Chickpeas Fried Rice / Chole Pulao - a spicy plateful to warm your heart when it is pouring outside

No, I did not speak all too soon.
The weather has indeed taken a turn and for the good too.
While the temperatures have continued to dip, the breeze has been steady and is only growing stronger.
I had a bout of sneezing and sniffling yesterday, a result of my carelessness ... I had the window open, the fan on and the ac on too ... yeah, kill me for that ... one of these days, and was punished accordingly.
And promptly too.
The whole of yesterday was spent at trying to sneeze with the lowest possible noise ... yet the more the day wore on, the more the volume increased.
Not to mention my groans.
Cold and flu make me cranky. And if there is someone, anyone, in the vicinity, I become very restless.
Tried to lie down and watch the telly but to no good. The choicest of idiotic movies were on. Listening to music was another pain ... my sneezes would not allow me to listen in peace.
Spent a whole miserable morning before I gulped an antihistamine.
That took care of me and I was in dreamland for the rest of the afternoon and the better part of the evening.
B made a hot dinner of Aloo baingan ki sabzi   , with a little gravy to help my sore throat, along with  plain parathas.
And then I slept again.

Woke up early to a dark, cloudy sky and rain.
That quiet, silent but non stop drizzle that Pune is so loved for.
Looked out and saw the droplets dripping down the leaves and the railings of my balcony.
Snuggled back into the razai again.
But sleep eluded and thoughts turned to breakfast.
And what would a good Bong have for breakfast on a beautiful, rainy morning?
Luchi!, of course.
So while B took his morning call, I quickly  set the shaada aloor chorchori on one burner and kneaded the maida.
Soon we were sitting at the table, looking out of the windows and watching the trees sway, enjoying our breakfast of luchi torkari.
I did post a photo of my plate on the blog's page on facebook.
There is a video too, on my personal page.
Someday I will do a post on how to make that perfect phulko luchi, for sure.

But today, while I am still drowsy ... thanks to Avil, I thought I will give my weekly grocery shopping a miss and just watch the clouds.
And make this post.

I had made this Chana pulao just last week. It was a hurried day and I had some leftover rice as well as boiled chickpeas in the fridge.
Decided to throw in them together and come up with a one pot meal.
A plain raita and some salad on the side and a quick lunch was ready within 15 minutes.

Here is the recipe.

Need :

Chickpeas - big cup, 1 pressure cooked with a little salt
Rice - 1 big cup, cooked
Onions - 2, medium, chopped
Garlic - 6, chopped
Green chillies - chopped
Turmeric / Haldi powder - 1 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1 tbsp
Dry mango / Amchur powder - 1 tsp
Garam masala powder - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Sugar - to taste
Cooking oil - 1 tbsp
Ghee - 1 tbsp (you can skip it if you are vegan)
Lemon juice - 2 tbsp

How to :

Heat oil in a kadahi / wok.

Add the chopped garlic and fry till they turn light brown.

Add the onions and fry till they turn pink.

Now add the green chillies + the boiled and drained chickpeas (make sure you do not add any water ), haldi powder, red chilli powder and garam masala powder, amchur powder, salt and sugar.

Mix everything well and fry for a while.

Now add the rice and adjust salt.

Add a little more garam masala ( or a pinch of biryani masala will also work fine. I used the Punjabi garam masala that I got from Amritsar ) and mix well.

Add ghee and lemon juice, give a good mix and cover.

Let it stand for around 2 minutes before you switch off heat.

Serve hot with raita and salad on the side.

The raita is just fresh home made curd beaten well with a pinch of black salt and sprinkled with roasted jeera/cumin powder + red chilli powder.

This turns out to be a wonderful one pot meal, especially if you have dryish leftover rice.
Mine was slightly mushy as my rice was a little well cooked.
No change in the flavours though.
And personally I feel well cooked rice soaks up flavours better than just done rice, especially for pulaos like this .... won't work with a biryani though.


Enjoy!!!

Kaddu ka Raita / Kumror Raita

Raita is a good way to get some vegetables as well as curd into your system. Especially in these dry, hot days of summer.
The heat has been much too torturous this year. Keeping us listless.
I cannot bear being in the kitchen for long, neither in the mornings nor in the evenings.
Inspite it being my favourite place in my house.
Yes, not even my den can keep me in for more than a few minutes. Even if I am working on a project ... be it a knitting, or sewing or plain reading, I get restless and turn to my kitchen for respite. I love looking up the shelves, picking legumes to be soaked, dals to be boiled ... or just make lists of stuff that need to be picked up on my next grocery trip.
But not anymore.
The a/c beckons and I rush back.
I have even shifted my laptop from the kitchen to my den ... and that is where you will find me holed up these days ... most of the time that is.

