Dal baati

Anyone who know me I love authentic food from virtually any part of India, and when I saw a picture of the Rajasthani dal baati, I was immediately transported back to a thali lunch I had with my mother at Rajdhani. With so many available dishes, I didn't enjoy it as much that day as I should have, but more than made up for it when I cooked it myself.


For the dal:
1/4 cup moong dal (dhuli)
1/4 cup toor dal
1/4 cup chana dal
1/8 cup urad dal (dhuli)
1/8 cup green moong dal
1/2 tsp haldi powder
Salt to taste

For tempering of dal:
2-3 clove
2 bay leaves
1 green cardamon
1 inch piece cinnamon
1 tsp jeera
A pinch of hing
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 green chilli, chopped
1 inch ginger, chopped
1 1/2 tbsp ghee


For Baati:
2 cups wholewheat flour
1 cup rawa
1/4 tsp ajwain
1/3 cup ghee
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt


Method:
For dal:
Soak the dals for 2-3 hours to soften it.
Pressure cook the dals with salt and haldi powder for 20 minutes after the first whistle (or cook on an open flame, till soft).
Heat the ghee, add hing, bay leaves, connamon, cloves, jeera and let it splutter till jeera turns dark. Add chopped chillis and ginger and saute on low heat for a minute. Add chilli powder, and pour the ghee over the dal.
Cover the dal and let the flavours infuse. Bring to boil, and simmer for 5 minutes.

For baati:
Mix the dry ingredients well. And ghee and mix till crumbly. Add a little water, and knead to form a tight dough. Cover with a cloth and let it stand for 1 hour.
Make lemon sized balls, flatten slightly and make a depression in the centre.
Preheat the oven to 150 degrees.
Lightly grease a baking tray, and bake for 15-20 minutes till golden.
Flip and bake the other side.

To eat, break the baatis in half, pour ghee over them, and have with dal.

Pesarrattu

I really love pesarrattu because despite being it is choke full of proteins, it also tastes as good as it is for you. And when you get to eat it with white butter, and jaggery, you can fool yourself into believing you are in heaven.

1 cup green moong dal
1 red chilli
1 tbsp rice flour
1/2 inch piece ginger
Salt to taste
A pinch of hing
Oil for frying

Method:
Soak the moong dal overnight (or at least for 4 hours). Grind with the red chilli and ginger, adding water as required till you get a batter that is consistent, but not totally smooth.
Add salt, hing, rice powder and mix well.
Heat the tawa, bring down the temperature by sprinkling water, and spread the pesarrattu as you would a dosa.
Put oil along the edges, and let it cook in a low flame. When the edges start lifting up, flip over, and let the other side cook.
Serve with white butter and jaggery.

Roasted Moong Dal

With the summer holidays going on, the kids have been eating far more junk food than I would like them to. In a bit to give them something marginally healthier, I decided to make some roasted moong dal. It was not as tasty as the Haldiram ones that they devour by the packet, but given the fact that I control the ingredients, that was a small price to pay.
The only problem is that most of it disappeared with my morning tea, and I have to make up a new batch for the kids.

1 cup moong dal
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp haldi powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
Salt to taste

Method:
Soak the moong dal for an hour. Drain, and dry it between two sheets of tissue to remove most of the water.
Spread on a microwaveable tray, and microwave for 1 minute
Break the moong pieces apart, coat palms with oil, and smear it over the moong dal.
Add haldi powder, red chilli powder and salt and mix well.
Microwave for 1 minutes, mix. Microwave for 1 minute.
Keep testing, to ensure that it doesn't burn. Different microwaves work differently, but I got crispy moong dal in about 1+2 minutes.

Kosimbir- with green mangoes

Kosimbir was often made at my place, and come summer and I start making it for myself. This is a slight variation on the old favourite, with green mango slices for the sour taste.

1 cup split moong dal
1 cucumber
1/2 green mango
salt to taste

For tempering (optional)
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 green chilli
1 sprig curry leaves
a little cooking oil


Method
Soak the split moong dal overnight (or at least for 4 hours)
Cut the cucumber and the mango into tiny pieces and mix well with the dal
Add salt to taste, and mix well
If you like, you can make the tempering and pour it over the kosimbir, or you can avoid it with no change in taste.
Serve chilled, either as a stand alone snack, or with rotis.

Modified Kosimbir

I always loved my mother's Kosimbir, which she learnt to make from her mother. The lightest, tastiest, healthiest snack/ salad possible is how I always thought of it. Till I had cabbage kosimbir a couple of weeks back, and realised even that perfection could be made better. This started out as a carrot kosimbir, but ended up as something entirely different. Nobody's complaining!

