Chatni Pudi and Upma

The typical Indian dinner table is incomplete without it's usual set of pickles and  chutneys.

At my Mother's, we have a  small tray on which she arranges bottles of pickles and small containers like these (usually for Ghee) or these (for chutney) and is carried to the dining table for every meal (in my case, I prefer to leave it on the table to save that extra- read unnecessary, effort).
My Mother makes this awesome chutney. My Mother also makes awesome upma. The combination of Upma and Chutney (Mom made) is awesome... getting kinda repetitive, isn't it? But it is.... awesome. Honestly! 

This chutney poodi/podi/pudi (call it what you will) is a recipe handed down from Mother-in-law to Daughter-in-law.

I always referred  to the chutney as  'Bijapur' chutney. Mom almost always had a big bottle (complan/ horlicks bottles, now empty, washed and dried without a trace of the previous occupant) sitting on the shelf and would take out a few spoons in a small bowl or a container ( and sometimes a 'vati') and keep it on the dinner table. We would  help ourselves, sometimes adding perhaps a spoon of yogurt or just smearing it on the inner side of a phulka (which was already generously smeared with ghee), rolling it like a cigar to eat it or, mixing it with yogurt rice. But to me, the best combination was with either poha or upma. A small spoon of the chutney would liven up snack.

250 gms (approx 1 cup + 1tbs) Roasted Gram/ Daliya /Phutane/ DaaL ( the one used in Chivda)

1 cup Sesame / Til

2 cup grated  Dry Coconut

3/4 cup Jeere

100 gms (approx. 7 tbs)  *Byadagi Mirchi (dry red chiles)

Handful Curry leaves

1 tsp Asafetida
Salt

(*Byadagi is a variety of dry red chile)

Roast Sesame and keep it aside.

Roast grated coconut keep it aside

Roast jeera thereafter keep it aside

Add some oil to the frypan to fry the curry leaves
In the same oil(unless you added a few drops and it was consumed for the curry leaves) fry Byadagi Mirchi pieces.
Cool the mixture

Put everything together and the roasted gram (daliya)and salt and asafetida and grind it. 
Chatani is ready to serve.

For Upma: (serves 4)

1 cup Rava/ Coarse Sooji / Farina 
1/2 medium sized Onion, chopped (optional)
2-3 Green Chiles (+/- to taste)
Few curry leaves
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
1 tsp. Cumin Seeds
1 tsp Chana Daal
1 tsp Urid Daal
1/2 cup Yogurt
3 cups Water
1 tsp grated Ginger
Salt to taste
2 tsp Sugar
2 tbs Oil
2 tbs Ghee
Chopped Cilantro ( about 2 tbsp ) to garnish


Heat Oil in a wok / kadhai
Add the mustard seeds, chana daal and urid daal. The mustard seeds will pop and the daals will turn a nice golden brown.
Sprinkle with cumin seeds
Add asafetida, chopped green chiles and curry leaves
Add the chopped onion, cover and cook till the onion is translucent and thoroughly cooked.
Add 1/2 cup water to the yogurt and whisk. 
Once the onion is cooked, add the water, the yogurt
Add salt and sugar and bring all this to a vigorous boil
Reduce heat and slowly add the rava, stirring and mixing constantly to prevent lumps
cover and cook on medium heat until the water has evaporated 
Add the ghee ( I add it along the sides of the kadhai/ wok and then mix it in)
Cover and cook for 2-3 mins
Garnish with cilantro and serve with some chutney on the side.

Spicy Dosa + Easy Chutney and Memories of Nimona

Hello All! It's been a while since I posted anything. I was in a semi-comatose state.. kinda. The new year did not start off as well as I hoped it would, what with all of us down with bad colds and temperatures, our home was a nest of grumpy bears!

The grumpiness continues, an occasional sniffle, headache..YUCK!

My brain went into a deep freeze and I just could not come out of the lethargic state.

