I got up early morning in search of vicks bottle. Arrgh ... Stuffy nose, hurting throat and severe headache. All this at same time meant I was unwell with flu virus. Yes its mid September and with temperatures fluctuating the weather is humid some days, hinting that winters will be here soon. Humidity as well as sandstorms in Kuwait, both point to seasonal changes but sadly this all is associated with flu/ viral illness as it carries dusty water droplets that contains all sort of viruses ...
The throbbing pain did not allow me to sleep after that. I pulled myself up from the bed in order to try some home remedies and get some symptomatic relief. It is always better to try out home remedies in the initial days of illness especially in such flu cases and wait for the nature to take its course before taking any medicines or antibiotics. Steam inhalation gave me some instant relief for my nose block . Next was to try something that would soothe the throat pain. Some of the options were drinking ginger tea, turmeric milk. Saaru/ Rasams also turn out to be great home remedy. Daali saaru was what came to my mind since preparing it was easy as well as quick. I usually have excess boiled dal stored in the fridge and in emergency situations when I have to cook in shortest time possible [situation like today] this dal came to my rescue. With a plan to cook simple menu for lunch as well as dinner, I entered my kitchen and prepared some rice and this saaru. I enjoyed drinking it like warm soup that helped relieve the discomfort caused by pain while swallowing.
The below recipe has been adapted from the book "Rasachandrika"
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I have not prepared much from Andhra cuisine and my thinking has been limited to this "Traditional Andhra cuisine means spicy, hot dishes with a tangy taste". During my Bangalore visit, when I asked my Telugu friend for an authentic Andhra cookbook she referred to me this book with vegetarian recipes from a traditional Andhra Kitchen titled "Cooking at home with Pedatha". She was going on and on about the wonderful recipes in there and how it helped her to overcome her kitchen fear as a novice cook. And so here is my copy. Thanks "L" for suggesting this book to me.
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Cholar Dal is a delicious daal preparation with chana dal [Bengal gram]. This slightly sweet, delicately spiced dal is very popular nutritious dish from Bengali Cuisine. It is easy to prepare and made by adding ghee, coconut and mixture of spices. The consistency is thick and bit different from other dals. Kaushi Bhatia, the author of "Favourite dishes of India", mentions the dal to be appetising both in appearance and taste if it is not very watery and if the whole grains of dal are visible. I adapted the recipe from the above mentioned book and have been doing this regularly now as we liked the unique taste of coconut slices in the dal besides the mixture of spices that impart extraordinary flavors to this dal.
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Dhokla is a popular Indian snack from the state of Gujarat and traditionally made with base of fermented rice and chana dal mixture. These days you will find many variations been done, like khatta dhokla, cheese dhokla, rasia dhokla, sandwich dhokla. They are made from different dals, suji or semolina and the instant ones are made from chickpea flour/besan. I thought to give a try to its recipe from here which I had bookmarked few days back. While going through the recipe I got confused - the recipe had no rice in it and had no fermentation mentioned in its steps so,,, will I be preparing a Dhokla or Khaman dhokla ? You too confused ??? Whatever it is... I would call them steamed savory CAKE. This was an easy recipe resulting in spongy delicious savory cake [steamed them in cake pan and so the name :P] infused with sugar lemon juice solution and they made a great evening snack with tea.
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Lauki / Dudhi or Duddhe [in Konkani] is a healthy vegetable. Today's recipe includes this vegetable cooked in combination with chana dal. You may use any other dal if you don't have chana dal stock.
Recipe inspired by Archana Shenoy.
Ingredients
1 cup diced bottlegourd/lauki
1 cup chana dal, soaked for 15 minutes.
2 small onions, chopped (Use half portion of chopped onions while boiling the bottlegourd and remaining half you saute it with other ingredients)
4 small pods of garlic, minced
1 medium sized tomato, chopped
1 tsp of kashmiri chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder/ haldi
2-3 red chillies round shaped
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp ghee
salt to taste
Finely chopped coriander leaves to garnish.
