Masala Bhaath – Spiced Rice with Ivy Gourd (Kovakkai)

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 Bhaath – 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 Bhaath –

• 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

• 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.