Methi with moong dal diamonds

Recently I was so bored of eating same dishes, I was dying to try something new. So I was going though my cooking bibles "Ruchira Part1 & 2" and "Perfect Receipes". From these books, I suddenly had inspiration to cook something with methi and daal. So here is my dish called Methi with moong dal diamonds

For Moong daal diamonds

- Soak 1 small cup moong dal for 2-3 hrs.

- Roughly ground about 1tsp of saunf, ajwain, coriander seeds. You can dry roast this masala if you like. You can easily replace this masala with any other spices per your liking

- In same mixer pot, add soaked daal and roughly ground same with masala.

- Add salt (to taste), red chili powder, turmeric powder, sesame seeds, kasuri methi pinch of baking soda/eno to this mixture.Make sure that the batter remains thick.

- Steam cook this mixture for 10 minutes. I spread the batter on small thali and put it in pressure cooker (without whistle).Drizzle oil on the thali before pouring batter.

- After batter is cooked, cut into small diamond shapes and keep aside

For the Saag

- Wash and dry 1 bunch of methi leaves.Roughly chop the cleaned leaves.

- In a pan heat 4-5 TBSP of oil for tadka. Add chopped garlic (4-5 cloves), red/green chillies (2-3), jeera, mustard seeds,hing, turmeric in the heated oil.

- Add the moong dal diamonds in the tadka and fry till its golden.

- Add the chopped methi leaves next with pinch of salt. Mix saag well and cook for 2 min. You can add grated coconuts (2-3 TBSP) if you like.

- Cover the pan and cook saag for 2 more min and then take it off from heat.

- Saag is ready to be served.
 
Note: When I prepared this dish for second time, I did few variations and it also tasted good. Instead of using just moong daal, I used combination of Moong dal, masoor dal and chana dal. I added ginger paste to the batter and about tbsp of oil and baked it for 20-25 min in oven at 180 degree C. And in tadka I used Paanch phoran instead of jeera and mustard seeds.
 

Simple food for the soul

Thanks to Mejwani paripurna kitchen's call for interesting recipes on their Facebook page, I got motivation to finally update my blog with my cooking experiments. Now I'm on extended maternity leave which I'm fully utilizing for trying out different recipes which I had bookmarked long ago. I also have some paper clippings from Loksatta's Sunday supplement.Food critic and researcher Mohsina Mukadam and Dietitian Dr. Anuradha Sovani used to write articles related to different food culture.I think it was 6-7 years or may be even before that. Finally now I got time to try these recipes.

Before my leave I was very much keen on preparing recipes which don't use many ingredients and are not very time consuming for preparation/cooking. Following 3 recipes fall under this category. First 2 are traditional Oriya recipes. Third one is prepared at my in-laws house but I don't think its traditional recipe.

Saag with badi

1 bunch red saag (lal maath) or bathuva (chandan batava)
8-10 badis (these are made from urad dal. Similar to saandage)
2-3 cloves garlic chopped
1-2 green chillies
1 tsp paanch foran (equal mix of cumin, mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, kalongi and saunf)
3 tsp oil
salt to taste

Thoroughly wash the leafy vegetables and drain water completely. Chop finely.
Heat oil in pan. Fry badis till golden brown and keep aside. In remaining oil prepare tadka with paanch foran, green chili and garlic.

Add chopped saag and crushed baadi. Cover and cook for 7-8 min. Add salt and again cook for a min or so.
You can eat this with roti or rice.

Jahni poshto

1 Jahni/Dodaka/Ridge guard cut into small cubes
2 medium size potatoes cut into small cubes

1 medium size onion finely chopped
3-4 green chillies
1 tsp paanch foran
3-4 green chillies
4-5 tsp poshto/khaskhas
3-4 tsp oil
salt to taste

Cut ridge guard and potatoes in small cubes. Finely chop onions. Vertically slit 2 chillies. Now heat oil in pan. Once heated add paanch foran, chillies, onions. Fry till
onion is slightly brown.Next add ridge guard and potatoes. Add water and cover to cook. Grind khaskhas to fine powder. Then add green chillies and grind along with khaskhas powder. Once potatoes are almost cooked, add this khaskhas - green chillies powder. Cover the pan again and cook till this masala is cooked well.

This is a great side dish with daal-chawal

Dal tadka with scrambled egg

This is a great dish to eat with phulaka specially on Sunday night as its very easy to cook. Also the ingredients used are very simple. Use of scrambled egg is purely
optional. This tadka tastes equally good without egg.

1 cup black urad (soak for 5-6 hrs)
1 medium onion chopped
3-4 green chillies
1" ginger finely diced
2 eggs (optional)
salt to taste
1/2 tbsp turmeric powder.
1 tsp oil

Pressure cook pre-soaked urad. You may need 4-5 whistles to properly cook dal. You may add salt and turmeric powder while cooking dal or you can add later.
Now in a pan heat oil.Fry ginger till it gives out nice aroma.Next add green chillies and onion. Cook onion till its slightly brown.If turmeric powder was not added
earlier, add now. In this tadka add boiled taal. Let it simmer till it reaches required consistency. Add salt if not added earlier.Cover the pan and switch off gas.
Prepare scrambled egg with just salt as seasoning. While serving dal, place some scrambled eggs on top.

