Mexican Rice - Food Of The World

This month we the crew from Food of the world are Travelling to Mexico . I am a day late to publish my Recipe for this Month . So many things happened in a month , main thing was i broke my laptop , had to send it for service , Lost all my data ,including the photos i had shot ( I haven't posted it yet too ) , i was sick .... . OK now everything apart after a month of break i am back.

I always do feel that Indian food and Mexican food are quite similar . Both the cuisines uses various flavorful spices . As i cook Indian food daily , when ever we plan to dine out , we usually prefer to go to a Mexican Restaurant. I usually order Shrimp and Fish Fajitas and Spicy Tortilla soup. Oh my gosh , the Mexican restaurant we usually go is the Best Mexican grill i have ever dined . The fajitas are loaded with Shrimp , Fish and Cheese . The best part is the free Tortilla chips with home made dips :) .

I had prepared Flavorful Mexican Rice . I served with a dollop of  Sour cream and topped with Salsa . I am pretty sure these kinds of rice doesn't need a gravy .

Ingredients :

Long grain rice - 1/2 Cup ( i used basmathi )

Chopped onions - 1/4 Cup

Chopped Capsicum- 1/4 Cup

Green Peas - 1/4 Cup

Sweet Corn - 1/4 Cup

Cumin powder - 1/2 TSP

Salt - To Taste

Tomato Puree / Sauce - 1/4 Cup ( I used spiced sauce )

Chili Powder - If needed 

Bay Leaf - 2

Butter - 1 TBSP

Oil - 1 TBSP

Spring Onions - To Garnish

Water / Chicken Broth - 2 to 21/2 Cups

Instructions:

-  Add the butter and oil in the pan. Once the Butter / Oil is nice and hot , add the bay leaf and rice .
- Make sure it is in the medium heat , Roast it till it is golden brown .
- Add the chopped onions and capsicum . Cook till the onions turn brown .
- Add the Corn and Peas . Sprinkle some salt , chili powder and cumin powder .
- Add tomato sauce . Mix it completely .
- After 5 minutes add the broth or water . Mix it once . Close it with the lid and cook it completely .
- Before that make sure there is enough salt in it .
- Finally when the rice is fully cooked , Mix it once to make sure it is not sticking to the bottom of the pan.
- Sprinkle some spring onions .
- Serve it with sour cream and salsa .

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Next Month it is going to be Mexico .. See you there ... Linking this to other parties

Monday - Mix it up Monday, The Scoop, Made with love Monday, Marvelous Mondays @ This Gal Cooks  , Inspire me monday , Make the scene monday , Inspiration Monday ,cooking for seven dwarfs , Much Ado about monday , Craft - o-Maniac monday , Made by you monday

Tuesday - Totally Tasty Tuesday @ Mandy's Recipe Box, Show Me What You Got @ Our Delightful Home ,   Tasty Tuesday , Tuesday's Table @ Love in the Kitchen, Handmade tuesday , simple supper tuesday

Wednesday -Buns in the oven , Lady behind the curtain , Wined down wednesday,  Wonderful  food wednesday ,Show and share wednesday , The wednesday roundup , Weekend Retreat 

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An InLinkz Link-up

Fereni - A Persian Dessert

Fereni is a creamy and delicious Persian dessert which is made using rice flour , milk and rosewater as main ingredients. The Rosewater gives the intense flavor to the dessert and it is normally garnished with Pistachios . The dessert could be served either warm or cold . I personally like to be on a warm side. But Fereni is best when it is served chill . 

For this month's challenge on International Food Challenge  , +Savitha Ganesan was the host . She had chosen Persian Cuisine. Persian cuisine is really similar to Indian cooking . They widely use Rice , Turmeric and Saffron . Among  suggested recipes from savitha's end , i chose Fereni which was little easy . Thank you +Saraswathi Tharagaram for the lovely group challenge .

Ingredients for this desserts are easily available . Still you can substitute with the ingredients too as i did.

