Brinji (Vegetable Fried Rice in Coconut milk) There are some recipes which I learnt from my MIL, like

this one here, which are staples in hubby s extended family either everyday ones or special ones for close family gatherings (read minimum 50 people!). Some of them are traditional recipes from her maternal home while others are pop ular Tamil recipes not necessarily hoary and traditional, but just ones which ar e made in many Tamilian homes irrespective of where the family is from. Someone tastes the dish, likes it and asks for the recipe soon it becomes a favourite in their home. And then before you know it; it s on your local cookery show on TV! This recipe is something like that. I hadn t ever heard of it growing up in Mumbai . But in Chennai I came across many versions of it and it didn t matter what commu nity they were from, so I had to assume that this is one of those rootless dishe s, so to speak all the more unique and flavourful for that! Birinji or Brinji is basically a mixed vegetable pulao, the difference being tha t it has coconut and spices ground into it and fried; the rice is then cooked in the spice paste and coconut milk which gives it a creamy flavor. Which is why I think of it as a fried rice and not a pulao. Don t confuse this with the Thengai saadam or Coconut rice which is made down South, no, not the one with grated coconut and tempering made on festival days, but th e one which is tempered with whole spices and then cooked in coconut milk. No ot her masala, no vegetables, nothing else to intrude on the creamy coconut flavor. This one is different. I tried to figure out the etymology of the name .but didn t get very far. Some people say that the name comes from birinji elai the Tamil word used for Tej Patta a spi ce similar to Bay leaf used to flavor this dish. But I don t think that s correct. I f anything I would think that the spice got the name from the dish! Very much a chicken and egg situation . I did find this reference to birinji though; in a discussion on the etymology of rice and where it originated, the author of the article refers to birinji or brinj i as being the Persian word for rice. Another article on the Kirghitz tribe in Afghanistan refers to a dish they have called Shier brinji which is boiled rice in milk. So I m assuming that the word we now use for this dish, originally referred to the rice used in the dish probably a basmati kind of long grained rice which came f rom the North. If anyone has more interesting or authentic information on this, do let me know! Whatever the origin, this dish is one surefire way of making an ordinary day a f estive occasion. MIL turns this out perfectly each time she has guests over, mak ing it in her electric rice cooker in a largish quantity and it s always a hit. I don t wait for guests to stop by a Sunday afternoon at home is reason enough to have this delicious dish; some pickle, pachadi, papad and we re good. Brinji/Birinji Ingredients Basmati rice 1 cups Onions 2 peeled and sliced Mixed vegetables 1 cups cut into fingers (potato, carrot, beans, peas, capsicum) Coconut milk 2 cups (1 half of a medium sized coconut) Cloves 2

Cardamom 2 Cinnamon 1 piece Tej patta (similar to bay leaf) 1 Oil 2 tbsp Salt to taste Spice Paste: Grated coconut cup Green chillies 4 Ginger 1 piece Garlic 4-5 cloves Coriander leaves cup packed tightly Mint leaves handful Cumin seeds 1 tsp Method 1. Soak the rice in 3 cups of water for about 10 - 1 5 minutes. 2. Grind the ingredients for the spice paste, adding a little water till it is s mooth. 3. Heat the oil in a large non stick wok/kadai and add the cloves, cardamom, cin namon and leaf. 4. Saut for 1-2 minutes, then add the onions and saut till lightly browned. 5. Add the spice paste and fry for another 4 5 minutes on a low flame, taking ca re that it doesn t stick to the bottom 6. Add the mixed chopped vegetables and fry for 2-3 minutes. 7. Drain the rice and reserve the water. Add the rice to the pan and lightly fry for about a minute. Then measure out the coconut milk, add two cups of the rese rved rice water, so that the total liquid equals 4 cups and add to the rice in t he pan. 8. Add salt to taste if you taste the liquid at this stage, it should taste a bi t salty; it will be then just right after it is cooked. 9. Bring water to a boil and then cover and cook on medium flame for about 5 min utes. Open, stir the rice gently, cover again and cook on a low flame for anothe r 5-7 minutes. 10.If the rice is cooked after this time and there is still a little more water, uncover and cook on low for about a minute or two till the water dries out. The rice should be just about cooked when you turn off the flame; it shouldn t be falling apart since it will cook a little bit more in the residual heat and migh t turn mushy by the time it is served. Cover and keep warm till serving time. Garnish with mint leaves and serve with p achadi /raita (yoghurt salad)