Well, here we are.
It’s early 2025 and we have left over rice in the fridge. So what do we do?
We make achar rice, of course!
Now, before we get into this highly complex recipe, it’s antecedents, flavours (flavors, if American), and, yes, you guessed right, ingredients, we should talk about the year that went by.
2024
What a year this was, my countrymen and my non-countrymen – not to forget the women from both categories. And others. There were 3 (three) journeys of the airplane/boat/train/tram variety and two (2) of a literary adventure!. Imagine that! A busy year it was, indeed!
Let’s take a month-by month view of this year, shall we?
(As you are well aware by now, as a frequent visitor and reader of this website’s blog section, I don’t wait for your response, such questions as the one above, being purely rhetorical. For more information on this go here.)
January ⇑
January saw the culmination of a 6 year journey to produce a print edition of “A Couple of Choices“, the romantic comedy first unleashed as a Kindle version in December 2017. All attempts at a paperback edition had gone nowhere.
So, yay, I think!
February ⇔
Planning started on a trip long overdue. The German and Austrian Adventure had been planned for 2020, but the Great Plague had caused a pause.
Planning, is as you realise by now, a most wonderful time of the trip. The research! The videos! The blogs! The towns!
March ⇔
As winter sputtered and came to an balmy end, preparations for the trip began with the Booking of the Flights. Also, The Reserving of the Accommodations, and Holding of Rental Cars.
In short, the logistical infrastructure of the trip began to fall into place.
April ⇔
April was spent in The Counting of Required Underwear, the Acquisition of Socks, Boots and other ancillary items and a general air of last minute bookings, printing, and collection of all documents.
There was also the period of Looking After the Granddoggie.
May ⇑
Completed 10 (ten) sections of the Austro-German Expedition.
- Stage 0: Flight in
- Stage 1: Mittel Rhine Valley
- Stage 2: Moselle Valley
- Stage 3, 4 and 5: Black Forest – Northern Edge, Southern Edge and Middle of the Black Forest
- Stage 6, 7, 8, 9: Romantischestrasse – North end, Drive through, South end and the climb to Zugspitze.
June ⇑
This saw the end of the German campaign and the beginning of the Austrian Adventure.
- Stage 10: Munich, capital of Bavaria
- Stage 11: Zell Am See and Krimml Falls, and the drive to Grossgglockner, the highest peak in Austria.
- Stage 12: Salzburg
- Stage 13: Vienna
- Stage 14: Flight out
July ⇓
This was spent in recovery, sleep, and the counting of pennies and sizing up the Impoverishing of the Exchequer.
The passing of Borda, my oldest BIL was a low point. This caused The Catching of Last Minute Flights to India. A short, hectic trip of sadness and grief for the loss of someone who tried his all his life never to hurt anyone.
August ⇑
We got back from India in time to experience the arrival of Luca, the grandson. He arrived on schedule, just like his dad!
A lovely birthday present for Grampa!
The Irregular SloWord BirthMonth Festival had it’s highest number of participants, including more than the usual number of first timers, with unusual and intriguing tales.
September ⇔
Life went on.
October ⇑
Houseguests and a huge doggie to care for!
November ⇑
November marks the birthdays of the first born and the first born’s first born.
A double helping of good cheer.
And then a sudden change in appointments caused some clarifications in status! So then December became a possibility!
And at the same time, Uncommon Pie & Other Stories, my short story collection was released in ebook and paperback! My second book!
December ⇑
Due to November appointments being preponed, as they say, (I don’t, they do..) it became possible to make our third trip out. This time a week and a half long trip to Paris and Rheims to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the blogger and his Beloved B, with champagne, plenty of it!
It was cold! It was rainy! But that didn’t stop us from walking the streets so long, singing the same old song, sampling the boulangerie fare.
Then we had houseguests and the celebrations that accompany the houseguests at this time of the year, plus, Christmas and New Year!
All that resulted in – we’re here folks, finally! Yep.
Leftovers!
Lots of stuff in the fridges. After a careful inventory and risk assessment, we decided that the best way to use up the leftover rice was to make a family staple that originated with my Punjabi mother.
Yes, yes, that one, the one and only mother I had. We’ve been through this before!
It was a trick she invented, I think, as a means to deal with the situation known as “Two many kids and not enough time”. A short, easy, tasty and convenient way to use up stuff at hand.
And so, without further ado, or a big todo (yes, you didn’t need to read the monthly excerpts… but you did, you curious thing, you!), onwards to the recipe! (Yes, finally!)
Ingredients
- Precooked rice (leftovers in the fridge. If you don’t know how to make precooked rice, contact me, write in a comment, I will then provide with you with an anecdote and the recipe in no less than 2000 words of my choosing.)
- Onions
- Green chillies (optional)
- Achar (not optional – the Punjabi style mango pickle is the one most highly recommended)
- Potatoes, diced tinily (optional). This is a variation from the Bengali influences in the family. Thus, not authentic.
And that, you will scarcely believe it, is it! Rice, Onions and Achar! Three ingredients! And a touch of salt, if you’re a salty type.
Oh, a bit of oil, not too much, because the achar has oil in it already! Use
The Ancillary Items
- A pot, kadhai or something
- A khunti, a stirrer or something
- A stove, well yeah!
The Method
- Dice onions. Not too small, you want them visible and at the forefront. This answers your question about how many… It’s in the upper layer with the achar!
- Add a drop of oil in pan
- Turn on heat source and place pan on it. (You’d be surprised…)
- Add diced onions (and green chillies if so using…)
- Fry onions till they brown
- Add achar, including the oil, the masala and the mango pieces. How much? Take a look at the leftover rice. Eyeball quantity and estimate accordingly and to taste.
- Stir and mix.
- Add a touch of salt. Not too much, because the achar has plenty!
- Add rice and mix thoroughly. (Precooked rice!)
- Heat through
- Ladle onto plate and watch Youtube videos for your next travel plans.
Enjoy!
Sadly, I forgot to take pictures of the end product, before I ate it….