Dal Makhani / Creamy Black Lentils (but) No-Cream Recipe

I have posted my original dal makhani recipe before. The problem with that recipe was, it lacked colour although the flavour was just fine. Also, that recipe has cream in it. Why use cream when you can get lovely, creamy Dal Makhani without the cream. I've been 'hooked' to this Dal Makhani recipe since coming across Meena's recipe.




Dal Makhani Recipe
Serves 2
Adapted from: Hooked on Heat


Ingredients:

1/2 cup whole black lentils / whole urad dal
1 onion, minced
1 tomato, finely chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1 tbsp tomato paste (or 1 large tomato, pureed)
2 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp red chili powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp oil
fresh coriander leaves, for garnish
water, 1 to 2 cups
salt to taste

How I Made It:

1. Heat the oil in a pressure cooker and saute onions till lightly browned. Stir in salt, chilli powder, coriander powder, ginger-garlic paste, and tomato paste and fry for a few seconds.

2. Add in the chopped tomatoes and cook for a few minutes to combine well. Add dal and enough water to cover them (about 2 cups). Pressure cook for 4-5 whistles minutes till lentils are soft and done. Stir in milk and let it come to a boil.

3. In a separate pan, heat butter and add whole garlic cloves slit in the middle. Stir the tempering into the lentils and garnish with fresh coriander leaves.

Serve with warm rotis or pulao.

Methi Yellow Dal / Fenugreek Leaves in Yellow Dal Recipe

I am a huge methi fan and at every given chance, I try to catch up on all the methi eating I missed while in Kerala where methi leaves are almost unheard of (although fenugreek seeds are very much part of the cuisine).

Sometimes methi parathas are too much trouble because I am so darn lazy so I whip up this super easy methi dal. All you need to serve it is some steamed white rice and ghee. 

Methi Yellow Dal 

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 bunch of fenugreek/methi leaves

3/4 cup toor dal / tuvar dal

1/2 tsp tamarind paste or 1 tsp amchur / dried mango powder

3-4 green chillies, slit

1 tsp red chilli powder (optional)

A pinch of turmeric

Salt to taste

For tempering:

2 tsp oil

1/4 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp jeera / cumin seeds

A pinch of hing / asafoetida / perungaayam

2 cloves garlic, sliced long

A few curry leaves

How I Made It:

1. Pressure cook the toor dal in 2 cups water with chopped methi leaves, turmeric and green chillies until soft (about 4 whistles). 

2. Once the pressure leaves the pan, set it back on moderate heat and add salt, chilli powder and amchur or tamarind paste. Bring to a slow boil. If the consistency is too thick, add some water when boiling. Once the ingredients all come together, remove from fire and set aside. 

3. Heat oil for tempering and add all the items in the list to temper. When the mustard seeds start popping, dunk it all into the prepared dal and mix well. 

Serve warm with rice and ghee or rotis.

Sending this to Priya's Think Spice - Think Fenugreek event, a brainchild of Sunita. 

Egg Lentil Omelettes in Gravy / Guddu Thattu Posinti Recipe

I don't know how to name this recipe actually. Its my grandmom's recipe and I am not sure if anyone has eaten this or a variation of this. We call it Guddu Thattu Posinti and its very infrequently made, making it an extra treat. I had a craving for it one day so called up amma, got the recipe and made it immediately.

Note: this is a slightly time consuming recipe to make but totally worth the effort. 

Egg Lentil Omelettes in Gravy / Guddu Thattu Posinti Recipe
Serves 4

What I Used:

For the omelettes:

3 eggs
A pinch of salt

To grind to paste:
1/4 cup toor dal, soaked for atleast 2 hours
2-3  green chillies
1" piece of ginger
5-6 shallots / pearl onions


For the gravy:

1 cup tamarind juice (a lime-sized ball of tamarind soaked in water and juice extracted)
Salt to taste

To roast and grind:
1/4 cup grated coconut
1 tbsp channa dal / kadala paruppu
1 tbsp coriander powder / malli podi
1 tsp red chilli powder
A pinch of turmeric powder
1 tsp oil

For tempering:
1/2 tsp mustard seeds / kaduku
6 shallots / pearl onions, sliced thin
A pinch of hing / asafoetida
A few curry leaves
2 red chillies, torn into halves
2 tsp oil

How I Made It:

Let's do the gravy first.

1. Roast and grind all the ingredients under that list. In a pan, add this ground masala along with the tamarind juice and salt. Bring to boil and let it simmer for 5 mins. The gravy shouldnt get too watery nor too thick, the consistency should be thicker than rasam but thinner than kozhambu.