Durgapuja Spl: Dhokar Dalna

Last year around this time we were in Rourkela for Durgapuja. I had seen Bengal Club's Durga puja on Shivaji park every year so I had some idea about the idols and stalls and pandal's. Rourkela's durga puja was more wholesome experience because for those 4 days we were thinking about only durga puja. Morning time go for pushpanjali and prasad and evening time visit various pandal's and visit the various food stalls. Every pandal was mini jatra. It was such fun.
This year we couldn't go to Rourkela. So it doesn't feel like Durga puja time here in Bangalore.So today we thought of eating Bengali food to celebrate puja.For lunch first we planned to go to "6 Baligunj" in Indiaranagar. This is the best restaurant for Bengali food in Bangalore. Food there has such refined taste which totally negates seemingly high price.
Anyways,about our lunch today; we didn't eat Bengali food, but had homely delicious Oriya style food at Dalma in Kormangala. So though the food was satisfying, I was craving for bengali food, particularly Dhokar dalna.
First time I had eaten Dhokar dalna at 6 Baligunj and I loved it.Whenever we go there most of the time I end up ordering this dish.For long time I was planning to prepare dhokar dalna at home.Today I finally found time and mood to cook dhokar dalna.
Following receipe is from my mother-in-law in which I've done some modifications.

Ingredients:

For Dhokar
1 cup channa dal soaked for 2-3 hrs
2-3 green chillies or 1/2 tsp red chili powder
1 tsp kalonji
1 1/2 tsp coriander powder+ aniseed/saunf powder
2/3 tsp baking soda
salt to taste

For gravy
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp cumin seeds
4 green chillies
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 small tomato
3 tsp tomato sauce
2 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 tsp coriander powder+ aniseed/saunf powder
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
3 medium potatoes chopped
salt to taste

Recipe:

1. To prepare dhokar (diamond shapes), grind all ingredients together with very little water. Don't prepare very smooth paste rather keep it rough.
2. Oil plate and spread the mixture evenly. Steam this mixture for 10-12 min in cooker (without whistle). After mixture is cooked, cool it down for 7-8 min and later cut it into diamond shapes.
3. Fry these diamond shapes till golden brown and keep it aside.
4. Fry potato cubes and keep aside.
5. To prepare gravy, start with heating oil in wok. Add sugar to oil and let it brown a bit.
6. Add cumin seeds to oil and let it splutter. Later fry onions and ginger-garlic paste till golden brown over medium heat. In the end add chopped tomatoes and all spices. Fry till the masala is cooked.
7. Add tomato sauce to gravey and cook for about 1/2 min.
8. Add potatoes and chana dal diamonds in the masala. Pour some water and cook on low heat (with closed lid) till potatoes are cooked. Add salt in end.
9. This dish has thick gravy but you can adjust consistency as per your desire.

2 Potatoes 4 Subzies : Final installment

In the final installment we'll see Indian version of mashed potatoes. You can do it in 2-3 ways like

- Mashed potatoes with Tadka
- Mashed potatoes without Tadka
- For everyday eating
- For fasting

For mashed potatoes, its very important that potatoes are cooked till core. This will ensure smooth texture of the dish. Easy way to achieve it is cut potatoes in half (or quartered) and then cook in pressure cooker (5-6 whistles).
Once potatoes are cooled enough peel them off. Mash completely by hand/sppon. If you want zero lumps then you can use "puran yantra" to mash potatoes.

Mashed potatoes with tadka (for everyday eating):

Prepare tadka with oil, hing,green chilli,cumin seeds. Saute finely chopped onion and tomato (if desire).
When onion becomes translucent, add mashed potatoes,salt and mix together.
Cook it for 2-3 min so that it has light brown colour.

Mashed potatoes with tadka (for Fasting): Follow above mentioned receipe with few changes like replace oil with ghee. Remove hing,onion and tomato from ingredients. You can add grounded peanuts instead.

Mashed potatoes without tadka (for everyday eating): In mashed potatoes add finely chopped onion,2-3 green chillies, corriander leaves and salt to taste. Add juice of 1/2 lemon and in the end its optional to add sarson ka oil (or any othetr oil which you like or entirely skip this option).

Mashed potatoes without tadka (for Fasting):In mashed potatoes add grounded peannuts, red chilli powder and salt to taste. Add curd if it feels very dry.

