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Have a great week end

Black Eyed Bean Curry

Black Eyed Beans is one my favourite beans. I like  them fresh, frozen or dried.
I do cook them in differen ways. The beans has its unique flavour, soft buttery taste has always made me to eat more and more of the beans.  I like them in my subji, sambhar, curry, vada almost in everything. I still remember, when I was a little girl my father used to use this dried beans in the rice flour rotis and it used to love it, tastes so very yummy.
Now for the recipe,

Ingrdients:
Black eyed beans - 1cup(if using dried, soak atleast for 8-10hrs),
Onion - 1large(finely chopped),
Tomatoes - 2 large(blanced, deskinned and chopped),
Cumin - 1tspn,
Oil - 1Tblspn,
Salt.

For grinding:
Coriander seeds - 2tspn,
Red chillies - 2-4.
Ginger - 1inch,
Garlic - 3-4 Pods,
Coconut - 1/4 cup.

For Garnishing:
Coriander - 1Tblspn(chopped).

Method:
Pressure cook beans with little salt, until soft but should hold their shape.
Roast red chillies and coriander seeds with little oil and grind with rest of the ingredients under grinding.
In a pan heat oil, add cumin and when it crackles, add onion and fry until light brown.
Add tomatoes and fry until they are cooked and soft.
Add ground paste and fry until it gives nice aroma.
Add cooked beans and salt(remember that you have already added salt to cook beans, so take care not to add too much).
Boil the Curry to medium consistency.
Finally add corinader chopped and serve with rice or roti.

Note:
Instead of cooking the beans before hand, you can follow uptil the step of adding ground paste and then add soaked beans, pressure cook for 3 whistles.
You can also grind onion and tomatoes with the rest of the grinding ingredients and add to cooked beans.

Spinach or Palak Dal

Spinach is a mine of nutrients, rich in folic acid and whatever, I love spinach.
So What more excuse do you want to make a spinach dal.
I cook spinach dal in different ways, using different pulses, one or more sometimes. one of it is here.
Here goes the recipe,
Ingredients:
Moong dal - 1 cup,
Spinach or Palak - 2 large bunches,
Onion - 1large(finely chopped),
Tomato - 2 medium,
Ginger Garlic paste - 1tspn,
Green chillies - 1 tspn chopped,
Red chillies - 1(broken),
turmeric - 1/4 tspn.
Oil - 1tspn,
Ghee - 1Tblspn.
Asafoetide - a pinch.
Salt.

Method :Dry roast moong dal, add 21/2 cups water and cook for 1 whistle in a cooker, simmer and cook for anotherfive minutes. Cool it.
In a pan heat ghee and oil add jeera and Asafoetda let it crackle.
Add green chillies and red chillies.
Add onion and fry until soft.
Add ginger and garlic paste and fry.
Add tomatoes and fry until soft.
Add washed and chopped Spinach or Palak and fry until it wilts.
Add cooked dal and salt, mix well and give it a boil.
Switch off heat and serve with either rice or roti.

Note:
You can add juice of 1/2 a lemon.


 

Methi Dal or fenugreek dal

Pulses are very integral part of Indian cooking.  Be it South, North, East or West part of India, every household almost every day have one or the other dals  used in their staple diet.
I cannot just be  without rice each day, so dals are must.
Dals are cooked in various ways.  Here goes mine.
Ingredients:
Moong dal or tuar dal(arhar dal) - 3/4cup,
Green chillies - 1tspn finely chopped,
Ginger - 1tspn(grated),
Onion - 1 medium,
Tomatoes - 2 medium,
Turmeric - 1/4 tspn,
Methi - 1cup(leaves picked, washed and chopped),
Salt.

For tempering:
Ghee - 1tspn,
Jeera - 1tspn,
Garlic - 3-4finely chopped,
Curry leaves - 1sprig.

Method:
In a pressure pan heat oil and add green chillies, ginnger and fry.
Then add chopped onions nd fry until transclucent.
Add tomatoes and cook until soft and mush.
Add tumeric and methi, fry until methi wilts,
Add moong dal and fry.
Add  salt, 21/2 cups of water and pressure cook for 2 whistles.
Once pressure comes down and cooled, mash and mix well.
In a pan heat ghee, add jeera, garlic and fry until garlic is light brown, add curry leaves and pour to the dal, give a boil and serve.
 

Kadai Paneer

Paneer is one of the most enjoyed food in my house. It is the only milk product that my son loves to eat. I also love panner and an excuse for me to eat this full fat cheese because this is only milk product my son eats. I make different paneer subjis atleast once a fortnight. I would be posting one after the other later.
Now coming to the recipe, thought this is adapted from tarla dalal's recipe I have made some changes to suit the my family palate.
Ingredients:
Paneer - 11/2 cups cubed,
Whole Kashmiri chillies - 10,
Coriander seeds - 1Tblspn,
Oil - 21/2tblspn,
Garlic - 21/2 Tblspn fnely chopped,
Green chillies - 1tspn,
Ripe red tomatoes - 2 1/2 cups,
Tomato puree - 1/4 cup,
Kasoori methi - 1tspn,
Garam masala - 1tspn.
Salt.

