Red lentil puluv

I love cooking with red lentils. They cook really fast and they taste great. This is an easy one pot meal where you mix your dhal, rice and vegetables. It is slightly different from our traditional kichidi which is just dhal and rice for the most part.

Ingredients:
- 1 cup red lentils
- 1 cup rice (If you prefer more dhal then reduce rice to 3/4 cup)
- Mixed vegetables (carrots, beans, peas, potatoes, cauliflower) to suit your taste
- 1 onion thinly sliced
- salt to taste

Seasoning:
- 1 tsp jeera
- 1 tsp fennel seeds (optional)
- small piece of cinnamon stick
- few cloves
- 1 anise seed (I love the smell)
- 1 tsp oil
- few drops of ghee
- 1-2 green chilies (Slit into half)
- 1/4 tsp of ginger

Method:

1. Wash and soak the lentils and rice in water for 10 - 15 minutes. Meanwhile prepare your vegetables. Cut all the vegetables to the same size so they cook easily.
2. In a wide pan pour the oil and ghee. Once it becomes hot add your seasoning ingredients. Wait till they turn slightly brown. Add your ginger and chilies last.
3. Now add the onion. Saute till it becomes slightly limp. Add the rest of vegetables and give them a quick toss.
4. Add the soaked lentils and rice. Mix it all well. Now add water. I start with 2 cups of water. Bring this to a boil and now reduce the stove to a medium heat.
5. Cover and cook for 20 minutes. Do not walk away from this. You might need to add some water if you find the rice to be undercooked. Typically I add a 1/2 cup more water.

Remove from the heat, garnish with cilantro leaves and serve with a few drops of ghee for added flavor.

(Note: You can make this dish using your pressure cooker too)

Sending this lovely recipe to My Legume Love affair - MLA#30 hosted by Priay of Mharo Rajasthan Recipes. The event was started by Susan

Preasure Cooker Baingan Bharta/ Eggplant in a spicy tomato sauce

Most of my readers must be familiar with Beingan Bharta. Eggplants are roasted and smashed and this is blend with a flavorful spicy tomato sauce. I typically use my oven to make this as I have an electric stove. I was browsing this site (she has some awesome recipe) when I came across the recipe where she cooks the eggplant in a pressure cooker. I wanted to try it and it was a great hit in my house.

Ingredients :
- 2 big eggplant (I used the big American eggplant)
- 1 big onion chopped
- 2-3 tomatoes chopped
- 1 tsp chili powder (adjust to taste)
- 1 tsp garam masala

Seasoning
- 1 tsp oil
- 1 tsp jeera

Method
1. Peal the skin from your eggplant. Cut it in half. In a pressure cooker add some water and the eggplant. Cover and cook for 1 whistle.
2. Meanwhile in a pan pour oil and add the jeera. Once it is brown add your onions. Cook till it really shrinks. This takes at least 10 minutes in a slow heat.
3. Now add tomatoes, chili powder and cook till they become very soft. Let it be on a slow heat for at least 15 minutes
4. Now remove the eggplant. Mash it with a fork. As they are cooked in a preasure cooker they mash very easily. Add this to the pan. The longer you cook the better it tastes. I cooked mine for 45 minutes at a very low heat mixing it periodically.

Garnish and serve it hot with rice or better with roti's or Nan

Sending this to Bookmarked Recipe's hosted by Priya and also to Heart and soul.

Navratna Kurma

Yesterday I made navratna kurma to go with chapathi. It is a very rich and tasty side dish. Forget your diet and try this out. You will not be disappointed.

Ingredients

- 2 cup chopped Vegetable (I used cauliflower,peas,carrot,potato)
- 1 onion
- 4 big tomato
- 2 cloves garlic
- small piece ginger
- 1/4 cup cream 
- 1 tbsp garam masala
- 1 tbsp Red chillie powder (Adjust as per taste)
- 1 tsp Cumin seeds
- handful of mixed nuts (I used cashews,almonds and raisins)
- 1/4 cup chopped pineapple
- 1 tbsp oil
- Salt to taste

Method

1.Boil the vegetables in a steamer. The vegetables should be soft and not mushy.
2.Heat oil in a frying pan. Once oil is hot add onion,ginger,garlic. Fry for few minutes and add the tomatoes.
3.Once the tomatoes turns soft cool down the mixture and blend it.
4.In a frying pan add oil. Once the oil is hot add cumin seeds and nuts.
5. When the nuts gets brown add the blended mixture. Let it simmer for few minutes. Add the boiled vegetables and the chopped pineapple.
6. Add garam masala,salt and red chille powder. After it simmers for 5 minutes mix in the cream.
7. Give it a stir and put off the stove after few minutes

Buttery vegi puffs

I absolutely love these vegetable puffs. I used the puff pastry sheets to makes these and they are real easy to put together. The stuffing is really up to you. I made a mixed vegetable stuffing for this. Here is how I made mine.

