Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Red Cabbage Pulav (My Tribute to "Avatar" Colors)


While watching Avatar, I loved the special effects, futuristic gadgets, messages like save trees, save earth, mesmerizing Pandora, the unbelievable Hallelujah mountains, and above all I was enthralled by the colors of nature spread throughout the movie; but in my opinion, purple-ish blue (Avatar blue) gave the film its identity.

While cooking, I don't like to use food colors as nature itself has many different colors that would make your dish look beautiful. I wanted my rice to have this Avatar-blue color without the use food coloring, and I think red cabbage actually made it even more eye-catching than the food color.

This recipe is very simple but I and my guests, who tried this, agreed that use of pickled turnips gave it an extra kick in taste and added another totally different dimension for the eyes. Here goes my tribute to "AVATAR" colors.

Ingredients:-


  • 1 cup Red Cabbage, Grated
  • 2 cups Red Cabbage Water
  • 1 cup Basmati Rice
  • 3 Garlic Cloves, minced
  • 1/4 tsp Ginger, grated
  • 3-4 Green Chilli, chopped
  • 14 tsp Red Chilli Powder
  • 1/2 tsp Cumin Seeds
  • 1 Bay Leaf
  • 2 Cloves + 2 Extra
  • 2 Green Cardamom + 1 Extra
  • 1 Cinnamon + 1 Extra
  • 1 cup Mix Vegetables, (Corn, Carrot, Peas, Lima Beans)
  • 2-3 tbsp Pickled Turnips, chopped
  • 1 tbsp Olive Oil
  • Pinch of Turmeric Powder
  • Salt and Pepper to taste

Method:-

1. Grate red cabbage, and squeeze all water from cabbage. Keep grated cabbage and squeezed water aside.

2. In microwave safe bowl, boil vegetables with some water, little salt, black pepper, 2 cloves, 1 cinnamon. Drain well.

3. Heat oil in pan, add Cumin seeds, cloves, bay leaf, cardamom. Saute ginger, garlic, chilli, grated cabbage for 30 seconds.

4. Add rice, turmeric, dhania-jeera powder, red chilli powder. Mix well and saute for 30 seconds.

5. Add red cabbage water, and bring it to boil, turn down the heat on medium low, cover with lid, and cook until rice is done.

6. Fluff up the rice with fork and add vegetables and chopped pickled turnips. Cover pan with lid while it is hot for minute, so vegetables can mix up with hot rice.

7. Serve hot with red radish raita.

Enjoy...

Tip: Use star Anise or extra cinnamon or make this pulav little spicy to lessen the cabbage smell which might bother some people.

27 comments:

Unknown said...

I love the movie and this is definitely Avatar color :)

Madhavi said...

Super fast comment Priya :)) Thanks :))

Padma said...

Very beautiful color... Nice presentation.

Sanyukta Gour(Bayes) said...

yum yum post dear..looks wonderful n mindblowing..lovely colors n cute presentation

Swathi said...

Turned out be delicious your tribute.

Namitha said...

Loved your "Avatar" dish :D Looks so pretty

Laavanya said...

I was very surprised when I first boiled red cabbage and got a blue veggie! :)
Cool way to make rice with it.. am sure kids will love it.

Sum Raj said...

lovly heatlhy colourful rice..

abraham said...

colourful....

Soumya said...

healthy and delicious rice...loved the color...

Cham said...

The rice got a beautiful avatar now :) It looks gorgeous!

Sunitha said...

Quite an interesting recipe and the color is quite something else.

aipi said...

I like the way you think about food..a very nice way to connect to the movie!

US Masala

Jayanthy Kumaran said...

Looks amazing...d color n recipe rocks..:D
Tasty appetite

Kitchen Boffin said...

Its looks a new avatar & yummy too... lovely space you have.. following you...

Sushma Mallya said...

lovely colour, nice idea to use this cabbage this delicious way....

Priya Suresh said...

Omg, wat a beautiful looking pulav..

Sayantani Mahapatra Mudi said...

Hi first time here and am loving your blog. great recipes and delicious pictures. loved avatar and this definitely depicts the theme. awesome.

Pushpa said...

Looks lovely and yummy.

Sarah Naveen said...

Healthy and yummy!!! loved it..

Jayanthy Kumaran said...

Dear..an Award is waiting for u at my blog..Plz stop by to collect..:)
Tasty appetite

Unknown said...

Hey Madhavi,

Beautiful pulav...Love the colour...:)Check out the event in my blog...:)

Dr.Sameena@

http://www.myeasytoookrecipes.blogspot.com

Rachana said...

Thats a lovely coloured Avatar pulao :-)

Nithya said...

Wow.. now that you have called it avatar blue I would love to make it :) its such a attractive way to make ppl eat it :) luv it totally :)

Malar Gandhi said...

colorful and inviting.

mita said...

very nice colour... really recalled the effects of Pandora :)

great-secret-of-life said...

I do this too.. good way to include all the colored vegetables as part of our diet
great-secret-of-life.blogspot.com