Palak dal and rice is my comfort food. It is also easy to make and I have been making it for years. Here is my perfected and simplistic recipe for palak dal.
1) Boil dal and palak with haldi in cooker. Add a clove of garlic. Cook the dal till one whistle. It should be perfectly boiled.
2) Finely chop 2 cloves of garlic, one green chilli and chop 1 whole tomato.
3) Take ghee/butter, add jeera, garlic and green chillies. Fry them till the garlic almost begins to burn.(The taste of garlic comes out better when it is turned brown) Add tomatoes and cook till the tomatoes melt.
4) Open the cooker, add the result of point 3 and keep the open cooker on the gas in simmer for sometime till the dal comes to a full boil (take a minute or 2).
Eat with rice :). Or eat as is if you are on diet.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Simple Jaggery coconut sweet dish
This is my fav sweet dish.
Ingredients:
1) rice half cup
2) fresh coconut - half shell
3) jaggery - size of your fist - assuming one has a normal sized fist - also amount of jaggery determines the sweetness of this recipe. (jaggery is not an english word? My spell check showing problem)
4) For garnish - your favorite dry fruits- cashew and raisins work wonderfully for south indian dishes, cardomom and ghee.
Method:
1) Soak rice in water for 30 mins to 1 hour.
2)Hope you are lucky with your jaggery and it is soft so you can cut it in small pieces and boil it in water. I was very unlucky the first time as the jaggery was harder than diamond - so i just boiled the whole thing in water to soften it and then cut it in smaller pieces. Sometimes the vessel tends to burn then one can put the vessel (with jaggery and water) inside another vessel with water and then boil till things are soft. Actually it is not that tough to boil jaggery. So don't get intimidated by this step.
3) Cut the coconut into small pieces.
4) In a mixie grind rice and coconut and some water together till it is a coarse paste.
5) To the ground paste add some water and boil. The rice cooks pretty fast (unless you didn't soak it well enough). You can add cardomom too at this stage. I am always wary of too much cardomom in sweet dishes.
6) Hope by this time - the jaggery has melted. So add the jaggery and add water to determine the desired consistency and sweetness.
7) In a pan heat ghee - fry the cashews. I finely chop or crush them as it is nice to get a piece of cashew in your bite. Some folks fry raisins also but i hate fried raisins so i just add raisins directly. Add the fried dry fruits to the dish
8) Very very important step- cool - this dish tastes better the second day. I am not seriously not kidding.
Enjoy :)!
Ingredients:
1) rice half cup
2) fresh coconut - half shell
3) jaggery - size of your fist - assuming one has a normal sized fist - also amount of jaggery determines the sweetness of this recipe. (jaggery is not an english word? My spell check showing problem)
4) For garnish - your favorite dry fruits- cashew and raisins work wonderfully for south indian dishes, cardomom and ghee.
Method:
1) Soak rice in water for 30 mins to 1 hour.
2)Hope you are lucky with your jaggery and it is soft so you can cut it in small pieces and boil it in water. I was very unlucky the first time as the jaggery was harder than diamond - so i just boiled the whole thing in water to soften it and then cut it in smaller pieces. Sometimes the vessel tends to burn then one can put the vessel (with jaggery and water) inside another vessel with water and then boil till things are soft. Actually it is not that tough to boil jaggery. So don't get intimidated by this step.
3) Cut the coconut into small pieces.
4) In a mixie grind rice and coconut and some water together till it is a coarse paste.
5) To the ground paste add some water and boil. The rice cooks pretty fast (unless you didn't soak it well enough). You can add cardomom too at this stage. I am always wary of too much cardomom in sweet dishes.
6) Hope by this time - the jaggery has melted. So add the jaggery and add water to determine the desired consistency and sweetness.
7) In a pan heat ghee - fry the cashews. I finely chop or crush them as it is nice to get a piece of cashew in your bite. Some folks fry raisins also but i hate fried raisins so i just add raisins directly. Add the fried dry fruits to the dish
8) Very very important step- cool - this dish tastes better the second day. I am not seriously not kidding.
Enjoy :)!
Methi dishes
I love Aloo methi made any which way. But sometimes people don't like methi because of its excessive bitter taste.
But to any methi that is made - one can add dry mango powder at the end and it gives a nice tangy taste.
But to any methi that is made - one can add dry mango powder at the end and it gives a nice tangy taste.
Coconut stew
I had eaten Appam and coconut stew at MCA and became a big fan of it. I thought of trying it at home but was too lazy to cut vegetables.
But the grocery store in front of my house started stocking precut vegetables. Boon for lazy souls like me! So I thought I could give coconut stew a try and it came out really well.
