Green Beans with Moong

Dear foodies,
Green beans are another of my favorites vegetables - quick cooking, delicious and very versatile. I use them when making pulaos, fried rice, pau bhaji, vegetable kurma and many other mixed vegetable recipes. I might have mentioned this before, but I cook by color to ensure that we have enough vegetables in our meal. I try to make sure that there are atleast 2-3 colors on the plate and green beans, of course, are the green component. I usually have them on hand, and a handful is just enough.

Simple food - Tadka dal

Dear foodies,

Here is a simple dal recipe, its another quickie for you to be armed with when you have no veggies on hand. My mother made this one day to go with chapathi's. Pair this with a chutney or a simple steamed veggie dish if you can and it turns into a proper meal spread.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup - Moong dal/pesarapappu
• 1/2 tsp - Turmeric
• 1/2 cup - chopped onions
• 1/2 tsp - Mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp - Cumins seeds
• 2 - Green chillies
• 1/2 tsp - red Chilli powder
• 1/4 tsp - Dhania powder (optional)
• 1 Tbsp - lime juice
• 1 tsp - Oil
• Salt to taste

Method:

1. Wash and cook the moong dal along with the turmeric and 1 1/2 - 2 cups of water in a pressure cooker or on the stove top (use more water if needed).
2. When the dal is nearly done, heat a pan with oil, splutter the mustard and cumin seeds, add the onions and green chillies.,suate until the onions soften and turn translucent.
3. Add the red chilli powder ( and dhania powder) and saute for a couple more minutes before turning off the heat.
4. Salt the dal and top it off with the tadka and lime juice (adjust to taste) and serve alongside soft, warm phulka's or rice.

This is a very basic recipe and delicious for the very same reason. The creaminess of the dal stands out and the simple tadka enhances the flavors with the lime juice perks up the whole dish.

Undrallu/Steamed Rice cakes

Dear foodies,

This year on Vinakaya chavithi all of you got together and schemed against me by talking about the festivites and your delicious offerings to the elephant Lord. I had not planned on making anything special, a quick sugar candy/dry fruits neivedyam in the morning and I was out of the house. I changed my status message on the messenger, wished everyone I could find online, put a nice blog post wishing all of you, and then started going around ...that was the mistake. Each one of you had a solid plan chalked out on how you were making the day special, hmph! 

And all the foodie photos got me hungry for some authentic festive food too :( I am not a sweet lover, I think I've mentioned that enough in this space, no mood for frying things up either. As I was composing that post I tried looking for a post of undrallu on my blog, I had made them the last two years for Ganesh chathurthi and was so sure I had blogged about them, atleast I thought so. Not finding the post though confirmed by dinner plans :) Undrallu it was, with the condiment made specially for it, a yet another awesome traditional combo, puli-inji/allam-chinthapandu pachadi. Here's my version...

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup - Rice
  
 * Use 1 1/2 cup idli rava if you want to save time

• 1/4 cup - Moong/chana/toor dal 
  
 * I used a combo of the later two, while the first is the traditional choice

• 3/4 tsp - whole Peppercorns  
  
• 1/2 tsp + 1/4 tsp - Cumin seeds/jeera
  
• 1/2 Tbsp - Ghee/oil
  
• 5-6 - Curry leaves
  
• 1 - dried Red chilli
  
• Salt to taste
  
• 1 Tbsp - grated/bite sized coconut for added flavor (thanks anon!)

Method:

The upma stage
1. Soak the rice in water for about 30-40 mins. Drain and spread them on kitchen towels to dry. Once most of the moisture is lost, blend them to a coarse powder along with the dal,  pepper and 1/2 tsp jeera. I got approximately 2 cups of the coarse powder/rava from this.
   
2. Microwave 1 1/2 cups of water. Heat ghee in a sauce pan, add the 1/4tsp of the jeera, next add the curry leaves and broken red chilli. Once they splutter, carefully add all the water to the pan with salt. 
   
3. Stirring continuously, add the rice-dal rava (and coconut) , try to avoid any lumps. Cover and place on medium-low heat for a 5-8mins. Since the rice was soaked and then ground, it does not take long to cook. Turn off heat when done, but keep covered for a few more minutes. Drizzle a little more ghee if you want now.
   
