ROSEMATTA RICE WITH LEMON SAMBHAR

I read about this rice a long time back on Mahanandi in which, they have been accorded their rightful place, as have most of the other ingredients that Indira blogs about, I think that's the beauty of this lovely blog!, I am sure all of you agree with me.

Anyways coming back to Rosematta rice, I was quite pleasantly surprised to find it at my neighbourhood South Indian store( named Kannan Store), now this is the store that has always fascinated me with it's wide array of unfamiliar foodstuffs, I always ask the owner so many questions as to what is this?, how does this taste?, how is this cooked? and so on...

Yesterday I came across some more varieties of rice, about which I would be blogging about later, maybe I should post a picture of the store itself , so that you all would join me in the gazing- with- awe state that I find myself in ,when I am there.

When I asked the owner about Rosematta rice after spotting it, about what it is ,he said that this is Red rice (simpler to explain I guess for him!), upon asking that what is it called down South ,he said that they call it "matta"rice, so then  I knew I was on the right track!, my next question was- how is it cooked?, to which he simply replied- cook in lots of water and NEVER in a pressure cooker, so I set about cooking it exactly that way.

                Rosematta Rice- raw

I took about 2 cups of Rosematta rice in a big pan with loads of water, and washed it thoroughly and drained the reddish mud coloured water, put it on the stove after refilling with more water and let it come to a boil, lowered the gas knob to sim and let them gently bubble away, now I was prepared that this variety takes longer to cook so after tasting a few grains after every 10 minutes, they were done in under half an hour, I drained out the rest of the water and covered the pan for another 15 minutes.

         Rosematta Rice- cooked

I was overjoyed with the results, a thick, plump rice grain very separate from others with a delicious rich, nutty , creamy flavor, had them hot with some lemony sambhar, ghee and tomato chutney, Unforgettable taste, will be making these often now!

FOR THE LEMONY SAMBHAR-

Ingredients-

• Toor Dal- 1/2 cup
• Mixed veg.-1 cup
• Curry leaves-5-6
• Lemon juice- 2 tbsp.
• Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp.
• Sugar- 1/2 tsp.
• Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
• MTR Sambhar powder- 1 tbsp.
• Oil- 1 tsp.

Method-

Heat oil in a pressure cooker, add mustard seeds and curry leaves, tip in all the other ingredients, except lemon juice, fry for a minute, add water and give four whistles,let steam drop by itself.

Open cooker, sprinkle lemon juice , season with salt, add ghee and serve.See this is an extremely quick and easy sambhar, ready in under 20 minutes if you have all the ingredients at hand.

I am sending this off to-

JFI-Toor Dal hosted by Linda

(http://outofthegarden.wordpress.com/2007/11/08/hooray-its-my-turn-jfi-december/

FOR THE CHUTNEY-

In a grinder add 4 plump, ripe tomatoes and 1 small onion as well as 1 large green chilli and grind to a rough paste. Heat 1/2 tsp oil, add mustard seeds and 5 curry leaves add the tomato paste ,season and cook for 5 minutes, serve.

Rosematta Rice with lemon sambhar and tomato chutney

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