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.

Cheesy Simple Eggplant Casserole

I wanted to make my  mother's chessy eggplant casserole, but wanted something slightly lighter as a concession to the heat. I replaced the tomato paste with sliced tomatoes, and it got polished off in no time at all.

1 egg plant, sliced into thin circles

2 tbsp besan
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
Salt to taste
Cooking oil for shallow frying

2 tomatoes diced
3 tbsp grated cheese

Method:
Coat the eggplant slices with salt, keep aside for a few minutes, and squeeze out the juice.
Cover with a mixture of besan, red chilli powder, and shallow fry on a low flame till done.
Place a layer of eggplant slices on a baking tray. Place a layer to tomato slices over the eggplant, and drizzle with olive oil and cheese. Keep layering till all the eggplant slices are used up, and finish with a thick layer of cheese.
Bake for 5 minutes, till the cheese is well melted.

Cheesy Eggplant Casserole

My mother was a great one for trying out recipes that she read in magazines, and one of my favourite was an eggplant casserole that she got from a Thanksgiving special feature where an American lady cooks for the Indian family she married into. By trial and error, I figured out what went into the recipe, and this is the first time I have made it for my family.

1 egg plant, sliced into thin circles

2 tbsp besan
1/2 tsp red chilli powder

Salt to taste
Cooking oil for shallow frying

2 tomatoes, chopped into coarse pieces
6 pods garlic
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp chilli flakes
salt to taste
sugar to taste

3 tbsp grated cheese

Method:
Coat the eggplant slices with salt, keep aside for a few minutes, and squeeze out the juice.
Cover with a mixture of besan, red chilli powder, and shallow fry on a low flame till done.
Heat the oil, add garlic and saute till it starts browning.
Add chopped tomatoes, oregano, chilli flakes, salt and sugar, and saute till the tomatoes turn mushy.
Place a layer of eggplant slices on a baking tray. Pour some of the tomato paste over it, and sprinkle a layer of cheese. Keep layering till all the eggplant slices are used up, and finish with a layer of tomato paste and a thick layer of cheese.
Bake for 5 minutes, till the cheese is well melted.

Fusion Vermicelli

Fed up of the same thing, but not wanting to stray too far from the tried and tested formula, this was the lunch I rustled up for my son and me on the first day when he had to fend for himself while his mother was at work. He, however, didn't seem to like it much, so one idea gone out of the window.

1/2 cup vermicelli
1 head broccoli
1/3 cup sweet corn
6 leaves basil
4 pods garlic
1/2 tsp paprika powder
1/2 tsp butter
Salt to taste.

Method:
Cook the vermicelli according to the instructions on the packet. Drain and keep aside
Heat the butter and when it is melted add the garlic and stir till the aroma starts getting released. Add the corn, and broccoli, and saute till the corn starts getting browned.
Add torn basil leaves, paprika powder and salt adn mix well.
Mix with the vermicelli, and serve hot.

Veg biryani

When you want to rustle up a quick meal with looks more exotic than it actually is, this soya nugget biryani will qualify.

1 1/2 cups basmati rice, soaked for 1 hour

2 bay leaves

1 badi elaichi

 

1/2 cup soya nuggets

1 medium onion chopped fine

1 medium tomato chopped fine

1 tsp ginger-garlic paste

1/2 tsp dhania powder

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

salt to taste

cooking oil

1 medium onion cut into long slices

Method:

Cook the rice with the whole spices till 75% done. Discard the spices

Soak the soya nuggets in boiling water for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, saute the onions till they turn transparent. Add tomatoes, ginger garlic paste and ground spices, and saute till they turn mushy. Add the soya nuggets and mix well.

Grease the bottom of a non-stick pan, then put a layer of rice, and a layer of soya curry. Keep alternating the layers, ending with a layer of rice. Close the pan, and cook on low heat till the rice is well done.

Meanwhile, heat some cooking oil, and deep fry the sliced onions till well browned.

Garnish the biryani with onion slices and serve with curds.

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.

Brown rice in a Creamy Mushroom- Dill Sauce

A couple of days back, I bought a beautiful bunch of leaves intending to use it in an egg curry. Unfortunately, however, plans changed, and I never got to use it. On the same day, I bought a packet of button mushrooms, but ended up serving a very different dish when I had guests over for dinner.
With us leaving on a ten day vacation, I tried to clear up the fridge, and adapted this recipe to fix ourselves a great lunch.

200 gms mushrooms
1 medium onion, chopped fine
3 garlic cloves, chopped
Butter
4 tbs chopped fresh dil, reserve a little for garnishing Salt to taste
Grated cheese
1 measure brown rice
1 cup milk
1 tbsp cornflour



Method:
Soak the rice for 30 minutes, and cook with 2 1/2 measures of water till done. Drain and keep aside
Heat the butter, saute garlic and onion till they turn transparent.
Add chopped mushrooms and salt to taste, and saute on a low flame till the water evaporates.
Add dill leaves and salt and stir for another minute. Keep aside.
In the same pan, heat the milk, and taking a little milk, make a paste with the cornflour. Add cornflour to the warm milk, bring to a boil, and simmer for about a minute. Add 2 tbsp grated cheese and salt to taste.
Add cooked rice to the white sauce, and after well mixed, add the sauteed mushrooms.
Serve garnished with some dill leaves.

