Coconut Rice Recipe With Peanuts!: Because This Variety Rice Really Rocks

The awesome part about staying home is that you feel like you have enough time to pull off food experiments in the man's tiffin.

It is actually one big, fat lie. You do not have the time. You are now home and you have ten more things to attend to than just get to work and deal with somebody else's details and life. At home, there's food to cook, homes to clean, laundry to fight with, calls to attend, classes to be conducted, gym to be attended, evening runs to be not skipped, yoga to be done and...listen, I am sort of tired so we will just get to the only variety rice my husband likes.

Coconut rice.

It's pretty no? Yeah, I thought so too.

Oh but before I go off in that direction, I must tell you why I didn't blog for a while. My in-laws came home and I went entirely mad cooking all the time. I forgot I had a blog.

I also fell off my bicycle because of multiple reasons:
- I may have been speeding on a slope.
- I tried avoiding collision with a vegetable seller lady.
- My bag got stuck in the wheel.
- I pulled the front brake.
- I was generally feeling very exhausted so mom thinks the fall was my mind's way of saying 'honey, you are collapsing fast, here, let me show you how."

Whatever. So I was also made to attend a meditation retreat by my mom and I went rather reluctantly but after I did, I was so deeply happy that I have been very deeply thankful ever since that I found time just for myself. Just me. No man, no cooking, no cleaning, no projects, no teaching. Just me. Sitting, resting, in silence and breathing. That's it. I was so thrilled with it that I also considered shifting to the Himalayas and spending the rest of my life traversing those mountain ranges.

But you don't get coconut rice there, man. You gotta make it here. You sometimes wonder how men would live without us, no?

Name: Coconut Rice

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Recipe Source: Me

Serves: 2 sensible people who won't overeat like gluttons

You need:

1 cup rice

1/2 coconut, grated

1 tbsp chana dal (skinless black chickpea)

1 tbsp urad dal (skinless black lentil)

2-3 red chillies, whole

1 tsp mustard seeds

5-6 curry leaves, julienned

15-20 raw peanuts with skin

A dash of hing / asafoetida

Coriander leaves to garnish

3 tbsp cow's ghee

Salt to taste

Water

- Wash and soak the rice for 10 minutes.

- In a saucepan, add 2tbsp ghee. When it's sizzling, add the chana dal. Fry until golden, then add the urad dal. Fry both until brown but not burnt.

- Add the mustard seeds, allow them to pop. Throw in the red chillies, curry leaves, asafoetida, peanuts and fry about.

- Now add the coconut. Fry about for 3-4 minutes. Add salt. Add rice. Now mix nicely and fry about for a bit again.

- Now add two cups of water. Adjust salt. When the water starts simmering, cover with a lid and pour some water into the lid top too. This allows the steam to keep circulating inside, traps flavours, speeds up cooking and prevents sticking. Cook on a medium flame for 10-15 minutes or until you see that the water is all absorbed and little holes have appeared on the top surface of the cooked rice.

- Allow it to rest for 3-4 minutes, then fluff the rice gently with a fork, drizzle 1 tbsp ghee and garnish with coriander leaves chopped fine. Serve hot.

The only thing missing in the Himalayas is a bunch of coconut trees, I say.