When you have a multicultural, multi-religious, multi-palate household, the types of meals vary wildly.
When the pasta, Middle Eastern faves, sandwiches, soup, salad, and experimental food quotas of the week has been exhausted, the meals alternate between north Indian and South Indian cuisines, given that my husband's family hails from Tamil Nadu and my clan's partly from the north.
So, sambars, rasams, appalams, dosas, idlis, thorans, kormas, coconut oil, sesame oil, sambar powder rule the kitchen as arrogantly as rotis, dals, sabzis, stuffed parathas, mustard oil, garam masala and more.
The lovely aspect about cooking South Indian, is putting together all those special rice dishes, which taste scrumptious and are all-purpose (train mein bhi khao, tiffin mein bhi, or for nashta too) and I have tried to master making them over the years.
When I put together this Mango Rice at parties, I rarely have any left.
Mango Rice
Serves: 2-3
Ingredients
Masala for the rice
Seasoning or tadka for the rice
Method
For the masala
Making the rice
Zelda's Note: You can use a short grain rice too. I make this rice with Basmati when making it for guests. When I make it for us at home, I use a short grain rice like ambe mohur or sona masuri or gobindbhog. If using short grain rice, increase the water to 3 cups.
If you prefer, add a handful of roasted, fried peanuts or cashews towards the end after the rice has cooked. I prefer to keep this rice recipe nut-free.
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