When it comes to cooking at all, I am sticking to a lot of salads. And if not salads, I turn to boiled vegetables. Just pick your favourite vegetable or chicken or fish, steam or roast in the oven, toss with a dressing of your choice and you are ready to face lunch or dinner.
Easy and light.
And if at all I am eating rice, I turn to our good old makha or bhate. A dash of mustard oil, some chopped green chillies and onions and some fried bori ... all mashed up together and eaten cool, with panta bhaat / pokhala / or rice in water.
Or just curd and rice.
Pure bliss on a hot summer noon.

And I make sure I eat curd on the side too.
Fresh, homemade.
Throughout the year, we have the chaas / taak / ghol on the side with our lunch. But in summer, the curd comes in the form of cool raitas on our table.
I have already posted the very healthy Lauki ka raita long back. Today I share this quick, almost no oil except for the tempering, raita made with the kaddu / kumro / pumpkin.
Many people grate the pumpkin ... I do not. My hands cannot take that much of pressure ... so I cut them into cubes and steam or boil them first.

Need :

Ripe pumpkin - cut into medium cubes ( I kept the skin on )
Fresh curd
Mustard seeds - for tempering
Whole red chillies - for tempering
Roasted jeera powder
Roasted red chilli powder
Rock salt or plain salt
1 tsp oil or ghee
Fresh coriander leaves - chopped
Water to cook the pumpkin in

How to :

In a pan, take just enough water to submerge the pumpkin pieces.
Add a little plain salt.
Cover and cook till the pumpkin is soft and mushy.

Remove from heat and cool.
Do not throw away the remaining water, if any.

Beat curd with a little salt.
Add the cooled pumpkin and lightly mash it ... just to break it up.

Heat the oil or ghee.
Add the mustard seeds.  When they start to crackle, add the whole red chillies and remove from immediately.

Pour on the curd and pumpkin mixture carefully. It will splutter a lot.

Sprinkle jeera powder + red chilli powder + coriander leaves + a little rock salt.

Serve cool.

I make a big batch and keep it in the fridge.
Stays well for a week, but you will finish it off much before the week is over. .

Here is a look at my lunch plate from one of these days.

Enjoy!
Have a lovely summer .... stay away from the sun , drink loads of water and eat cooling food.
Stay well all!

Lau er Raita / Lauki ka Raita / Bottlegourd with curd salad(?)

( Vegans can blend some silken tofu with a little lemon juice and salt and use in place of curd / yoghurt .... thanks Vaishali for the tip ). :-)

As a child, the vegetables part in my meals were disliked with a passion. And if it was the Lau / Lauki / Bottle gourd, well .... it would stay untouched. But I liked this cooling raita that was made during the summers. And it was always served cold. Maybe that's the reason I used to like it ... the summers back home can be real torturous ... so anything cold was always welcome.

This is a simple dish .... and as I later realised, very quick to make. The main flavours are of the curry leaves and mustard seeds tempering. And of course the cooling tang of curd / youghurt.

If you want it bland, it's fine. Want a little spice ... then add some whole dry red chillies or fresh green chillies ( I have used the former). And for extra flavour, throw in some finely chopped ginger.

It becomes even more quicker to make if you have steamed the lauki beforehand ( you can cook it in a steamer or run it in the MW with a little water and salt for 10 mins).
Even if you have not, I assure you this won't take too long to make.

When peeling the lauki, if you cut thickish peels, then you can make this simple yet wonderful dish, the Lau Khosa Bhaja, that I posted ages back. :-)

Need :
1 Lau / Lauki / Bottle gourd - peeled and cut into medium cubes
Fresh curd / Yoghurt - 1 or 2 cups ( depending on how much lauki you have )
Curry leaves - 6 to 8
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Whole dry red chillies - 2
Cooking oil - 1 tsp
Ginger - 1 tsp chopped
Salt to taste
Sugar - just a pinch

How to :

Heat the oil in a wok / kadahi / deep pan.

Add the mustrad seeds and wait till they start to splutter.

Now add the curry leaves and chillies.

Add the lauki, a little salt, cover and cook till the lauki is done. ( If using precooked lauki, then just toss it around for a while ).

After the lauki is well cooked, add the chopped ginger, stir some more, remove in a bowl and keep aside to cool.

After it has cooled well, add the curd ( beat it a little to make it smooth ) and mix well.

Keep in the fridge serve only when it is real chilled.



Goes great on the side with any meal of rotis or rice. And if you are on a diet, have it as is for lunch. It is healthy and tasty too. :-)

Updated : The following lines are not for my regular readers and friends who have always been generous in leaving encouraging comments for my recipes and writings.

I have noticed that as the number of visits to Kichu Khon are increasing ... and the number of mails, asking for details of recipes, too ... the comments are decreasing day by day. If I go by the number of visits statistics show, my comment box should be overflowing with comments everyday. Sadly reality is far from it.

C'mon folks ... I love to hear from you here .... so if not good manners how about some morale boosting? ;-)

TC all!! :-)