Strawberry Pie

I love sweet stuff. And Strawberries are one my favorites.


Things we need
Fresh Strawberries  1/2 boxes ( or 5 cups)
Sugar  - 1/2 cup
Corn Starch - 2 spoons
Unsalted Butter
Pillsbury Pie Crusts
Whipped cream.

The pie crusts - to thaw them, please fopllow the instruction given on the box.
Preheat the oven to 450
Hull all the strawberries. Take one box of the strawberries, grind them well in a food processor. In a vessel, heat them till they thicken up a bit. Do not add water. Mix the corn starch & sugar in a little amount of water till the lumps dissolve. And add this to the boiling berry sauce.  Stir them well. The liquid will thicken up a bit . Do not add more corn starch, as that will dominate the taste and the sauce will become very thick.

Grease the baking tray with butter and roll out the pastry sheet. With a fork, make small holes. This allows the pie to get cooked evenly.  Fill in sheet with the sauce we made & arrange the 1/2 box of hulled strawberries along the sides of the pie sheet. Close this with the other pie sheet & crimp the edges using your thumb. Brush the top of the pie with butter. With a sharp knife make little slits on top.


Slide it into the oven & reduce the temperature now to 250. Let it stand for 35 mins. The top of the pic turns slight brown when done.

A yummy strawberry pie. It is very yummy when served with whipped cream.

Vegetable Pulav/ Steamed Rice with vegetables

This is neither a pulav nor a biriyani which is loaded with rich ingredients. So this pulav strikes somewhere in between. I got this recipe  from my friend Gana Nithin. Thanks Gana.

Things We need

Basmati Rice - 2 1/2 cups
Vegetables   - Potato, green beans, carrots, bell peppers (capsicum), green peas, Corns funnels, Cauliflower florets.
Ginger          - minced well 3 spoons
Onions (small) - 2 chopped well
Coriander leaves - 1 1/2 cup
Mint leaves   - 1 cup

Cinnamon     - 2  pinches ( I use cinnamon powder)
Cardamon    - little
Pepper corns- 5 or 6
Bay Leaf       - 1
Cloves          - 4 or 5 corns
Green Chillies- 10 -12
Coriander powder - 1 1/2 spoon
Coconut        - 2 spoons
Poppy Seeds - 1 spoon
Fennel Seeds - 1 spoon

Butter            - 1 spoon
Curd             - 2 spoons

Salt
A little oil



Okie now lets make it.

Wash the rice & keep it aside. Soak the poppy seeds in water. Take 1/4 of the chopped onions. Fry the cloves (2), cinnamon (a pinch), onions (1/4 ), ginger, green chillies,1 cup of coriander leaves, little mint leaves,  and add coriander powder, coconut . Grind them into a paste along with the poppy seeds.

You can make this in a pressure cooker or even in an electric rice cooker.

In the pressure cooker, add butter, when its hot, add the fennel seeds, cinnamon, cloves, bay leaf, cardamom, peppercorns, chopped onions. Fry them well then add chopped mint & coriander leaves & the masala we had ground earlier. Fry till the oil oozes out. Then add 2 spoons of curd and all the veggies. Mix them well and add the rice and salt & water (1 : 11/2 cup). Close it with the lid without the weight. Stand it for 14 mins & then switch it off & place the weight on it. Let it stand for 10 mins. The Veg Pulav is done.

If you are planning on using a electric rice cooker, fry all these in a skillet & then add them to the electric rice cooker.

I actually garnished it with some fried paneer cubes and some cashews.
The mint twist is an amazing flavour. Voilà its Done. It goes well with Raitha. Enjoy!