Kovakkai Mixed Rice (Ivy Gourd/Tindora rice)

This is one of the recipes my MIL tried last month. When I asked her how she came up with the combination, she said that she was bored with the regular tindora fry and wanted to try something else. I took a big lunch box that day and even saved some for the night. :)

It was lite with a nice coconut and onion flavor. You can probably substitute kovakkai with any other firm green vegetable and it would still taste good.

Here is how she made it:

Ingredients

2cups Rice (boil and keep aside),
1 medium onion - chopped
1 small cup kovakkai(abt 150 grms) - chopped
2 tbspoons grated coconut
1/2 tspoon turmeric powder
3/4 tspoon chilli powder
1 tbspoon limejuice
2 tspoons oil
6-8 curry leaves
Salt to taste

For tadka (tempering)
1 tspoon mustard seeds,
1 tspoon urad dal,

Method
Heat Oil in a wok and temper it with mustard seeds, and urad dal. Then add turmeric powder, chopped onion and kovakkai and saute for 6-7 minutes till the onion is translucent. Then, if needed add some drops of water and let the kovakkai cook through.

Then add chilli powder, salt, curry leaves and lime juice. Mix in the rice till rice is fluffy and mixed well with the spices.

Serve warm. This taste delicious with a light raita and side of chips.

Restaurant Review: NeeHee's

I am not a big restaurant critic, in fact I try to stay away from it most of the time. But I couldn't stay away from recommending this one. We found out about NeeHee's accidentally when a friend mentioned that she's seen a new Indian restaurant in Canton, Michigan - about 20 min drive from Ann Arbor. "It's a chaat place," she said and that got my attention.

I've not found many good chaat places in the US so far, so I was curious to try this one. I was surprised to see that not only do they offer an extensive chat menu - bhelpuri, chole bhature, dahi puri etc, they also had dosas, and indo-chinese. Most of the time it's a recipe for disaster! Not this one.

To describe the place, it's in a strip mall, next to an Indian store. The decor is quite bare, the utensils are all plastic, so if you were there for the first time, like we were, you would wonder if you had made the right decision to go there. I would say, eat fearlessly :) Not only they have different cuisines on their menu, they do it well too.

We've been there several items and sampled chaat, dosas, uttampams, and even some Indo-chinese. Everything we've eaten so far has been good. I would even say that it's probably one of the best Indian places for me overall.

Here are some of the items that we tried the time I took the camera.

Chole Bhature

The bature were soft and fluffy, reminded me of homemade ones, not the greasy street kind I've eaten before. The chole just the right kind of spicy and tangy. And for $5.99 it's a steal.

Pani Puri and Sugarcane juice

The sugarcane juice is delicious, sweet, with hint of lemon and pudina. It went perfectly with all the spicy, street food that we ordered.
Panipuri, what can I say! I was eating it after so long, eaten a regular one would have sufficed. But this one was better than that. This was delicious. Filled with potato mixed with black chana and hint of sweet chutney, the puris were gone in no time. $3.99

Mysore Masala Dosa

Smeared with "gun powder" on the inside, the dosa had quite the kick to it! Go for it if you can handle the spice level. If not, I would highly recommend the rava masala which got rave reviews from Aswin and my MIL. $6.99

Dahi Puri

This was a find. I can eat this entire plate and then some. It had the perfect balance of spice and sweetness mixed it with yogurt and sprinkled with some sev on top. My MIL recommends this immensely. She says that this is better than the ones she's had in India. $3.99

Overall, it's great addition to the Indian cuisine scene. It's affordable, delicious and quick.

Location:
45490 Ford Road
Canton MI-48187
PH-734-737-9777