Kandhe Khas Khas

We  all have  that one  traditional dish, passed on generations after generations.  No matter however trendy the food gets, you always yearn for that delicious dish. Khande Khas Khas is one of them.  'Khande' meaning onions and 'Khas Khas' meaning poppy seeds, this dish is made of chana dal cooked with cubed onions and poppy seeds paste.  This recipe may differ from one family to another. My mother follows this, while my Mother-in-law avoids poppy seeds paste and cooks chana dal with onions.  But, I guarantee you will love this dish and make them quite often.  Combine them with roti or dosa, though they taste best with roti.

Please note that it is a spicy dish.  I have prepared them lightly spiced because my kid doesn't like too much of spice.  If you are preparing for your family, I suggest you add more chilly powder, accordingly.  

Sambhar

    Hi all.... back from my short vacation.  And since my daughter leaves to her summer camp, my routine life is almost back... Filling up my refrigerator with freshly brought veggies and fruits, cleaning up my partially-messed home, ... list goes on.  Going on vacation sounds much easier, but when it comes to post-vacation work, I always save an huge 'sigh' :/   Yesterday, day went quite interesting watching over election results.  Victory was predicted, as usual, but winning by 1:6 ratio (Congress: BJP) was quite an 'whooping result'.  Similarly goes with Tamilnadu where ADMK gained 37 out of 39 available seats.  Fabulous, isn't it?  Let us see if this decision solves our stagnating economy and deals with the price rise as well....

   Yes and coming back to our post, born and brought up at Chennai, I could'nt miss this special SAMBHAR prepared by my mom.  Infact, this is my favourite and same with my husband too.  Sambhar is south-indian dal preparation, mostly tuvar dal (yellow pigeon peas), with sambhar powder (an aromatic powder made out of chana dal, dried red chillies, curry leaves, whole cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, coriander seeds, asafoetida, few peppercorn etc), tamarind, assorted set of vegetables (like brinjal, drumstick, snakegourd, pumpkin etc), finished with an sweet touch of jaggery.

The trick in preparing an perfect sambhar lies in perfect balance of spice-sour and an sweet taste.  As an first-try, I have messed up by adding more sourness (more amount of imly/tamarind) into my sambhar.  So, I strongly recommend you to add only half of prescribed tamarind during cooking, other half you can wait till you complete the cooking, check the sambhar and add accordingly.  Also, kindly note that this 'sour' factor depends on tomatos you are adding.  Since, I have added hybrid tomatos, I have included tamarind.  In case, I am going with country tomatos ,(which has an higher sour content) I would prefer not to add tamarind as the former itself gives out required 'sour' effect.

DINNER

MAIN COURSE 

ROTI / PARATHA/ WRAP

·        Aamla paranthas

·        Ajwain paratha

·        Aloo ki paratha

·        Carrot paratha

·        Hot dog wraps

·        Kheema ki parantha

·         Peas paratha

·         Rumali roti

PASTA  

·        Chokolya

·        Spaghetti with meat sauce

·        Desi-styled spaghetti

·        Lasagna

GRAVY/CURRY/DAL  - VEGETARIAN

·        Aloo ki bhaaji

·         Baby cabbage gravy

·         Dum Aloo

·         Gobi kandhaari

·         Harira

·         Hiruva masala shaak

·         Hot & Sour corn balls

·         Kache kele ki kofta curry

·         Kadaai khumb

·         Kadaai kobhi

·         Kadaai vegetable

·         Khoya matar

·         Khuskhuswali khumb

·         Kichi bhajji

·         Low calorie kofta curry

·         Malaai gobi matar

·          Malvani khumb curry

·          Mangalorean curry

·          Mili-juli subzi

·          Mushroom and capsicum stir-fry

·          Mushroom dopyaza

·          Mushroom ki Roganjosh

·          Mushroom theeyal

·          Padwal ki masaledar dal

·          Padwal ki nilgiri gravy

·          Palak paneer

·           Paneer masala

·          Phool makhana curry

·          Shahi khumb

·          Sindhi saag

·          Soya aur tarkari ki masala

·          Spicy and creamy bottlegourd gravy

·          Thai green gravy

·          Tomato chutney

·          Vegetable taka tak

·          Vegetables in garlic sauce

    