Ingredients
1) Either the precut veggie pack that contains - carrots benas and cauliflower.
OR
1a) Take carrots- dice it in small pieces
1b) Take beans - cut it in small pieces - this could be painful - i always hate cutting beans
1c) Take cauliflower - cut in small pieces - or one can use potatoes but cauliflower does add certain dimension
2) Green Peas
3) Coconut milk
4) Laung or cloves 5-6
5) Cinnamon stick 1-2
P.S: One of my tamilian friend's mom told me that the goal of such dishes is to have 5 different colored veggies so feel free for any combination one desires.
Method is super simple:
1) Boil all veggies with salt and cloves and cinnamon stick.
2) Once they are boiled - in another pan add a cup full of coconut milk and dilute it with water. Put the veggies and boil eveything together for some more time.
One might want to add a few cloves in step 2 to get the right taste.
But the grocery store in front of my house started stocking precut vegetables. Boon for lazy souls like me! So I thought I could give coconut stew a try and it came out really well.
Ingredients
1) Either the precut veggie pack that contains - carrots benas and cauliflower.
OR
1a) Take carrots- dice it in small pieces
1b) Take beans - cut it in small pieces - this could be painful - i always hate cutting beans
1c) Take cauliflower - cut in small pieces - or one can use potatoes but cauliflower does add certain dimension
2) Green Peas
3) Coconut milk
4) Laung or cloves 5-6
5) Cinnamon stick 1-2
P.S: One of my tamilian friend's mom told me that the goal of such dishes is to have 5 different colored veggies so feel free for any combination one desires.
Method is super simple:
1) Boil all veggies with salt and cloves and cinnamon stick.
2) Once they are boiled - in another pan add a cup full of coconut milk and dilute it with water. Put the veggies and boil eveything together for some more time.
One might want to add a few cloves in step 2 to get the right taste.
Secret ingredient to black eyed peas and egg curry
One can make black eyed peas and egg curry the traditional way (boil, make onion-tomato - ginger garlic curry) etc and it is fairly nice.
But.
But if one adds even a teaspoon of coconut milk (available in india under the brand Homemade for 26 bucks now!) then the dish just becomes really really tasty.
But.
But if one adds even a teaspoon of coconut milk (available in india under the brand Homemade for 26 bucks now!) then the dish just becomes really really tasty.
Easiest Baigan ka bharta
Easiest because you need not even cut the onions!
But there is a secret ingredient - sarson ka tel (mustard oil).
I was always reluctant to cook baigan ka bhurta - what will all the mess it creates on the gas stove. None the less - priya showed me a recipe and I have become a fan.
Ingredients:
1) Large eggplant/brinjal/baigan 1
2) Tomatoes 1-2
3) Green chillies 2-3
4) Sarson ka tel -one teaspoon
5) Garlic - 4-5 cloves
6) Coriander (optional)
1) Roast the egg plant on the gas stove. Alternatively you can do it on microwave too. Just poke it enough
2) Let it cool
3) De-skin it
4) Mash it- if it is getting painful -run it in a mixie but for a split sec - you don't want baigan chutney (though someone told me that makes a good mexican dish)
5) Then cut tomatoes - add to it. Finely chop green chillies and garlic - add to it.
6) Add 1-2 teaspoon of mustard oil. No need to add salt. Just mix it.
It is a cold and makes a good side-dish/ salad.
P.S: My mother's version is hot version where she cooks everything together in gas and adds onion too. One can try that as well.
But there is a secret ingredient - sarson ka tel (mustard oil).
I was always reluctant to cook baigan ka bhurta - what will all the mess it creates on the gas stove. None the less - priya showed me a recipe and I have become a fan.
Ingredients:
1) Large eggplant/brinjal/baigan 1
2) Tomatoes 1-2
3) Green chillies 2-3
4) Sarson ka tel -one teaspoon
5) Garlic - 4-5 cloves
6) Coriander (optional)
1) Roast the egg plant on the gas stove. Alternatively you can do it on microwave too. Just poke it enough
2) Let it cool
3) De-skin it
4) Mash it- if it is getting painful -run it in a mixie but for a split sec - you don't want baigan chutney (though someone told me that makes a good mexican dish)
5) Then cut tomatoes - add to it. Finely chop green chillies and garlic - add to it.
6) Add 1-2 teaspoon of mustard oil. No need to add salt. Just mix it.
It is a cold and makes a good side-dish/ salad.
P.S: My mother's version is hot version where she cooks everything together in gas and adds onion too. One can try that as well.
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