Garlic is an excellent herb for creating and maintaining overall health. It is a powerful natural antibiotic. This natural antibiotic is effective against toxic bacteria, viruses, and fungus. Garlic is claimed to help prevent heart disease (including atherosclerosis, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure) and cancer. So I always try to add garlic wherever possible in my cooking. Here comes the recipe for garlic rice.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup – Boiled rice / Raw rice
• 6 nos – Garlic (medium sized)
• 1 tbsp – Split black gram / Ulunthu
• 1 tbsp – Bengal gram / Kadalai paruppu
• 2 nos – Dry red chillies
• 3 tbsp – Coconut grated
• Salt as needed

Seasonings:

• 1 tbsp – Oil
• 1/4 tsp – Mustard seeds
• 4 nos - Curry leaves
• 1 pinch – Asafoetida

Preparation method:

1. Wash and pressure cook rice (2 1/2 cups water for boiled rice and 2 cups water for raw rice) until well cooked and allow them to cool, set aside.
2. Heat little oil in a pan, add bengal gram, split black gram, garlic, red chillies finally coconut , saute until coconut is slightly golden brown in color. Allow them to cool and grind them to a coarse powder.
3. In the same pan, add little more oil and season with items given in the list for seasoning. Then add ground coconut mixture along with required salt and saute for few seconds. Finally add cooked rice and mix everything well together. Check for salt and if required, add additional salt at this stage. Spicy garlic rice is ready to serve.

Notes:

• If you are using boiled rice, then use 2 1/2 cup of water for 1 cup of rice. If you use raw rice then add 2 cups of water for 1 cup of rice.