Things did look up over the weekend, we visited my childhood friend. A warm welcome, loads of memories and good food.
Remember 'Nimona' that I mentioned here, well, I finally got a taste of it, after all these years!

Vandana & I go back to our school days. We lived in the same colony (office quarters) and were in the same school and would walk back home after school , often sharing a chana-shengdana pudi (roasted salty peanuts and chickpeas served in a paper cone by a street side vendor) and gossiping the way teens will. I was always at home with her family and I adore her Mother. Kind, humorous and above all a sterling cook! She can weave magic into food. There was always an extra plate laid out for me and she piled food lovingly and smiled at the obvious satisfaction I derived with every bite ! It was no wonder I overate every single time.

No surprise that I wanted Nimona when I visited Vandu.

Now a busy career woman and a mother, she has but little time and Vandu has an easier and quicker version ( the version I have tasted is a very elaborate method and hence time consuming) told to her by her cousin ( Ms. Sarika Singh).

Nimona simmering in the pot

To make Nimona:

2 Cups Green Peas

1 Med. size Onion

1 med. Potato ( peeled and cubed)

3-4 Green chile's ( Thai or Serrano)

10-12 Peppercorns

1 inch Ginger

1 tsp. Cumin Seeds

1 tsp Garam Masala

1 tsp. Dhania / coriander Powder

Oil

Salt to taste

Grind the peas , set aside ( you can puree the peas to a smooth paste or leave them a little chunky)
Peel and cube the potato and immerse in cold water till you need to use it
Heat oil ( this is the important part- in case you noticed, I have not mentioned quantity of oil in the ingredient list), don't skimp on this, pour oil generously, enough to ensure that the bottom of the pot / sauce pan you use is coated with oil
Add the pureed peas and cook for 30 mins. on medium- high heat, stirring intermittently
Once the peas are done, remove and set aside. In the same pan add a dash of oil (the peas would have soaked up the oil), add onion and cook till brown and cooked
Cool the onions and puree
In a mortar-pestle pound the peppercorns, chile's, cumin and ginger
Transfer the pounded spice paste to a bowl, add coriander powder, garam masala and 1/2 cup water.
Using the same pot/ pan and adding a tbs. or so of oil, add the spice slurry
As the spice cooks and the aroma wafts , add the potato and cook till tender, add onion and peas puree, add salt to taste
Cover and cook till the mix comes to a rolling boil

Serve with roti/ paratha/ poori/ Jeera rice

After tucking into large quantities of Nimona I got into a sort of state one sees in a well fed python after its mid day meal. :)

And to go on from Benaras to South of India where the much loved dosa makes a great breakfast. And when you do not have dosa batter fermenting, you make an instant (well almost) dosa.
I made Kara Dosai or simply put, Spicy Dosa and paired it with the simplest possible chutney, the kind you get in Udipi restaurants in Mumbai.
I love that chutney and my Mother-in-law taught me this version when she visited us last.
Her version is simpler than the restaurant one and IMHO, tastier!

For the Dosai: 1 cup long grained rice

1/2 cup Toor Daal

3 cups Water

1/2 Coconut, grated or 1/2 cup flaked coconut

6 Red chile's

1/2 tsp. Asafetida powder

Salt to taste Oil for making Dosa

Water ( a little extra)

Soak Rice and Daal in 3 cups water for 2 hours
Drain completely
Grind rice-daal , coconut, red chiles, asafetida and salt and grind to a fine paste, adding water IF required
Heat a griddle / tava
Pour /ladle about 1/4 cup batter and working quickly, spread the batter with the back of a serving spoon into a circle.
Increase heat and cook for a couple of mins. till the side is golden brown.
Flip and cook on the other side for a minute ( most people cook the dosa on one side only, I
prefer cooking it on both sides)
Serve hot with chutney

And now for the super quick, super easy and super tasty chutney!

