Coconut rice/ Thenga sadam Vegan free and Gluten Free option

My mom makes different varieties of rice for Aadi perkku/ padinettam perukku festival, which usually comes in the month of Tamil month of Adi (usually mid July.-August) . It is the festivals for thanking the rivers which gives prosperity and lives to people, while flowing through the areas. Usually they make lot of rice dishes and bring to river banks and after prayer, they will eat the dishes wishing for next year to be prosperous. If you read Hindu mythology, you will come to know that we worship everything, wind, sun, moon, water, and also major gods like Brahma, Siva and Vishnu. Each God is interconnected each other with stories. You also have of freedom of worshipping your own favorite God.

 

 When we are young, we like this festival as during this festival we would get to paint our hands and legs with Henna. Mom would grind the fresh leaves to make the henna paste, and did not use the powdered one available in the market.  Both I and my sister will be in race to see who would get the brightest red color from the henna. I used to give henna more time than her so that I can get the best color. But in end she will pull my hand resulting removal of my henna paint from one finger, then in the end I have no choice, remove them all. 

If you are looking for a vegan or gluten free option to your dinner or breakfast without any baking and healthy option take a look at south Indian dishes. You will be amaze to see the vast collection of side dishes and rice dishes.

 Mom would make coconut rice, lemon rice, tamarind rice and curd rice. I haven’t seen her making tomato rice or anything else.  Whenever, I say I am making coconut rice, hubby will say  no and tell me to  make some curd rice as  he is fan of it.  This Sunday due to clock change our routine got changed. I am too lazy to cook some sides only made a gravy spinach sambhar.  Decide to make thenga sadam/ coconut rice. It is a really easy dish. If you have some leftover rice and you need to give a makeover, you can make this. My mom and grandma add pappad (Indian wafers) to coconut rice. One thing you need to remember that you need fresh coconut, not desiccated one. You can add nuts of your choice, peanuts, cashew nuts etc. I used only one green chili and one red chili to make it tolerable to my princess. Increase it if you have higher spice level tolerance.  Seasoning includes mustard seeds, urad dal/ spilt black gram and chana dal/split chickpeas.  Make sure not to fry coconut too much, bust just for two minutes to release its aroma.

If you are a coconut lover like me it is hard to say no to this rice dish.  I used coconut oil to enhance more flavor, if you want you can use oil of your choice.  I used cooked rose matta rice as it is more nutty and healthy than regular sona masoori or basmati rice. 

Here goes the rice. 

In a skillet heat coconut oil and add mustard seeds, urad dal/ split black gram and chana dal( I like to soak them for about 30 minutes before using, that way it will be soft when you cook). When mustard seeds starts crackle add peanut, salt, green chili, curry leaves, asafetodia( Skip this for gluten free),  red chili and fry for 3 minutes. Then add cashew nut and fry for 1 minute. Then add cooked rice and mix everything to combine well. Switch off the flame and add crushed pappad and mix once again to combine well.

Enjoy with any gravy of your choice.  I served with spinach sambhar.

                                                                 Print Recipe

Coconut Rice/Thenga Sadam

Adapted from my mother’s recipe

Prep Time    5 minutes

Cook Time    5 minutes

Serves    4

Ingredients:

2 Cup  Cooked Rice( I used Rosematta Rice)   

1 Cup  Grated Coconut

           3 tablespoon Cashew nuts

3 tablespoon    Peanuts

1 tablespoon  Urad dal/split black gram

1 tablespoon Chana dal/split chick peas ( washed and soaked for about 30 minutes)

1 Green chili

1 Red chili

1 sprig of Curry leaves

3/4  teaspoon  Salt or to taste

1 tablespoon  Coconut  oil

3 Fried pappad/ Indian wafer

⅛ teaspoon of Asafetodia( If you want gluten free skip this one)

Steps:

In a skillet heat coconut oil and add mustard seeds, urad dal/ split black gram and chana dal( I like to soak them for about 30 minutes before using, that way it will be soft when you cook). When mustard seeds starts crackle add peanut, salt, green chili, Asafetodia, curry leaves, red chili and fry for 3 minutes. Then add cashew nut and fry for 1 minute. Then add cooked rice and mix everything to combine well. Switch off the flame and add crushed pappad and mix once again to combine well.

Variations:

• You can use nuts of your choice.
• You can use basmati or sona masoori rice or any other white rice.

I am sending this delicious rice dish to Favorite recipes: Rice recipes guest  hosted at Sweet 'n' Savory.

Also Hearth and Soul blog hop hosted here.