The idli stage
4. In the meantime, place a pressure cooker with a few inches of water to heat. lightly grease a pan that fits inside the cooker. When the rice-dal upma is cool enough to handle, form into into oval shape balls, moisten your hands if needed, so the mixture does not stick to them. Arrange them on the greased pan, close with the lid and steam them for 8-10mins, or until you get a steady stream of steam coming out of the cooker for about 5 mins. Serve hot with some puli-inji or kara podi/idli podi or sambar
   

I got about 8 of these, I steamed 4 in the cooker and 4 in the microwave. The batch in the microwave was slightly yellowish and not steamed through as well as the cooker batch. But I am sure you can use the microwave in a pinch. 

I'll add the recipe to the puli-inji and karapodi in the next few posts :) Until then, if you are looking to add sweet potatoes to your meal but are bored of the baked potato like I am, but still want to enjoy them,  try these two wonderful recipes: Baked fries and Thai stew.

Comforting Kichadi

Dear Foodies,


I am back again, and this time I am armed with a brand new camera. Yayyy ! I am still learning and trying to find my way through the innumerable settings and buttons on the camera, so pardon the photography that I am going to force upon you guys for the next few weeks. Any tips and comments on composition, lighting, angles and everything else are more than welcome, infact I might make that compulsory ;)

The mention of the red chilli pickle in my previous post reminded me of kichadi and instantly I started craving for some warm kichadi. It was also going to be the best companion for kadhi which has sprung up on quite a few blogs this past two weeks. This time I made my usual kichadi without dressing it up like last time.


Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup - Rice, I used Basmati
• 3/4 cup - dal, I used 1/4th toor and 1/2 moong dal
• 1 tsp - Shah jeera or Jeera/Cumin seeds
• 2 nos - Garlic cloves, sliced or smashed
• 1/2 cup - Onion, sliced lengthwise
• 1/2" round of ginger
• 4 nos - Laung/Clove
• 1 nos - Bay leaf
  
• 1 nos - Badi elaichi (or normal elaichi/cardamom)
  
• 1" - Cinnamon stick
• 2 nos - Green chillies, split thru the center
  
• 1 tsp - turmeric
• 2 tsp - Oil
• Salt to taste
• 2 1/2 cups - Water
  

Method:

1. Soak the rice in water for about 20 mins. Heat oil in a pan (or pressure cooker) and add the jeera. Next add all the whole spices and heat them through for about a minute.
2. The garlic and ginger go in next, after the garlic cooks a little (~1/2 -1 min) toss in the onions, green chillies and turmeric . I add a little salt to the onions so they release their moisture and soften faster.
3. After the onions are cooked and turn translucent add the moong dal and saute for 2 mins on medium heat until they start turning a little golden and then add the rest of the dal and rice. You could also skip the 2 step process and add all the rice and dal together.
4. Saute the mixture for 2mins until the moisture evaporates and the rice gets nicely coated with the oil. Transfer it to a rice cooker or microwave safe bowl and cook according to your tried and tested rice:water ratio and salt. I cooked it in the microwave for 14 mins, stirred it once and cooked for another 2 mins.

There seems to be nothing elaborate or rich about this dish but it sure is on the top of my 'comforting recipes' list. Its also because of the memories I've attached to Kichadi. My brother and I would play 'tent' in our home once in a while. We would pull together shelves and some how manage to drape bedsheets over them to form a tent right inside the house :D And then we had this nifty little torch light that had a fan on on side and the light on the opposite. We would fix that to the center of the tent and 'camp out' in our tent. We would also pile up pillows and bedding, books etc and make it a cozy corner. My mom would acknowledge this with kichadi and bring it to our tents :)) It sounds so funny and silly but those were golden days :)

For the Kadhi I followed Manisha's recipe but skipped the cloves in it. Thank you Manisha :)

Have a great weekend!

Ready for Adai ?

Dear Foodies,

The recipes are back again on this blog, Yayyyy !! So before my blog gets branded as another no-recipe food blog ;), lets get cooking, shall we ?

I really love dosa's and idli's, they are so easy to make and you can either go ahead with the whole side dishes charade or make do with some pickles and podi's in your pantry. Either way, they are a great breakfast, lunch or dinner. And our love for this is more than evident with the number of recipe variations that we get to see on the blogs.

