Beans Kootu (a South Indian stew made with french beans)

My father had a very good friend, Oak Kaka. My dad and he would address each other as 'Maharaj'.  He was a very jovial person and had the merriest, twinkly grey eyes. He liked cricket as much as my father does and would often join  my father to watch a match.
I absolutely dislike cricket. Never understood the charm of grown up men chasing an itty-bitty ball like madmen.
But the men-folk loved it.
What I liked was, the colorful language that flowed freely. Oak kaka was outspoken in his criticism of any foul by any Indian cricket team member. His voice carried in to the other rooms  and I picked up the new vocabulary, eagerly, like any kid!

When the riots erupted in Mumbai in the '80's,  we all heard horror stories where people were stopped in the middle of the street and asked what religion they belonged to. What would you reply when you are faced with some fanatic, holding a weapon in your face? If you said one religion and he was the other, he'd slice you up, without a moments thought!
Oak kaka was stopped on a street when he was hurrying home, to safety. I only heard bits and pieces, but the gist was, he was yanked out of his cab, a sword was held to his chest and he was asked what religion he followed. Nothing but sheer presence of mind saved him, that day. He stammered out, "Parsi" and was let go. I thought that was brilliant! 

Oak kaka like french beans, They were his favorite veggie. He called it 'furshi'.
When I made this kootu (koot), I thought of him and felt that he would have enjoyed it as much as the simple stir-fry

A couple of months ago, I made a new acquaintance. R, had moved in to our apartment community in the summer and we met through common friends, when out for a morning walk. 

That's one of the things I enjoy on my walks, the crisp cool breeze, the absolutely beautiful mountains on all sides, the clouds hanging low and chatting with friends as we walk.
One day, R called some of us to her home for a small religious function and served us lunch. She made this kootu, which was delicious. I had to get the recipe.
The following week, R showed me how to.

Since then, this is one of our favorite ways of eating french beans. Ladled over piping hot, white rice, it is absolutely lip-smackingly delicious.

You need:

2 cups Beans, chopped
1 Tomato, chopped
1 cup, Toor and Moong Daal, cooked together and mashed
A key lime sized ball of tamarind soaked in 1/4 cup warm water and extract the pulp (discard the solids)
1tbsp Sambar Powder
1 Tbsp Cilantro, chopped ( tender stems ok)

To grind :
1 tbsp Chana daal
1.5 tbsp Coriander seeds
1-3 Dry red chillies ( adjust to suit your tolerance for heat)
1 tbsp Coconut ( fresh, grated) (you can add more, but I don't like it too 'coconutty')
Salt to taste

To Temper
2 tsp Oil
1 tsp Mustard seeds
Pinch Asafetida
Curry leaves


Wash the toor and moong daal in 3-4 changes of water and pressure cook the daals (add twice the amount of water )till soft and mushy.

Wash, de-vein the beans and chop.
Chop the tomato in cubes
In a small pressure cooker, add 2-3 tbsp water at the bottom and then add the beans and tomato.
Pressure cook on high for 2 whistles. Immediately release the pressure.

Till the time the beans cook, start the next prep.

Make the spice paste. In a pan, heat just a couple of drops of oil. Add the chana daal, the coriander seeds and the dry red chilies. Toast till the daal turns light golden , the coriander seeds are aromatic and the chilies turn bright red.

Cool and then grind with the fresh shredded coconut adding a little water to get a smooth paste.

In a deep sauce pan, heat oil for the tempering, Add the chana daal, mustard seeds.

Heat 1 tbsp oil. Add mustard seed, chana daal and curry leaves. Once the mustard seeds pop, the daal bronws (not too dark, please!), add the cooked beans and tomato.

Add Tamarind water and let it come to a boil.

As it comes to a boil, add the sambar podi and mix well to ensure there are no lumps.

Add the cooked and mashed daal. and mix well. 

 Now add it the masala paste (the one that has coconut in it) and cilantro.

One rolling boil and its ready to serve.

 This kootu tastes best with plain white rice. A bit of pickle and papad only make it taste better ( and you over eat!, but in a good way).

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Ragi Masala Dosa

My kitchen has been seeing a lot of activity in January, the blog not so much. I am still in limbo about getting a new camera. Till then I am relying on my iPhone. 

And then I also realized something more this month, when I was reading Nupur's OHS, I have been reading only cookbooks or about baking. I haven't gone through the regular fiction at all, picked up books from a rack and enjoyed reading it at all. 

I have read cook books ( and I do love reading those, no complaints) and getting hooked to Netflix and watching some good and some senseless stuff. 

And I don't want that anymore. I'm going back to good ol' reading. Go back to reading page after page, chapter after chapter an turning pages , smelling the book... okay, that dd not come out right... creepy! 

But, you get the point.

This month I also experimented with baking an egg less cake and I am thrilled that it was a success! I am overcoming that hurdle too. It feels great. 