Method:
Pressure cook soaked chana dal for 3 whistles and switch off. Let it cool. Once it cools mash the dal and keep it aside. Boil the diced lauki, chopped onions and garlic in a separate vessel [Take care not to overcook the lauki]. Add a tsp of ghee and pinch turmeric while boiling the vegetables.
Meanwhile, heat 1 tbsp ghee in a kadhai/ pan. Add cumin seeds and once it splutters add round red chillies, turmeric powder/ haldi and chopped onions. Saute it until the onions turn translucent. Add chopped tomatoes and stir it for few minutest. Once the tomatoes get cooked, add chilli powder, salt to taste and little water. Then add the mashed dal, cooked vegetables to the tomato mixture and bring it to a boil. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve it hot phulkas or hot rice.
Sending this post to side dish mela event.
Happy cooking!
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Panchmel dal is a traditional dish from State of Rajasthan. "Panch" is a hindi word which means five and the preparation contains combination of five lentils[dals] tempered with spices, and so the name "panchmel dal"
Dals are known to be an excellent source of proteins as well as rich in vitamins and minerals, hence this is highly nutritious side dish that goes well with rice or rotis.
Ingredients
1/4 cup tur dal
1/4 cup of whole urad dal
1/4 cup moong dal
1/4 cup of masoor dal
1/4 cup chana dal
1 cup finely chopped tomatoes
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp cumin seeds
1-2 red chilies
A pinch of asafoetida
1 bay leaf
3-4 cloves
3 green chilies chopped
1 tsp ginger grated
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp red chili powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp lemon juice
1-2 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves.
Method:
Wash and soak the dals for 30 mins. Drain and pressure cook in 3 cups of water with turmeric powder and oil for 3 whistles or till the dal is done.
Heat oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds. Once the cumin seeds splutter add red chilies, hing, bayleaf, cloves. As the dry spices start to change its color add chopped green chilies, grated ginger and saute it for a minute. Reduce the flame. Add cumin powder, coriander powder and red chili powder. Add chopped tomatoes and cook it on low flame till oil surfaces. Add cooked dal, salt, and water if required to adjust the consistency. Cook for 5 mins. Add garam masala, lemon juice and simmer for few more minutes. Switch off the flame and garnish with coriander leaves. Serve it hot with roti or rice.
Happy cooking !
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Indian spinach or malabar spinach, [Basella alba] a leafy vegetable is a perennial vine known as 'Vali ' in konkani, ' Basale ' in kannada or ' Mayalu ' in marathi. You will find this creeper grown mostly in the backyard of the houses across the konkan region or coastal Karnataka. This can be grown easily by planting its stem in the soil. The leaves of this greens are broader and thicker than the regular spinach.
We prepare different dishes from this greens such as ambat, bendi, randayi with different combinations such as addition of raw papaya or jackfruit seeds. The use of tender stems of this leafy vegetable in any dish makes it even more tasty. The seasoning can be with onions or mustard seeds and curry leaves. Today, I post the recipe of popular konkani curry "Vali Ambat"
Ingredients
Vaali/ Chinese spinach 1 bunch
Tur dal 1/4 cup
Coconut, fresh or frozen 1 cup
Red chillies roast in few tsp of oil
Tamarind marble sized 1
Turmeric pinch
Onion 2
Jaggery 1 tbsp [optional]
Method:
Pluck the leaves from stems. Use the stems if only they are tender. Wash and clean the leaves as well as stems. Roughly chop the leaves and cut the tender stems 1 inches long.
Wash toor dal and pressure cook it. Mash the cooked dal and keep it aside. For masala/ gravy, grind roasted red chillies, tamarind and coconut to a smooth paste. Meanwhile, cook the chopped leaves along with stems and one diced onion separately in a vessel. Mix the ground masala, jaggery, salt as per the taste to the above vessel and add enough water to get desired consistency. Mix well and cook for some more time.