  DAL 

          ·            Bhaja moong dal

·           Chilly kabuli chana

·           Dal bukhara

·           Dal ki soya

·           Dal maharani

·           Dal tadka

·           Dal with tofu

·           Katachi aamti

·         Mooli ki dal

·           Pindy choley

·          Punjabi rajmah

·           Rajma masala

NON – VEGETARIAN GRAVY

·           Chungdi jhola

·           Goan egg curry

·           Kadhai lasuni gosht

·          Karahi chicken

·           Kolhapuri pandhra rassa

·           Kolhapuri taambda rassa

·            Kolyaas ki shaak

·           Murgh makhani

·           Murgh Pasanda

·           Prawn balchao

·          Shimla mirch ki kombdi

     

RAITA / SALAD

·          Coleslaw

·          Cucumber raita

·          Koshimbir

·         Sprouts salad

·          Detox salad

Bhaja Moong dal - Potluck party, cyber style December 28th 2013

   For this month of potluck party, I was paired with Sutapa.  I was too happy because I am an dal or gravy-aholic lady.  In this blogging world, we can see many bakes, many goodies  or many virtual treats, but when it comes to your home-cooking, making gravies or dal for dinner becomes an wondering part of life because breakfast and lunch preparation gets over my morning itself.  And for me, I simply quiz what to cook up, with my refrigerator and provisions shelf wide open  :D  :D   This potluck party, very clearly compensated my thought :P  

Bhaja moong dal, an bengali dal is an rich and exotic dal.  'Bhaja' means 'fry' and so moong dal was fried with ghee before pressure cooking and tempered with spices and coconut.  When I prepared, I can notice a pleasent aroma and taste, unlike other dal preparations.  So, thanks to Sutapa for introducing such an nice dal to us, I enjoyed them thoroughly with roti. 

Padwal ki masaledar dal

Well, well, well... What can I say about this dal?  This is one of my hubby's favourite and he asks them quite often to make.  Little does he know that this dal, when first made was an yesterday's left-over kootu, that got churned over to masala dal with garam masala touch!!  :D  :D  After that, I started preparing masaledar dal frequently, atleast once a week.  Hopefully, this dal has lots of padwal/snakegourd that is healthier too!!

 

I must admit that this dal goes on rocking combo with dosa/kal dosa.  Roti also makes an better match.  They taste best the next day (Don't know why, experts please explain)  Don't worry with snakegourd still staying in your refrigerator.  Just grab them, and prepare this dal, for I am sure, you won't be disappointed :D

Bisibela baath

   Bisibela baath, a two-word recitation and that dates back to my school days where my mother used to prepare on every saturdays.  Served hot with ghee, these would literally melt in my mouth. This meal, as such is heavy on ur stomach and will mesmerize your mind wanting for more!!!!!!!   Back at home, found best time to prepare, that is on sunday when my hubby (who always requested to make some) was there to support   :P  :P

     Bisibela baath, orginating from Karnataka cuisine lets out meaning like "Hot Lentil Rice" .  Here,  an array of vegetables (Brinjal, snakegourd, pumpkin, carrot, beans, drumstick etc) are cooked in dal tempered like sambhar style.  Cooked rice is mashed, added to the dal and masala comes at the end.  The much interesting part of cooking bisibela baath is its spice mix.  Since I luved my mom's, called her and got her ratios.  Tweaking a bit, I proceeded and yes !!!!!  Bisibela baath was very awesome, it got over by end of the meal!!  :)  

Kichi bhajji

Kichi bhajji  is one of our authentic dish prepared during Sankranti/Pongal.  We accompany this with Bhakri, or dhapaatya.   This healthy finger-licking gravy is an composition of spinach, veggies, and all sorts of dry pulses like chana, double beans, soya, green peas etc.