You can try various ingredients to vary taste. One such receipe is available at Noopur's blog "One hot stove"

2 Potatoes 4 Subzies : Part 3

This is another simple but li'l bit hot receipe of potato bhaji.
Again you need very few ingredients

2 medium size potatoes
Salt to taste
3 chillies
1 tbs ginger pieces
6-7 curry leaves

For tempering
2 tbls oil
1 pinch hing
1 tsp turmeric powder

1. Boil potatoes till tender (3-4 whistles of the cooker). Cut into small cubes once cooked and cooled li'l bit.
2. In a mortar roughly grind chillies and ginger pieces with salt. This ensures all the heat is released from chillies and ginger. If you want less hot option then cut chillies and ginger in small pieces and keep aside.
3. Prepare tadka by heating oil in pan. Add hing, turmeric powder, curry leaves along with ginger-chilli paste. Fry for some time (Beware!!!! you might sneeze a lot at this step).
4. Add potato cubes and mix properly. Cover for couple of minutes and serve hot.

2 Potatoes 4 Subzies - Part 2

Continuing from my previous post, this is 2nd installment called "Upavasachya Batatyachya Kacharya" (Quick potato subzi for fasting).

You need

2 medium/large potatoes
Salt to taste

Tempering

2 tbls Ghee/Clarified butter
2 Green Chillies
1 tsp cumin seeds

1.Boil the potatoes till they are tender (should not be completely mashed). Cut vertically similar to part 1 subzi. If the potatoes are cooked too much then you won't have french fries shape by the time subzi is cooked.
2.In a pan add ghee. Add cumin seeds, chilli when ghee is heated.
3.Add salt mix it in ghee.In the end add potatoes and mix well. Cover for 1 min and then switch off gas burner.

You can start eating now.

2 Potatoes 4 Subzis: Part 1

Imagine you are back from office after long and hectic day to find no vegetables in fridge. Only your true friends onion and potato are still with you. With no energy to go out again & buy veg and definitely not in mood to cook some elaborate recipes, you can try one of four variations of potato subzi. All these recipes are very tasty and too easy to make. The main theme is obviously potato and you do variations in tempering and the fat used for tempering.

Part 1 : Batatyachya Kacharya (a.k.a. Stir-fried potatoes)


You need

2 medium size potatoes (washed and dried)
1 small onion
Salt to taste

For tempering
3-4 tbls oil
1 tsp mustard seeds (or you can use 1/2 mustard+ 1/2 cumin seeds)
2 green chillies
1 tbls turmeric powder
pinch of hing (if you like)
5-6 leaves of Curry leaves

1.Peel the potatoes (or you can keep skin on) and chop it into equal size vertical pieces. Size does matter here as it will ensure that all pieces are cooked equally at almost same time. Don't make too big pieces as it will increase cooking time and with too thin pieces subzi may burn fast.Try to do french fries size.
2.Chop onions also vertically.
3.Now prepare tadka by heating oil in pan. Once heated add remaining items from tempering.
4.Add onions first, fry for couple of seconds and then add potatoes fry for a min or so.
5.Now cover pan and turn down heat (lowest mark on your gas stove). After 6-8 mins check if potatoes are cooked, stir them for some time and cover again if not cooked yet.
6. You don't have to add water at all as the water from onion is enough to cook potatoes. 2 imp points to note here: don't turn up heat as it will burn potatoes from outside but they will not be cooked properly from inside.Don't put potato wedges in water as they'll stick to pan and it will be difficult to clean the pan. Chop them and immediately add to pan.

Today's special: Aloo Badi in Mustard gravy

After marrying into Oriya family, I ate food cooked in mustard oil or mustard gravy. Initially I was very hesitant about taste, smell everything. But now I'm not only used to it, but I've started preparing Corissa special food and I like it.
Today first time I tried Aloo Badi Jhol.
Badi is my favourite ingredient. Its nothing but dried balls of grounded daal(I think Urad dal) which is fried as & when required.Badi can be used in different subzi's. It adds a nice crunchiness.
There is one more ingredient used in Oriya/Bengali kitchen, i.e. Paanch phutan. Its simple mix of few spices like fenugreek seeds, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, kalonji and saunf. This adds taste to vegetables specially dry vegetables.
So now lets start with receipe. We'll need following ingredients

3-4 potatos,slieced vertically (or any shape you like).
1 small onion chopped
handful of badis. If badi is not available you can use "Saandge" or just add some more vegetables.
1 tbl sp paanch fotan
2 chillies
1-2 tbl sp oil
For Gravy
5-6 tbl sp mustard seeds
3-4 chillies
3-4 garlic cloves

Start with gravey preparation. First dry grind mustard seeds. Then add garlic & chillies and fine grind it adding little water.
Fry badi in oil and keep aside.
Heat some oil in kadai and add panch fotan, chopped onion and cillies. Fry onion till it turns slightly brown.Now add potatos,badi and fry for some more time. Now add some water and let the poptatoes cook. When potatoes are almost cooked add mustard paste, salt and some more water. Cook for some more time.
This will be thin type gravey (hence called Jhol).

This goes good with rice. Try it.