Cashew Nuts N Raisins Rice

Yes, you guessed it, I'm in my lazy mood. Again. This time of the year, I am at my most relaxed. School's almost out, Wey's done with his exams (and now we just wait for the dreaded report card. I don't know if it feels worse to get his report card or mine when I was in school. No I didn't do so bad, but my Dad never praised us so it was terrifying to give him our report cards. Whenever we go see Wey's teacher for his report card though, Hub always ends up encouraging, no, almost begging, him to do better next time. In my time, my brothers would've gotten a butt-splitting whacking if they came home with the report cards Wey gets. Me and sis got off easier; sis always starts her 'taps' and Dad never spanked us girls. I got off because I made sure I got better marks than her. Survivals skills came early; there were 5 of us), Ming starts his course today and Yi is coming home Wednesday at noon. Even the weather is pleasant. I love the rainy afternoons. By 2 or 3 pm it's cloudy and gloomy and most of all, it's cool. I can smell the impending rain, feel the strong breeze that makes me nostalgic for this time of the year when everything starts to slow down a little and the excitement of Christmas starts to build up. Then the rain comes, loud and pouring, and the whole place is washed clean and by night time, it is almost cold out. Cold is relative, I'm talking about 23, 24 degrees which is 'cold' in tropical Borneo, colder when there's a breeze.

So in my lazy mood I'm hardly cooking. Actually I have been baking, testing out green tea recipes that failed and failed--either not moist enough or soft enough. I am a tenacious being, and I still want to trudge on, but my tongue's turning green and wrinkled (green tea powder has a drying effect on the mouth) from eating those failed cakes so I think I'll take a short breather. Now that Ming's not home, I find myself hopelessly lazy to cook. If not for Wey, I think I can exist on instant noodles and durians, which are in season.

But I've got some lazy days back up recipes. This is what I 've dug out. It's not the tandoori chicken but the rice that I want to tell you about. I saw this done on the food channel long ago and tried it out, and we loved it. I didn't have basmati rice so I made do with fragrant long-grain rice which was just as good. So next time you do a curry, do jazz up your plain rice with cashew nuts and raisins instead.

Cashew Nuts & Raisins Rice
1 1/2 metric (or 2 rice cups) basmati or long grain rice, washed & drained
5 shallots, sliced
1 handful cashew nuts
1/2 handful raisins, washed & dried
3 T butter
1/2 t (or less, to your taste) cinnamon powder
a large pinch of cloves*
chopped cilantro

* I've also tried substituing this with cumin seeds with equally good results

1. Fry the shallots in oil until crispy, remove the shallots
2. Fry the cashew nuts in the shallot oil until golden, remove.
3. Fry the raisins until lightly browned.
4. Put 3 T butter into the pot you'll be cooking the rice in, or if you are using an electric rice cooker, do this in a frying pan. Add the cinnamon powder and cloves to the melted butter, stir well (low heat) until fragrant.
5. Add the rice and stir for 1 - 2 minutes, then add 2 cups water. Cover and cook.
5. Just before serving, stir in the fried cashew nuts and raisins and top with chopped cilantro.