All u need is
Dalia ( Roasted split Bengal Gram gram )

Green chiles

a couple springs of Cilantro

Salt to taste

Ginger

Yogurt (optional)

The beauty of this chutney is you can eyeball the ingredients! It is a very forgiving recipe.
I usually start with 1 cup Dalia, 3-4 green chiles ( you can reduce or increase the number of chiles to suit your preference, since I have wimpy taste buds, I keep it to about 3), 2 sprigs of Cilantro, 1 to 1 1/2 inch Ginger piece, salt and 1 tbsp. Yogurt ( I add this to give the chutney a nice texture, but it is optional)
Add 1/2 cup (or more) of water and grind to a fine paste.
DONE!
Almost, you need to add the tempering.

1 tbs oil
1 tsp. EACH Mustard and Cumin seeds
1 tsp Urad daal
1 Tsp Chana Daal
1 red chile halved
1/4 tsp Asafetida
a few curry leaves

Heat oil, add the urad daal, chana daal and mustard seeds
After the mustard seeds pop,lower the heat, add the cumin and asafetida, curry leaves and the halved red chile.
Pour the tempring over the chutney, stir and serve with Dosa (or idli)

* Note: I have often used only Mustard seeds and asafetida for the tempering ( heat oil, add mustard seeds, after they pop, switch off the heat, sprinkle with asafetida) and add to chutney. When pressed for time or you do not have certain ingredients on hand, this works well.

The restaurant version uses fresh coconut,however since the Hubby has a psychological allergy to coconut, I make this version and we both love it!

Whew! This is a long post. But it feels great to be back on the blogging scene, shaking off the lethargy. I hope I can keep it that way! ;)

Moong Chana Nu Daal

When it comes down to the absolute basics, there is nothing like Daal- Chawal (rice) and the glow of comfort it spreads.

On many evenings we make a full dinner of just that and call it a night. Wholesome daal provides protein and rice, just completes the meal.

When possible however, I like to bring in a small variation to the daal. A few ago, when I was ( and still am) hooked to 660 Curries, I made this dazzling daal and since then, this is a regular on the dinner table at least once a week, usually on a Thursday night when M comes home.

What attracted me to this daal is that it is a Gujarati preparation and that is by itself a testimonial. Also that it uses Moong and Chana daal, my new favorites.

Gujarati food is full of tantalizing flavors that combine hot and sweet at the same time. In my college days we would often go to a friend, who was a Gujuben (as we fondly called her) and beg of 'Maharaj' (the chef) to cook up something. He would make daal - rice & soft muslin-cloth-thin rotlis (roti/ bread) smeared generously with ghee and shaak (vegetable).

A simple meal but Maharaj had magic in his fingers, it seemed that he only had to touch an ingredient to make it tasty. The ghee tadka (tempering) for the daal would sizzle and perfume the kitchen and dining area and 10 girls, hungry as hunters would jostle one another to wash their hands and rush to the dining table. We would watch with admiration as he rolled one rotli after another, pace never varying, his hands working in perfect unison as he rolled, roasted and smeared ghee, it was like music, flowing , harmonious and above all satisfying.

This daal made me think of Maharaj and how perfect this recipe is, it was like I had some magic in my fingers... the ingredients are simple , the process uncomplicated and the taste - SUPERB!

My Mother also made this recipe ( I dictated the entire thing over the phone, thanks to Vonage World calling plan!) and urged her to try it ASAP. My Father who is a Gujarati food fan fell in love with the daal !

