And just when I thought Coimbatore is not yet there. I was surprised to visit this quaint french restaurant.

The place has its own elegance and is done up very tastefully. The food talks about the chef’s taste and education. We could not stop appreciating the food and ambience.

We started our evening with chicken Roulade. The presentation was elegant and the taste was full of awesomeness.

The Tomato and Basil Bruschetta was perfect with fresh basil aroma around our table.

The main course was the lamb bolognese. The spaghetti was cooked to perfection and not mashed up. The ragu was perfect and not overloaded by tomatoes. This is how I like my bolognese.

The Broccoli and chicken au gratin was yummy and cheesy. One of the perfect au gratin I have had in ages.

French Riviera was the mocktail made with tender coconut and lychee. What I like about the drink was it was not overloaded with sugar.

I loved the place and surely going there again. For people in Bangalore keep watching they are opening soon in your city!

Exotic Kala Jeera Biryani cooked in my kitchen.

Kalaa Jeera, the Prince of Rice, is an ancient, long-grain white rice on a miniature scale – like baby Basmati. It cooks in only ten minutes, producing a delicate aroma, taste, and texture. Grown in Bangladesh, Kala Jeera (also spelled Kalijira) is usually reserved for special holidays and religious festivals. Today, you can enjoy this exotic rice every day or as an alternative to Basmati, especially in making pilaf. We regard it as one of the best tiny, aromatic rices in the world.

Recipe for this aromatic Biryani.

Ingredients:

1) 1cup Kala jeera rice washed (only once) and soaked in 3 cups of water.

2) mixed vegetables diced ( carrot, capsicum and peas)

3) 1tbsp ghee

4) 1tsp ginger garlic paste

5) paste or powder of 5- 6 cashew nuts or almonds

6) 1 or 2 green chillies chopped

7) 1/4 TSP garam masala

8) salt to taste

9) juice of 1/2 lemon

10) mint and corriander leaves to garnish.

Method:

1) cook the rice in the same water as soaked will a pinch of salt.

2) Take a pan, add the ghee and sautee the ginger garlic paste for a few seconds, add the vegetables, green chillies and sautee for a few minutes.

3) Add salt and garam and sautee for a few seconds. Add cashew or almond paste or powder, add water of required and sautee for a 1-2minutes till you get the perfect aroma.

4) when you are about to mix the cooked rice into the vegetable mix, add the lemon juice, corriander and mint leaves. Add the rice, mix the rice and vegetables together gently. Put the lid of the pan tight and cook on sim for a few minutes. Alternatively you can also cook on dum.

The most flavourful rice I have had in recent times.

To know where to buy the rice place check http://www.spiritoftheearth.in. spirit of earth is a NGO and works with the farmers directly.

Special mention to my husband Harsha Raj Subrahmanian who uses his best photography skills to make my dish look the best! Thank you Harsha!

“Forbidden” not any more. I only use to look at this dish and think when I am going to cook it.

Thanks to Mr. NSK for introducing me to this forbidden ingredient. I loved it when I had it at Prems Graama Bhojanam.

Thank you to Sumita for looking at my blog and suggesting that I could buy this rice from Spirit of Earth.

I bought three varieties of rice and used two of them. Will share the black rice pudding recipe here:

Ingredients:

1) I cup black rice, soaked overnight

2) 3 cups of water, including the water that was used to soak the rice.

3) 3 cups coconut milk

4) plan sugar/ Jaggery/ white sugar as per taste.

5) fresh mango and almond slivers (optional) to garnish.

Method:

1) Cook the black rice in cooker for 8-10 Whistles.

2) when the pressure is released open the cooker and check if the rice is cooked well.

3) If cooked well, mash it a little and add sugar/ Jaggery/ palm sugar and keep on low flame and keep stirring.

4) Add 2 cups of coconut milk and keep stirring till the rice and coconut milk blend well.

5) Remove from fire, leave to cool. Garnish with mango ( since I did not have mango I used gauva) pour some more coconut milk while serving.

This dish can be a breakfast or a dessert.

Prems Graama Bhojanam. If you are looking to eat some super food that is Millet based, this is the only place in Chennai that serves it with authenticity and warmth.

I have visited this place couple of times and would want to do it more often, but the Chennai traffic does not permit me to do so. For people who do not mind takeaway, you could order through swiggy or any other such service providers.

My this visit to prems Graama Bhojanam was special as along with the mini tiffin that consisted of Millet dosa, paniyaram and palak infused idly, I also got to taste that millet biryani that was outstanding (mind you cooking millet is a trick, since it sticks or gets mushy very soon) this was cooked to perfection with flavour and texture.

The stuffed paneer Ragi dosa was excellent in taste and texture.

The best part of my entire dinner was the tasting of black rice and beans salsa with grilled vegetables. This sure was a show stopper. Black rice has antioxidants and is very good for health. The beans had a very western flavour and the grilled veggies complimented it very well. Looking forward for this dish to be added to the menu soon.

A must visit place for good healthy food. In terms of decor and ambience a very humble place with not much hype, the food does all the talking.