Massor Dhal with Methi Sprouts

I am suddenly becoming a big fan of sprouting. It is such a easy and simple thing to do and in all my research it seems to be one of the best ways to consume these grains. Typically I soak the grain overnight. I drain and wash the soaked grain few times. I then keep these soaked grains in a strainer covered with a moist paper towel, with a vessel beneath to catch any excess water. I keep this in a dark place and the grains start to sprout overnight. Now once they sprout I store them in a airtight container in my fridge. Now I have sprouted grains to use throughout the week for my cooking.

So recently I sprouted a bunch of Methi seeds. They sprout very well and once you sprout them they tend to loose their bitter taste. I made a simple dhal using these methi sprouts

Ingredients:
- 1 cup massor dhal
- 1/2 cup toor dhal
- 2 tomatoes chopped finely
- 2 tbsp sprouted Methi. If the Methi is not sprouted then you might want to use 1/4 tsp
- 1 tsp jeera
- 1 green chili slited
- salt to taste
- 1 tsp oil

Method:
1. Soak your dhal for atleast an hour. Microwave it for 10 minutes removing it frequently in between and giving it a stir.
2. In a seperate tawa add oil and jeera. Once it starts to splutter add the chopped chili and tomatoes. Cook until this turns to a mushy consistency. Add salt.
3. Add the sprouted Methi seeds and cook for a minute. Add this to your cooked dhal and microwave it again for 4 minutes. If you feel it is a little dry add 1/4th cup of water.

Serve it hot with roti or rice. With the addition of Methi seeds this becomes one healthy dish.

This one finds its way to Think -Spice - Think Fenugreek hosted by Priya Mitharwal and originally started by Sunitha.
I am also sending this to Priya's Easy N Tasty - Let's sprout event.

Our First Award

We are so thrilled to recieve this first award from Priya(Yallapantula) Mitharwal of Mharo Rajasthan's Recipes. Thank you so much for the award and all the wonderful comments. We are grateful and honored to receive this award.

Now seven things about us -
1. We both never in our wildest dream thought about starting any kind of blog.  But now we are so lucky to have it grow in its own steady pace.
2. We love travelling to exotic places like (Alaska :-) although we never seem to get time to do this.
3. We have very different likes and dislikes in food but blogging has made us try various cuisine.
4. We chat for hours when we call each other.
5.  We love baking.
6.  We used to fight a lot for clothes when we were young. :-)
7. We both have kids about the same age so it is always fun to visit each other and cook and enjoy together.

I would like to pass on the award to 10 fellow bloggers

1. Satya
2. Usha
3. Srivalli
4. Madhuram
5. Sangeejeeta
6. Mahima
7. Srividhya
8. Kitchen Queen
9. Jagruti
10. Sanyukta

Milagu Kulambu

We make different type of kulambu as a side dish for rice. We make Vetha kulambu atleast once a week. This weekend in our local Tamil Channel I saw a program called Aaha Enna Rusi,a cookery show . In that they showed how to make a spicy milagu kulambu.  It is a very simple recipe. This recipe needs lots of oil, so don't skimp on the oil. The original recipe had some onions and garlic. I skipped those and made it plain. Try this out if you really love spicy dish. The milagu kulambu with hot rice and parrupu thogayal is a perfect combination.

Ingredients

- 10 tbsp oil
- 1 tsp Mustard
- 1 tbsp Channa dhal
- 1/2 tbsp Uradh dhal
- 1/4 tsp Fenugreek seeds
- 1 tbsp Pepper
- 10 curry leaves
-  2-3 Red chillie
- 1 tbsp Red chillie powder
- 1 tbsp Pepper powder
- 1/4 tsp Turmeric
- 1 Big Lemon Size Tamarind (Soak in hot water)

 Method

1. Heat oil in a frying pan. Once its hot add mustard seeds, chana dhal, uradh dhal, fenugreek seeds, pepper and red chillie
2 Once it splutters add the curry leaves.
3. Take the tamarind extract. Add it to the frying pan. Now add in red chillie powder, turmeric, pepper powder
3. Let this mixture boil for 15- 20 min or until the kulambu becomes thick. Turn off heat

Serve it with hot rice

This one finds its way to Think -Spice - Think Fenugreek hosted by Priya Mitharwal and originally started by Sunitha.

Misal

I first tasted Misal when I went to dinner to my cousin's house.  I have never tasted Misal before and I really loved this dish. I wanted to try it out for a long time but never got to cook it. After making my sprouts pulav, I had some sprouted moth beans left. I was tempted to make this dish with that. So I researched the internet and found lot of good recipes. Finally I came up with my own simple recipe. This is not the traditional way of doing Misal but we all still loved the dish. It was a wholesome and delicious food. This is also a very healthy dish.

