Recipies – skinnyDESI

I found it! Brown basmati rice, with all of the aroma and nutty flavour of white basmati rice. In the traditional grocery store… it didn’t require a search party. But don’t be mislead, in the rice aisle you will find Texan, Native and Californian brown basmati rice. This is not acceptable for a desi family. In the “ethnic” aisle you will find India’s Own Brown Basmati, grab it and bring it home. I did and promptly cooked a cup with some green peas. It was delicious. I did omit the butter yet added a teaspoon of olive oil, fearing that the rice would turn out too dry, but infact it was not. What is proving difficult is finding all of the nutritional information I need for my comparison, search party now required. I will add the info later once I have it.

Brown Basmati Rice with Green Peas.

1 cup of brown basmati rice

1 cup of frozen peas

1/4 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of olive oil

1. Wash rice thoroughly.
2. Soak rice for 45 minutes
3. Drain rice and place in Hundi, add cup and 1/2 of boiling water
4. Add salt and olive oil
5. Add 1 cup of frozen peas.
6. Cover hundi and place in preheated 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes.

I chose an easy recipe to start this project with. There is not too much to change from the original channa masala recipe as it is a pretty healthy meal already. But the process was far from easy since my husband had a melt-down when he walked into the kitchen and saw a can of crushed tomatoes beside a bowl of chopped tomatoes. I tried to explain to him that tomatoes were needed to replace the oil and thicken up the masala, but he wasn’t having any of it. He firmly believed that I was turning his childhood favourite into a form of basterdized indian food a la chef boyardee. After his tantrum and my threats to throw this whole project into the trash, we agreed to disagree and I proceeded with the cooking.

Original recipe:

4 cups cooked chickpeas

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 medium onions (peeled and minced)

1 clove garlic (peeled and minced)

1 teaspoon fresh ginger

1 tablespoon ground coriander

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon tumeric

1 teaspoon red chili powder

6 tablespoons chopped tomatoes

1 cup water

2 teaspoons ground roasted cumin seeds

1 teaspoon garam masala

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 lemon (juiced)

1 fresh, hot green chili pepper

2 teaspoons chopped fresh corriander

Directions:

Heat oil in a pan and sauté the onions until golden brown, then add the garlic, ginger and chillies. Sauté until the garlic changes colour, then add the tomatoes and the coriander, cumin, turmeric and chilli powders, lower the heat. Add the chickpeas and salt and most of the chopped coriander leaves, garam masala, crushed cumin and coriander seeds. Add lemon juice, and top with remaining coriander leaves.

Revised recipe:

Replace 2 cups of chickpeas with 2 cups of cooked peas.

Replace olive oil with 1 can of crushed tomatoes.

I used pam spray on my pan to sautee the onions, then garlic, then ginger and finally chillies.

Next I quickly added my can of crushed and fresh tomatoes.

Everything else remained the same.

The meal turned out lovely. I served 1 cup of Channa Masala over 1/2 a cup of white basmati rice (see picture). The white rice has to change, however I wanted husband to lick his plate full of Channa Masala, rice and a little crow.

I did learn that I have more investigating to do as I want to know if:

1. Is there brown basmati?

2. What is the difference in calories?.

3. Can I find low calorie naan? or Roti?.

Will keep you updated on my investigations.

Category: Recipies

Brown Basmati Rice

Channa Masala – Healthy Version

Revised recipe: