I recently rediscovered gooseberries, after two decades. Gooseberries are not well known in my country, they are growing naturally in mountain regions, on hillsides or woods.
I spent most of my childhood in a beautiful mountain area in the West part of Romania. There, gooseberries, raspberries or blueberries were found easily, growing wild across the region. At the age of ten, we moved from there and ever since then, I never saw or eaten gooseberries again in Romania, I almost forgot about them.
European gooseberries are far sweeter and more flavored than Indian gooseberries. Indian gooseberries, also called aamla/nellikai are very sour and astringent in taste, rich in vitamin C and according to Ayurveda they have many health benefits. Here in India, they are used mostly for making pickles or chutneys.
I wanted my daughter to have this magic fruit but impossible to make her eat it raw, cause is way too sour. I was thinking how to disguise it somehow in other dish and make her have it. And then it came in my mind the lemon rice, that she likes it. I thought the taste wouldn’t differ too much if I am using gooseberries instead of lemon, so I searched on Internet for ideas and surprisingly gooseberry rice really exist in Indian cuisine.
Seriously rice is never boring in India. There are so many ways to cook rice, I would of never imagined: fried rice, lemon rice, tomato rice, yogurt rice, tamarind rice, jeera rice (rice with cumin seeds), coconut rice, rice with lentils, garlic rice, pineapple fried rice, mango rice, biryani (rice cooked with meat or vegetables and spices), and the list can go on and on.
So here it is gooseberry rice recipe (amla rice) that turned out pretty delicious and my daughter loved it.
Step by step Gooseberry Rice recipe
Start by cooking the rice. In a deep pan, bring enough water to boil. The water level should be to 1/2-inch above the rice. Add rice and let it simmer covered, on low-medium flame, until the rice gets cooked. Turn off the flame and let the rice rest for five minutes. Once done, drain off the excess water, take a fork and fluff the rice so you will have nice separate grains. Keep the cooked rice aside.
Heat oil into a pan. Add mustard seeds and let it fry until they start to sizzle. Add urad dal, red chillies, curry leaves, dried fruits and a pinch of asafetida. Fry until urad dal starts to change color.
Note: Fresh curry leaves are not easily available in Western markets, you can find them at your local Indian market or you can buy online on amazon
Now add grated gooseberries, turmeric powder and salt. Mix all together and stir fry for 5 minutes, on medium flame.
Bring cooked rice into the pan, stir fry for 3 minutes and the gooseberry rice is ready to serve!
- 3 gooseberries (amla) grated;
- 3 cups basmati rice (long grain rice);
- 1 tsp mustard seeds;
- 1 tsp urad dal (black lentil/black gram);
- 2 red dried chillies (optional);
- 2 sprigs fresh curry leaves;
- pinch of asafetida (hing);
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder;
- salt to taste;
- few cashew nuts, raisins or peanuts (optional);
- oil.
- Start by cooking the rice. In a deep pan, bring enough water to boil. The water level should be to 1/2-inch above the rice. Add rice and let it simmer covered, on low-medium flame, until the rice gets cooked. Turn off the flame and let the rice rest for five minutes. Once done, drain off the excess water, take a fork and fluff the rice so you will have nice separate grains. Keep the cooked rice aside.
- Heat oil into a pan. Add mustard seeds and let it fry until they start to sizzle.
- Add urad dal, red chillies, curry leaves, dried fruits and a pinch of asafetida. Fry until urad dal starts to change color.
- Now add grated gooseberries, turmeric powder and salt. Mix all together and stir fry for 5 minutes, on medium flame.
- Bring cooked rice into the pan, stir fry for 3 minutes and the gooseberry rice is ready to serve!
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