Slow Cooked Pigeon Pea Lentil
A Maharashtrian delicacy eaten with jowar bhakri, slow cooked lentil with some spices. It is called Dal Methicha Varan In Marathi. Tastes best with a tempering of green chillies and lots of garlic cloves brown and crisp. This can be kept separately and served in each serving to retain the crunch in the garlic or mixed with the dal.
Ingredients
2 cups of pigeon pea lentil (toor dal), washed drained and kept ready
The ingredients can be crushed in a mortar pestle or they can be made into a coarse paste in the mixi jar
1/4 cup fresh scraped coconut
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
3 green chillies
4 garlic cloves
Salt to taste
Coriander for garnishing
10-15 garlic cloves whole, 3 slit green chilles, for the tempering (optional)
Method
In a pan take some oil and add mustard seeds, let them splutter then add turmeric, little more than we would regularly use, this is to give it the colour, add asafoetida, the crushed paste, saute it well till the raw smell goes away. Now add the lentil, add 2 cups of water and leave it to slow cook in the spice paste. You will have to keep checking and adding water till it cooks fully. You can cook it covered till it becomes mushy and then add salt and adjust the consistency. Enjoy with the garlic tempering, if you are a garlic lover then you are surely going to relish this one like I do. This picture below shows you the crisp garlic tempering.
Guava Juice
Juice made of ripe guavas with some taste enhancers, recipe by Ashwini my daughter. We enjoyed it and will be regular feature with us guava lovers. My husband specially enjoyed the juice with a twist. This is how I made it....
Take in a vessel 2 ripe guavas chopped roughly, a pinch of red chilli powder, salt to taste, 1 tsp ginger juice, few mint leaves crushed, a dash of lime, few ice cubes and blend with a hand blender, transfer to a serving jug, add as much water as required without making it too thin, it would then lose its taste. Ready to have at any hour of the day. Keeps you satiated for quite sometime!!
Classic Scrambled Egg On Toast
This is one of the classic American breakfast which includes classic scrambled egg on toast, mashed potatoes, pan seared cherry tomatoes and a tall glass of milk or juice. Specially when we are travelling I thoroughly enjoy this combination. I have pictured only the egg on toast. The colour looked so good and I felt it would disturb the picture so, I skipped picturing the accompaniments!! The credit for this dish goes to children Sony and Nidhi, they are the ones who taught me to make many such dishes. This is how I made it......
Ingredients
2 eggs with 2 table spoons of milk beaten till fluffy
Salt and pepper to taste
For the accompaniment
Some cherry tomatoes pan seared with butter and salt
1 potato mashed with salt, pepper and a little butter
Some chopped parsley to sprinkle on the toast (optional)
Method
In a pan take some butter, add the beaten egg, sprinkle some salt and pepper, stir very gently, let it set a bit and stir again and mix, do not let it dry, it should be soft, fluffy and moist. Now spread this on the toast and serve with the above mentioned accompaniments.
Egg Curry
A delicious dish to be savored with rice and roti or even bread would make a great accompaniment. Mildly flavoured yet a pleasure on the plate. Here goes my recipe....
Ingredients
6 eggs boiled and peeled
4 onions chopped finely
2 tomatoes finely chopped
2 tspns tamarind pulp
1 tbsp ginger garlic crushed
Salt to taste
For grinding to a paste
1 onion
1 cup freshly scraped coconut
1 tsp mustard seeds
5-6 black peppercorns
A few fenugreek seeds (6-7)
4 green chillies
Some fresh coriander
Method
In a pan take either sunflower oil or coconut oil, I used coconut. Add the onions, saute till golden, add the ginger garlic, fry till the rawness goes away, add tomatoes cook till mushy. Now add the ground paste and keep cooking till well done and the oil separates, lastly add the pulp of tamarind and salt, cook well. Add water and adjust the consistency, you can make it depending on whether you are eating it with roti or rice. Add eggs cut the way you can see in the picture. Garnish with fresh coriander and serve.
Aloo Rajma
A post by my sweet friend/inspiration, Shimpa Rathore, she always posts new dishes from the hills and valleys o of India. They are so inspiring and the pictures are so tempting that you feel like jumping on to the plate and just tasting what is in it!! I felt like all my friends should have the recipe of this dish which is from the pundits of Himachal and Kashmir. Aloo Rajma with no onion garlic. Served with soft piping hot white rice. Here goes the recipe followed to the T.......
Ingredients
Rajma 250 gms
Potatoes 4med
Mustard oil 2 tbsp
Hing 2 1/2 tsp
Deghi mirch 3 tsp
Garam masala powder 3 tsp
Saunf powder 1tbsp
Dry ginger powder 3/4 tbsp
Dahi 4 tbsp
Salt
Method
Soak rajma for 6-8 hours. Peel and halve each potato. Heat mustard oil in a pressure cooker, add the hing and potatoes. Once slightly browned,add the rajma, and all the masala powders and salt. Mix well. Add well beaten dahi and enough water. Pressure cook for 3-4 whistles and it’s done. Serve with fluffy white rice.
Palak Pulao
Bored of eating dal and chawal everyday! I made this typically wintry green rice with matar and palak. Goodness of the sweet taste every pea brings into a bite, the spice of the aromatics and the freshness of the greens makes this dish a delight on the palette. Does not need any accompaniment. So here is the simple recipe .......
1&1/2 cups of basmati rice, wash drain and keep aside
1 cup of fresh green peas
All the below ingredients to be blended into a smooth paste
10 leaves of spinach roughly chopped
1 small bunch of coriander roughly chopped
A few mint leaves
1/2 tomato roughly chopped
1 inch ginger chopped
4 garlic cloves
3 green chillies
1 onion roughly chopped
Juice of half a lime
Method
In a pressure cooker take some oil, splutter some cumin seeds, add turmeric just a bit for colour, now add the ground paste and saute till it leaves the sides, add the rice, mix a bit, add the peas, water as required so the rice becomes neither too sticky nor too separated, add water keeping in mind the moisture from the paste. Mix well, add salt, cook to 2 whistles and the dish is ready.
Spiced Indian Flat Bread With Raw Papaya
I always get tempted with all the green and fresh vegetables in the market. Now since winter is setting in the vendors have a wide variety of vegetables. What attracted me was the small cute raw papaya sitting in one one of the vendor's baskets!! Bought it, came home and thought of how to use it! I made parathas, one of my experi-mental dishes. Turned out good, worth a share. So here goes my recipe with some tips from my son.
Ingredients
1 small raw papaya peeled and grated
1 small bunch of coriander chopped
A handful of mint leaves roughly chopped
2 grated gooseberries
2 tbspns of crushed chilli
1 tspn of cumin powder
Salt to taste
Some oil
Wheat flour as required
Method
In a mixing bowl or a paraat take all the above mentioned ingredients except the flour, mix well with your hand. Leave it for about 15 minutes to release juices and also the papaya to absorb the spices. Now start adding the wheat flour, keep mixing till you get a nice firm dough. Drizzle with oil, make small balls, roll out the parathas, roast on a pan as shown in the picture, use oil or ghee. They are ready to be served with some home made yogurt, pickle and kadhi.