Source: 660 Curries

You Need:

1/2 Cup Moong Daal

1/4 Cup Chana Daal

2 Tbs Ghee (or oil)*

*Ghee is a preferable option

1Tsp Mustard seeds

1 1/2 tsp Salt

1 Tsp Cayenne

1/2 tsp Asafetida

1/2 tsp Turmeric

1 can (14.5 oz) Diced Tomatoes

1/4 Cup crumbled /chopped Jaggery or packed brown sugar

1/4 cup chopped fresh Cilantro

10-15 Fresh Curry leaves

Wash the lentils in 3-4 changes of water. Pressure cook the lentils until they are soft ( Iyer mentions the stove top method for cooking the lentils which take about 35-40 mins, however I speed up my work and like the zero attendance method,by using the pressure cooker)

While the lentils are cooking ( in my case, while the pressure is subsiding), heat ghee in a skillet.

Add mustard seeds, after the mustard seeds have popped, remove the skillet from heat and sprinkle with Cumin seeds, salt, cayenne, asafetida and turmeric. The spices will instantly sizzle and smell aromatic. Immediately add the tomatoes with the juices, jaggery, cilantro and curry leaves.

Return the skillet to medium-high heat and simmer uncovered stirring occasionally, until ghee separates ( about 5 min)

When the legumes are cooked, coarsely mash the lentils and some of the peas with the back of the spoon and create a creamy yellow base for the curry.

Stir the sauce, cover the pan and reduce the heat to medium. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the seasonings permeate the curry (5 mins). Serve hot.

This curry tastes great with rotlis as well.

I keep the curry chunky. Usually I puree half of the cooked daal with an immersion blender and keep the rest as is to yield a thick curry, this is a personal preference, I like biting into daal.

Wishing all readers a HAPPY and SPLENDID NEW YEAR!!!! See you then!

Mishti Doi

"And what are you making for dessert?" I asked

"Sweet curd" she said.

"Adding yogurt culture to sweet milk ?" I asked

" Nah re! like mishti doi, the Bengali sweet you know" she said

My mind flew back to nearly 4 years ago when M and I were in Kolkata and how we had devoured mishti doi everyday, wishing we had some more!

I greedily asked if she know how to make it and I was rewarded not just with the recipe, but the real thing too!

A couple of weeks ago, Prajakta and Rucha, two of my friends dropped in at home and Rucha had this bag in her hand that she plonked on my dining table and smiled as she opened it.

It was sweet curd or mishti doi as I like to call it.

Call it what you will, this simple dessert is rich, creamy and delicious and satisfying. It reminded me of the misti doi in Kolkata and also faintly of the shrikhand my father makes.

The fact that it takes minutes to make just adds to its other merits.

Many moons ago, Prajakta got this recipe from a Bong friend and it has been passed on to many by word -of- mouth and having once tasted it, I can vouch for its popularity and can only regret that I did not know of it earlier.

Rucha's pyrex bowl reminded me that I had to return it and more importantly, make a batch of mishti doi for M ( he was not at home that day). So this weekend I made my first bowl of mishti doi and it was M who, on tasting the first creamy spoonful said," this one is for the blog!"

Here's how I made it:

1 can Evaporated Milk

1 can Sweetened Condensed milk

Yogurt (as per Prajakta, use a can - evaporated milk canful of yogurt)*

Kesari milk masala powder or

Cardamom powder or

crushed nuts of your choice to garnish

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

In a bowl mix the Evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, yogurt ( * I used about 4 tbsp. of thick home made yogurt) (edited to add: I used less yogurt only because I had a little on hand, but I do recommend you use the suggested quantity of 1 evaporated can full of yogurt)

Whisk it together till all three are well blended (I used my hand-held mixer)

Garnish with topping of choice ( I used the milk masala)

Cover the bowl tightly with aluminium foil

Place in the preheated oven and bake for 30 mins.

Switch off the oven and leave the bowl in it for about 5-6 hours

Remove the bowl from the oven and keep in the refrigerator

Serve chilled

Thank you, Prajakta and Rucha!

Lemon Rasam

Ooooh! the evenings are cold! At least for me. And what better reason to make some *hot*rasam and sip and imagine a howling wind and rattling window panes, steady snowfall piling up to create a white world.