This recipe is done in two steps. The above is the first step which I will be doing it now and then move on the next final and assembling them all.

Dry roast kashmiri red chillies and coriander until it gives nice aroma. Cool it and powder in a mixer or in mortar and pestle.

In a pan heat oil and add chopped garlic and fry until light brown and then add green chillies and tomatoes and cook well.  With the help of a masher, mash the ingredients in the pan to get well blended. Add the tomato puree ad 1/4 cup water and salt and boil and then powder kasoori methi on your palms and add to the gravy and set aside.

Note:
At this stage,in the original recipe the panner needs to be deep fried for a minute in the oil and put in warm water. Paneer should not be browned, just fried in oil for 30 secs to hold in shape.
This step I have omitted.

2nd Step:
Oil - 1Tblspn
Onion - 1/2 cup(finely chopped),
Dhania-Jeera powder - 1tspn,
Red chilly powder - 1tspn,
Turmeric - 1/4tspn,
Garam Masala powder - 1/2 tspn,
Kasoori Methi powder - 1/2tspn,
Capsicum - 1/2 cup thinly sliced,
Cream - 1/2 cup,
Coriander for garnish,
Salt.

Method,
In a pan heat oil and onion and  fry until pink and add the already prepared gravy in the first step and mix well and dhania-jeera powder, chilly powder, turmeric, garam masala powder, kasoori methi powderand mix well and 1 cup water and boil and add capsicum and fry until crisp and add paneer.
If you have fried the paneer and if it is in warm water , squeeze the water and then add to gravy.
Then add fresh cream (I added single cream just to ganish). Garnish with coriander and serve.




 

Aloo Raita

Aloo raita is yet anoher yummy raita which will go almost with anything or just serve yourself in a bowl and enjoy.
I am writing two diferent ways of making it.
 1st method
Aloo or potato - 1 large(boiled deskinned and cute into cubes, not really into equal cubes )
yogurt - 200 ml,
green chillies - 1finely chopped,
                or
red chillies - 1 broken,
curry leaves - 5-6
coriander - 1tblspn
oil - 1tspn,
asafoetid  - a pinch,
urad dal - 1/2 tslpn,
mustard seeds - 1 tspn,
coconut - 1 tblspn.

Method
In a pan heat oil and add asafoetida and mustard and allow to crackle, and then add urad dal and brown it, then add red or green chillies, curry leaves and coriander leaves and switch of flame.  Completely cool the mixture.
whisk yogurt to smooth and add salt coconut and cubed aloo and add the tempering.

Note:
You can omit coconut, if you dont want to.
You can used chopped raw cucumber or grated beeroot(cooked) or chopped and blaunched spinach or even crisp fried okra.

2nd Method
Ingredients:
For grinding,
coconut - 1cup,
green chillies - 2,
mustard - 1/2 tspn,
chopped coriander - 2 tspn,
asafoetida - a pinch.

aloo - 1 large(boiled and cubed)
yogurt - 200ml.

Salt.
For tempering,
oil - 1tspn, mustard, asafoetida.

Method:
Grind the ingredients into smooth paste with little water.
whisk yogurt.
Mix together yogurt, ground paste, salt and aloo.
Temper with the tempering ingredients.

Note:
Instead of aloo you can use chopped and cooked choyote, or sweet pumpkin or white pumpkin or chopped raw cucumber.
The above picture of the 2nd method.

 

Spicy Sweet Tangy Rawa Poha or 'Gojju Avalakki'

This is one of my family's all time favourites. Whenever I think of this yummy form of poha my mouth starts drooling.

So simple to do in less than an hour but tastes so heavenly...very comfort food and ideal on the days of vrat and fasting.

Now to the recipe,
Ingrdients:
Poha - 2cups(coursely ground to  medium to thick rawa consitency),
Tamarind - 1medium lemon size(soaked and take the juice),
Jaggery - 1/2 medium lemon size,
Rasam Powder - 1 to 11/2 Tblspn,
turmeric - 1/2 tspn
Salt.

For tempering:
Oil - 2Tblspn,
Mustard - 2tspn
Asafoetida - generous pinch,
Groundnut - 1Tblspn,
Chana Dal - 1tspn,
Curry leaves - 2sprigs,
Red chillies whole - 4-5 broken.

Dry coconut - 1/2 cup

Method:
Squeeze the soaked tamarind and take the juice, do not make it very runny,
To the tamarind juice add salt, rasam powder and jaggery and turmeric and mix well without any lumps of the masala especially the rasam powder, jageery and salt well dissolved.
Add the poha rawa and mix well, this mixture should be more than wet for the rawa to soak well.
Set aside this for 1/2 hour, until the whole rawa well soaked and bubbles up.
Crumble them in your hands to seperate the grains, so it becomes grainy.
In a pan heat oil, add asafoetida and mustard, when it crackles add groundnut and chana dal and roast them until brown and crunchy and then add curry leaves and red chillies and fry and then add the rawa and mix well in the seasoning.
Lower the flame and cook for 2 - 3 mins until all the flavours are combined and cooked well.
Finally add dry copra or coconut and mix well and serve hot.