This recipe uses Indian Curry Leaves as the main ingredients.  It is known as karuvapillai

(Tamil), kari patta, meetha neem (Hindi) or bai karee (Thai).  It is use in the cooking of

south and costal India and Sri Lanka.  Also used as a herbs thought to be a liver strengthener and blood purifier.  It is among the herbs prescribed by both the Hindu Ayurvedic and Muslim Unani medical systems.

CURRY LEAF RICE

Preparation Time:  10 mins

Cooking Time: 30 mins

Serves: Serve 2

Ingredients:

1 tbsp of oil or butter

140 gm of rice

1 tsp of dry chilly powder (coarsely grind)

l tsp of mustard seeds

Salt to taste

Ingredients to grind:

1 cup of grated coconut

1 cup of curry leaves

2 cloves garlic

4 green chilly

½ cup of Tamarind juice

Method:

1. Cook the rice with water and keep aside.
2. In a frying pan, heat oil or butter and put in the mustard seeds. When it pops, add the ground ingredients and fry until it turns brown.
3. Add salt to taste.
4. Remove from heat, add the cooked rice, stir and mix evenly.
5. Serve.

KHICHARI (Mung Bean Rice)

This recipe is recommended by Sen Yein, an Ayurvedic Practitioner as an ideal detoxifying and nourishing food, which purifies and rejuvenates the system. 

KHICHARI

Preparation Time:  10 mins

Cooking Time: 20 mins

Serve: 4

Ingredients:

140 gm split mung dal (yellow or green)

280 gm white basmati rice

1 inch piece fresh ginger root

1 small handful of coriander leaves

2 tsp ghee or butter

½ tsp turmeric powder

½ tsp coriander powder

½ tsp cumin powder

½ tsp whole cumin seeds

¼ tsp sea salt

1 pinch asafetida or hing (available in indian shop)

8 cups of water

Method:

1. Wash the rice and dal together until the water runs clear.
2. Add 8 cups of water and cook the rice and dal.
3. Fry the mustard seeds, whole cumin seeds, hing, cumin powder, coriander powder and turmeric, with ghee in a separate saucepan and cook in low flame until aromatic.
4. Stir the fried spices into the almost cooked rice and dal.
5. Add salt and cook until the rice is soft.
6. Add coriander leaves before serving.

TIPS:

This recipe can be cooked in the rice cooker.

Other vegetables like carrots, fresh green beans, etc can be added as to your liking.

This soup was recommended by Sen Yein, my Ayurvedic Practitioner as a good soup for reducing toxin in our body.  At the same time it is also very nutritious.

AMA REDUCING VEGETABLE BROTH

Preparation Time:  10 mins

Cooking Time:  20 mins

Serve: 1-2

Ingredients:
1 carrot, cut into pieces
1 potato, cut into pieces
2 celery stalks, cut into pieces
140 g chopped spinach, or any greens

Dash of asafetida or hing (available in Indian Shops)

Pinch of tarragon

 500 ml purified water

1 tbsp tamari, shoyu or Braggs Liquid Aminos

½ tsp of sea salt

Method:

1. Combine all ingredients and bring to a boil. Simmer for 20 minutes.
2. Strain the vegetables for a clear broth, or blend it for a thick soup, or eat it as it is.

TIPS:

If meals are replaced with this broth, weight loss will occur.

You can consider it as part of lunch or dinner, morning or afternoon tea.

OKRA PILAF

Preparation Time:  15 mins

Cooking Time:  35 mins

Serves: 2 – 4

Ingredients:

200 gm of chicken, diced

200 gm okra or lady’s fingers cut into 1 cm slices

1 medium onion, chopped

Half a green pepper, chopped

2 cups of tomatoes, peeled and quartered

1 cup/140 gm polished or brown rice

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1 tbsp of ghee or butter

1 ½ cups of chicken broth or water

Method:

1. Heat oil in a large frying pan and fry chicken until slightly browned for about three minutes.
2. Add okra, onion and pepper and sauté for about five minutes.
3. Add tomatoes, rice, salt, pepper and broth or water and mix well with a fork.  Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat.  Simmer for 25 minutes, or until rice has absorbed the liquid.
4. Serve

TIPS:

After Step No. 2,  everything can be transferred into a rice cooker and leave it to cook without having to check on the heat.