Now heat coconut oil in a spatula on low flame and add finely chopped onions. Saute it till the onions turn brown on low flame itself. Add this seasoning to the cooked curry, switch off the flame and cover the vessel with lid. Alternately you can use mustard seeds and curry leaves for seasoning in place of onions. Serve it hot with rice.
Happy cooking!
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Dals are protein rich pulses and are a great source of protein for a balanced diet containing little or no meat.
I prepare simple dal and variations of it for 3-4 times a week. Today's recipe is "Dal Palak", a combination of spinach and pigeon pea [Turdal] seasoned with garlic.
Ingredient
Turdal 3/4 cup
Palak cleaned, washed and chopped 1 1/2 cup
Onion finely chopped 1
Ginger 1 inch
Garlic whole 1
Green chilli 1
Red chilli 1
Cumin seeds 1 tsp
Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
Garam masala powder 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste
Ghee 1 tbsp
Method:
Clean wash and soak tur dal for 2 hrs. Pressure cook the dal in sufficient water with turmeric powder upto 3 whistles. Grate the ginger, grate half of the garlic cloves and remaining cloves crush them. Finely chop the onions and green chilly.
Take 1 tbsp of ghee in a pan, heat it. Add cumin seeds and when it splutters, add red chilly, garlic and ginger. Stir fry for 1 minute. Add chopped green chilly, chopped onions and saute it till onions turn translucent.
Now add chopped palak, turmeric powder, garam masala powder and saute for 3 minutes. Add cooked dal , water to adjust the consistency and salt as per the taste, simmer for 3-4 minutes more.
Season the dal with sauted crushed garlic and serve it hot with rice or phulkas.
Happy Cooking !
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I go crazy seeing the fresh methi leaves on shelves in supermarkets here and pick up as many bunches as I can [Keeping in mind the time I have and will need to clean them]. Methi leaves being iron rich, I use them frequently in my cooking and have used them in preparing muthiyas, aloo methi, methi mutter malai, parathas, etc. I was looking for a new recipe to consume these leaves and my search came to halt when I came across Tarla Dalal's sambhar recipe that includes these leaves. I liked the idea of using them in sambhar, could imagine the distinct beautiful aroma as well as yummy taste these leaves would give to the sambhar.
I peeped into the fridge to check for other veggies that could be included in the preparation and all I had was cherry tomatoes and carrots. [You can use the available veggies with you to prepare this sambhar besides methi leaves] I followed my usual sambhar recipe using the store bought sambhar masala powder.
So on to the recipe now, which is inspired from here
Ingredients
Turdal 3/4 cup
Fresh Methi bunch cleaned and washed 1 cup [Leaves separated ]
Cherry tomatoes 10-12 halved. [ You can replace these with regular tomatoes]
Carrots cubed/ diced 2 cups
Onions 2 chopped or sliced
Turmeric powder a pinch
Sambhar powder 1 1/2 tbsp [Everest sambhar powder]
Tamarind to make extract
Jaggery grated about 2 -3 tsp
Salt to taste
Method:
Wash the dal and pressure cook it. After cooling whisk it and keep it aside. [I add a tsp of oil and turmeric powder to ensure that the dal gets cooked properly]. Boil the cubed carrots in separate vessel.
Soak tamarind and extract it's juice. Wash the methi leaves and keep them aside. [ if u want to chop these leaves do it just before adding them to the seasoning in the pan] I didn't chop them and added them as leaves itself.
Heat the oil in the pan, add chopped onions. Once the onions turn soft add turmeric powder, methi leaves, halved cherry tomatoes and saute them. Now add tamarind extract, Sambhar powder and boil it till the raw smell goes off. Add the boiled carrot pieces, cooked dal and jaggery. Adjust salt and water to get preferred consistency of sambhar. Stir well, simmer all for 5-10 minutes more and remove it from flame. Add the seasoning with mustard seeds in a tsp of ghee. I have avoided the use of curry leaves or coriander leaves in this preparation which wud otherwise mask the flavor of methi leaves.
Methi leaves sambhar is ready to be served with hot rice. You can also have this sambhar as an accompaniment with idlies and dosas.
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