Potato Capsicum Masala Rice

About:

To make this rice all you need is some cooked rice, onion, potato and of course bell peppers. I used a mix of green and red bell peppers but you can use only green or a mix of other bell peppers too. This is an easy one pot meal which you can prepare without much stress for weekday dinners. I have used brown basmati here, long grain rice, white basmati would work just as well, in fact better here!

I used lentils (channa, urad dal, brown lentils) with spices for the masala.

Serves: 2
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Waiting time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• Brown basmati rice-1cup
• Sliced potatoes-2medium
• Sliced capsicums-3-4
• Sliced onion-1num
• Bay leaf-1
• Cumin seeds-1tsp
• Salt to taste
• Lemon/lime juice-to taste
• Oil-2tsp

For grinding:

• Red chillies-3 slit
• Urad dal-1tbsp
• Channa dal- 1tbsp
• Brown lentils-1tbsp
• Desiccated coconut-2tbsp
• Clove-4pods
• Cinnamon-1inch stick
• Cardamom-2
• Fennel seeds-1tsp
• Pepper corns-4

Garnishing:
• Chopped coriander/ Nuts

Method:

For preparing rice:

• Wash and soak basmati brown rice for 30 minutes. After soaking time- drain and set aside.
• Now boil enough water in a sauce pan- add soaked rice, salt and cook for 15-18 minutes/until fluffy.
• Once cooked drain and allow it to cool on a broad pan.

For preparing masala powder:

• In a pan dry roast the ingredients mentioned under the grinding table and once it cools a bit ground it to fine powder in a food processor/blender and set aside.

For masala rice:

• Heat oil in a pan add cumin seeds, bay leaf and saute until fragrant.
• Add potatoes and saute for 4-5 minutes. Add onion and saute until translucent.
• Now add sliced capsicum and continue to cook until tender.
• Once the veggies are cooked toss in cooked and cooled rice, ground spice salt.
• Let it simmer for 2-3 minutes until rice coated well with the spices and heated through.
• Turn off the flame, season with some lime juice. Garnish with coriander/nuts.

Note:

• I love the capsicums crunchy so didn’t saute them for long if you want your capsicums to be completely cooked saute for few more minutes.
• You can even add roasted cashews/ peanuts
• You can replace Bulgur with Brown Rice