Since I started cooking here, I've never tried making my own dosa batter from scratch. One main reason being I am scared to even try fermenting it, and another equally strong reason is I don't have a good blender :D So whenever I want to get the satisfaction of making dosa's from scratch I jump over to Vaishali's instant recipe, otherwise its the pesarattu and rava dosa that are my go-to dishes.

The other favorite of mine is the Adai....

Ingredients:

• 1 cup - Rice
• 1 cup - mixed dals -- more of chana dal & toor dal and a little moong/urad dal
• 3 nos - dried Red chillies or to taste
• A pinch of hing/asafoetida
• A sprig of curry leaves
• Salt to taste
• Oil for cooking the dosa - approx 2 Tbsp
  

Optional additions: 1" inch - ginger piece, a cup of drumstick leaves, Cilantro

Method:

1. Soak the rice, dals and red chillies in water for about 3 - 4 hrs. If I want it quicker I just microwave them for a few minutes to warm the water and reduce the soaking time to 1 -2 hrs.
2. Grind the soaking ingredients with the curry leaves and any or all of the optional ingredients to a coarse paste. The coarseness is what gives the adai the crisp texture.
3. Add salt to taste and the asafoetida and mix well. Heat a shallow, wide pan for making the dosa's and spread a little oil on the pan and get started with the adai's. (check here for pics )
4. The adai should be a little thicker than the normal dosa. To make it cook uniformly and also to make them extra crispy, make 1 or 2 holes at the center of the adai and add a drop of oil, this gives it the signature adai look.
5. Serve hot with red chilli pickle, kara podi (gunpowder ;) ), jaggery and yogurt to make a perfect meal. For some extra touch, my mom would also add a small dollop of home made butter on the warm adai, the white colored one...yummmm

In our house we were totally spoilt. There were always more than 2 accompaniments to any of these tiffin items. I would have this queue system to optimize the dosa/idli between all the side dishes :)) So if you ask me, all those items mentioned are compulsory not optional :D

You could also add some chopped onions while making the adai and sprinkle some kara podi and grated jaggery...(yup, you cannot have just one thing)


and roll them up for the to-go person :)

I also tried my hand at my mom's Sponge dosa recipe. Since my blender did not give me a very smooth paste, I had trouble getting it to ferment well, and ya its the ~hand~ too :( So I added a tiny pinch of baking soda create the sponge effect :))


And most of you would have figured it out, this one is for Srivalli's dosa mela.

A Kichidi Makeover

Dear Foodies,

I am sure all of you dread the word 'move' when it comes anywhere close to apartments/homes ! I do too but unfortunately for me I have done it 5 times in the last 3 years with another one looming over the near future :(( The last time and even now I am trying to live as much out of the suitcase as possible. But no matter what you do a move is just as painful as ever. The cleaning, sifting the 'need it' from the 'throw it', packing... and just when you think its over, the next cycle begins: Move, unpack, shop and set up home all over again, buying all the stuff that you trashed just a few hours back !!

But the worst thing is when you realize you have packed your kitchen and you are in the middle of this mess that used to be home and covered under piles of dust. And then the hunger pangs kick in ! Its tough to move, but tougher when you are hungry. We learnt our lesson the first two times and from then on, one of us always makes a pot of kichidi to hold us through a day or two. This time too I made some kichadi the day before we were moving and it was also the best way to clean up the odd leftovers in the pantry. I also had some lima beans & cashews that gave the subtle kichidi and huge 'wow' feel. I had just 4 chillies and decided to crush them to get the most flavor out of them.
Ingredients:

• 4 cups - Rice
• 1 1/2 cups - Moong dal
• 1 1/2 cups - Lima beans, frozen
  
• 1/2 cups - broken Cashews
• 3 tsp - Jeera/Cumin (I used a mix of jeera n kala jeera)
• 4 nos - whole Cloves
• 4 nos - Green chillies & 2 nos - big Garlic cloves -> Crushed together in a pestle & mortar
  
• 1 nos - big Onion, sliced ( I din't have any)
• Salt to taste
• 1 Tbsp - Oil
  

Method:

1. In a saucepan/pressure pan dry roast the moong dal till it starts to turn a slight pink color and it leaves a nice aroma. Add it to the raw rice, wash and soak till the rest of the ingredients are ready.
2. In the same pan heat 1tsp of oil and roast the cashews until golden brown. Remove and reserve it for the end.
3. Now heat the rest of the oil in the pan and toss in the jeera when hot. Add the cloves and after a few seconds until the aroma rises add the crushed chillies and garlic paste.
   
