uncovered for 10-12 mins on microwave high (800 watts)
• Add the vegetables to the cooked rice along with the sugar and mix well
• Cook on microwave high for 2 mins. Fried rice is ready to serve

Cooking fried rice in the microwave is a very simple task, so cook it and enjoy your dinner. Check out for more updates on this blog, till then Happy Cooking and Happy Eating.

Sending the recipe to Single Serving Recipe hosted by Spicy Rasam.

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Tomato Chatni

We’ve moved to own domain name – bengalicuisine.net. You can follow me on Twitter, visit my Flickr photostream.

It seems as if without a bowl of chatni Bengali platter is never complete. The little bowl of chatni at the end of any meal brings a fulfillment to the meal. Chatni, for those who are not so aware of this word, is a sweet serving prepared of tomato, ripe mango, pineapple, or for that matter any sour fruits and even dry fruits. Chatni is prepared in various styles in all Bengali households. The preparation also depends on the season; tomato for winter, ripe mango for the summers, or any seasonal fruits during its time. The main ingredient though a fruit it is often accompanied with sugar or jaggery for enhancing the sweetness of the dish.
The last time when I went home, mom gave me a whole jar of jaggery. I had completely forgotten about it, last night I was cleaning up the kitchen when I found this jar, and the first thing that came to mind was having it with milk and rice. I was thinking of what else to do with that, when I saw the tomatoes. The answer to my question was instantaneous; chatni is the best option.
I prepared it this way; you can prepare it in any way possible. I will try to post some other types of chatni on my following posts. The combination of jaggery and dry chili helps in increasing its shelf life to almost two days without refrigeration.
For this chatni the only spice used is panch phoron. Panch phoron, as the name suggests is a combination of five different spices; “panch”, meaning five and “phoron” is spice. Nigella, cumin, fenugreek, fennel, and mustard mixed in same proportions are used for preparing panch phoron. This combination of spices is an earmark of Bengali cuisine. It is  used in preparations like Khichudi and vegetarian dishes .

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Tomato: 6 medium sizes
Palm Jaggery (Taler gur): 2 tablespoon
Bay leaf (Tej pata): 2
Dried chili (Sukhno Lanka): 2
Cashew nuts (Kaju): 5 or 6, cut into small pieces
Mustard Oil (Sarser Tel): 1 teaspoon
Panch Phoron: ½ teaspoon

Preparation:

• Cut the tomatoes into quarters
• Heat oil in a wok, as it gets heated throw in the panch phoron and bay leaves
• When the panch phoron starts popping put in the tomatoes and red chilies along with the jaggery
• Add little salt and stir the tomatoes well, partly mashing them
• Let the tomatoes be cooked in low flame
• As the tomatoes softens pour in the cashew nuts and take out of flame

Tips: Do not add water for the tomatoes to cook, this will make the chatni taste watery, and that doesn’t feel good.

Check for more updates from my kitchen, till then Happy Cooking and Happy Eating

Sending this to SWC-Meals on Wheels hosted by Lakshmi.

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Harvest: The Festival of Rice: Roundup Part II

We’ve moved to own domain name – bengalicuisine.net. You can follow me on Twitter, visit my Flickr photostream.

With many types of rice, it really took me long to come up with the round-up. I would like to thank Hema and Easy to Cook for sending so many recipes for the event. Please let me know if I have missed out any of your recipes. You can see the first part of roundup for this event here.  SGD of  Whims and Wishes also wrote some words about this Harvest festival, and she was very kind to share her thoughts with us.

1. Bajji’s Platter from Hema of Adlak’s Kitchen
2. Bisi Bela Bhaat from Hema of Adlak’s Kitchen
3. Bisibelabath from Shama of  Easy to Cook Recipes
4. Black-eyed peas pulao from Asha of Aroma Hope
5. Brinjal Rice from Shama of  Easy to Cook Recipes
6. Capsicum Rice from Shama  of  Easy to Cook Recipes
7. Carrot Rice from Shama of  Easy to Cook Recipes
8. Cauliflower Rice from Shama of  Easy to Cook Recipes
9. Chenna Pulao from Hema of Adlak’s Kitchen
10. Chicken biriyani from Shama of Easy to Cook Recipes
11. Chilli-Tangerine rice from Anushreeram of Chandrabhaga
12. Cilantro Rice from Hema of Adlak’s Kitchen
13. Cocnut Rice from Shama of  Easy to Cook Recipes
14. Coconut Milk Vegetable Rice from Shama of  Easy to Cook Recipes
15. Dil se pulao from Sindhura of Bay Leaf
16. Doodh Puli Peethe from Sunanda of Sunanda’s Kitchen
17. Garlic Rice from Shama of  Easy to Cook Recipes
18. Healthy Geen Rice/ Pudina Rice from Shama of  Easy to Cook Recipes
19. Iyengar’s Poliodharai from Hema of Adlak’s Kitchen
20. Keshari Bhaat (Sweet Saffron Rice) from Sanika of  Sanika’s Spicy&Tangy….Sweet&Yummy!!!!
21. Khasta Kachori from Naveeta of Zaayeka
22. Kondakadalai Sadam/ Red Chana Dal Rice from Shama of  Easy to Cook Recipes
23. Lemon Rice from Shama of  Easy to Cook  Recipes
24. Lemony Lemon – A Tangy Tasty Masala Bath from Hema of Adlak’s Kitchen
25. Medhu Pakora from Hema of Adlak’s Kitchen
26. Mint Magic (Pudina pulao) from Hema of Adlak’s Kitchen
27. Mishti Pulao from Aundhuti of Gourmet Affair
28. Mor Koozh from Hema of Adlak’s Kitchen
29. Multiprotein Rice from Shama of Easy to Cook  Recipes
30. Mushroom Pulao from Hema of Adlak’s Kitchen
31. Paruppu Keerai Dosai from Shama of  Easy to Cook Recipes
32. Pasta Pulao from Hema of Adlak’s Kitchen
33. Patishapta from SGD of  Whims and Wishes
34. Peanut Cup Rice from Hema of Adlak’s Kitchen
35. Poha from EC of  Easy Crafts
36. Prawn/Shrimp Pulao of Homecooked
37. Puliyothaai/ Tamarind Rice from Shama of  Easy to Cook Recipes
38. Puttu~Steamed Rice Cakes from Poornima of Tasty Treats
39. Rice Ball Kheer from Sanika of Sanika’s Spicy&Tangy….Sweet&Yummy!!!!
40. Rice Uppma from Hema of Adlak’s Kitchen
41. Sharkara Payasam from Poornima of Tasty Treats
42. Shazani biryani from Sindhura of Bay Leaf
43. Spongy Dosa with yum yum coconut from Hema of Adlak’s Kitchen
44. Tomato rice from Sindhura of Bay Leaf
45. Vegetable Bonda from Hema of Adlak’s Kitchen
46. Vegetable Pulao from Poornima of  Tasty Treats
47. Vegetable Rice from Hema of Adlak’s Kitchen
48. Venpongal from Shama of Easy to Cook Recipes
49. Wholesome Moong kichadi from EC of Easy Crafts

With so many recipes, it’s really hard to choose which one is the best. But still, it’s on you to select the best. So go ahead and choose your best recipe and write it down as a comment for this post.

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