 I still remember in my childhood days, where my granny used to prepare it in large vessel and she used to store it for about ten days without even  refrigerating it.  And the best part of kichi bhajji is that the taste gets better day by day, after everytime it is heated.  Though i made it in large quantity for this pongal, bhajji got over by the end of third day.. such is its excellance.... I wish I had prepared more and had it now  .... :(  :(

Preparation time mostly takes an hour, and back at home, I chopped  all vegetables previous day,  to make my tomorrow's work little easier.  Cooking time would be some three to four hours.  

Ingredients required

Pressure cooking part one (Combine spinach with imli, green chilly  and pressure cook for one whistle, keep aside)

• 2 bunches of palak spinach, cleaned and finely chopped 
• 2 bunches of amaranthas leaves/molai keera, cleaned and finely chopped
• 2 bunches of small methi leaves, cleaned and finely chopped
• 2-3 slit green chillies
• one cup of water
• 4 tsp of thick tamarind extract

Pressure cooking part two (Combine chopped vegetables with 11/2 cup of water and pressure cook for one whistle, keep aside)

• 100 gm of cauliflower
• 100 gm of carrot
• 100 gm of beans
• 100 gm of raddish
• 100 gm of potato
• 100 gm of capsicum
• 50 gm of cabbage

Dal maharani

Dal maharani is an punjabi dal made with combo of black urad dal, chana dal, rajma cooked in creamy base in addition to normal spices.  Using punjabi garam masala can also be done, to enrich flavour.

Ingredients required

• 1 cup black urad dal
• 1/2 cup chana dal
• 1/2 cup rajma
• 4-5 tsp oil
• 1 tsp jeera
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 1 cup tomato puree
• 1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
• 1 tsp punjabi garam masala
• 1 tsp salt
• 11/2 tsp chilli powder
• 1 tsp dhanya powder
• 1/4 cup khoya/cream/milk
• 4 tsp of finely chopped coriander leaves, to garnish

For paste

• 2-3 cashews
• 1 tsp fennel seeds/sombu
• 2-inch piece of ginger
• 4 tsp finely chopped mint leaves
• 2-3 crushed green chillies

Method

Soak all daals, pressure cook them till done and keep aside.

Make paste using all above ingredients using mortar and pestle.

In a kadaai, heat oil , saute jeera and onions.

Add in crushed paste and cook

Add in tomato puree, followed by all the spices

After this gets cooked, add cooked dal along with water.  

Add in khoya/cream.  Check the seasoning and spice.  Cook for another 5-10 minutes on simmer flame and serve hot garnished with coriander leaves

It was very nice, yummy too!!

And i have an big kadaai full of dal maharani mixture.. anybody over there... Be my guest!!!

Rajma Masala Recipe | Punjabi Rajma Masala with Homemade Spice Powder

Rajma Masala is a comforting North Indian kidney bean curry made with soft, creamy rajma cooked in a flavourful onion-tomato gravy. What makes this recipe special is the homemade roasted rajma masala powder, prepared with whole spices, dry red chillies, amchur, cardamom, cinnamon and other aromatic spices.

This hearty rajma curry is perfect with steamed rice, jeera rice, roti, chapati or paratha. The longer the cooked rajma simmers in the masala, the more flavourful and creamy the curry becomes.

If you love homestyle Indian food, this is one recipe worth adding to your regular lunch or dinner menu.

Ingredients

For Homemade Rajma Masala Powder

• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 3–4 dry red chillies
• 1-inch piece cinnamon
• ½ tsp whole black peppercorns
• 2–3 green cardamoms
• 2 cloves
• ¼ tsp dry ginger powder
• ½ tsp amchur powder (dry mango powder)
• ½ tsp nutmeg powder
• ½ tsp mace powder
• ¼ tsp pomegranate seeds (anardana)

To prepare the masala:

Dry roast the whole spices and red chillies on low heat until aromatic. Allow them to cool completely and grind to a fine powder. Mix in the dry ginger, amchur, nutmeg and mace powders.