Ingredients:
- 1 potato boiled and mashed
- 1 cup mixed vegetables chopped into fine pieces. (carrots, corn, peas, beans etc) cooked till the become soft. I used my microwave oven
- 1 tsp garam masala powder
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 1/4 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp chili powder (adjust to taste)
- 1 small piece ginger grated
- 1 tsp oil
- 1 tsp jeera
- 1 pack puff pastry sheets thawed

Method
1. Pre-heat oven to 420F. Remove your puff pastry sheets from the freezer an hour before you plan to make these and thaw them in your refrigerator. If you forget it then defrost the sheets in your microwave oven.
2. In a pan heat oil and add the jeera and turmeric. Add ginger, onions and sauté till the onions become golden brown. Add your garam masala and chili powder salt and mix it well.
3. Now add the cooked vegetables and mashed potato. Turn down the heat and cook till they all blend together. You want your vegetables to be a little bit mushy. Set it aside and let the vegetables cool down a bit.
4. The puff pastry sheets comes as two sheets. When you open them up you should be able to see three sheets in them. Take two of the sheets. Lay one sheet down. Spoon the vegetable through out the sheet leaving some space in the edges. Now top it with the second sheet and press the sides.
5. Cut them to the size you like and press the other two sides together.
6. Spray some cooking oil in a glass baking dish and lay these puffs in a row. Spray some oil on the top and bake it for 20 minutes or till it becomes golden brown turning them over at around 10 minutes .

Serve them hot with ketchup of pickles. Perfect to have it with a hot cup of tea.

It is important to use a glass dish as the metal dish turns the puff brown. Glass dish spreads the heat evenly so it cooks the puff to a beautiful golden brown.

Brown Rice Sambar Sadam

According to about.com Brown rice is simply white rice that has not had the brown-colored bran covering removed. So brown rice is considered a whole grain. One cup of brown rice has 3 1/2 grams of fiber while the same amount of white rice has less than one gram of fiber. Brown rice also contains nutrients like magnesium, manganese, and zinc.

Even after reading and understanding the greatness of brown rice I don't like it too much. I grew up in an Indian household where we ate fluffy soft white rice. For me to give up that and move to brown rice is really hard. So I try all sorts of ways to hide the taste of brown rice. The inspiration for this dish came from Vegi Inspirations and one trick I learnt from her is to soak brown rice for at least 30 minutes before cooking. This makes the rice soft. To enjoy brown rice I convert it to a sambar rice with traditional sambar powder and a some fresh ground masala to top it. With fresh vegetables ( I clear my fridge and add whatever I can find) and the fresh masala this becomes an enjoyable and healthy dinner. For this recipe I used Mahatma Long Grain Brown Rice.



Ingredients:
- 1 cup brown rice
- 1/2 cup moong or thoor dhal (I tried both and they both taste yummy)
- 1 onion chopped
- 2 cup chopped vegetables - You can use any type of vegetables (I have used red pepper, beetroot, sweet potato, tomatoes, Raw tomatoes/tomato kai, boiled black eye peas..)
- 1 cup thick tamrind water
- 1 tsp sambar powder
- Salt to taste

Roast and grind
- 2 tsp channa dhal
- 1 tsp methi seeds
- 2-3 red chili
- 1 tsp fenugreek seeds

Seasoning:
- 1 tspn oil
- 1 tsp methi seeds
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1/4 tsp hing powder
- 2-3 green chilies
- few curry leaves


Method:
1. Soak the rice and dhal for at least 30 minutes. Pressure cook this till it becomes soft. I microwaved this in 5 cups of water and it took me 40 minutes.
2. In a pan pour oil and fry mustard seeds, hing powder and methi seeds. Once the mustard seeds start to splutter and methi seeds turns color add the chillies, curry leaves and onions. Fry till they become soft.
3. Add tomatoes, and the other vegetables. Fry for a few minutes. Now and the tamarind water, sambar powder, turmeric powder and salt. Cook for another 5-8 minutes.
4. Now stir in the cooked rice and dhal and boil this mixture in a low flame for 15 minutes. Brown rice is very thick so it takes time for it to cook and mix well.
6. Add the ground masala mixture to this and mix it well. Cook for another 2-3 minutes and it should be perfect to serve.

Note: I liked the addition of beetroot and sweet potato as it gives the rice a unique color and flavor. If you don't like this combination you can stick to vegetables like eggplant, okra, peas tomatoes and radish. This is optional but you can add a teaspoon of brown sugar to the dish. It makes the rice spicy, sweet and sour at the same time.

This is my addition to show me your whole grain hosted by Dil Se

Masala Bun

This is a nice spicy bun that is perfect for a rainy day. Inspiration for this bun came from here. Switched the recipe a bit to make it more whole wheat thus making it healthy. This is not your typical melt in your mouth white bun. Because of the wheat flour it definitely has a bit to it but it still tastes really good.



