Instant Curry Leaf Rice - Karuveppilai Sadham

Preparing a good meal in an instant which is very simple yet tasty is always comforting. One such dish to make is this instant curry leaf rice or karuveppilai sadham (in Tamil).  I just came from the vegetable market and all I had was cooked rice. The kids demanded something different and they can't wait - saw the shopping bag - the curry leaves were on the top and immediately I made this - a little bit of this and a little bit of that.....in a few minutes we enjoyed a good meal. Usually, we add a little tamarind, (sometimes jaggery) and with a little water, we grind and make a kind of chutney like preparation called thogayal. We mix that with rice with a dollop of oil and eat. I decided to make a dry powder form, to make it all instantaneous. All was worth it, since, my son who doesn't like curry leaves, ate it for all his meals. All of us enjoyed the meal with appalam (papad) - delectable combination! MIL and FIL loved it and my MIL insisted to make this way often - so this recipe is a keeper!

Ingredients:

Rice - 1 cup

Salt

Water 

Sesame oil - 1 tsp

Roast and Grind:

Oil - 2 tsp

Urad dhal, whole - 11/2 tbsp

Chana dhal, split - 1 tbsp

Curry leaves - 1 cup, medium packed

Dried red chillies - 6

Seasoning:

Oil - 2 tsp

Dried red chillies - 2

Peanuts - 3 - 4 tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Urad dhal, split - 1 tsp

Curry leaf - 1 sprig

Asafoetida (hing) - 1/8 tsp

Method:

Wash and cook the rice. Transfer it to a big bowl, add a tsp of oil and let it cool.

Wash the curry leaves. Heat oil in a pan, add red chillies, urad dal, and chana dhal and fry till golden. Add the washed curry leaves and roast nicely for 2 min till there is no moisture left in the leaves. Cool and grind to a powder.

To season, heat oil in a pan. Add all the ingredients and fry for a couple of minutes till the peanuts are finely roasted and pour in the rice. Add the ground curry leaf powder, salt and mix well. That's it - within ten minutes you have a scrumptious karuvepillai sadham to satisfy your hunger. YUM!

If you, have the rice ready, all it takes to prepare is 10 minutes. Or else too, when the rice is getting cooked, you can make the powder, seasoning, and mix it (it may take another 5 minutes for the rice to cook). Next time please prepare this, enjoy it with your family and let me know your feedback. Thanks!

Tips:

• Adjust the red chillies as per your taste. 
• The ground curry leaf mix may be a little coarse or fine, to suit your texture.
• You can make this with orzo pasta as well, which is equivalently tasty.