I have no idea where to start this post. The mind is still in a frozen state, not sure whether to be happy about our apartment or just go on worrying about it. The thing is, we received the raw end of the deal – a deal which should have been exciting and fantastic for us.

I think its time to actually leave all the thoughts – positive, negative and neutral, behind and just move on with the flow. The flow of life, that takes decisions for us, when we are unable to do so. That makes life easy for us. That brings back the smile to our face, even when things look really forlorn.

That teaches us to be grateful for what we have, and not to forget about those people, whose struggle in life is a hundred times harder than ours.

Yes, I am grateful. For everything about my life.

Time for Blogging Marathon again and this time I have chosen the theme – Cook by Alphabets. Instead of choosing an easy series from ‘A to G’, I have chosen to start with a dish with ‘Q’ and end with ‘W’, the sole reason behind this weird choice is that I had a recipe draft which started with ‘W’!

I came across this Qabooli Pulao in a recipe book by Sanjeev Kapoor. I saw this at a friend’s place and just noted the measurements and the method.

Ingredients:

• Rice                                  :   1 1/2 cups
• Bengal gram                  :   1/2 cup
• Salt
• Green Cardamoms     :   4-5
• Cinnamon sticks         :  two 1″pieces
• cloves                              :  4-5
• Turmeric Powder      : 1/2 tsp
• Oil                                     : 1 tbsp
• Ginger garlic paste    : 1/2 tbsp
• Green chilies                : 2-3, chopped
• Onions                            : 4 -5
• Coriander                      : 1 tbsp, chopped
• Yogurt                            : 1 cup
• Mint                                 : about 10 leaves
• Lemon Juice                 : 2 tbsp

Method:

1. Soak rice for half an hour. Boil in 3 cups of water with salt and 2 green cardamoms, cinnamon sticks, and cloves, until done. Drain and keep aside.
2. Soak Bengal gram for half an hour and cook in one cup of water with salt and 1/4 tsp turmeric powder. The dal shouldn’t be over cooked.
3. Slice the onions. Heat oil in a pan, add the onions and saute till brown. Remove half the amount and then add the cardamoms, cloves, cinnamon, green chilies and ginger garlic paste. Saute for 2-3 minutes.
4. Add the cooked dal, turmeric powder, coriander leaves and mix thoroughly. Remove from heat, add yogurt and mix.
5. To assemble: Layer the serving dish with half of the dal mix. Layer half of the rice on top of it and top it with sauteed onions, mint, saffron and lemon juice.
6. Top this again with the dal mix, followed by another layer of rice, onions and other toppings. As you can see, I started with the rice layer and so ended up with a dal layer!
7. Cover and cook for 20 minutes and serve hot.

Linked to

• Blogging Marathon #15, Cooking by Alphabets – Starting with ‘Q’
• My Legume Love Affair #46