Peanut Rice | Easy Kids lunchbox Recipe

If you had asked Lil Angel what she wanted for her lunch box, the most likely answers would have been Cheese Chapathi or Tamarind rice. She was never fed up with these two dishes and took them happily to school. It was in fact I who was so bored of making the same things over and over again!

But luckily, over the past few months her lunch box choices have changed and now she is happy to experiment with new stuffs for her lunch box. And that makes life better for me too.

So I have been packing a whole different range of dishes for the lunch box and almost everyday I am happy to see an empty box at the end of the day. Today though, she wanted her same old tamarind rice and it was indeed a long time since I packed it for her, so I readily agreed to make it.

So, coming back to today’s post for Blogging Marathon #46, week 21, Day 3 under Nuts and Legumes in the lunch box,this peanut rice was so something that she liked when I packed it for her lunch box a few days backs.

This is a quick to make dish as the spice mix can be prepared the previous night and stored in the fridge. The next morning, just cook rice and put the dish together!

I used:

Adapted from Sharmis Passions

Cooked rice- 2 cups
Coconut-1/8 cup
Sesame seeds- 1/8 cup
Peanuts- 1/4 cup
Urad dal- 3 tablespoons
Red chili -1
Roasted peanuts- a few
Mustard seeds- 1/2 teaspoon
Kalonji-1/4 teaspoon
Cumin seeds- 1/4 teaspoon
Urad dal and chana dal- 1/2 teaspoon
Curry leaves- a few
Sambar powder- 1/2 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Oil-1 tablespoon

Dry roast the coconut and sesame seeds till the color changes a bit. Keep aside.In the same pan roast the urad dal, peanuts, red chili till the urad dal turns light brown.Combine all the roasted ingredients and let it cool.

Grind all the cooled ingredients. I gave it a go in the mixie and it became a bit lumpy but it did not matter when I made the dish. You can run the blender in short bursts to get a fine powder instead of a paste.

Heat oil in a pan and add the mustars, kalonji, cumin, urad dal adn chana dal, currt leaves. When the mustard splutters and the dal turns brown, add the peanuts and mix . Add the cooked rice, the peanut powder[adjust to taste], sambar powder and salt.

Mix well to combine and cook on low heat for a few minutes for the flavors to blend.Remove from heat and pack for the lunch box.

Note:

• The remaining peanut spice mix can be stored in the fridge.
• It can also be used to perk up vegetable curries, especially potato stir fry.

I am also sending this to Srivalli’s Kids Delight event themed – Nuts and Legumes in the Lunch box.

Bon Appetit…