Last weekend there was a travel plan so I wanted to empty my crisper before I leave. There was this pack of shelled peas and a box of shredded coconut, thus this experiment. Unfortunately, it came out so delicious in its first attempt. Without much bragging, here is the recipe.

Ingredients

Dry:

Seeraga Samba Rice / Basmati – 1 Cup

Cinnamon Stick – 1 inch

Cloves – 3 pods

Cardamom – 2

Star Anise – 1/2

Bay Leaves – 2

Fennel Seeds – 1 tsp

Chilly Powder – 1 tsp

Coriander Powder – 2 tsp

Wet:

Shallots – 8 to 10

Onion – 1

Tomato – 1

Green Chilly – 2

Coconut – 1 cup

Ginger Garlic Paste – 1 tbsp

Oil – 3 tbsp

Method:

1. Rinse and Soak the rice for 20 minutes in half cup of water.
2. Extract 1.5 cups of coconut milk using 1 cup of scraped coconut.
3. Grind the shallots and green chillies to a fine paste.
4. Take out the peas from shells, slice the onion and chop the tomato.
5. In a pressure pan, add oil, once heated add cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, star anise, bay leaves and fennel seeds. Saute it till golden brown.
6. Add the ground shallot & chilly paste. Saute it for 2 minutes and add sliced onions. Allow it to cook for 3 minutes.
7. Add ginger garlic paste and saute it till the raw smell goes off.
8. Add the chopped tomatoes, required salt, mix it and close the pan for 2 minutes.
9. Open the pan, add the peas, chilly powder, coriander powder and mix it well. Allow the mixture to cook until the raw smell of chilly powder and coriander powder goes away. Add 1 more tablespoon of oil if the mixture is too dry (Optional).
10. Add coconut milk to the mixture, let it heat for a minute in simmer. Do not keep the stove on high flame after adding coconut milk, doing so will make the coconut milk to curdle sooner.
11. Add the soaked rice by removing excess water used for soaking as the seeraga samba rice requires 1:1.5 ratio of water. Here we replaced water with coconut milk extract. Adding excess water may result in a mushy texture of rice.
12. Mix the content of the pan well and close the lid. Put on the weight (Pressure Regulator) and pressure cook in simmer for 3 whistles.
13. Let the pressure down, drizzle a spoon of ghee / clarified butter and garnish with coriander leaves.
14. Serve it with Onion – Cucumber Raita.

Your feedback and suggestions are most welcome!