Picnic and temple visit

Mom's really happy with me right now.
I finally took the humongous tiffen box she gave me on a picnic and I even cooked everything that went into it!


What you see here are the remnants from the picnic, I had no time to take a picture before we left.

We decided to go to Thiruvalangadu and Tiruttani on Sunday ( decided on Saturday, left on Sunday actually).  Since we couldn't bear to part from the twins until 11 pm on Sat and then drove home, I got up only at 6.30 on Sunday.  So we didnt leave until 9.30 (original plan 8 am).  Even that only because Sathish got both the kids up and ready.  I made upma kozhakattai for dad's breakfast, cheese sandwich for Gau, jam sandwich for ashu and baked potatoes to fatten gau up.  I made awesome thengai saatham with a wonderful twist, tomato rice, curd rice sans fruits, raisins and nuts since ashu prefers it plain.  I also fried all the vadam in the house.
Coconut Methi Peas rice:
1/2 bunch methi, leaves only finely chopped
1/2 cup coconut
1 cup shelled peas
1 cup basmati rice
1 cup water + 1 cup milk to cook rice
1/2 cup water to cook peas

2 green chillies
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp hing
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp ghee

Wash and clean basmati rice.  Soak for 20 minutes
Cook rice in a rice cooker in milk, water mixture
Heat oil and ghee, add mustard and cumin seeds
When mustard splutters add the hing and green chillies
Add chopped methi leaves and fry until all the water evaporates
Add shelled peas and fry for a couple of minutes until the spices methi and peas are uniformly mixed
Add a tspoon of sugar
Pour water and cook covered for 10 - 15 minutes.
Add salt to taste and fry for 2 more minutes
Gently loosen the cooked rice with a fork, add a tspoon of ghee and salt to taste.
Pour rice into the peas mix and mix thoroughly.


This will probably taste even better with some onion and garlic, but I made this on Amavasya so I kept it Satvic
The total distance was close to 75km, to we skipped Thiruvalangadu and visited just Tiruttani.  Next time Thiruvalangadu only.

Reviews for picnic idea and picnic lunch:
S.  "Awesome"
Gau "Why rice? You shd bring pizza, waffles etc..."
Gau "Best place to eat is floor of our home"
Dad "Why not eat out?"
Ashu "Battani Mattum"

I loved the rice.  I really like coconut rice, especially when garnished with peanuts and cashews.  This version made me feel virtuous.  Dad is tooth challenged, so no nut garnish ;)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Kombucha in Chennai!

The lunch box challenge a.k.a. please gautham's palette

A Sweet Tart with Chocolate and Pomegranete