Ingredients:

Rice Flour - 1 1/2 TBSP

Whole Milk - 1 1/2 Cup

Rose Water - 1 1/4 TBSP

Sugar - 2 TBSP

Cashew and Almonds - For Garnishing

Instructions:

- In a bowl , combine milk , sugar and rice flour . Mix well using a Whisk .
- The mixture should be lump free .
- Place the bowl in the stove on medium heat and keep it whisking to make sure there is no lumps forming.
-  Mixture will thicken in no time , so keep an eye on it.
- When the mixture is getting thicker add the rose water and allow it to get little more thicker.
- The pudding must be jelly like consistency .
- Pour it in the serving bowls . Garnish it with Nuts .
- Serve it warm or cold .

Monday - Mix it up Monday, The Scoop, Made with love Monday, Marvelous Mondays @ This Gal Cooks  , Inspire me monday , Make the scene monday , Inspiration Monday ,cooking for seven dwarfs , Much Ado about monday , Craft - o-Maniac monday , Made by you monday

Tuesday - Totally Tasty Tuesday @ Mandy's Recipe Box, , Show Me What You Got @ Our Delightful Home ,   Tasty Tuesday @ Anyonita Nibbles, Tuesday's Table @ Love in the Kitchen, Handmade tuesday , simple supper tuesday

Wednesday -Buns in the oven , Lady behind the curtain , Wined down wednesday,  Wonderful  food wednesday ,Show and share wednesday , The wednesday roundup , Weekend Retreat 

Thursday - , Fantastic Thursday , Thriving on thursday , Full plate thursday ,

Friday -  Freedom Friday , foodie friday , pin junki , foodtastic friday , weekend wonders , friday food frenzy , weekend potluck , play party pin , Anthing goes linky @ Bacon time

Peas & Corn Rice

Its been 3 days since i had posted a recipe  . Previous post was a Yummy Dessert Banoffee Pie . Its been ages since i had posted a rice Recipe. So here comes a Yummy Peas & Corn Rice. It also can be called as Pulav / Pulao . This rice is one of the easiest and simplest recipe ever. The peas and corn gives a light sweetness where as Cloves and Bay leaves gives a aromatic flavor to the rice. Cumin Seeds and Colander leaves gives unique taste to the rice.  Over all this type of rice is a hit at any gathering.

Ingredients:

Rice - 1 1/2 Cup ( I used Sona Masoori , you could even use  Basmathi rice)

Peas - 1/2 Cup ( Frozen / Fresh)

Sweet Corn - 1/2 Cup ( Frozen / Fresh )

Cumin Seeds - 1 TSP

Coriander Leaves - 1/ 2 Cup

Sliced Onions - 1/4 Cup

Sliced Garlic - 3 cloves

Bay leaves - 3

Cloves - 4-5 

Pepper Powder - 1/2 TSP

Salt to Taste

Oil / Ghee

Instructions:

• Pressure cook / Cook the rice added by Salt ,Bay leaves and Cloves . 
• When the rice is ready allow it to cool completely .
• In a pan , heat the Oil / Ghee  , Add Cumin seeds and saute for a minute. Then add sliced Onions and Garlic . Roast it till it turns brown.
• Then add Peas and Corn by adding salt and pepper for taste . Cook it for couple of minutes . It approximately takes 5-6 minutes .
• When the Peas and Corn are cooked , add the Coriander leaves and cook for one more minute .
• Lastly take off the heat . Add it in the cooked rice and toss it .                                                            

Notes :

• Allowing the rice to cool completely will help during tossing the rice with out breaking .
• I used Frozen Peas & Corn . You could use fresh instead if it is available.
• To save some more time , You could microwave the corn and peas by adding little water and salt , then add to sauteed onions. 
• Tossing the rice helps in two ways . One is , it avoids from breaking another is Peas and Corn will be evenly mixed with rice.

Linking the event to Simple tadka blog anniversary ,