My signature dish... I don't have one! Will Masala Rice do?

I love watching food programs. Nigella, Jamie, Kylie Kwong, Anthony Bourdain, Man versus Food, Rachel Allen's Bake, Hell's Kitchen... the list goes on. So this weekend I caught a couple of shows of Masterchef Austrailia. The concept's a little different of the Masterchef (UK) of my childhood, as there's pressure tests and cook offs now, I guess to satisfy the reality show generation. It's not good enough to just kick off the worst cooks every week, the viewing audience will get bored... we need some spice!

On one of the shows the 45 contestants had to cook up their signature dish... and they had some strange concoctions. Cheese and snail souffle was one that really didn't appeal to me (ok I'm veggie, but if I weren't I still wouldn't eat this). Another contestant dreamt up a wattleseed, avocado and chocolate mousse... which sounds good, except I have no idea what wattleseed is.


All of their creativity made me realise that I don't have a signature dish yet. I guess I'm just too new at this cooking malarky to have one. So why have I chosen Masala rice this week? Well it's probably the opposite of a signature dish. It's not posh and showy. You wouldn't serve it at a dinner party. It's plain and simple comfort food. And really quick to make if you use left over rice like I do.

Masala Rice:

Left over Basmati Rice
Enough Onion, Potato and Tomato for the rice
Enough oil to cook the onion potato and tomato
Some Rai and Jeera (Mustard and cumin seeds)
A green chilli or two, deseeded and finely chopped (optional)
A little Haldi (Turmeric powder)
Some Dhaniya (Coriander powder) and Chilli Powder
Salt to taste
Fresh coriander leaves, finely chopped, for garnishing

1. Finely chop the onion, potato and tomato. I slice the potato in really thin slices to speed up the cooking.
2. Heat the oil and add the rai and jeera.
3. When seed pop add the chilli, onion and potato. Cook on a low heat until nearly done.
4. Add the tomato, haldi, dhaniya and chilli. Add any salt at this point too.
5. When everything is well cooked, add the rice.
6. Mix well and heat the rice thoroughly.
7. Garnish with Coriander and serve

I usually eat this with curd and it's really yummy.

I know I've not been at all precise with the amounts, and that's because I never have the same amount of rice left when I make this, so I don't know the quantities myself! Just start off easy with the spices, you can add more if necessary, and remember to put less haldi than dhaniya and chilli powder. Sometimes I also use Jeera powder too. If you fancy you could even add some cloves or cinnamon stick for a different taste. Sometimes I make it without the tomato or potato, and it's just as good.

BTW... Wattleseed is the seed of the Acacia tree and when dried and ground it has rich coffee, chocolate and hazelnut aromas & flavours.

Stray Dogs, Bugs, Rats and Perfect, Fluffy Rice with Curd...

Not a particularly appealing title for a blog about food, right? I agree! But India has a lot of these things.

Coco (my Lab) has a boyfriend! His name is Brownie, he lives in the grounds of our building and he's taken a real shine to Coco. So much so, that this dog now accompanies us on our walks, even though it's way outside of his territory and he's clearly quite terrified. He hides behind me if he feels threatened, which is a bit strange, as if he sees me without Coco he growls at me and runs away. In this mad dog's head I'm clearly two different people!


India is a place of bugs... the insect variety and the stomach variety. Why is this part of my blog today? Well I've currently got the second type of bug and I've been scared to death by the first type from time to time.

About a year ago, on the way back from an outing in Malshej Ghat, my friends and I stopped for food in a roadside dhaba. We didn't really have a choice, as we were in the middle of nowhere. The place had the lights turned down low, so you really didn't notice the immense number of bugs in the place until your eyes got used to the low lights. If the place had been empty, then I'd have run away screaming, but it was doing good business.

The food was fresh and good, and we were half way through when we saw two rats running though the place quite freely. Everyone ignored them, except us. As we watched them for a minute, we realised that these weren't rats after all. They were gigantic cockroaches - as big as my hand! Supersized bugs freak me more than rats - rats are meant to be that big!

So that brings me to the last bit... I've already mentioned that this weekend I'm suffering from a stomach bug. These are common place in a country with such a large number of stray dogs, bugs and rats running around the place. And monsoon time is the time when you need to be most careful about eating 'outside food'.

And I have been careful about outside food. Instead, I've managed to poison myself with my own leftovers! This did confuse me a little, as I made sure I'd heated everything properly and it was less than 24 hours old and had been carefully stored in the fridge.

Then last night after I dragged myself out to take Coco on her last walk of the day, with her boyfriend in tow, I got home and popped into my kitchen. That's when I see a rat run out of my window! I live on the 5th Floor of my apartment block. Now I think I know how I got this stomach bug and I swear I'm never opening that window ever again!

So I'm miserable. I've got a bad stomach, a rat and a stray doggie lusting after Coco. And all I'm allowed to eat is Plain Rice and Curd. All I can say, is it's a good job I learned to make fluffy rice a few months back. Up until that point, the rice I made was always sticky and starchy. Now I know why - I was dumping rice into cold water and bringing it to the boil - wrong!


Perfect, fluffy rice:

1 measure of rice
4 measures of water for cooking
Salt to taste

1. Wash the rice really well, until the water runs clear.
2. Soak the rice for half an hour.
3. Bring the water to the boil then add the rice and salt.
4. Bring it back to the boil then simmer, uncovered, for about 10 minutes.
5. Drain off any excess water.

Some types of rice will take less time and others will take longer to cook. I use Basmati and it takes about 10 mins.

When you're ill with a tummy bug, eat this perfect, fluffy rice with curd (yoghurt) - preferably a probiotic variety to help the good bacteria in your tummy kick the bad bacteria to the kerb!