I have had Tarla Dalal Tomato Rice bookmarked for a little while, to make use of my homegrown tomatoes, but once again I was tempted by a tomato recipe that I came across in the Guardian's food section. Tarla Dalal was a famous Indian chef, cookbook author, food writer and host of cookery shows. her first cookbook 'The Pleasures of Vegetarian Cooking' was published in 1974. Since then Tarla Dalal wrote over 100 cookbooks, of which I own some, but like I said I was tempted by another modern recipe. The recipe in question this time is for Summer Pilau with Tomato, Coconut and Cashew Nuts and once again comes from Meera Sodha, the food is well presented and captured wonderfully by the photographs . The recipes are also accessible, which is good for any home cook. Some of you will remember that recently I made her Lebanese Green Beans and Vermicelli Rice , so I knew this was going to be a good one to make and eat too.
I stuck to Meera Sodha's recipe for the Tomato Pilau, the only two things that were different. I used dried curry leaves as I am not easily able to find fresh where I live; and secondly, this was due to my impatience - I did not brown the onions well, hence why my Pilau is not as golden, but let me tell you it was still delicious, moreso because of my homegrown tomatoes!
D loved it and said I should make this for our American guests when they come in September. Hopefully we will still have tomatoes coming from the greenhouse, in which case I shall be making it again.
Meera suggests serving it with a fresh green salad. I told my husband this and he rolled his eyes and suggested that I should have thrown in some of our homegrown green beans to the Pilau. Instead he had his with a dollop of mango chutney, I think it was a good decision. If I have tempted you once again, then please check out the full recipe.
Other Pilau Recipes you may like
Broad Beans Pilau with Mint
Butter Bean and Kale Curried Turmeric Rice
...looks delicious!...
ReplyDelete~Have a lovely day!
Thank you Teresa.
DeleteI always like Meera's recipes and I have missed to see this one. Your pilau looks absolutely lovely. I can just imagine how tasty it is with fresh homegrown tomatoes.
ReplyDeleteYeah, i have seen similar recipes in other cookbooks most notably the famous Tarla Dalala, but i think because Meera recipes appear in Guardian making they are more accessible and presented in such a delightful way that anyone can make them, not overly complicated that appeal. I certainly was tempted rather than trawl through my cookbooks.
DeleteThis sounds lovely - I did get a little sidetracked by reading about the new cookbook (and surprised at how poor Meera Sodha considered the vegan recipe scene before she entered the fray). Her recipes seem very good and I would love to try this. Hope you enjoy your bank holiday weekend - we have had white night melbourne this weekend which was interesting and I will post some photos.
ReplyDeleteIt was Johanna. I am planning on making it again whilst we still have tomatoes growing. Yeah i saw the article. The Guardian has been choosing food writers who are neither vegan or vegetarian for its food columns for years - remember Ottolenghi. I am not sure if i completely agree with their thinking, but understand why Meera thought about the vegan scene before she entered it, because there could be animosity from vegans, but i think the column is not aimed at vegans or vegetarians like us, but those who dip in and out, or want to try something different. You can see that from the comments left and the Meera RTs. I think its unfair to assume that vegans and vegetarians food writers do not make flavourful food, some of the best innovative and vegan recipes i have had had come from people following that path - but this is the way of social media, every food writer is publishing a book on vegetables, vegetarian or vegan cuisine at the detriment of food writers that are actually vegan or vegetarian, but hey ho..that is the way of the media these day. Meera is def. doing very well on the vegan and vegetarian scene.
ReplyDelete