1.Start by cutting up 1/2 LBS mushrooms 2.Finely chop 1 onion and 2 garlic cloves. 3.Heat up a pan and saute mushrooms, onion and garlic in 2 tablespoons olive oil until the mushroom starts to golden and the onion is soft. 4.Add 1/2 cup chicken stock, 1 1/2 cup cream and 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill. 5.Let it simmer for 5 minutes and season with salt and pepper. 6.Cook up enough pasta for 4 people, remember to ad salt to the water. 7.Boil until al dente. 8.Strain and place in a bowl. 9.Add the sauce, mix and serve with shaved parmesan on top.

Read more: http://www.sweetpaulmag.com/food/mushroom-dill-pasta#ixzz30YA77IMX

Tomato rice

Perfect something for those days when you don't feel like cooking anything elaborate, and you don't want to order in either. Might also be a good way to use up leftover rice, though I made it with fresh rice.

1 measure rice soaked for about 30 minutes (or 1/2 cups leftover rice)

3 tomatoes chopped

1 tbsp ginger garlic paste

1/2 tsp jeera powder

1/2 tsp dhania powder

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

1/2 tsp garam masala

2-3 tbsp peanuts

salt to taste

oil 

For tempering

mustard seeds

urad dal

roasted channa dal

curry leaves

Method

Put the rice to boil, with double the quantity of water

Roast the peanuts and keep aside

Heat oil, and saute tomatoes, and ginger garlic paste till the raw smell goes. Add the dry masalas and mix well.

Pour in the partially cooked rice, add salt, cover and let it cook till the rice is done (if using leftover rice, sprinkle some water on top, and then close the led)

Temper the oil with mustard seeds, urad dal, chana dal and curry leaves, and pour it over the tomatoes. Add the peanuts and give it a good mix.

Serve hot with papad. 

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.

Tengai sevai

Though a childhood favourite of mine, but I don't even remember the last time I had tengai sevai. So when I saw a packet of rice vermachilli at the grocery store, I picked it up before I could change my mind, and worried about not having a recipe for it only after I got back home. Google to the rescue- once I read two or three recipes, I knew exactly what I needed to do to get the taste I wanted, and the result lived up to nostalgia!

To digress a bit. Tengai sevai was a rarity when I was a child, because my mother used to make the rice noodles from scratch, and unless the proportions were just right, the thing could go horribly wrong. And then, she discovered rice vermachilli, and it ended up at the lunch table quite frequently. Once I left home, though, it never found its way to my plate- perhaps because nobody knew I even liked it. Here's to another childhood favourite, recreated.

1/2 cup rice vermachilli cooked according to instructions and drained
21/2 tbsp grated coconut
1 tbsp cashewnuts
Ghee for frying
Salt to taste

For tempering
Mustard seeds
Curry leaves
Red chilli, as desired
1/2 tsp urad dal

Roast the cashewnuts in ghee, and keep aside
In the same ghee, make the tempering, then add the grated coconut and stir on low heat for about a minute.
Turn off the flame, add the salt and cooked vermachilli, and mix well.
Serve garnished with cashewnuts.

Bread upma

Hing

Bread slices - 3 or 4 (a day or two old is better)

Curds- 2 tbsp, diluted with an equal quantity of water

Peanuts- 2 tbsp (optional)

Onion- 1/2 chopped

Ginger- 1/2 inch piece

Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp

Green chilli- 1

Cooking oil- 1 tbsp

Haldi powder- 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste

Method:

Tear the bread into bite sized pieces.

Heat the oil, add mustard seeds, and after it splutters, add onions, green chilli, peanuts and ginger pieces and saute till onions start to turn translucent.

Add the bread pieces and salt and haldi, and mix well. Sprinkle the diluted curds on top, lower the flame, cover and let it cook for about a minute.

Beetroot rice

This recipe is one that MM's Kitchen Bites has invented. She makes it with raw rice. Mine is not quite the real thing, because I make it with leftover rice, but the recipe remains the same.

Basmati rice, washed and soaked for half an hour, 1 cup
Beetroot, grated, 1 medium
Onions, thinly sliced, 2 medium
Green chilies, diagonally cut, most of the seeds removed, 3
Ginger, paste, 1 tsp
Garlic, paste, 1 tsp
Green cardamom,2-3
Cinnamon, abt an inch
Cloves,3-4
Black peppercorns, 4-5
Bay leaf,2
Cumin seeds, 1 tsp
Red Chili powder, 1 tsp
Coriander powder, 1 tsp
Salt, to taste
Water, 2 cups ( I know double the water is standard but we do it till about 1 ½ cms above the level of rice+ veggies, called “ek pota” in Punjabi – so do whatever has been working for you)
Oil,1 tbsp
Ghee, 1 tsp

Heat a deep pan with the oil and ghee. Add the cumin seeds, bay leaf, cardamom, peppercorns, cloves and cinnamon. Sauté for a minute. Next add in the thinly sliced onion and slit green chilly. Fry till the onions turn light brown. Now add the grated beetroot and all the spice powders. Mix well and let it cook for a minute or two..
Add the drained rice and mix lightly so that the masala coats the rice, add water and increase the flame. Once the water comes to boil, reduce the flame to low again, cover and cook till water dries up.
Once done, take it off heat and let it remain covered for another 5-10 minutes.
Fluff up the rice with a fork and serve as is or with curd/ raita.