Masala Bhaat | Spiced Rice With Ivy Gourd (Kovakkai)
Kovakkai / Ivy Gourd happens to be one of our favorite vegetables and this Masala Bhaat is absolutely a recipe to make with. This is a wonderful recipe to make for lunch boxes as well and the freshly ground spices make it even more flavorful.
I love cooking one-pot meals and that is often something I make when I run out of ideas. When I was going through all the amazing recipes that my blogging marathon partner Kalyani has, this recipe sounded really flavorful.
I also happened to have some kovakkai (ivy gourd) in hand and so this was a perfect choice. I have only made curry / poriyal with kovakkai and when I saw that this rice had kovakkai in it, I wanted to try it out right away.
So I made it for dinner and served it with raita / pachadi. Kids loved the crunch of kovakkai in the rice along with cashew nuts and came for seconds.
Also, the masala powder used in the recipe is very flavorful. I am going to be making a batch of it and storing it to make vegetable rice in the future. Kalyani had garnished the rice with some freshly grated coconut which I omitted.
Preparation time - 20 minutes
Cooking time - 40 minutes
Difficulty level - easy
Recipe adapted from - Sizzling Tastebuds
Ingredients to make Masala Bhaat - Serves 4 to 6
- Basmati Rice - 2 cups
- Kovakkai / Ivy Gourd - ½ lb (chopped thin, lengthwise)
- Oil - 3 tbsp
- Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
- Cashew nuts - 2 tbsp
- Asafetida - ¼ tsp
- Curry leaves - few
- Salt - to taste
Masala powder to make Masala Bhath -
- Krambu / Cloves - 9
- Cinnamon - 2, inch stick
- Red chilies - 4 or 5
- Jeeragam / Jeera - 2 tsp
- Coriander seeds - 2 tbsp
- Sesame seeds - 1 tbsp
- Desiccated coconut - ½ cup
Procedure to make Masala Bhath
TO MAKE THE MASALA POWDER -
- In a small pan, fry the desiccated coconut until golden brown (without any oil) and keep it in a bowl.
- Now fry the rest of the ingredients mentioned under the masala powder until aromatic and place it in the same bowl as the fried coconut.
- Once the ingredients cool down to room temperature, grind them to a powder.
To make the Masala Bhath -
- Wash and soak the rice for about 20 minutes. Then drain the rice and keep it aside until ready to use.
- Either in a heavy bottom vessel or in the cooker, heat the oil. Add the mustard seeds, curry leaves, asafetida and the cashew nuts and let it fry for a minute.
- Now add the chopped kovakkai and let it fry for about 5 minutes.
- Add the masala powder, salt, and drained rice and mix gently taking care not to break the rice.
- Add the water needed to cook the rice (I used 4 cups of water) and cook until the rice and the vegetables are cooked.
- Garnish with cilantro and serve hot with Raita.
More Rice Recipes
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Recipe
Masala Bhaath - Spiced Rice With Ivy Gourd (Kovakkai)
Equipment
- pan
- bowl
- spatula
Ingredients
TO MAKE MASALA BHAATH
- 2 cups Basmati Rice
- ½ lb. Kovakkai / Ivy Gourd Chopped thin, lengthwise
- 3 tbsp. Oil
- 1 teaspoon Mustard seeds
- 2 tbsp. Cashew nuts
- ¼ teaspoon Asafetida
- few Curry leaves
- to taste Salt
TO MAKE MASALA BHAATH -
- 9 Krambu / Cloves
- 2 Inch Cinnamon Stick
- 4 or 5 Red chilies
- 2 teaspoon Jeeragam / Jeera
- 2 tbsp. Coriander seeds
- 1 tbsp. Sesame seeds
- ½ cut Desiccated coconut
Instructions
TO MAKE THE MASALA POWDER
- In a small pan, fry the desiccated coconut until golden brown (without any oil) and keep it in a bowl.
- Now fry the rest of the ingredients mentioned under the masala powder until aromatic and place it in the same bowl as the fried coconut.
- Once the ingredients cool down to room temperature, grind it to a powder.
TO MAKE THE MASALA BHATH -
- Wash and soak the rice for about 20 minutes. Then drain the rice and keep it aside until ready to use.
- Either in a heavy bottom vessel or in the cooker, heat the oil. Add the mustard seeds, curry leaves, asafetida and the cashew nuts, and let it fry for a minute.
- Now add the chopped kovakkai and let it fry for about 5 minutes.
- Add the masala powder, salt and the drained rice and mix gently taking care not to break the rice.
- Add water needed to cook the rice (I used 4 cups of water) and cook until the rice and the vegetables are cooked.
- Garnish with cilantro and serve hot with Raita.