1 cup split moong dal
1 cucumber
1 carrot
1/2 bunch dil weeds
1/2 lemon
1 tsp chilli flakes
salt to taste


Method
Soak the split moong dal overnight (or at least for 4 hours)
Cut the cucumber into tiny pieces, grate the carrot, and mix both well with the dal
Remove the leaves of the dill weeds, cut fine, and mix.
Add salt to taste, squeeze the lemon on top, and toss well.
Serve chilled, either as a stand alone snack, or with rotis.

Kovil Sakkarai Pongal

We have an optional holiday today, and I was in two minds whether to take a day off or not. One of the strongest things in favour of me taking a day off was that I could then make Shakarai Pongal as I had done the previous two years. The recipe I follow is my mother's, and it cannot be whipped up in a hurry. But a little bit of searching led me to a couple of recipes for "Kovil Sakkarai Pongal", which seemed much easier. I adapted them to my taste, and did come out really well. (That I ended up taking a day off is a different story altogether).

1/2 cup raw rice

3 tbsp moong dal

1/2 cup jaggery

2 1/2 cups water

3 tbsp ghee

A pinch of salt

Cashews

Raisin

Cardamon powder

Nutmeg powder

 

Method

Heat 1 tbsp ghee, and roast the moong dal till brown.

Add washed rice, salt and water, and pressure cook till the rice gets really mushy. Mash it well.

Powder jaggery, and dissolve it in just enough water to make a syrup (gently heat the water to make it dissolve).
Remove any impurities that may be floating on the surface, and add to the mashed rice. Mix well. Stir in 1 tbsp ghee, and cook on very low flame for 5 minutes.
Seperately, heat the ghee, roast cashewnuts till golden, then add raisins. Once it fluffs up, turn off flame, and keep aside.
Add nuts and cardamon powder and nutmeg powder. Mix well and serve.

Green Moong Dhokla

One of my colleagues got this really lovely green dhokala the other day, and after finishing off most of it, I asked for the recipe. It seemed surprisingly easy- so easy in fact, that I suspected there would be a trick to it. But since there is not very much that can go wrong with green moong, I decided to give it a try. And it turned out absolutely fantastic.

1 cup green moong dal
1 inch piece ginger
1 green chilli
Salt to taste
A pinch of sugar*
1 packet Eno (I got only lemon flavour, and that added to the taste)
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds

Method:
Soak the green moong for 6-8 hours (or overnight).
Grind green moong, ginger, green chilli, with minimal water, till you get a consistent batter.
Add salt and sugar, mix, and let it stand for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, grease a container, and heat the water in a pressure cooker.
Add Eno, mix well, pour into the greased container, and level the surface.
Put in the pressure cooker. Close the lid (with the whistle taken off), and cook on high heat for 6 minutes. Reduce the flame and steam for 3 additional minutes.
Remove, and leave it out to cool. Cut into squares.
Heat the oil, temper the mustard seeds, and pour over the dhoklas.
Garnish with grated coconut, if desired.

*- I added this because the batter seemed too hot

Maharashtrian Amti

I am always looking for new dal recipes to try out, so when I saw a packet of goda masala in the store, I picked it up, and then looked for a recipe that I could try out. This dal was a major hit, and it is definitely going to be my "go to" dal in future.

1 measure green moong dal
1 tbsp tamarind paste
2 tsp goda masala
½ tbsp powdered jaggery/gur or as required
½ tbsp chopped coriander leaves/dhania
salt to taste

For tempering:
½ tsp mustard seeds/rai
1 sprig curry leaves
1 to 2 green chilies
¼ tsp haldi powder
a pinch of hing
1 to 1.5 tbsp oil or ghee

Method:
Wash the dal, and pressure cook it with water and a pinch of haldi till soft. Mash the dal.
Heat the oil, add mustard seeds, and after it stops crackling, add the haldi powder and hing.
Add curry leaves and green chilies, stir for a few seconds, then add the dal and stir.
Add sufficient water to get a good consistency.
Season with goda masala, jaggery, tamarind pulp, and salt. Simmer for 10-12 minutes on a low flame with frequent stirring (so that the dal does not stick to the bottom of the cooker) till the desired consistency is reached.
Check the taste and add more salt, jaggery or goda masala if required.

Serve with rice.

Moong dal with amaranthus stalks

My mother is visiting, and since she loves Bengali food as much as I do, I picked up a huge bunch of red amaranthus/ lal shaag. It was only when I got back home, that I realised the stems were too thick to cut up and cook with the leaves. Reluctant to throw them away, I went to Google Uncle, who gave me an idea but no recipe- chopped amaranthus with moong dal. I made up the recipe, and quite like it.