And after a long time, I made dosas. I really did. We love dosas but the grinding  daal and rice on a small mixie jar is no fun. I take shortcuts, a small one. I soak and grind the daal and just add flour to the daal paste. 

This time around, I used Ragi (Finger Millet) flour. The dosas are perfect. 

You need

1 cup skinned Urad Daal

2 cups Ragi flour ( easily available at the Indian store)

1 tsp Fennugreek seeds

Water as needed

Salt, to taste

Wash thoroughly and soak the Urad Daal, add the fenugreek seeds in plenty of water for 8 hours.

Drain the water and grind the daal to a smooth paste (to ensure a smooth paste, add fresh water as required).

Add the Ragi Flour and mix, adding water as required to get a pancake like batter.

At this stage, those who prefer to add salt to the batter, stir it in, mix well and leave the batter to ferment in a warm place.

If you haven't added salt tot he batter, add it at this stage and give the batter a quick stir, to incorporate. Do not stir too much.

To make dosa, heat a non stick griddle / tawa on medium high.

Take a ladle of batter and pour it in the middle of the tawa.

Applying gentle pressure, from the center, spread the batter in a large circle, to make a thin and even crepe.

Drizzle a scant tsp of oil, butter or ghee around the dosa and let it cook till crisp and brown (in this case, the shade in the picture above, the nutella like shade). Flip and cook on the other side for a minute ( I like my dosa well made- cooked on both sides)

If you are making masala dosa, flip the dosa over again ( because we have cooked it on both sides) add masala bhaji in the middle and roll into a log. If you prefer serving masala on the side, make a triangle ( or a cone- I can never do that) with the dosa and serve with chutney ( or this one or this ) and sambar.

For the MASALA: ( and you can eyeball the ingredients here)

1 large Russet Potato or 3-4 medium Red Potatoes , boiled, peeled and roughly mashed

1 medium Red Onion, quartered and thinly sliced

1 fresh Green Chile

1 dry Red Chile, broken into two

1 tsp. each, Chana Daal and Urad daal

Few Curry Leaves

1 tsp. mustard seeds

1/2 tsp Asafetida/ Hing

1 tsp Turmeric powder

Salt to taste

Cilantro, finely chopped to garnish

A few Cashew nuts (optional)

1/4 cup frozen Green peas, thawed ( optional)

Heat oil in a pan.

Add mustard seeds, Chana and Urad daal.

As the mustard pops and the daals turn a golden brown, add cashew - if using and let it turn a light honey color.

Add the asafetida, chilies, curry leaves and turmeric powder. Add the sliced onion. Mix and cover until the onion is well cooked. adding a dash of salt when cooking the onion will speed up the cooking time. 

Once the onion is cooked, add the green peas and mashed potato. Add salt.

Mix well, cover and let cook for a couple of minutes. 

Take off the heat and garnish with cilantro.

The masala is ready to be stuffed ( or serve on the side) with the dosa.

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Mysore Sambar

This is another recipe I tried from 'Dakshin'. It does not look ezzackly like the picture in the book.. but it sure packs in a punch!

I had never really considered trying out any 'different' versions of sambar, to me sambar is the one you make with MTR Sambar masala and for some time now, I make my own Sambar powder at home. Leafing thru 'Dakshin' , the sheer variety boggled my mind, I didn't even know SO many sambars existed! (Ah, blogging! so much to learn! )

What was different about this sambar (to me) was that it did not taste like the 'typical' sambar ! So those who try this recipe, be prepared for something different, but yes, an explosion of flavor!
This is one thing however, you do not want to combine with idli or dosa, that, is for sure! Tastes great with rice and some ghee drizzled on it (the ghee is again a personal preference)

The recipes in Dakshin, to me, are slightly lengthy in procedure and I like to take a few shortcuts, wherever possible! For example, the recipe calls for boiling the daal in a saucepan till cooked, me, I prefer using my pressure cooker to save time and fuel. Cooking the vegetables in the microwave is faster as well!

3/4 cup Toor Daal
3 cups Water
1 cup Beans chopped
1 Potato peeled and chopped
2 tbsp Green Peas
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
Salt to taste

PASTE
1 tbsp Coriander seeds
1/2 fresh coconut grated
1 tsp. Brown Mustard seeds
1 tbsp uncooked long grain Rice
6 red Chillies
a little water

TEMPERING
2 tsp oil
1 tsp Mustard seeds & Cumin seeds EACH
1 Red Chilli halved
Few curry leaves

Wash the daal in 2-3 changes of water and cook.

Place all the ingredients under PASTE in a blender and grind to a smooth paste. I ground them in my spice grinder and then added water to make a paste. Set aside

Chop the beans and potato in 1 inch pieces. Place in a saucepan, with the peas , add water to just cover the vegetables and cook till tender. Add the daal, turmeric and salt and the ground paste . Simmer gently until well blended
Heat 2 tsp oil , add the mustard seeds, add the cumin seeds, halved red chilli, Curry leaves. When the mustard seeds sputter add this to the sambar. Stir thoroughly. Serve hot with rice.

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