If you have a vivid imagination like I do, you might be sniffling and shivering and probably have the fire place going and when in reality it is about 60-63 F [and to create a bit of drama... 50-55 F outside ( and that is, in the dead of the night) and NO snowfall and the windows are holding strong. Not that, that isn't cold enough for me!]

But it feels oh-so-good to hold a steaming cup and inhale the spicy-lemony flavor.

Taking a tentative sip, I know this is what the doctor recommended!

The heat coming from the ground peppercorns and the grated ginger, the lemony zing will make you wiggle your toes and dip the spoon in the bowl immediately. You can have this with rice, but I love to sip it like a soup.

Source: Dakshin (Chandra Padmanabhan)

1/4 cup Toor Daal

1 cup Water

1 inch piece Ginger, peeled and grated

4 Green Chiles ( or to taste)

1/2 tsp Cumin seeds

3/4 tsp Black Peppercorn

1 1/2 cup Water, extra

2 Tomatoes , quartered

1/2 tsp Turmeric

Salt to taste

Juice of 1 Lemon

Cilantro to garnish

Tempering:

2 tsp Ghee

1 tsp Asafetida

1 Red Chile halved

Few Curry Leaves

Pressure cook the Toor daal and using a blender/ hand-held blender, blend until smooth

Grind the green chiles and ginger to a paste ( I prefer to grate the ginger and chop the chile and leave it at that)

Using a spice grinder (or as in my case a coffee grinder) grind the cumin and peppercorns to a fine powder

Place the daal in a heavy saucepan. Add 1 1/2 cup(extra) water, quartered tomatoes, ground turmeric, salt to taste, ginger-chile paste. Slowly bring to a boil

Heat 2 tsp ghee.

Add mustard seeds, asafetida, halved red chile, curry leaves and pepper cumin powder

When the mustard seeds sputter, add this to the rasam

Turn off the heat and add Lemon juice

Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve hot (with rice)

Bhaja Moong Palak or Toasted Green Lentils with Spinach

As a child, whenever we went to a restaurant for dinner, we ordered the same thing, every time, Aloo Palak, Chana Masala. My parents are EXTREMELY tolerant folks, they ate the same thing, even if their taste buds screamed for a change. I don't remember when I actually sampled something new, probably at a wedding, probably at a friends, but finally, I did discover that there are different types of Punjabi curries and just as delicious as Aloo Palak, Chana Masala.

Every bite of this tasty curry made me wish my parents were here with us to share this simple yet absolutely and delightfully tasty curry with its roots in Bengali cuisine.

These days when ever I find a bit of time, I curl up with Raghavan Iyer's 660 Curries.The book constantly fascinates me! I love the recipes and long to try all of them (the vegetarian ones).

Raghavan Iyer says,

Bengalis refer to 'toasted' or 'roasted' as bhaja. The process of toasting split green lentils in a dry pan not only creates a nutty flavor but also keeps the firm shape of the legume intact, no matter how long it cooks- certainly not the case of its untoasted counterpart, which breaks down to a mushy consistency very quickly. The spinach makes this dish colorful, but if you would like a slightly more bitter flavor - and a higher dose of iron -use mustard greens or kale instead.

Source :660 curries

Makes 4 cups

1 Cup Skinned green lentils/ Moong Daal

1/4 tsp. Turmeric

8 ounces Fresh Baby Spinach, well rinsed

1 tbsp. Canola oil

1 tsp. Fennel seeds (saunf)

1/2 tsp. Whole Cloves

2-4 dried red Thai or Cayenne chiles to taste

1 1/2 tsp. Salt

1 tsp. Sugar

1 tbsp. Ghee

Heat a medium size saucepan over medium -high heat.

Add the lentils and toast them, stirring constantly, until they are reddish brown and nutty- smelling, 5-8 mins.

Gently pour in 3 cups of water, stirring vigorously to break any clumps that form. The water will immediately boil because of the heat of the pan. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover the pan and simmer, stirring occasionally , until the lentils are firm-tender, 15-20 mins.

