Cooking special food on Rakhi
Rakhi is one of the most auspicious occasions celebrated with pomp and delight. Rakhi or Raksha Bandhan is celebrated to commemorate the sacred love bond between brothers and sisters. People plan for the occasion in advance, long before the day arrives. Apart from decorating their home, people exchange sweets and gifts to make the occasion memorable. People staying offshore owing to their varied commitments send Rakhi to India through online gifting portals. GiftstoIndia24x7.com, is one of the renowned e-gifting store enabling the non-resident Indians to send Rakhi to India. If you are amongst those NRIs who cannot visit home during this Rakhi 2011. You can plan from now onwards to send Rakhi gifts to your brother to make him feel cherished. You can also browse through its amazing range of traditional to trendy designer Rakhi threads arranged for both brother and sister-in law. And being a brother, you can also send Rakhi gifts to your beloved sister through GiftstoIndia24x7.com, from its Rakhi return gifts section.
Eating good food is an inevitable part of any special occasion or event. You might try to prepare some delicious dishes at home to offer your brother a surprising and grand dine. If you are not sure what to prepare on this Rakhi, we can help you out with some food recipes you can prepare at home -
Cauliflower and Peas Pulao
Ingredients
Rice 13 cups
Green peas - 1 cup
Spring onion - 1 small bunch (Chopped)
Coconut milk - 1 cup
Cauliflower - 1 cup
Cashew-nuts - 10
Lemon - 1
Cloves - 4
Cardamoms - 2
Cinnamon - 1 inch stick
Oil - 1 tbsp
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste.
Method
Heat ghee in a heavy based pan, saute the spring onions and add all spices and stir fry for a minute. Add cauliflower and green peas and stir fry continuously again 2 - 3 minutes.
Transfer to another pan and stir the rice for one minute.
Pour coconut milk and 4 cups of water and salt, lemon juice and stir and cover lid.
Cook on a low heat till all the water has been absorbed, the rice is light and fluffy.
Garnish with pepper powder and fried red chillies and serve hot.
Cauliflower is optional. It you like other vegetable you can add others and follow the same procedure.
Dal Fry – Spicy Fried Lentil Soup
Ingredients
1/4 cup red lentils
1/4 cup yellow moong dal (Whole green gram )
1/8 cup masoor dal (red gram )
1/8 cup channa dal (chickpeas )
1/4 teaspoon Garam masala powder
3/4 cup onion (finely chopped)
1/3 cup tomatoes (chopped)
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon red chili powder
4 tablespoon ghee
Salt to taste Garnish
3-4 hot green chilies
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon mustard seed
2/3 teaspoon garlic paste
2/3 teaspoon ginger paste
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoon coriander (chopped)
Method
Mix and wash thoroughly all Dals (lentils). Soak for 15 minutes. Cook slowly in medium heat until half done.
Heat 1/2 of ghee and fry onions. Add all of the spices until onions are fried until light golden brown.
Add the onion and mixture to Dals (lentils) and cook until done.
Heat remaining ghee in a small saucepan on a high. Add all of all the garnish except Cilantro and lemon juice and fry for few more seconds.
Add lemon juice and chopped coriander to Dal. Pour fried garnish to Dal. Serve hot with roti or rice.
Be careful while frying the Garnish for Dal and while putting it in Dal. Some liquid might splatter due to hot oil and water interaction.
While heating ghee, be careful not to release too much smoke. The smoke might trigger your fire alarm.
Add a small amount of ghee to Dal while boiling to keep it from overflowing. It also enhances its flavor.
The best Dals are usually cooked by slowly simmering it on low fire than cooking fast on high heat.
Moong dal (green or yellow) can be easily cooked to be soggy like mash potato. So be careful not to over cook.
Send Rakhi gifts to India coupled with an attractive Rakhi thread through GiftstoIndia24x7.com and let your dear ones enjoy the festive occasion.