Black gram (udad dal) Khichdi

                                Udad dal khichdi with cabbage thoran, okra sabzi, salad and curd

This is a very delicious khichdi I ate in a Punjabi friend’s house. Immediately I took the recipe from her and has been making it for lunch every now and then.

Ingridients

1/3 cup black gram- split, with skin intact

1cup rice

3 Cloves

¼ tsp pepper powder

Salt to taste

1 tbsp oil or ghee

¼ tsp cumin seeds

1 onion finely cut

5 cloves of garlic finely cut

4 cups water

Instruction

-          Clean and wash the dal and rice together and soak in water for ten minutes.

-          Heat oil in the pressure cooker, add cumin seeds, cloves and cut onion.

-          Sauté it a bit, add cut garlic and pepper powder.

-          Stir for a few seconds on medium flame, add the soaked dal and rice, mix well.

-          Add the water and salt, pressure cook for 8 minutes. Remove from fire, let it cool.

-          Serve hot with curd, papad and pickle

Pumpkin Leaves Sabzi

 This is a delicious accompaniment for steamed rice and chapatis.

Ingredients

20 Pumpkin leaves with stems

1 Large onion peeled and cut fine

1 green chilli sliced

6 cloves of garlic cut fine

1 tblsp oil

¼ tsp mustard seeds

½ tsp udad dal

Salt to taste

Instruction

-          

Pumpkin  plant

                                                                                    

Wash and clean the leaves. Take off the transparent outer skin of the stems and cut the stems and leaves very fine.

-          Put them in pressure cooker with a tablespoon of water and put on high flame. When one whistle comes, switch off the flame and remove from fire, let it cool.

-          Heat oil in a thick bottomed pan, add mustard seeds. When they splutter, add udad dal. When they brown lightly, add cut onions and green chilli.

-          Add the cut garlic and sauté for a minute. Mix in the cooked leaves and add salt. Keep on low flame for two minutes, stirring in between, till it is dry. If you want you can add masala powders, but I love the flavour of the leaves and don’t add them.

-          Remove from fire and it is ready to be served.

Tapioca Flour Dosa

My husband was having only fruits for breakfast, so it was time for me to experiment. Made tapioca flour dosa and I just loved its mild flavour and the chewy texture!

Ingredients

¾ ladle Coconut milk for 2 dosas

½ ladle Tapioca flour

1 ladle Wheat flour

A pinch of salt

A small pinch of baking powder

½ ladle water

1 tblsp ghee

Instruction

-          Extract the coconut milk by adding hot water to scraped coconut, and squeezing the milk out.  Add tapioca flour,  wheat flour, salt and baking soda and mix well

-          Slowly add water and mix to make a dosa batter consistency.

-          Heat a nonstick thava, pour some ghee and pour a ladleful of batter. Rotate the thava to spread  the batter.

-          When the upper side is done, pour some ghee over it and turn it upside down.

-          Remove from the thava when cooked, serve with coconut chutney or tomato ketchup.

Jackfruit Sheera

 

This is a very delicious dish that can be served with the evening tea or as a dessert after lunch or dinner.

Ingredients

1 cup Semolina

½ cup sugar (adjust the sugar according to the sweetness of the jackfruit)

½ cup finely cut jackfruit bulbs

2 ½ cups water

1 tbsp ghee

1 tbsp broken cashews

¼ tsp cardamom powder

A pinch of yellow food color (optional)

Instruction

-          Roast the semolina and keep aside.

-           Meanwhile, cook the cut jackfruit pieces in the water for about 10 minutes till it is cooked. Add the food color and sugar, let it dissolve.

-          Now reduce the flame and slowly add the roasted semolina, stirring to avoid formation of lumps. Let it thicken a bit on slow fire.

-          Add the cardamom powder. Lightly fry the cashew pieces in the ghee, add it to the sheera, mix well and remove from fire.

Barnyard Millet Payasam

 

Ingredients

¾ cup Barnyard millet

½ cup chana dal

¼ cup sago

¾ cup jaggery

2 ½ cups water

1 cup milk

½ tsp. cardamom powder

A very small pinch of salt

Instruction

-          Wash and soak barnyard millet, chana dal, and sago separately in water for two hours. Soak sago in ¾ cup water, we will be cooking it in that water on low fire later.

-          After soaking, pressure cook barnyard millet and chana dal with 2 ½ cups water for 8 minutes. Cool and open.

-          Meanwhile, cook sago with the water on low fire, stirring in between till cooked.

-          Put jaggery in ½ cup water, keep on low fire. When it is melted, sieve and add to the cooked barnyared millet and chana dal. Mix in cooked sago.

-          Keep on low fire, add milk, salt, and cardamom powder and stir well. Remove from fire after a couple of minutes.

-          Pour some ghee on the top while serving. It is a delicious payasam. Enjoy!

       Recipe courtesy Ashwita Goel

Fresh Coriander Leaves, Potato Sabzi

 

This is a very healthy and tasty preparation that goes well with boiled rice or chapatis. I saw it in a food group and the contributor was gracious enough to share the recipe.

Ingredients

4 cups of coriander leaves washed, cleaned and cut

4 big potatoes boiled, skinned and cubed

1 tbsp oil

½ tsp mustard seeds

A pinch of asafoetida

5 flakes of garlic cut

1 green chilli cut

1/3 tsp turmeric powder

Salt to taste

Instruction

-          Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds. When they splutter, add asafoetida, cut green chillies, turmeric powder, and garlic.

-          Add the cut coriander leaves, mix well.

-          Add the potatoes and salt, do open cooking for about ten minutes, stirring in between. Sprinkle some water if it looks too dry.

-          And the sabzi is ready to be served!

Here you can see this sabzi, with boiled rice, masoor dal, salad and slices of fresh turmeric and ginger put in lemon juice. 

Gujiya

 

This is one of the few North Indian dishes I learned from my mother in law. Since we stayed with my husband’s mama’s family in Lucknow for six months after our marriage, majority of North Indian cooking I learned from mamiji, who is a great cook. Gujiya and Diwali are synonymous; it is always prepared during Diwali. Once when my daughter was in the hostel, I wanted to send with her for friends, I made 70 gujiys, which is my record!

Ingredients

For the filling

¾ cup khoya (solidified milk) (for 30 gujiyas)

1 ½ cups sooji (Bombay rava)

1 cup sugar

2 tbsps raisins

2 tbsps broken cashews

½ tsp cardamom power

½ tsp nutmeg powder

For the covering

4 ½  cups refined flour

A pinch of salt

2 tbsps ghee or oil

Water, roughly 1 ½ cups

Oil for frying

Instruction

-          Roast the sooji till dark brown and keep aside.

-          Roast khoya till the fragrance comes and keep aside.

-          When they are at room temperature, break khoya into finer particles with fingers. Add sugar, raisins, cashew nuts, cardamom and nutmeg powder to the roasted sooji and khoya. Mix well and the filling is ready now.

-          Knead the refined flour, salt, and ghee adding small amounts of water at a time, into a stiff consistency.

-          Spread the dough into a big round, cut small rounds from that.

-          Hold it on the left palm, put a small quantity of the filling in the centre, and apply water along the rims. Fold into half and press and fold along the margin.

-          Heat the oil, reduce the flame to minimum and fry the gujiyas from both sides. If fried on high flame, it will become soft, not hard and crispy.