4. After a few seconds the onions that I dint have go in. Saute them till translucent and them add the lima beans and cook for a few minutes to thaw it.
5. Now add the drained rice and dal. Saute till the oil coats all the grains and you see them glisten in the pan.
6. If using a pressure pan add the required amount of water (accounting for the lima beans), salt and the reserved cashews and cook. Otherwise move all the contents to an electric cooker and cook till done.
7. Once done fluff up the rice and serve with pickles/raita or just as is :)

This kichadi was one of the best impromptu recipes I have made. I used the lima beans only cos I had half a packet lying around that I did not want to throw. But I might shop for them next time I make kichadi. Lima beans take a little long to cook and presure cooking them with the rice got the perfect texture out of them. The cashews made the mundane sounding kichadi something special to have, and more so when the rest of the apartment was in a mess it made the meal feel rich :) I also liked the crushed up chilli-garlic flavor as it gelled well into the rice and was not something to pick out of the plate. All in all it dint just serve its purpose as a stock of food but was something really enjoyable to have. I am sure to make it again, hopefully not for a move though :P

Have fun !

Pongal - Sweetened Rice and Lentils

Dear Foodies,

Here is the first recipe among the goodies I made for Dasara.

My entry to Luv2Cook's JFI-Ghee event

Pongal, is a rice and dal mix that is cooked in jaggery and made rich with generous amounts of ghee and dry fruits, raisins and cashews roasted in ghee in particular. Coming to think of it, the word dry fruit in most South Indian sweets, more often than not implies, raisins and cashews. Very rarely have I seen other nuts used. And interestingly, though there are soo many festivals celebrated in India each one of them has a particular 'traditional festival-menu' attached to it. This was probably deviced to treasure the hundreds of recipes that our forefathers came up with. In our house its not just the sweets and savories but the daily lunch/dinner menu is also a custom-made one for that particular festival !!

Well back to Pongal, I think its one of the easiest sweets you can dish out, and it is relatively lesser time-consuming and does not call for much of your attention either. Leave the dal and rice to cook and take care of the other things in kitchen till then. Get back to it after sometime, add some jaggery-dissolved water, forget about it yet again and let it simmer, finally add a few dollops of ghee and dry fruits. And Voila,Its done !! You have a comforting and rich dish ready to serve.

Home-made ghee would be the best for this recipe or for any Indian sweet, for that matter, the better the quality of the ghee the more mellowed the flavor and the aroma is just enticing. This month's Jihva event hosted by Luv2Cook is all set to showcase the pivotal role that ghee plays in our cuisine.

This time I made a few variations to my usual recipe. I cooked the rice and dal in half milk - half water mix instead of just water. And I also forgot the amount of dal to add and went ahead and tossed in dal equal to nearly half the amount of rice. And when the final taste was different from what I had planned for, I called Customer Support, my Mom :-) She pointed out to me that we have to use very little dal. She said, the reason a little dal is added to the rice is, plain rice is never offered to the Gods, so we add a lil moong dal and/or channa dal to it. Now you ask might want to ask why not just plain rice...?? According to tradition, plain rice is offered to God only when mourning a death in the family, and so for every other occasion a little dal, even if it is just a few grains, is added to the rice while cooking it and offered as naivedyam. Even for everyday naivedyam, my mother adds a few grains of toor dal to the rice.


Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup - Rice

• 1/4 cup or lesser - Moong dal

• 1/4 cup or lesser - Channa dal

• 4 cups - water (or your usual ratio for 2 cups rice )
  OR
  2 1/2 cups - water & 2 cups - whole milk

• 3 cups - Jaggery (or equivalent amount of sugar)

• 3-4 Tbsp - Ghee

• A handful of raisins and cashews/almonds

• 3-4 nos - Cardamom pods/Elaichi, powdered (optional)

for garnishing:

• chopped fresh coconut pieces
• ghee
• honey
  

Procedure:

1. Pressure cook the dal and rice with the water or a water+ milk mix.
2. In a separate pan toss in the jaggery with a cup of water and allow it to melt. It does not have to get a syrupy consistency, we only want the jaggery to dissolve in the water. This might take just 5-6 mins and so you can do this after you have switched off the rice cooker and are waiting the steam-pressure to ease.
   