Ingredients for bun:
- 1 cup whole wheat Flour
- 1/2 cup bread flour (All purpose should work too)
- 1/2 tsp oil
- 2 tsp Bread Machine Yeast
- 1 tsp sugar
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup warm water - Use more if the dough is not sticky
- 1/4 cup warm Milk
- 1 tbsp flax seeds or sunflower seeds

For stuffing:
- 2 cups of mixed vegetables finely chopped. I used carrots, beetroot, cauliflower, peas, beans and onions.
- 1 boiled potato
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp oil

Method for the bun:
1. Mix all the ingredients together to form a sticky dough. I used bread machine yeast so I was able to skip the proofing of the yeast. Once you get the dough dust more flour on a flat surface and start kneading the bread. You will need to do this for at least 8-10 minutes.
2. Now grease a bowl (make sure the bowl is at least double the size of the dough) and place the soft kneaded dough in it and set it to rise. It should double in size.

Method for stuffing:
1. In a pan add oil and onions. Once it is translucent add the remaining vegetables, salt, chili powder and cumin powder.
2. Cook till the vegetables become soft. Do not add too much water as we need a dry stuffing.
3. Mash in the potato. Mix them all together and let it cool. You can add other masala according to your taste.

Putting it together:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degree F. Punch down the dough and make golf size balls. Make small balls of the vegetable mixture too.
2. Now spread the dough and place the vegetable ball in the center. Pinch the ends together and roll them to form a ball with the stuffing inside. Make sure the stuffing does not ooze out.
3. Flatten them slightly and brush it with water. Sprinkle the flax seeds or sunflower seeds.
4. Line them up in a cookie sheet and let it rise for another 30 to 50 minutes. Because of the wheat flour it will not rise too much but it should still become bigger then the original size.
5. Now bake them in the oven for 15 minutes. Keep checking to make sure it is golden brown. Mine is an old oven so it takes a little bit longer.
6. Cool it and serve it hot with ketchup.

It is a nice variation to the normal white bun.

Off this goes to the Bake-off event at Versatile Kitchen

Avial

Ingredients:
- 4 cups mixed vegetables chopped into 2 inch pieces
(Some of the vegi we add are ash gourd, snake gourd, potatoes, carrots, beans, valakai(plantain), eggplant/bringal, chow-chow, unripe mango (mankai))
- 1 cup butter milk/ curds
- pich of turmeric
- salt to taste
- 1 tblspn coconut oil (optional)

Grind to paste:
- 1/2 cup shredded coconut
- 1 tspn jeera
- 1 tspn rice flour
- small lemon size tamarind softened
- 3 Green chili
- 2 red chili

Method:
1. In a deep vessel add all the vegetables with salt and turmeric. Boil them till they become tender.
2. Add the ground mixture. Let it boil for a few minutes.
3. Finally add the butter milk/curd. If you need it to be like kulumbu add buttermilk. But if you need it to be like kootu then add curds. Add curry leaves and coconut oil. Simmer it for a few minutes. Make sure it does not boil too much else the buttermilk will start to curdle.

Poritcha Koottu

Toor (or) Thoor dhal or Pigeon pea is a legume that is used widely in Indian cooking. In my culture we start our lunch with hot rice mixed in with cooked toor dhal and ghee. To know more about this wonderful legume click here.

This is a simple recipe where vegetables are cooked in a freshly ground spice mixture and mixed in with toor dhal to create a complete nutritional wonder. We typically serve this kootu with hot rice.



Ingredients
- 2 cups of mixed vegetables (carrots, Peas, potatoes, beans, brinjal, tomatoes) cut into bite size pieces
- 1 cup spinach chopped finely
- 3/4 cup cooked thoor dhal/Pigeon pea
- 1/4 teaspoon Turmeric
- pinch of hing

Roast in a dry pan and grid to a fine powder:
- 1 tbsp urad dhal
- 2-4 red chillies
- 2 teaspoon jeera
- 2 teaspn pepercorns

Seasoning:
- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 tsp jeera
- few curry leaves


Method:
1. Boil 3 cups of water and add the ground powder. Add hing, turmeric and salt to it. Let it boil for 2- 3 minutes. This will get rid of the raw smell.
2. Now add the hard vegetable like potatoes,carrots and beans. Once they are half cooked add the rest of vegetables and cook until all the vegetables are tender.
3. Once the vegetables are done add thoor dhal and let it boil for 3-4 minutes at medium heat.
4. Now heat oil in a separate pan, add the mustard seeds and let it splutter. Add jeera and the hing powder. Fry till they turn brown. Finally add curry leaves and immediately add to the boiling koottu.




This recipe finds its way to my legume love affair hosted by mirch masala