Kolhapuri Masala Ingredients

- 11/2 tbsp Coriander seeds
- 1 tbsp Jeera
- 1 tsp Sesame seeds
- 1/2 tsp Pepper
-  4-5 Cloves
- 1/2 inch Cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp Fennel seeds

1. Dry fry the above spices in a pan. Once the spices turn brown remove from heat
2. Cool it down and grind the spices to a fine powder


Misal Ingredients

- 2 onions
- 1/2 cup coriander
- 1/4 cup frozen coconut
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 handful peanut
- 3 cup sprouts
- 5-6 potato
- 1 -2 tbps Jaggery/ Brown sugar
- 1 tsp tamarind paste

For Tempering

- 1 tsp mustard
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1/4 tsp hing
-  2 tsp oil

1. Pressure cook the sprouts moth beans and potato.
2. In a pan add a tsp of oil. Add onion, garlic cloves and fry until the onions turns  brown.
3. Add coconut and coriander and fry for few minutes
4. Once it cools down grind this mixture in the blender to a smooth paste.
5. Add oil to the pan and once its hot add mustard,cumin,hing. Once it splutters add peanuts and fry until the peanuts becomes brown. 
6. Add the paste to the pan and fry it for few minutes until the oil separates from the paste. Add the Kolhapuri masala, red chillie powder and salt.
7. Now add the cooked sprouts and potato mixture. You can add water if the gravy is thick. Let it simmer in heat for 10 -15 min
8. Mix in tamarind paste and jaggery and simmer for few more minutes. 

To Serve

Take a bowl and add misal. Drizzle yogurt on top of it. Add chopped onion,tomato and farsan/sev/bhel mix/crushed potato chips and serve it with pav or white bread.

I am sending this to Priya's Easy N Tasty - Let's sprout event.

Watermelon and cherry juice

The last few days have been HOT. So I am trying to come up with juices and cold salads to make the heat bearable. We had quite a lot of cherries and a huge watermelon sitting in our counter top. I ended up creating this for our mid day snack. It was simple to put together and was quite refreshing.

Ingredients:
- 5 cups of watermelon
- 30 cherries pitted (Keep a few aside for garnish)
- 1 inch ginger
- juice of 1 lemon (adjust to taste)
- 1 tbsp mint leaves chopped (Optional)


Method:
Add all the ingredients to a blender and blend them until they become smooth. Strain it if you want it like a juice but if you like it pulpy you can skip that step. As my watermelon was very sweet I did not have to add additional sugar.

Serve it chilled.

Sago Vadam (Javarisi Vadam)

Texas gets very hot during summer and the heat reminds me of the days when my mom used to make vadam. Me and my sister used sit upstairs and chase the crows from eating the vadam. Once its a little dry we will be eating the vadam as it is. This year my in-laws are here and my MIL was tempted to try out vadams. She started with the easy one Javarisi (Sago in English) vadam. It was a very easy recipe.

Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Javarisi/sabudana
- 2 Green chili
- 1 tbsp Lemon juice
- 1/4 tsp Asafoetida powder
- Salt – as per taste

Method

1.Soak javarisi overnight in 2 cups of water. In a pan boil two cups of water and add javarisi and boil it in low flame. Grind the green chili,asafoetida, salt.
2. Add it to the boiling javarisi. Cook till the javarisi turns transparent or glassy.
3. The mixture will be semi-liquid. Once it cools down it will become a little thick
4. Take a tablespoon of the mixture and put it in a plastic sheet or ziploc
5. Keep it in direct sunlight for two days. After the first day turn the side and let it dry.
6.Once its dry you will be able to remove it easily from the sheet
7. Now the vadams are ready to be deep-fried.
8. Deep fry in oil and enjoy it as a snack.

Sending this one to CWS-Sago Seeds hosted by Kitchen Samraj originally started by Priya.

Gazpacho

 

This months AWED is featuring Spain. I personally love this event. It gives us bloggers an opportunity to try something that is different and not in our comfort zone. When Spain was announced I decided on Gazpacho which is a cold tomato soup. It originates from Andalucía in southern Spain. There are so many different recipe for Gazpacho and I kind of mixed a bunch to make my own. I was not too particular on using vinegar so I substituted that with lemon juice and I did not add garlic (if adding use around 3 cloves). The soup was fabulous and a perfect dish on a hot day.

Ingredients:
- 1 cucumber, seeded, but not peeled
- 1 green and 1 red bell peppers, cored and seeded
- 4 tomatoes
- 1 red onion
- 3 tomatoes to make a juice or you can buy store bought juice.
- juice from 1 lemon (adjust to taste)
- 2 tbsp good olive oil
- salt to taste
- 1 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup cilantro
- avocado for garnish (optional)

Method:
1. Chop cucumber, bell pepper, onion and tomatoes. Add them to the food processor separately and pulse them. Make sure you don't over process them.
2. In a blender add the tomatoes, salt and black pepper. Grind them well to make your tomato juice.
3. Now mix the vegetables and the tomato juice. Add lemon juice, salt and pepper to suit your taste. Add the chopped cilantro and chill this for at least an hour. The more you chill this the better it tastes.
4. Serve this chilled with avocado and more cilantro as your garnish.

Perfect for a hot day.

Submitting this to AWED - Spain announced by DK