We had a lovely dinner with Aruna and Sunil at the Jubilee Harvest Moon potluck on Sept. 16.  Aruna graciously offered to share some of her recipes with the CSA community as well as teach us how to make them on the occasional Saturday at the Farm’s Cascading Kitchen.  Be on the alert for those dates coming up.

Make a bowl of Raita to serve with this lovely rice.  If you make the Raita first, the flavors will have time to meld while the rice cooks.

Methi Bhaath (Fenugreek Rice)

Ingredients

Methi Bhaath with Raita

(see ingredient sourcing notes below)

• Uncooked Rice – 2 cups
• Red Onion – 1 small
• Methi leaves – 5 cups ( Fenugreek leaves)
• Cumin seeds – 1 tbsp
• Green chilies –  2
• Green bell pepper – 1/2
• Edamame – 1 cup
• Paneer – 250 grams
• Water  –  5 cups
• Fresh shredded coconut – 1/2 cup
• Salt – to taste
• Ghee – 2 tbsp
• Curry leaves – 1 sprig
• Turmeric –  2 tsps

Preparation

1. Wash the rice, drain the water and set aside.
2. Slit the green chili in half ( lengthwise)
3. Finely chop the following:
   • curry leaves
   • fenugreek ( Methi) leaves
   • Onion
   • Bell pepper
4. Chop Paneer into cubes
5. Heat the water

Procedure

Use a pressure cooker over medium heat.

Add

• ghee
• cumin seeds to the clear heated ghee

When the seeds begin to make a crackling sound add:

•  green chili and
• curry leaves

Sauté for a few seconds then Add

• onion and sauté until light brown.
• add fenugreek leaves and turmeric, sauté for 10 minutes/ the leaves give a pleasant  aroma.
• Now add the bell pepper, edamame, rice, paneer cubes and coconut and mix well.
• Finally add water and salt.  Stir the mixture, let the water get to a boil then close the pressure cooker. (if using an Indian pressure cooker make sure to put on the weight when steam starts escaping) and
• Cook for 15 minutes.
• Remove from the heat.  When the cooker has cooled down gently stir the rice to make sure all the ingredients are mixed well. Serve the Methi Baath with a side of Raita (yogurt with vegetables).

Tips:

1. If you do not want the rice to be spicy make sure to remove the slit chilies before serving.
2. If you do not have a pressure cooker then cook the rice until it is 3/4 done in a pasta pot and strain out the water completely.  Add this rice to the sautéed veggies with 1 cup of water, stir,cover and simmer until the rice reaches a light and fluffy consistency.

Sourcing Ingredients:

• Aruna uses fresh edamame.
• Use Thai green chilies  or substitute
• Sona Masuri/ Basmati rice
• Freshly shredded coconut- I usually buy the coconut at the Indian store, break it into 2 and shred the flesh with a coconut scraper.  The easy alternative is to buy a pack of fresh coconut that is available in the frozen section at the Indian store.

All of these ingredients are available at Mayuri, an Indian Food store

• Aruna suggests buying the Paneer from either Costco or Mayuri
• Notes regarding Ghee:Butter can be used as an alternate.  “I usually make my ghee from heavy cream and can send you a video of it if you want.” (talk more to Aruna)  “Ghee does give a very different flavor and a bottle can be picked up from the Indian store.”
• “I use fresh curry leaves which are available in the Indian store.  Fresh is better than the dried curry leaves which can get crumpled and sometimes can hurt the throat.”

 

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