Fried rice is such a comfort food on lazy days when not in a mood to cook. I often make an omelet and Indian style fried rice when I don’t want to sweat too long in the kitchen. Last month someone posted a peanut rice picture on Facebook and that made me try today’s recipe. I looked at a few recipes online and most of them had similar ingredients with almost same measure of ingredients. I came up with my own version to suit my palate.

Simplicity of this rice is that peanut spice powder is mixed with rice and then mixed with a tempering. I add peanuts to pulihora but never peanut powder. It is a nice twist and a variation to Indian fried rice that I usually make. The beauty of this rice is, the spice powder can be made ahead and stored for at least a week in the pantry and all we need to put together this rice is, some cooked rice and a tempering. This makes an excellent lunch box as well. If one likes eating rice with peanut powder and ghee, then this is a must try recipe.

Servings: 1 (this won’t be sufficient for 1 meal. If this is the only item on the menu, make double the recipe)

Ingredients:
Measuring cup used here is the one that comes with the rice cooker.
Peanut Rice

• ½ cup uncooked Rice (I used basmati rice)
• Peanut Spice Powder
• Tempering

Spice Powder

• 2 ½ tbsp. Peanuts, roasted
• 1 tbsp. Coconut Flakes or Dry Coconut Slices
• ¾ tsp. Sesame Seeds, roasted
• ½ tsp. Cumin Seeds
• 4-6 Black Peppercorns
• 2 Dry Red Chilies
• ½ – ¾ tsp. Salt (adjust to taste)

Tempering

• 1 ½ – 2 tbsp. Oil
• 5- 8 Curry Leaves
• ¼ tsp. Mustard Seeds
• ⅛ tsp. Cumin Seeds (opt.)
• 1 – 2 Garlic Cloves, crushed or 1 – 1 ½ tsp crushed garlic
• ⅛ tsp. Turmeric Powder

Preparation:

• Cook rice with 1 cup of water. Let the rice cool.
• Spice Powder – Meantime, dry roast 2 tbsp peanuts, sesame seeds, dry red chilies, cumin, peppercorns and coconut flakes. I had some roasted peanuts and sesame seeds on hand. So, I first roast all these ingredients together; red chilies, cumin and peppercorns until lightly toasted. Turn off the heat and add coconut flakes. Coconut flakes roast very fast so add them after turning off the heat.
• Cool and grind to a coarse powder. If storing for few days, add salt as well.
• When rice is cool, mix the rice with peanut powder, salt (if not added to peanut powder) and mix. Add ½ tbsp of roasted peanuts.
• Tempering – Heat oil in a pan.
• Add curry leaves, mustard and cumin seeds. When seeds splutter, add garlic and fry for few seconds. Add turmeric and turn off heat.
• Pour the tempering over rice and mix well. OR add rice to the tempering pan and toss the rice in the hot pan for few seconds.
• Serve as is or with some raita. I made some yogurt rice and served peanut rice as is. Some peanut rice and yogurt rice was a complete meal.

Suggestions:

• Spices – In the recipe I used peppercorn but substituted peppercorns with chili powder on one occasion and green chilies on another occasion. If using chili powder, mix it with rice and if using green chilies, add it in the tempering. These three spices give different flavor to rice depending on the spice used. Or you can skip all these and just add one more dry chili to the spice powder. Depending on your mood and taste, pick the spice of your choice.
• Rice – I used freshly cooked rice but this recipe works great with leftover rice.

This day in 2012: Bell Pepper Paneer Curry

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