The Bird house

Time to use the kitchen space yet again. It was my daughter's idea to paint a bird house. While she sat down to paint with all her colors, I got my veggies out of the fridge. We started painting the bird house, with my daughter totally bent upon making it look multicolored. Its so much fun to watch your kids paint and just let them explore all by themselves. Fortunately, my daughter is not the messy kind and she helps clean up after the job is done. She decided to call it Tweety's house. We did not have bird food and I was pondering over what to feed the birds. That's when my D came up with a great item to start with. It is called pori (puffed rice) in Tamil. So the Pori in the bird house and the bird house in the patio. All done and we are still waiting for the birds to come.

Lets begin our venture into the kitchen for cooking. Like I said, I decided to make something as colorful as the bird house.

Tricolored rice (serves 2)

You need

Finely chopped carrots, beans, onions - each 1/2 cup

Corn kernels - 1/2 cup

Garlic cloves - 2

Green chillies - 2

Mint leaves

Basmati rice - 1 cup

Cinnamon powder

Nutmeg powder

Cloves

Salt

Saffron

Olive Oil

Butter

Method

• Start by soaking rice in about 1.5 cups of water.
• On medium heat add some oil to the kadai followed by cloves, onions, crushed garlic cloves, green chillies and a pinch of salt. Sauté for a minute or two.
• Add the veggies - carrots, beans, corn and mint leaves followed by cinnamon powder, a pinch of nutmeg and sauté for a few more minutes.
• Add 3 cups of water and allow to boil.
• When the water starts boiling add the rice, required salt and a dollop of butter, cover to cook.
• Soak a pinch of saffron in water and keep aside.
• In about 5 minutes you will see small holes on the rice. You will still notice water in the rice. Reduce the heat at this point to a low and cook.
• The rice will be done in the next 5 minutes. Fluff it up and add the saffron.
• Serve in a bowl