1 cup whole moong dal
2 tbsp channa dal
A pinch of turmeric powder
1/2 cup amaranthus stems, chopped
6 pods garlic
1/2 tsp jeera
2 green chillis
2 tbsp curds
Cooking oil
Salt to taste
Mint or coriander leaves for garnish

Method:
Heat the oil, add jeera and let it splutter. Add garlic and the green chillis, and saute till browned.
Add chopped amaranthus stems, and saute for about a minute.
Wash the dals, and pressure cook with the fried masala, and turmeric till soft (20 minutes on low flame after the first whistle).
Remove from the fire, allow it to cool down, add curds, and heat till it reaches boiling temperature.
Garnish with mint and serve with rotis.
Wash and pressure cook the dals with the turmeric powder, till cooked.
Either serve with rotis, or eat it as a chilli.

Green moong dal

Less is often more when it comes to spices, and this dal is a great example of it. There is a medley of tastes, but not so many it is overpowering. 

2 measures whole moong dal

1 onion

3 pods garlic

1 green chilli

Salt to taste

1 tbsp cooking oil

1/2 tsp jeera

Method:

Pressure cook the moong dal in sufficient water till cooked (I cook on high flame till first whistle, then turn it down and let it cook for 20 mins)

Meanwhile, roughly mince onion, garlic and green chilli.

Heat cooking oil, temper with jeera seeds, add ground paste and cook on low flame till the raw smell goes.

Add the cooked dal, salt to taste and about 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil, reduce flame and let it slow cook for 10 minutes.

Serve with rotis.

Lemon rasam

Though I have never had lemon rasam at home (at least, not that I remember), I have been wanting to make it for a fairly long time. When I asked my mother for the recipe, she gave me a very non-commital answer, so I took to google, and found this recipe that I used. Liked it sufficiently for me to put it on my 'tried and tested' list.

2 tbsp Moong Dal
1 Tomato
2 Green Chillies
1 inch piece ginger
1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder
4 cups Water
1 large Lemon
Salt    To Taste

For Seasoning:
1 tsp Ghee
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
1 sprig Curry Leaves

Method:
Heat ghee in a pan and add slit green chillies and crushed ginger and saute it for 2 minutes. Then add chopped tomatoes and stir-fry for a minutes. Remove this from flame.
Take a vessel and add moong dal, sauted tomatoes, green chillies and ginger and add 2 cups of water and allow the moong dal to cook completely. After the tomatoes and dal are cooked completely add another 2 cups of water and bring it to boil. When the froth starts froming on top of the rasam remove from flame
Heat ghee in a pan and add mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds starts to sputter, add curry leaves and fry for 10 seconds. Add these seasoned ingredients to the rasam. Allow the rasam to cool off and then add the lemon juice extract. Adjust the lemon juice for your taste.
Serve with plain rice.

Moong dal khichdi

May is the hottest month- so hot that one doesn't even want to step into the kitchen. But there are only so many times you can order takeaway before you get totally fed up of it. And mouths need to be fed. Which is when innovation steps in.
This khichadi is high on taste, and very low on effort- exactly my kind of dish.

1 measure whole moong dal
1 measure rice
1/2 tsp haldi powder
1 pinch hing
salt to taste1 tbsp ghee
1/2 tsp jeera
2 red chillis
Coriander leaves for garnish

Method
Wash the dal and rice, and pressure cook with haldi powder and hing till well done (20 minutes on the pressure cooker should be sufficient). Remove from the fire, and let the pressure release on it's own. Add salt to taste, and mix well.
Heat the ghee, temper with jeera, and once it stops spluttering, add red chillies and saute for about a minute. Pour over the khichadi. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

Mixed vegetable quick kootu

We Tamilians love a balanced diet at every meal, so what better than if you can combine proteins and vitamins in the same dish? Mixed vegetable kootu is a stable lunch item for my mother, and while I don't swear by it the way she does, I have to admit it makes cooking easy on hot summer days.

250 gms carrots diced
100 gms potatoes cut into small pieces
1 measure dhuli moong dal
1/3 tsp haldi powder
1 tsp sambar powder
Salt per taste

For tempering
Mustard seeds
Jeera seeds
Urad dal
A pinch of hing
Curry leaves
Cooking oil

Method
Put the cut vegetables, green gram dal and turmeric powder in a pressure cooker. Add enough water to cover the vegetables. Pressure cook for two to three whistles.
After few minutes, remove the lid from the cooker and slightly mash the vegetables.
Heat the oil, temper with mustard seeds. When it stops popping, add urad dha, jeera, hing, curry leaves and fry for about half a minute. Add sambar powder and immediately add the cooked vegetables.
Add salt and mix well.
Serve hot with chappatis.

