Mint Pesto AKA Mint Pulao

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Just like in engineering, I love certain concepts in food, Pairing a nut and a leaf (Basil and Pine Nut) to make an awesome sauce for pasta is one of them. Granted the awesome part may owe as much to the generous amounts of olive oil and paramesan cheese as the fresh basil leaves and nut; But, for those who have not savoured the real thing and those who live here in Chennai were Basil, Pine Nuts, Olive Oil and Parmesan are either hard to come by or atrociously priced, Pesto could be curtailed to just the leaf and nut. My version today was a pesto with a cup of tightly packed mint leaves and a quarter cup of sunflower seeds. I cooked rice and sweet potatoes separately; Made the indispensible tadka out of jeera, mustard, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaf and onions in heated clarified butter; Mixed together the tadka, cubed cooked sweetpotato, 2 cups cooked rice, pesto in a huge mixing bowl. Ta Da! Mint Pulao Pesto Style.
BTW I used sunflower seeds because I have had some in my refrigerator for a while now; Next time I might try melon seeds and mint.

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