Traditionally, cooking Chinese Chicken Rice is a long process where the chicken is cook separately and the chicken broth is used to cooked the rice separately.  The recipe below is a quick, fast and lazy way of making it.  The taste is equally good although the chicken may not look as good as the norm.

QUICK CHINESE CHICKEN RICE

Preparation Time:  10 mins

Cooking Time:  25 mins

Serves:  4

Ingredients:

280 g of rice

½ a chicken or any part of the chicken preferred

2 thumb size ginger lightly smash

fried garlic

salt

water

sliced cucumber

Method:

1. Clean and marinate the chicken with some salt.  Leave aside or overnight in the fridge if cooking it the next day.
2. Wash the rice and put it into a rice cooker.
3. Lay the chicken on top of the rice. Add water, ginger, salt and fried garlic.
4. Cook and when it is ready, remove the chicken from the rice cooker and chop into smaller pieces.
5. Fluff up the rice with a chopstick and serve with the chicken and sliced cucumbers.

TIPS:

This dish can be cooked for breakfast for those who like rice in the morning.

Also good for a quick lunch or dinner.

SEMOLINA OR SUJI PORRIDGE

Preparation Time: 5 mins

Cooking Time:  15 mins

Serve: 1

Ingredients:

2 tbsp of semolina or suji

2 tbsp of raw walnuts chopped

2 tbsp of raisins

1 tbsp of ghee or butter

1 tbsp of jaggery syrup or natural sugar

1 bowl of water

Method:

1. Dry toast semolina or suji in a pan without any oil.  Remove.
2. Heat 1 tbsp of ghee or butter in a pan.
3. Add raw chopped walnuts and fry till aromatic.
4. Add toasted semolina or suji and mix well.
5. Add the water.
6. Cook in medium heat until semolina turned opaque in color and thicken into porridge.
7. Add in the raisins, walnut and jaggery sugar or natural sugar.
8. Serve.

TIPS:

If you like it spicy, add grounded cardamon powder or nutmeg powder.

SWEET OATMEAL PORRIDGE

Preparation Time:  5 mins

Cooking Time: 10 mins

Serve: 1

Ingredients:

2 tbsp rolled oat

2 tbsp raw chopped almonds (soaked overnight and remove skin)

2 tbsp of raisins

1 tbsp of ghee or butter

1 tbsp of jaggery syrup or natural sugar

1 bowl of water

Method:

1. Heat up ghee or butter in a pan
2. Add raw chopped almonds and fry in low heat. Remove from heat.
3. In a saucepan, add water and raw oat and bring to boil.
4. When oat is cook, add the almond together with the ghee or butter, raisins, jaggery syrup or natural sugar. 
5. Serve hot or warm.

TIPS:

The almond and ghee or butter can be added into the oat while cooking without frying it first, if that is preferred.

BLACK SESAME PASTE SWEET (TONG SUI)

Preparation Time: 20 mins

Cooking Time: 20 mins

Serves: 3 – 4

Ingredients:

78g black sesame seeds (wash and dried in advance)

38g rice (wash and dried in advance)

38g rock sugar

Method:

1. Fry black sesame seeds in a dry wok over low heat.
2. Mix fried black sesame seeds with rice and grind them in a grinder until smooth. Set aside.
3. Boil 3 bowls of water in a pot.  Add the rock sugar and boil until it dissolves.  Add the ground sesame-rice mixture.  Bring to the boil while stirring constantly.  Serve.

TIPS:

The black sesame seeds and the rice can be prepared and grounded the night before to be cooked  in the morning.

OATMEAL DRINK

Peparation time: 2 mins

Cooking time:  5 mins

Serve:  1

Ingredients:

2 tbsp of  rolled oat

1 cup of water

rock sugar or natural sugar

Method:

1. Put water to boil
2. Add in rolled oats
3. Boil until it begins to thicken.
4. Add sugar and serve.

TIPS:

• If you prefer a certain consistency to the drink, adjust the amount of water.