Carrot Rice

I'm sure this does have an Indian name.  The high school cookbook just calls it "Carrot Rice", so that's what I googled for comparative recipes.  Of all the recipes I've double-checked out of that book, this is the one that has changed the least.  Rice cooked separately from the spices and carrot, then everything folded together.  It's an Indian version of Chinese fried rice.

Because most of the onion base from this and the dhal overlapped, I cooked it in one pan, then split off the dhal's half into a smaller skillet and added the carrots to the larger one.  Two blog recipes going at once is still a bit much to coordinate, but these took the same amount of time with similar ingredients.  I've done worse.

The recipes I found generally call for basmati rice.  I used the Jasmine I had at home.  You can get away with regular long-grain if no one can tell the difference.  The real key is to rinse the rice first to get rid of the milling starch.  After that, you're home free.

3/4 C basmati rice
1 Tb butter or ghee
1 Tb oil
1/2 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2" ginger, grated
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp black mustard seed
2 carrots, grated
salt to taste

1.  Rinse rice well and place in a medium saucepan with 1 C water.  Bring to a low boil, cover, and reduce heat to a simmer.  Cook until water is absorbed, about 15 minutes.  Fluff with a fork.

2.  While rice is cooking, grind garlic, ginger, and mustard seed into a paste.  Cook in a skillet over medium in the butter and oil with onion, cumin, and salt until onion softens.  Add carrot and simmer until cooked.

3.  Combine carrot mix and rice.  Serve immediately.

Difficulty rating  :)