3. Add the jaggery water and powdered cardamoms to the cooked rice-dal mixture, stir well and simmer for 8-10mins. Check ferequently to avoid the bottom layers from burning. If using sugar you dont have to make a syrup, you can directly add the sugar with some water to the rice-dal mixture while its hot and stir on low heat.
4. Roast the dry fruits in 1 Tbsp of ghee and add it to the rice along with the rest of the ghee. Mix well, add a little more water if required. Keep in mind that the pongal thickens when it cools, so turn off when it is still holding some water.
   
5. Serve hot or cold. While serving you can garnish it with chopped pieces of fresh coconut and/or a drop of ghee. My father likes to drizzle a spoon of honey on his !! YUMMM :-)
   

Notes:

• I did not have fresh coconut, so I roasted some dessicated coconut flakes in warm ghee and added it to the pongal.
• If you use just water to make the pongal, the final dish will have a deep yellowish brown color from the jaggery. Since I added milk, the color has lighened.

This bowl of Pongal is now off to Luv2Cook's medley of JFI -Ghee dishes :-)

MLA Pesarattu

Dear Foodies,
Pesarattu-Upma or MLA pesarattu is a Andhra delicacy. It is a tiffin item and is very filling. It is similar to Masala Dosa where a dollop of aloo curry is hidden right at the center of the dosa. The Upma served with pesarattu is also very deliciously made and generous amounts of ghee are added to it for that comforting aroma and taste. The MLA pesarattu genearally pairs with coconut chutney,sambhar and ginger chutney :-)

I just googled for pesarattu on the net and found that the Andhra Pradesh govt has been trying to put our MLA pesarattu on the culinary map of India. Read more..

"The nomenclature comes from the unique brunch that combines a pesarattu dosai with uppma and a potato curry. This, I am told, was the invention of a chef in Hyderabad, who wished to eliminate mealtime delays that would eat into the busy schedule of law-makers!" >>

Unlike idli-sambar or masala-dosa or Uttappams, which also follow the same 'soak dal-make batter' rule the main difference with pesarattu is the batter does not need to ferment. That makes it a very easy breakfast. All it needs is a little planning to soak the lentils in water the previous night.

Ingredients:

For the batter:

• 4 cups - Pesalu/Green gram/Moong Dal (whole)

• 4-5 nos - Green Chillies

• 1 inch piece of Ginger

• 1 sprig - Curry leaves

• Salt to taste

Extra additions to the batter:

• Coriander leaves

• Finely chopped onions

Procedure:

1. Wash and soak the pesalu in water overnight or for around 6-8 hrs.
2. Grind all the batter ingredients to a smooth paste. The batter shud not be runny, it should be of the same consistency like dosa or idli batter.
3. You can add finely chopped onions and coriander leaves to the batter to add to the taste of the pesarattu.
4. Heat a flat pan, and add few drops of oil. *Spread the oil using a wedge of potato or half onion. This seasons the pan and makes the dosa leave the pan easily when cooked, without clinging onto the pan. *
5. To check if the pan is ready, sprinkle a few drops pf water, if you hear a sizzling sound the pan is ready for the batter.
6. Nicely spread the batter on the pan moving from center to the corners in either clockwise/counter clockwise movement. Oil the corners and let the pesarattu cook for 1-2 mins. When you see the sides leaving the pan, flip the pesarattu and cook for a 1 min.
7. serve with a dollop of upma neatly rolled inside the pesarattu with some ginger chutney and sambar on the side. :-)

MLA Pesarattu is my entry for Sailu's Jihva for DAL and Nandita's 'Weekend Breakfast Blogging'

Note:

• *For crisp pesarattu, add some atukulu (poha) soaked in water for a few minutes, to the dal while making the batter.*
• The Pesarattu combo was a team event in my apartment with me taking care of the pesarattu and my roommates came up with upma and tomato pappu (both of them are experts in their dishes and recipes will be coming soon :D )

Other Entries for Jihva for DAL:

• Kakarakaya Pitla/Bitter Gourd and Lentil medley My ~MOTHER's Entry ~ to the event and the blog world :-)
• Kandipappu oorupindi/Toor dal chutney
• Green beans usili

*Tips from Mom