“Kani Tambdo Ukde SheetHa Pejja (Kerala Matta Broken Red Boiled Rice Porridge/ Kani Laal Ukda Chawal Kanji (Ganji)” … pjja/ kanji/ ganji oota/ porridge prepared with kani ie broken red ukda chawal tastes amazing somewhat different from the one’s prepared with whole rice ... this porridge is very easy to prepare unlike again the whole rice and is much more healthier too … served with pickle and a little bit of ghee/ toop it tastes heavenly …. Yummilicious …
** Pejja/ Rice Porridge … A healthy food ignored often by modern generation, this is one dish that is not only healthy but a comforting meal when your body, mind or health is down. During initial days of posting, it was not received well, I was laughed at and some even joked, was it a dish to be posted?? Now I see it gets posted everywhere, things are changing for good. Most people did relish it, but were reluctant to speak about it, though there were many who did endorse their love and attachment towards this humble dish. Before anyone wonders, then why now? Why do I make pejje jevan posting often?? Well, when you realize that you reach out to larger masses and there are many out there who really love simple home food that gives them soul satisfaction and at times fills their heart with warmth of home left beyond, then you do feel that your efforts are worth it, even if the receivers are few.
** A few years back when I received mail, stating clearly the desire to browse through simple food they ate in their growing years, thali meals that would help them prepare combos in their own home and that they loved these foods the most after returning home tired, it left me wondering about the same. In them, somewhere I found myself on the initial days of my marriage when I cooked different dishes each day to please others while nutritionally I would not call it fit and in overall process I totally lost track of all good things life offered. I was into about 2-3 yrs of the world of blogging when I felt the urge to change over my pattern of posts and do exactly what I loved preparing and posting. I strongly felt it would be accepted by simple at heart persons like me, those who always craved for simple home cooked food though other delicious food too were more than welcome a few times a week.
** Pejje jevana/rice porridge meal is something we grew up eating especially during vacations. Mom prepared it as mid-meal at 10.00 am, served topped with homemade ghee along with simple hapla kismuri (papad salad) and a dash of nonche (pickle), as lunch was late in the noon. To date at some remote places in and around towns they still follow this method while in cities it is a lost trend. Those days are etched in mind that I keep reviving especially during monsoon, when its pouring heavily and I sit by my window with a novel in hand with steaming cup of soup. My mind then always wanders to childhood, how much we siblings enjoyed, frankly, we never knew the word boredom. We had lovely neighbors too and we have learned so much together, my heart always sends out thankful notes to my parents who were so liberal minded that they never curtailed our freedom of our quest for learning.
** Vacation meant amma would prepare happolu, vodi, shevai etc. all sun-dried items that would last year round for consumption. My aunt too would come over at times with my cousins to stay. We children helped in our own way running out to place them on the polyethylene sheets spread out in neat lines not a inch more not a inch less in placing as and how we were taught. My sister was an expert in placing vodi which had to done directly on the sheets way before sunrise and she did so beautifully all neatly like students in a line of the same shape and size. Definitely, beautiful memories to last lifetime as in Mumbai we neither have the space nor those facilities now to prepare the same, though in smaller quantities some manage to do so especially if they are lucky to have sunlight facility which I have not. Well, I guess I can keep writing, so let’s give a break and move on to the recipe.
** Sharing simple method using pressure cooker of preparing “Kani Tambdo Ukde SheetHa Pejja (Kerala Matta Broken Red Boiled Rice Porridge/ Kani Laal Ukda Chawal Kanji (Ganji)” … My style, do try this one out with kani rice available in almost all kerala/ southern stores or now they are available online too, life is much easier now, with purchasing facility at fingertips, so no excuses when it comes to health …..
** There is nothing recipe as such for preparation of pejja/ kanji/ ganji/ porridge and trust me you can now go wrong if you just keep a few thoughts in mind while preparing them, the most important being water as for red rice you need more quantity of the same, again if added too much then too it becomes a problem with kani rice unlike the whole red rice, wherein you can drain excess water. But that is not healthy as all the nutrients get drained away in doing so, so judgment is necessary, but not difficult with practice, so go for it and have a healthy lifestyle.
** Just wash about 1 cup of Kani Tambdo Ukde Tandul/ Kerala Matta Broken Red Boiled Rice/ Kani Laal Ukda Chawal, washing the grains well with hand and drain off the water. Wash about 3 times in clean water, to get a clear washed rice kani. Now put the same in pressure cooker along with 4 cups of water and pressure cook on medium flame to 2 whistles. Let the pressure drop on its own, when able to open do so check out the water content, if less add a little bit of hot water and mix well, if more cook on flame for a few minutes.
** “Kani Tambdo Ukde SheetHa Pejja (Kerala Matta Broken Red Boiled Rice Porridge/ Kani Laal Ukda Chawal Kanji (Ganji)” is done and ready to be served. You will get a mushy thick textured pejja/ gani/ porridge as shown in picture, best relished steaming hot with any side dish of your choice. The best relish is topped with homemade ghee, a pinch of salt and with nonche/ pickle. My aunty once served it with fried visonu/ surmai/ king fish when we had been to her place and I was totally bowled with this tasty combination too.
** These days even nutritionist suggest sipping of this porridge in place of heavy meals as the gruel part too is very tasty and full of nutrients. You can serve it with simple veggies as side dish too. Kismuri a dry salad type of dish prepared with papad for instance tastes excellent along with it. There are many more ways in which you can relish it for example even for lunch you can just replace cooked rice with pejja and relish along with all side dishes and it tastes wonderful. There are many combos already shared in the blog, plz. check.
** This is one of the simplest method of preparing and relishing pejje jevana, however these days there are also mix and match porridge done with inclusion of lentils, leafy veggies or topped with fish, egg etc. As this is one of my favorite dish, I will prepare and share them soon too, as we are fast approaching winter and that’s the time when you love having this meal the most. So stay tuned to my blog and please try them out and not just browse through, the sole purpose of writing so much is to lure all my readers to lead a healthier lifestyle.
** For more choices of “Pejje Jevan”, just browse through the link given below ….
** You can also check out on the following link for cooking red boiled rice again of which if the starch is retained and the rice is cooked mushier then the same also is consumed as porridge which is what I used to do till I accidently chanced upon the Kani rice, though I am all for broken red matt rice, in case it is not available follow the link given below for preparing pejja but don’t miss out on the goodness of the porridge. I am sure this rice is available all round the world now, but again if not you can cook normal rice in similar way too.
** For “Red Boiled Rice/Tambde Ukde Tandla sheetha/Urpel Ari /LaL Mota Chawal” … Cooking of Red Boiled Rice using Pressure Cooker. My easy way out. Cooking red boiled rice/ ukde sheetha is considered laborious and time consuming, but I use a faster method and get perfectly cooked rice using pressure cooker. Anybody can follow this simple method, cook and enjoy hot red ukada boiled rice with a spicy Veg/ Non. Veg Curry …. Please follow the link given below for the method of cooking .....
** Note : If for any reason you do not want to cook Boiled Rice, you can try out the normal rice prepared using Surthi Kollam or Wada Kollam rice by the following method too, which is normally the method of cooking in almost every Konkani Saraswat Home …
** For the Recipe of "Cooking Rice Starch Free/Vanu ghalnu SheetHa", where the Rice is cooked and the water is drained off to remove excess starch, Please follow the link given below ….
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