At times when the whole menu can not be cooked, making some variety rice comes to my rescue. I prepare it at least twice a week to go easy on everyday cooking and utilize other time to do other household chores. The dish is cooked specially or sometimes the leftover rice is jazzed up into a nice meal. Mix and match the vegetables depending on their availability and experiment with different spices to create a unique flavor combination. You can check different combinations for these rice varieties that I have prepared and posted here.





Today's recipe is cabbage rice. I have been making it with regular cabbage but this time I had purple cabbage sitting in the fridge. I get attracted to these purple cabbages for their color and end up buying them with no clue to use it beyond salad or stirfry. And so a big red cabbage doesn't get finished even after a period of one week. When it was in stock this time and only part of it been finished for salad, rice was the best option I could think of to consume it with a hope that the rice turns out to be delicious and I am glad it did. This rice gets added to my menu list. Glad that my family members enjoyed it and hence sharing this recipe with all of you. Do try and enjoy.

Ingredients

1 and 1/2 cup basmati rice
1 cup shredded purple cabbage
1/2 cup vegetable of your choice like carrot, capsicum, green peas, corn kernels (In pics you will see corn kernels/green peas been used as per their availability)
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 tsp finely chopped ginger
1 tsp finely chopped garlic
1 tbsp broken cashew nuts, blanched
1 tbsp sliced almonds, blanched
1 tbsp golden raisins
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
3-4 cloves
2-3 green chilies, finely chopped
Juice of half lemon
Oil + ghee [1:1 tbsp]
Salt to taste
Nuts roasted in ghee for garnish
Finely chopped coriander leaves for garnish



Method:

Clean, wash and soak basmati rice as per packet instructions. I soaked it for approximately 30 minutes. Drain and keep it aside.

Heat oil +ghee in a pan, add cumin seeds. Once they start popping up add cloves and stir fry 
for few seconds. Add chopped green chili and onions. Saute them till the onions becomes soft. Put ginger and garlic and stir fry till the raw smell disappears. Follow it with corn kernels/ green peas and chopped cabbage. Saute it nicely for 2-3 mins on medium flame. Add drained rice and simmer the flame, saute it for 1-2 mins. Add blanched cashews, sliced almonds and raisins, salt to taste, 1 tsp lemon juice and hot water [for the ratio please follow the packet instruction]. Mix it gently, cover the pan and cook it till done on low flame. Add the remaining lemon juice and switch off the flame. Garnish with roasted nuts and chopped coriander leaves [optional]. Serve it hot as it is or some chips/papads.

Below pic I have used leftover rice to prepare it and you will see green peas being used as per its availability. 



Happy Cooking!