Pomegranate Rice

Valentine's day is tomorrow!!! Crazy, huh?? Everyone seems to be in a loving mood. I'll spare you a lot of the deep romantic mushy poetry and give you a brief glimpse of a day in my life:

It's early morning before S has to go to work. I get up and he's invariably downstairs in front of the computer doing who knows what (software eng... go figure!). I go into the kitchen to start making breakfast. It's probably 1/2 hour until he has to leave. I start reminding him to get ready. "Yeah, yeah, yeah," comes his voice from the basement. 10-15 minutes later, he goes upstairs to take a shower and appears 20 minutes later. It's now about 15 minutes until he has to leave. Breakfast is made and I'm calling for him to come and eat. "I'm coming, " he yells and finally appears 10 minutes later in a frantic rush. Barely manages to choke breakfast down, grabs his lunch, and is about to run out the door when he stops and turns around. "Have a good day, sweetie. I love you," he says with that look in his eyes and leaves.

That look in his eyes... It was that look in his eyes that made me weak in the knees the first time we met. And it still happens every time he looks at me! Ok, ok, I'll stop boring you with my love story! *laugh*

With Valentine's day coming upon us, I was thinking of what to make for Pooja's Valentine day event as well as AFAM - Pomegranate hosted by Sra when this idea suddenly came to me. I thought, what about making rice with pomegranate juice?? The more I thought about it, the more the idea appealed to me and I figured I could make it work.



The overall result was a variety rice dish that was a bit tangy, but not overly so. We really liked it a lot! Now, I share the recipe with you all...

Ingredients:

Basmati rice - 2 cups, soaked in cold water for 30 minutes and washed
Pomegranate juice - 2 cups
Water - 2 cups
Chilly powder - 2 tsp, or to taste
Fennel powder - 3/4 tsp
Coriander leaves - 3 tbsp, chopped
Raisins - 1 tbsp (optional)
Cashews - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

For seasoning:

Cinnamon - 1 inch piece
Cloves - 5-6
Star anise - 2

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan and add the seasoning ingredients.

2. When they are sizzling and fragrant, add the chilly powder and fennel powder. Fry for a few seconds until fragrant. Do not over-fry or the chilly powder will burn and get bitter! :)

3. Now, add the pomegranate juice and water.

4. Bring to a boil and add coriander leaves, salt, and rice.

5. Reduce the heat to simmer and allow to cook until the rice has absorbed all of the water (15-20 min)

6. Allow to rest for 10 minutes, fry raisins and cashews in little bit of ghee, and add to rice. Serve with raita or any side dish of your choice.

I hope you all, Pooja, and Sra enjoy this one! :)