Pile the spinach in to the pan, cover it and let the steam wilt the greens, 5-8 mins.

While the greens are wilting, heat the oil in a small skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle in the fennel seeds, cloves and chiles and cook until they sizzle and are aromatic 10-15 secs. Remove the skillet from heat.

When the spinach has wilted, pour the contents of the skillet into the pan. Add salt and sugar.

Continue to simmer the curry, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the flavors mingle,5-8 mins.

Stir in Ghee and serve.

This goes to Sra of 'When my soup came alive' who is hosting MLLA(My Legume Love Affair)-17, started by Susan of the famous 'The Well Seasoned Cook'

Hari Matar Paratha- Green Peas Paratha

Lisa groaned inwardly as the waiter set down my order on the table. As soon as he went she said, "please, promise me you will behave", I wrinkled my nose and uttered a "hummph" and turned and gazed sternly at the plate in front of me, "peas.....pheas, with a world FULL of a zillion vegetables, all they can find are pheas ". "Please", she beseechingly said. " Fine.... Only because you want me to". I did behave, I neatly lined the peas on the edge of the plate and ate the rest.

That roughly and mildly put, summed up my dislike for peas.

The only side dish I could eat with peas was 'Nimona,' at least, I think that is the name. I had eaten this at a dear friends' ages ago, her bhabhi (sister-in-law) is a fabulous cook and had transformed blah! peas into something spectacular. I am still waiting for Vandu to get the recipe from Bhabhi so I can make it.

I am not sure when I actually started eating peas, but it was because of blogging, that much I am sure of. My dislike came down a few notches and now I can eat peas, sometimes liking them.

I picked up Yamuna Devi's 'Lord Krishna's Cuisine' from the library sometime around Dec '08 with the general idea of using it to prepare food without onion and garlic for my visiting in-laws. One of the bookmarked recipes was Green Peas Paratha.

The filling is very tasty indeed! The natural sweetness of peas combined with a hint of jaggery and the gentle heat from the green chilies with a hint of lime make every bite enjoyable.

Source: Lord Krishna's Cuisine- Yamuna Devi

For the bread/ cover:
4 cups Chapati Flour
1/2tbs Salt
1/2 cup melted Ghee
1 1/3 cup warm water or as needed

For the Filling

2 tbs Oil

1 tbs finely scraped and shredded Ginger

1-3 minced hot Green Chiles ( +/- as needed)

1/4 tsp Asafetida

2 1/2 cups coarsely mashed cooked Peas

2 tsp Garam Masala

1/4 tsp cayenne

1 1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp Lime juice

2 tsp Jaggery or maple sugar

3 tbs finely chopped Cilantro

Ghee / oil for cooking

Mix the Flour and salt in a bowl.

Drizzle in the melted butter ot ghee and rub it in the flour.

Add water slowly and make a medium stiff dough.

For the filling,heat oil in a large frying pan. Toss in the ginger and chiles.

Fry until the ginger starts to brown, add the asafetida.

A few seconds later add the peas.

Add the remaining ingredients and stirfry for about 2 mins.

Remove fom heat. Divide into 10 equal portions. Let it come to room temp. before making the paratha.

Roll out a portion of the dough. Spoon in the peas mixture.

Pull up the edges of the dough and seal

Flatten and dust with flour. Roll out a paratha.

Heat a griddle , brush with ghee/oil , carefully place the rolled paratha on the griddle, drizzle 1 tsp ghee around the edges and cook until the paratha has developed reddish brown spots. Similarly cook on the other side

Serve hot.

Notes:

I did not use 1/2 cup ghee to make the dough, just a small drizzle.

If you do not have jaggery, substitute it with dark brown sugar

If the above method of making/ rolling parathas is not your thing, specially if you feel the filling will come out, try Musical's way of layering the filling. Works just fine!