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Friday, July 11, 2008

Soya Rice and Memories of Pennsylvania

Rice plays and important part in our meals, at times I don’t feel like eating plain cooked rice .For variations I have always tried making rice with different ingredients or the ingredients that are currently in my pantry .We like eating Soya chunks and what could be a better way than to include them in our cooked rice .Here is a simple recipe for soya rice, rice being cooked with Soya sauce and Soya chunks . I would think that its greatly influenced by Chinese Cuisine as I have used soya sauce for this rice preparation, Although the spices being used other than Soya sauce are Indian , So its sort of Fusion of Indo- Chinese Cuisine and I am sending this to DK at Culinary Bazaar for the on-going AWED-Chinese .




Soya Rice

Ingredients
4 cups of cooked rice ( I used seddu Chaal (Boiled rice) for this purpose, I guess basmati or Sona masoori rice can be used also , just soak them in water for half an hour before cooking it . )
1 onion chopped finely
1 tsp of ginger
4 tsp of soya sauce
½ tsp of red Pepper powder (add more for hotness)
1tsp of salt
Nutrela Soya Chunks 1 -2 cup (prepared according to Package direction or soak them in warm water for 10- 15 mints, drain and its ready to eat )
1 carrots chopped 1 inch long pieces
some cashews
2-3 eggs , depending upon people you are serving (optional)
3-4 tbs of refined oil or canola oil for frying
Method
Heat up oil, add Bay leaf, chopped onions, carrots and cashews and fry at med for 3 -4 mints.
Now add Soya chunks, Soya sauce, red pepper powder and salt .Fry at high for 5mints continuously stiring till the ingredients gets a coated evenly with the spices and sauce.
Lower the flame and and add cooked rice, fry them at med now for 2-3 mints and coat the rice with the prepared gravy .Take out in a bowl.
In a separate vessel fry the eggs. Serve them over cooked rice.
This is surely a great way to eat rice . Good for Toddlers and adult as well .

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We lived in Lancaster PA , one of the oldest city in US , about 71 miles from Philadelphia, easily connected via Amtrak and its very economic also visit here for more city attraction Main City attractions . And this county is famous for their Amish people and their enriched culture.
Amish People are nature loving simple and God –fearing people, mainly doing farming for their livelihood. They are the descendants of Germans, who settled in here when they first came in 1709 .They still use their old, Horse pulled carts or Buggy. And seeing them in the city sometimes was a pleasure. You can feel the tip-tap of horse legs, while they breeze past off your slow moving car .This make me think sometimes less complicated things give you immense pleasure and look at the relationship they develop with their horse , can we strike the same response with the metal build car or truck or for that matter anything metal , Perhaps no. Such is one drawback of modernization also. But, people at Amish County are still living with their preserved nature and life for them is hard work to get their Bread and Butter, for them there is no short-cuts .These people belong to hard working community, living life as simple as it can be . More Info here .

Susquehanna river More info here, is a longest river along the East coast of US.The banks are good for morning walks and the old bridge over it says a lot about it’s importance .This Bridge Connects the York county and Lancaster county,while Driving you may come across a subtle downtown of York county as well and the country side as well.
Children will love the Strasburg Railroad on Route 741, the engine still runs on steam, kind of the engines you saw in the Film “ Parineeta” and you can hear the familiar whistle of the engine while traveling in it also. A joy for children and adults as well. This joyride was a delight for us and we remembered our childhood days when we would go to our Grandmother’s place by trains, which were used to run on steam as well.
The Park City Mall in Lancaster is a huge shopping mall with all the branded houses and the food court is well serviced and from Chinese to Italian cuisine, there are wide range of meals one can choose. The Pretzel Corner is a huge hit with mass. We specifically would love the Garlic and cinnamon sugar-coated Pretzels. We would hang out a whole lot of time there, sometimes window shopping even.
And if you do visit Lancaster with family and kids, don’t forget to go to Dutch wonderland, a place where kids will have a wonderful time and adults will relive their childhood again.


Now to my Pennsylvania Memories, these are my cherished pictures, I am going to share with you, hope you enjoy seeing it as much I enjoyed, while taking them.




Cattle grazing in a near by Amish Home .







A typical Amish Home with all its natural surrounding, look at the gorgeous windmill.




Such a beautiful landscape, greenery, natures Beauty at its peek.







This used to be the view from our apartment house which was luckily on first floor .

On a sweet note dear Uma at Teluguruchi has Passed me with this award of friendship, thanks a lot Uma .



Happy Cooking Friends .

12 comments:

  1. I somehow think I will and then don't add soya to fried rice or pulav! Next time I WILL!

    Loved the pics and the write up on 'Amish people'. Enjoyed reading it very much - more probably because I could see a 'jhalak' of Louis L'amour's books in the pics:)

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  2. Forgot! Congrats on the friendship award!

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  3. Sunshinemom
    Ya people have little reservations about eating Soya Chunks, but I guess this is a better option , try adding in any rice preparation , hopefully you will love it ..
    Thanks for liking pics and write up , for me it was difficult to put certain things in words honestly , I guess one should be there exactly to feel the beauty of Nature and warmth of people ..Hugs and smiles
    Jaya

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  4. Hey, your rice looks yummy. Loved the post of PA. We went there (Philly) some time back for vacation.

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  5. Congrats on the award.

    I LOVE Nutrela nuggets/Rozana nuggets and I make soya-rice too :)

    The landscape looks very scenic and pretty!

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  6. Soy chunks is something that I always have in my pantry. They r so versatile and highly nutritious. I totally dig your rice and thanks for sending them to AWED :)

    DK
    http://culinarybazaar.blogspot.com

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  7. Meera,
    its good to see you around, this turn out to be a great lunch for us .thanks for liking the pic

    A&N
    thanks for liking the pics, and its good to know that you also make soya rice , a better healthy way .
    D,
    thanks dear for coming here , I am glad you liked this rice preparation.
    hugs and smiles
    jaya

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  8. i am not gr8 fan of soya chunks but can eat tofu endless:) but ur recipe is sure tempting me enough to give it a try:)
    lovely pics of ur town jaya. congrats on the award and thank you for passing it to me:)

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  9. Sia,
    I too like Tofu a lot , and I do hope you start liking soya chunks after preparing rice this way ..
    I am glad you came here .
    Hugs and smiles
    jaya

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  10. I love the texture of soya chunks but never have been able to enjoy them fully as the spices don't seem to penetrate it however long I cook it.
    Thanks for the badge, Jaya! I'm just back from your city, and the post is going to be up soon.

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  11. Sra,
    I am eagerly waiting for that post .

    I think if you sqeeze that extra water out of soya chunks after its prepared , it becomes hard while frying or sauteing , and making it more difficult to get the flavor of spices , I just dont squeeze out the water, fry it at high while all the spices already added to the vegtables , soya chunks gets the flavor .This is my try and tasted observation.Hope it works out for you .
    any other suggestion regarding this by readers will be welcomed .
    hugs and smiles
    jaya

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  12. Hi jaya,

    just came here looking for recipes to cook easily. thanks for soya-rice. that i will try. more thanks for your description of amish county - i am someone who have to go around leaving india. i am fortunate enough to have been to lancaster. it is really a wonderful place. you feel like you have time-travelled to an older century. i went there during the thanksgiving weekend and had a wonderful turkey dinner in one of the local eateries. your posting took me back to that sweet memory. incidentally - now i am staying in the Dutch country - netherlands

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