Coconut Milk Rice and a MeMe..

I never ever thought that I would be starting a cooking blog myself. Kitchen used to be one area that has been of my least interest in my childhood. In spite of mom insisting the importance of learning cooking, I kept postponing it. I use to come up with some excuse and would stay away from kitchen most of the times. I preferred helping mom in cleaning up and cutting vegetables, but never liked standing in the kitchen for hours, frying, seasoning and sweating in the heat. Mom gave up on me may be perhaps she pretty much knew I am not going to learn :) Cooking being considered one of the important "pre-requisites" in an arranged marriage (atleast thats how it used to be in my family circle), and myself being a big zero in cooking, it was a bit pressure on me when I got married. And best (worst ;)) of all, my husband is a big food lover and a picky eater too! In fact, everyone in his family is like that. They talk so much about food and each one of them has their own likings and rules in their everyday food. My mother in law used to have a big schedule in the kitchen everyday. Being put in a tough spot, there was no other escape for me, other than starting to cook.. I knew my excuses wouldn't work anymore.

"When the going gets tough, the tough gets going!" After coming to the US, with practically just the two of us, cooking was fully dependent on me. But, with the help of a fabulous recipe collection that mom had written for me with lots of effort, and my practical cooking experience with my mother-in-law during my initial days of marriage, I started to get the hang of it. I have to say that my husband was very helpful and encouraging and had so much patience to put-up with my cooking disasters like burnt dosas & chapathis, salty vegetables, insanely spicy curries etc. Probably his patience made me grasp the talent faster!

Cooking, which I was once considering as just a chore, turned out to be such a great art and fun thing to do. I learned that one way to make cooking fun is to start looking forward to eating the finished product, and to always look out for learning new techniques and recipes. I really do enjoy trying anything and everything that looks fabulous on the dining table. Plenty of opportunities for imagination and inspiration, that can result in interesting combination of flavors! Pretty soon I started to improvise by adding my own touches to recipes. And in just a few years, here I am with my own food blog :)

Well, thats my cooking journey, friends! it may sound like a fairy-tale, but I had to share it, because for me its still a hard-to-believe story :) Alright, coming to the recipe, this is another excellent rice dish with fairly simple ingredients and can be made in so little time. If you are tired of pulav's try this for a change, you sure will enjoy the change! Practically goes with any side dish, I made Eggplant Cashew Masala which is our all-time favorite side dish.

UPDATE:

After some friendly suggestions from my fellow bloggers, I'm sending this as my entry for the AFAM Coconut event as well as Mixed Rice varieties event. Thanks for the great suggestion!

Ingredients:

• Basmati rice - 2 cups
• Coconut milk - 2 cups
• Water - 2 cups
• G.Chillies - 3
• Onions - 1 medium
• Garlic - 4 medium sized pods
• Cinnamon, Cloves - 2 each.
• Chopped Corriander leaves - a handful

Procedure:

• Soak the basmati rice in water for atleast 10 mins.
• Add a few drops of oil in a pan, and fry the whole g.chillies for 2 mins until you see white spots. Grind them to a paste.
• Chop the onions and garlic finely
• In the same pan, add more oil (or you can add 1 tbsp ghee to enhance the taste), season with cinnamon & cloves.
• Once they pop-up, add onions, garlic and fry in medium heat until onions turn golden brown.
• Add the chopped corriander leaves and fry for a min.
• Drain the water from the basmati rice and add it to the pan. Fry for 2 - 3 mins.
• Finally add the g.chillies paste, coconut milk, water and salt and cook together in a electric rice cooker.

Mix gently and serve hot.

Okay, now the Meme's! Dear friend Anitha had tagged me for top 10 pics a couple weeks before, and I am as usual late. But I did enjoy a lot picking up my top 10 pics from my blog! Thanks again, Anitha! I further tag my friends:

Delhibelle - http://delhibelle.blogspot.com/

Vandana - http://cookingupsomethingnice.blogspot.com/

Sukanya Ramkumar - http://hotandsweetbowl.blogspot.com/

Happy Cook - http://mykitchentreasures.blogspot.com/

Here are my top 10 pics (Click on the name below the pictures to go to the recipes):

Rava Thengaipal Kesari

Chana Pulav

13 Bean Soup with Greens

Chettinad Mutton Curry

Karuvadu Kuzhambu(Dry Fish Curry)

Murungai Mochai Kuzhambu(Drumsticks&Lima Beans Curry)

Corriander Rice

Egg Curry

Pepper Chicken