Rose Soya Delight

Sometimes, you look at a recipe and decide you need to try it right away. This recipe by Ros Ruby was one of them, and since all the ingredients were available at home, there was no reason not to make it right away. Frankly, I had no idea what to expect, but when the flavours exploded in my mouth, for a moment, I was in heaven. Definitely a keeper.

Soya Chunks -100gms (I used granules)
Carrot grated-40gms
Yellow Split Lentils-10gms
Jaggery-150gms
Cardamom-7 Pods (Powdered)
Cashew nuts-20gms
Raisins-20gms
Rose Essence-1 Tsp (I used rosewater, because it was available at home)
Salt-1/2 a pinch
Vegetable Oil-4Tbsps

Method:
Powder the Soya Chunks. Set aside. (even if you are using granules, like I did, powder it well)
Melt the jaggery in 200-225 ml of water. Set aside.
In a thick bottomed vessel, fry the yellow split lentils in oil, drain and set aside.
Into the same oil, add the powdered soya chunks and sauté until lightly fried.
Into this add the melted jaggery followed by the grated carrot.
Keep mixing. Add the salt.
Soya tends to absorb water, so add a little more water, if necessary.
To this add broken cashew nuts and raisins.Keep mixing at intervals until the mixture become soft and cooked.
Add the powered cardamom and turn off the heat source.
Sprinkle the rose essence and garnish with a few split cashew nuts.
Transfer the mixture into a greased container.

Ven Pongal

Though it tends to be overshadowed by it's more glamourus sister, Shakarai Pongal, Ven Pongal too has it's own band of followers who swear by it. I was never one of them. Even when I was a child, I barely tolerated it, and after my mother started making the Bong khuchudi, I virtually stopped having it. Till suddenly, the craving struck, and I called up my mother to get the recipe.
In, in turn, had moved on. After years of not making Ven Pongal, because the family had abandoned it, when she wanted to return, it was to a new recipe. And that's the recipe she passed on to me. The Ven Pongal didn't taste quite like the one I remember from my childhood, but I preferred it, because I could feed it to my kids with virtually no danger of them biting into a pungent peppercorn by mistake!

2 cups rice
1 cup moong dal
1 tsp peppercorns
2 tsp jeera
1 inch piece ginger
1 tbsp ghee
1 sprig curry leaves
Cashew nuts for garnish

Method:
Roast the moong dal, but not till the point where it starts turning red. Wash the roasted dal and rice, and cook with at least 6 cups water in an open vessel. When it is 3/4th done, add salt.
Meanwhile, dry roast the peppercorns and jeera, and coarsely powder them in a mortar and pestle*.
Heat the ghee, add finely chopped ginger, and the peppercorn-jeera powder. Once the jeera settles, add cashew nuts and curry leaves, and saute till the cashew starts browning.
Add to the 3/4th cooked rice-dal mixture. Mix well, and cook till done.
Serve steaming hot, preferably with gotsu.

Rajasthani bajra khichdi

"Heaven here art thou in the bowl of khichadi!" 
Sounds weird to hear that, but it is true. Very few things give as much comfort as a hot bowl of khichidi. Which must be why, when I discovered a bottle of bajra in a forgotten shelf of my cupboard, I thought not of my regular bajra dish, but of looking for a bowl of pure comfort. I found it in this Rajasthani khichdi- just six ingredients (excluding water and salt), but it sure packs a punch.
 

1/3 cup whole bajra washed well, and soaked overnight
3 tbsp dhuli moong dal
Salt to taste

Ghee
1/2 tsp jeera
Hing pwd
1 red chilli

Pressure cook the bajra and moong with about 1 1/2 cups water, and salt to taste, for 2 whistles (lower flame after first whistle and wait for the second).
Roughly pound the cooked bajra-moong mixture so it gets a bit mushy

Heat ghee in a vessel, add jeera, red chillie and hing, and pour over the bajra-moong dal mix.
Serve with dahi or meethi kadhi

Chilkewali moong dal ki khichdi

I love khichdi. I really do. But however much you love something, sometimes, you crave the same thing, but different. I wanted khichdi, but not the yellow, runny stuff that I was used to. I wanted the essence of khichdi in something different.
This chilkewali moong dal ki khichdi fitted the bill perfectly.

