Masala Bhath| Spiced rice with Gherkins|Masala Bhat

During my second pregnancy, Masale Bhat was what I craved!!

I wanted to eat the strangest possible things “adki” i.e. betel nut powder that my Papa makes (mind you I could barely stand the stuff before and used to wonder how my siblings could stuff themselves with it) to masala bath I wanted
it all.

I still remember stuffing myself with this delicious bath at a party and then because my friend insisted on drinking a lot of buttermilk, just to prevent heartburn as she put it. Wow, that was bliss!!

The effects of these cravings can be seen even now, for my younger one loved this rice preparation while the older one said it was strange, yes strange! Her choice of words left me feeling that I should make this rice more often.

In Goa, most of the veggies are imported from Belgaum… Please, Goans do not get your hackles up I agree we have
veggies that are grown in Goa but the choice is quite limited, especially for vegetarians. Tell me how can you eat tamdi bhaji, dhavi bhaji and mulo day in and out? So where was I... ah yes veggies from Belgaum…

The gherkins or tandli, tondli or tondikai that we get are generally all ripe and red inside. So I have stopped buying them. The local lady vendors sometimes have the local gherkins. These are easily distinguishable as the local ones are light green and the Belgaum ones are dark green.

How do I miss buying the light green ones then especially as they are nice and tender which you can just chomp on as you are chopping the veggies.

After ages, have made this strange bhat called Masale Bhath. Here I have used just gherkins but you can use peas, cauliflower or brinjals.

One simple rice recipe I love is this South Indian Bhat Recipe, Jeera Rice, Quick Veg Pulao Recipe or even vegetarian Dalcha Recipe. In summer, I love MavinKayi Chitranna .

I have copied it straight from the Futura Cooker cook book.

The method of cooking is different as there is no whistling in the kitchen with the Futura cooker plus cooking is faster. You can make this in ordinary cooker and remove it after 2 whistles also use 1 ½ cup of water for every cup of rice. Allow the pressure to fall naturally.

Masala Bhath| Spiced rice with Gherkins|Masala Bhat

Serves 8

Pressure cooking time 3 minutes

Ingredients:

½ cup Copra, grated i.e. dry coconut

9 cloves

3 stick (each 2 ½ cm) cinnamon

1tbsp sesame seeds/til

5 tablespoon coriander seeds

4 teaspoon cumin seeds/jeera

½ cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 sprig curry leaves

¼ teaspoon asafetida/hing

5 green chillies slit

200 grams gherkins cut into quarters

3 cups basmati rice washed and left to
drain for ½ hr

5 teaspoon salt

¼ cup cashew nuts

3 ½ cups water

½ cup coconut grated (fresh)

2 tablespoon coriander leaves chopped

Method:

In a pan, roast together copra, cloves, cinnamon, sesame, coriander and cumin seeds till copra is golden brown.

Ingredients for masale bhat spice p

Roasting the ingredients

Grind roasted ingredients into a powder.

Heat oil in a cooker for about 3 minutes. Add mustard seeds. When crackling, add curry leaves, asafetida and chillies. Stir for a few seconds. Add gherkins. Stir-fry for about 3 minutes. Add rice. Stir-fry for about 3 minutes. Add powdered spices, salt, cashew nuts and water. Stir.

Close cooker. Bring to full pressure on high heat. Reduce heat and cook for 3 minutes.

Remove cooker from heat. Allow it to cool naturally for 5 minutes. Press fingertip control lightly to remove pressure. Open cooker.

Serve hot garnished with coconut and coriander. I love mine with a lot of curds.

Masala Bhat

P.S. The pictures are by kid no 2. her biiiiig complaint is I do not post her pictures and so I have used only what she has clicked where she has removed the gherkins. I ma sorry but i do not want to disappoint her.

Comments

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ANU says

April 30, 2012 at 5:32 pm

very nice recipe!

Sobha Shyam says

April 30, 2012 at 7:48 pm

very flavourful rice, nice click by ur kid 🙂

R says

April 30, 2012 at 10:41 pm

love this classic rice. looks so tempting with all the cashews 🙂

Priti says

May 01, 2012 at 10:56 am

Nice one ...wonderful recipe

Priya says

May 01, 2012 at 2:07 pm

Definitely a super flavourful masala bhath.

the mad says

May 01, 2012 at 3:48 pm

Thanks ladies.

Champa says

May 01, 2012 at 4:31 pm

Your write up brought me some of my cravings' memories. I used to love maggie, top ramen noodles when I was pregnant. Don't know why. I cannot stand that now.

Pushpa says

May 01, 2012 at 5:27 pm

Delicious and flavorful one pot meal.Nice click by your cute little one.

Gayathri NG says

May 02, 2012 at 1:41 am

Falvorful n delicious rice...

Julie says

May 02, 2012 at 3:12 am

I think the linky tool might have closed as it was till yesterday, if u wish & it will be good if u can send it to Surabhi by mail, shecan edit the linky and add your link 🙂

Smitha says

May 02, 2012 at 9:06 pm

yummy n flavorful!...very good n easy one1

KParthasarathi says

May 03, 2012 at 3:45 pm

Seems delicious from the picture.I think his should be accompanied with a raita.
Good luck for the contest in Serve it Pressure Cooked/Slow Cooked

Nisa Homey says

May 05, 2012 at 3:43 am

Utterly butterly delicious dear.

Masala Bhath| Spiced rice with Gherkins|Masala Bhat

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