Cucumber-bajra dosa

Thanks to their erratic timings, I end up having to make dosas of some kind or the other for lunch almost every weekday. My mother is a great fan of bajra, and the inspiration for this recipe comes from her.
While you are at it, please admire the table decoration- I was told my cucumber plant needed pruning, and guess what I did with the pruned leaves!

1cup bajra flour
1 cucumber grated
A pinch of baking soda
Salt to taste
Whey or water to make the batter.

Method:
Mix the bajra, salt and soda together.
Add whey/ water gradually, till you get a thick batter. Allow it to stand for 30 minutes
Meanwhile, grate the cucumber, squeeze the water into the batter, add the cucumber to the batter and mix well. Add more water if required to get the proper consistency.
Make dosas, and serve.

Bajra dosa

My mother has been on a "health trip" for a couple of years, and concocted this recipe to have with her mixed peel chutney. I was slightly skeptical about attempting it, but it sure tasted great.

For the batter:
1 cup bajra
1/2 cup urad dal

Salt to taste


Method:
Soak bajra overnight (or at least 4 hours)
Soak urad dal for 2 hours
Grind the bajra and the urad dal, mix well, and leave it to ferment for about 6 hours. Add salt to taste, dilute to get the right consistency, and make the dosas*
Can be had with a regular chutney, or any spicy Maharashtrian dish.

*- you can also make idlis or paniyarams out of it

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

Bajra Whatever

This dish is special, because it is the first meal I cooked for myself in the kitchen of our new house. About a week after we moved in, I got fed up of ordering takeaways (though there are some awesome places to order from here), and soaked some bajra with the intention of making bajra khichdi for lunch.
But when the time came to actually make it, I couldn't find the coconut grater and someone had finished off my stock of singdana, so I had to innovate.

I stir fried garlic, onions and a carrot, added salt, pepper and dry parsley to taste. Threw in the cooked bajra, and some milk, and let the whole thing simmer till I got a consistency I liked.

Tasted much better than I hoped, and the intention is to make it more often, because it makes a change from a regular bajra khichadi.

Bajra khichadi

For the longest time, I used to either eat the dinner leftovers for lunch, or buy something greasy. And then I discovered this delicious bajra khichadi, and realized that making it is less trouble than walking to the mithaiwala to buy lunch. Since then, I have been making this at least once a week. Naturally, I end up customising it each time, depending on what is available at home, so the recipe will be a bit of an approximation.

1 measure bajra soaked overnight
1 tsp jeera
1 onion chopped
1 green chilli
Assorted veggies
Salt to taste
1 tsp cooking oil
 
Soak whole bajra overnight, and cook it for a single whistle in the pressure cooker. Heat some oil in a pan, add jeera/ cumin. After it finishes spluttering, add chopped onion and chillies, and fry till it turns translucent. Add peas and any other veggies you might want to experiment with. Add cooked bajra and salt to taste. Cover and let it cook on low heat for 2-3 minutes.
You can have it as it is, or with curds or a pachidi/ raita.