1 measure chilkewali moong dal

1 measure rice

2 tbsp ghee

1 tsp jeera

3-4 cloves

1 green chilli slit

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 medium carrot grated

Salt to taste

Soak dal and rice in four cups of water for one hour. Drain. Heat ghee in a pressure cooker. Add cumin seeds, cinnamon, green chillies, carrot and sauté for two minutes. Add dal and rice and mix well. Add salt, peppercorns and four cups of water. Cover the cooker with the lid and pressure cook till one whistle. Serve hot, may be with hot ghee.

Dhokla

Dhokla is one of my favourite snacks, but like many others, it was one of those things that I thought only "other people" (or outside establishments) could make. Though I have often been assured that it is one of the easiest things to prepare, I was never ready to accept it. 

It was only after I opened the steamer and saw the fluffy surface of the dhokla that I was finally willing to accept that it could be made at home. The next time, however, I need to do it differently, so it gets done better.

For The Batter
3/4 cup soaked yellow moong dal
3 green chillies
salt to taste
1 1/2 tsp sugar
a pinch of asafoetida (hing)
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
1 tbsp besan 

2 tbsp curds

1 1/2 tsp fruit salt

For The Tempering1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp sesame seeds
a pinch asafoetida (hing)
2 tsp finely chopped green chillies

For The Garnish and serving
1 tbsp finely chopped coriander (dhania)
1 tbsp grated coconut

green chutney

MethodCombine the yellow moong dal and green chillies and blend in a mixer using a little water to make a paste of pouring consistency.
Transfer the paste to a bowl, add the salt, sugar, asafoetida, oil, turmeric powder, besan and curds and mix well to make a batter.
Just before steaming, sprinkle fruit salt and mix lightly.
Pour the batter into a greased container

Steam in a steamer for 10 to 12 minutes or till the dhokalas are cooked*. Keep aside.

Heat the oil in a small non-stick pan and add the mustard seeds.
When the mustard seeds crackle, add the sesame seeds, asafoetida and sauté on a medium flame for 30 seconds.
Add the green chillies and sauté on a medium flame for 30 seconds.
Pour the tempering over the prepared dhoklas and spread it evenly.
Sprinkle the coriander and coconut evenly on top.
Cut into pieces and serve hot with green chutney.

 

* - since it is hard to know when the dhokala is done, it might make more sense to divide the batter into two containers and steam each separately- this will ensure the entire batter gets cooked properly.

Kosimbir

If you are looking for a really healthy snack, look no further than Kosimbir. It is loaded with proteins, is super tasty, and once you figure out what to do with it, you can experiment all you like.
This is the basic version- one  handed down from my grandmother to my mother to me.

1 cup split moong dal
1 cucumber
2 tbsp grated coconut
1/2 lemon
salt to taste

For tempering (optional)
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 green chilli
1 sprig curry leaves
a little cooking oil


Method
Soak the split moong dal overnight (or at least for 4 hours)
Cut the cucumber into tiny pieces and mix well with the dal
Add salt to taste, squeeze the lemon on top, and garnish with grated coconut
If you like, you can make the tempering and pour it over the kosimbir, or you can avoid it with no change in taste.
Serve chilled, either as a stand alone snack, or with rotis.

You can experiment with grated carrots, spring onions, etc.

Rajasthani Dal Dhokli

I love the Gujarati dal dhokli almost as much as I love what my mother calls "alphabet soup", so when I saw a recipe for Rajasthani dal dhokli, I knew I had to try it out right away. Luckily, I had all the ingredients at home (including the most wonderful curry leaves I have tasted in a long, long time), so I didn't have to wait more than a few hours for it.

And it was every bit as wonderful as I hoped it would be.

For the dhokali
2 cup wheat flour
1/2 cup  gram flour
Red chili powder to taste
Jeera powder
Dhania powder
Salt to taste
Sesame seeds
Water

For the dal
100 gm split bengal gram + split red gram + split .green gram
 Red chili powder
Turmeric powder 
Salt to taste
Water

For the tadka
1 medium onion chopped lengthwise
4 cloves
1 broken dry red chili
1 tsp Zeera
1 tsp Mustard seeds
A pinch of hing
1 spring curry leaves
Red chili powder 
1/2 tsp ginger grated
oil for frying

Method
Pressure cook the dal with turmeric and salt till soft. Remove from the cooker, add chili powder and chili, and keep it on a higher flame.
While the dal is cooking, mix all the ingredients for the dhokli, knead to form a dough, roll and cut into desired shapes.
Add dhokali to the dal one by one, and cook for 15 to 20 minute or till done.

Prepare tadka, and pour it over the dal dhokali mixture. Let it cook for another 5 minutes.

Great with rice, or just like that.