Dil rice (शेपू भात)

Summer months are busy months in my household. We grow vegetable garden and love to spend time taking care of it. Some plants do well, while some just remain as unsuccessful experiments. 

One side effect of growing vegetables is you have surplus vegetables in the house. Week on week, sometimes you get same produce or harvest. The real challenge is coming up with creative dishes to use this bountiful harvest so you are not repeating the same dishes each time. 

Dil (शेपू) is not a popular vegetable in my house but it is growing well in my garden. This time I decided to use most of the leftover vegetables from my harvest and came up with this dish. It feels amazing to have a shorter farm to table turnaround time. Feel free to change vegetables in the recipe as per your choice or their availability.

Servings: 3 people

Ingredients:

10-12 stems of Dil (शेपू), washed and chopped

2-3 garlic cloves or tender garlic shoots

A bunch of green onion shoots, chopped

2 medium sized tomatoes, diced

1/4 cup green pigeon peas (tuvar) (optional)

1/4 cup peas

1/4 cup carrot, diced

1 cup rice, washed and soaked

8-10 cashew nuts

Salt as per taste

Seasoning:

2 tbsp oil

a pinch of asafoetida

1 tsp cumin seeds

crushed pepper

Wash rice and soak them for half an hour. Drain the water after half an hour and keep it aside. In a pot, boil 2 cups of water. I use brown rice hence the water quantity is doubled. If you are using any other type of rice, adjust the water accordingly. Usually rice to water proportion is 1:1 or 1:1.5 based on type of rice.

While the water is boiling, we will saute all the vegetables together. For this, in a heated kadhai, add oil and season with asafoetida, cumin seeds and crushed pepper. Adjust the pepper as per your taste. Add garlic and cashew nuts. Saute for a couple of minutes till the cashews turn slight brown and garlic is well fried. Add chopped green onions and stir fry for 5 minutes. Next add diced tomatoes and mix in. Let the tomatoes cook for 5-7 minutes. Add remaining vegetables like diced carrots, peas and chopped dil leaves. Mix all vegetables and stir for 5 minutes. Add drained rice and mix together. Stir for 7-10 minutes and add boiling water to this mixture. Add salt and cook until rice is well cooked.

Serve with a teaspoon of ghee (optional).

Dill Rice (शेपू भात)

Ingredients:
2 cups of cooked rice,
1/2 cup dill leaves, cut finely
1/2 cup onion, chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, diced
salt as per taste

For seasoning:
3 tsp oil,
1 1/2 tsp mustard seeds,
a pinch of asafoetida,
1 tsp turmeric,
3-4 dry red chillies

Servings: 2 people

In a kadhai, heat oil and add mustard seeds. Once the mustard seeds start spluttering, add asafoetida, red chillies and turmeric. Mix well and add garlic cloves. Stir for 2 minutes. Next add onion. Stir for 3-4 minutes and add chopped dill leaves. Mix it well with onion and the seasoning. Add salt, stir well and cover for 2 minutes. In the meantime, spread the cooked rice on a plate and loosen the rice with a spoon. Mix rice with cooked dill and stir well. Cover with lid and cook for additional 4-5 minutes.

Dill rice is ready to serve. Dill rice tastes good along with a green salad or yogurt based raita.

Tip: You can add 2 tsp lemon juice to enhance the taste of the rice. You can also add chopped cashew nuts or peanuts during seasoning, if you like.