For Tempering

• 6–7 tsp oil
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp finely chopped ginger
• ½ tsp finely chopped green chilli

For the Rajma Curry

• ½ cup finely chopped onion
• 1 cup tomato puree
• ½ tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
• 1 tsp salt, or according to taste
• 1¼ cups rajma (kidney beans), soaked overnight and pressure cooked until tender
• Prepared rajma masala powder
• Fresh coriander leaves, for garnishing

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Method

1. Prepare the rajma masala powder

Dry roast the coriander seeds, cumin seeds, dry red chillies, cinnamon, peppercorns, cardamom, cloves and pomegranate seeds over low heat until fragrant.

Cool completely and grind into a fine powder. Add the dry ginger powder, amchur powder, nutmeg and mace powder. Mix well and keep aside.

2. Prepare the tempering

Heat oil in a heavy-bottomed pan. Add cumin seeds and allow them to splutter. Add the finely chopped ginger and green chilli and sauté for a few seconds.

3. Cook the onion and tomato

Add the chopped onions and sauté until they turn soft and lightly golden.

Add the tomato puree and cook until the raw smell disappears and the mixture becomes thick.

4. Add the spices

Add turmeric powder, ginger-garlic paste, salt and the freshly prepared rajma masala powder. Mix well and cook the masala for a few minutes until it becomes aromatic and well combined.

5. Add the cooked rajma

Add the cooked rajma along with a little of its cooking liquid, depending on your preferred consistency. Mix well.

Reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes, allowing the rajma to absorb all the flavours of the masala.

For a naturally creamy texture, gently mash a few rajma beans against the side of the pan while simmering.

6. Garnish and serve

Garnish with freshly chopped coriander leaves.

Serve hot with steamed rice, jeera rice, roti, chapati or paratha.

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⭐ My Food-Blogger Tip

For an even more delicious rajma, don't rush the final simmering stage. Let the cooked kidney beans gently simmer in the onion-tomato masala so that they absorb the spices. Lightly mashing a few beans also gives the gravy a lovely thick, creamy consistency without adding cream.

Healthy Mooli Patta ki Dal Recipe: Nutritious Radish Greens with Toor Dal

Radish leaves, known as Mooli Patta, are often discarded, but they are actually a nutritional powerhouse! Abundantly available during the winter season, these greens are loaded with vital nutrients like iron, vitamin C, and essential minerals. 

In this comforting recipe, we combine chopped radish greens with creamy, protein-rich yellow split peas (Toovar Dal) and finish it with a simple, aromatic temper of mild spices.

Ingredients

For Tempering (Tadka)

• 3 tsp Cooking oil
• ½ tsp Cumin seeds (Jeera)
• ½ tsp Asafoetida (Hing/Perungayam)
• 3–4 Dry red chilies, broken
• 3–4 Fresh curry leaves
• 4 tsp Onions, finely chopped

Main Curry Ingredients

• ½ cup Radish leaves (Mooli Patta), thoroughly washed and finely chopped
• ½ cup Pigeon peas (Toovar Dal / Arhar Dal), boiled until soft and mashed slightly
• Salt, to taste

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Step-by-Step Method

Step 1: Crackle the Spices

1. Heat 3 teaspoons of cooking oil in a pan or kadhai over medium heat.
2. Add the cumin seeds and let them splutter.
3. Stir in the asafoetida, broken dry red chilies, and fresh curry leaves. Fry for a few seconds until aromatic.

Step 2: Sauté the Aromatics

1. Add the finely chopped onions to the pan.
2. Sauté on medium flame until the onions turn soft and transparent.

Step 3: Cook the Radish Greens

1. Throw in the finely chopped radish leaves and stir well to coat them with the tempered oil.
2. Lower the flame to a simmer, cover the pan, and cook for about 10 minutes until the leaves are wilted and partially done.

Step 4: Simmer with the Dal

1. Pour the boiled toovar dal into the pan with the cooked greens.
2. Season with salt to taste and add a splash of water if you prefer a thinner gravy consistency.
3. Give it a good stir, cover the pot, and let it simmer together for 3–5 minutes so the flavors meld beautifully.

Serving Suggestion

Serve this nourishing, steaming hot Mooli Patta ki Dal alongside warm, ghee-smeared rotis or over a bed of fluffy steamed rice with a side of pickle.