Spinach Dal

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup masoor dal [Toor dal or Moong dal]
• 2 cups chopped spinach
• 1 finely chopped onion
• 4 finely chopped garlic cloves
• 5 finely chopped green chillies
• 2  chopped tomatoes (small tomatoes)
• Seasoning : 4 red chillies, 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, 1/2 tsp jeera seeds

Preparation

1. Pressure cook all ingredients, except the seasoning together.  [I use an electric cooker, I add 2 cups water and pressure cook on high for 8 mins.]
2. Heat 1 tsp oil, add the seasoning when the oil is hot and fry for a minute.
3. Add the seasoning to the cooked dal and mix.

Dill Idly

Tried out the recipe from this blog, was excellent.

http://arunshanbhag.com/2007/08/05/dill-idlis/

Dill Idly

Neer Dosa

Ingredients

• 2 cups rice (Sona Masuri)
• 3/4 cup grated coconut
• 1 tin (200 ml) coconut juice

Preparation

1. Soak rice overnight. (~8 hours)
2. Grind rice and coconut to a smooth paste. Add coconut water to dilute while grinding.  The consistency of the batter should be close to that of water. Keep the dosa batter aside for 5 minutes.
3. To make the dosa,  heat a crepe pan, spread a thin layer of oil across the pan. Pour the dosa batter such that it spreads across the whole pan. Cover the pan and cook for a couple of minutes. It is not required to flip the dosa, since it is very thin.

Palak Tofu (Spinach Tofu Curry)

Ingredients

• 1 packet baby spinach
• 2 sprigs of coriander
• 1 tsp kasuri methi
• 1 finely chopped onion
• 2 cloves of smashed garlic
• 1/2 inch piece of ginger, grated
• 1 medium sized tomato, chopped
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 2 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup water (if needed)
• 1 packet tofu

Preparation

1. Heat 2 tsp of oil in a vessel. Add the onions and saute until soft.
2. Add garlic and ginger, saute.
3. Add chilli powder, coriander powder and cumin powder. Mix in.
4. Add tomatoes and stir till mixed in with the masala.
5. Add the spinach leaves, coriander leaves,  milk and water. Cover and cook until the spinach is cooked.
6. Add the kasuri methi leaves and cook for a minute.
7. Cool and puree the spinach mixture.
8. Cut the tofu into cubes and pan fry in oil.
9. Add the tofu to the pureed spinach mixture and cook on low heat for 5 minutes.

Charchari

Tried this recipe http://bongcookbook.blogspot.com/2007/04/charchari-bengali-vegetable-mlange.html for a Bengali vegetable dish called Charchari.  Followed the recipe as is, with small modifications with respect to the quantities of the vegetables used based on what I had available. Enjoyed the dish, especially the mustard flavour.

Ingredients

• Potatoes (yukon gold) – 2 cups
• Brinjal (small violet brinjals) – 2 cups
• White pumpkin – 2 cups
• Ridge gourd – 2 cups
• Green chillies – 5
• Mustard – 2 tablespoon
• Turmeric – 1/2 teaspoon
• Hing – 1/2 teaspoon
• Panch phoran – 1/2 teaspoon
• Salt – 1 teaspoon
• Sugar – 2 teaspoon
• Oil – 2 teaspoon

Preparation

1. Soak the mustard in 2 tbsp water.
2. Grind the mustard with the green chillies to a smooth paste.
3. Cut the vegetables into equal sized parts.
4. Cook the vegetables  with tumeric and the mustard paste, until done,  in a covered vessel.  The recipes calls for not adding any water, I wasn’t sure, so added 1/2 cup water, could possibly do without it.
5. Heat oil, temper with hing and panch phoran. The recipe calls for tempering with slit green chillies too, I did not since the mustard paste was already spicy.
6. Add cooked vegetables, saute.
7. Add salt and sugar, mix them in.
8. Allow vegetables to cook until all the water dries out.

Serves : 3-4

Bhindi (Okra) Fry

Ingredients

• Saunf or Panch phoran – 3 tsp
• Chilli powder – 1/2 tsp
• Dhania powder – 1/2 tsp
• Amchur – 1/2 tsp
• Onion – 1/2 chopped
• Bhindi – 1 packet (frozen)

Preparation

1. Heat 3 tbsp oil.
2. Add onion, fry for a minute.
3. Add saunf, dhania powder, red chilli powder and amchur powder.
4. Add bhindi and fry till bhindi is cooked.

Balekai (Plantain) Palya

Ingredients

• bananas – 3
• mustard – 3 tsp
• chilli powder – 2 tsp
• coconut – 4 tsp
• jaggery – 2 pieces
• tamarind – 3/4 tsp

Preparation

1. Grind coconut, mustard and red chilly powder, with little water into a smooth paste.
2. Boil jaggery and tamarind with water. Once  the water evaporates, add the ground paste.
3. Add the boiled plantain. Ccook until all the water evaporates.

Banana Gulliappa

Banana Gulliappa

This is a slightly modified version of a recipe I found at this blog. [http://recipejunction.blogspot.com/2007/09/balehannu-appa.html]

Ingredients

• 2 cups rice, soaked in warm water for 1 hour
• 1 cup powdered jaggery
• 1/2  cup coconut milk
• 4 pods cardamom, powdered
• 2 ripe bananaas
• 2 tsp oil

Preparation

• Grind rice into a smooth paste, adding as little water as possible.
• Add jaggery, coconut mik, cardamom and banana and grind till mixed well.
• Add oil to gulliappa maker, fill each mould with the mixture and cook.
• Note : I ground the rice into a paste and stored it in the refrigerator for a day before grinding the remaining ingredients in with it.

Curry Leaf Chutney

Ingredients

• 10 curry leaves
• 2 sprigs coriander leaves
• 4 green chillies
• 1 tbsp grated coconut
• 1 tsp hurgadle
• 1/2 tsp salt

1. Roast all ingredients in 1 tsp oil, add coconut last to the roast mix.
2. Grind with water.
3. Add salt.

Onion Sambar

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup moong dal
• 1 finely chopped onion
• 1 chopped tomato
• 1/2 tsp tamarind paste (add it to a tsp of water and microwave for 10 secs)
• 1 tsp jaggery
• 5-6 curry leaves
• 2-3 sprigs of coriander
• 3 tsp sambar powder
• 2 1/4 tsp of oil
• pinch of hing
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp jeera seeds
• pinch of turmeric

1. Add a pinch of turmeric, 1/4 sp oil and 1 1/2 cups (approx.) water to the moong dal and pressure cook. Pressure cooker settings : high pressure, 10 mins, quick pressure release.
2. Heat 2 tsp of oil, add mustard seeds and jeera seeds to it when hot and let it splutter for a minute.
3. Add the onion and fry until translucent.
4. To the fried onion, add the cooked dal, tomato, tamarind, jaggery, sambar powder, hing, curry leaves, coriander leaves and 1 1/2 – 2 cups water. Bring the sambar to a boil and then simmer for 10-15 minutes.