2. Heat oil for tempering and add all the ingredients. When the mustard seeds pop and the shallots turn golden, add to the gravy and set aside.

Now for the omelettes.

3. Grind the ingredients under list for omelettes.

4. Break the eggs into a bowl.

5. Add the ground lentil paste.

6. Beat well for a minute with salt.

7. Make into small omelettes by pouring 2 tbsp of the egg mixture at a time onto a lightly oiled pan.

8. Cook closed to maintain softness.

9. Flip over when one side is browned.

10. You should get about 5-6 omelettes with this quantity of ingredients.

11. Phew, ok last step. Dunk in the omelettes in the prepared gravy and serve after an hour or two with steamed rice.

Sakkarai Pongal / Chakkara Pongal Recipe

We don't celebrate pongal. Which explains why I am posting this traditional pongal festival recipe in March. I mean, how off the mark can you get? About 2 months, that's how much.

But like I said, we don't celebrate pongal, and by that I mean my family. TH's family definitely does, but nothing elaborate like at my sister's place. Mostly it involves making pongal of the savory kind and this sweet version, sakkarai pongal.

My mom makes it as and when she feels like.  Usually, when we need a quick dessert for guests, sakkarai pongal gets made. Admittedly, its not my favourite sweet but recently. I had this tremendous craving that was quite inexplicable so I made a teeny weeny bit (TH hates it) and had it all by myself at around 10pm in the night, which explains the very not-nice picture.

It came out pretty nice though. I'd never realised sakkarai pongal was this easy to make!

Sakkarai / Chakkara Pongal Recipe
Recipe source: scribbled on a piece of paper that was lying around in an old diary. 
Amma's recipe, I'd guess

What I Used:

1 cup raw rice
1/4 cup moong dal / cherupayar
3/4 cup grated jaggery / vellam / sharkkara (this is on the sweeter side so adjust to taste)
1 cup full fat milk + 1/2 cup water (or 1.5 cups low fat milk)
A few cashewnuts (I used almonds)
A few raisins (if you like them, I added very few)
2 tbsp + 1 tbsp ghee
3 cardamom pods, crushed well
A pinch of nutmeg (optional, I didn't add this)

How I Made It:

1. Traditionally, the rice and dal is simmered in the milk until soft but who has that kind of time these days? Definitely not me. So bring out your pressure cooker if you are anything like me. Wash the rice and dal together. Add the milk + water and pressure cook for 3-4 whistles. We want this nice and mushy.

2. Meanwhile, heat 2 tbsp ghee and roast the cashewnuts / almonds and the raisins until golden brown (the raisins will become plump). Remove from fire and sprinkle cardamom powder and nutmeg, if using, on top. Give it a mix and set aside.

3. Once the pressure leaves the cooker, while still hot, mix in the grated jaggery, roasted almonds and raisins. If the pongal is too thick, add some boiled milk by the tablespoons. If the mixture is too loose, keep on a low fire and mix continuously until desired consistency is achieved.

4. Mix in one more tbsp of ghee and serve warm. I also like it cold from the fridge the next day.

PS: I have a feeling amma adds coconut to this, let me check with her.

PPS: The reason why my sakkarai pongal is a darker shade of brown than what you may have seen is, I used the super unrefined dark brown jaggery from Kerala. Its also unsalted so I mixed in a pinch of salt with the mixture but since you'd all be mostly likely using the salted version, don't bother. The colour of your sakkarai pongal may be lighter but don't worry. Will taste yummy!

Broccoli Koottu Recipe

TH and I both love Broccoli. I have no clue why its shown as the vegetable of nightmares in cartoons and comics and what not. Maybe because we didn't grow up on it.

I also love the fact that it cooks super fast. Usually, I make a stir fry with mushrooms and broccoli, or add it to noodles or even pulao.

Last week I was on the phone with amma and she mentioned how her bedhamma (amma's amma) makes a koottu with cauliflower stems. Usually we discard the thick stems but since theirs was a joint family and a big household, they would save up all the stems and make a koottu with just that later on. What a lovely idea!

My mom makes koottu with moong dal that's been roasted a golden brown. In fact, she recommends that I roast moong dal as soon as I buy it and store it that way so that no bugs or ants enter the jar and it lasts forever. 

I decided to take the lone broccoli I had in the fridge and make a koottu with it, stem and all. Easy decision there.

Here's how. 

Broccoli Koottu Recipe

What I Used:

1 broccoli
1/4 cup dry-roasted moong dal / cherupayar
1/4 cup grated coconut or to taste
1/4 cup shallots
3 green chillies
1/2 tsp jeera / jeerakam
A pinch of turmeric powder

To temper:

2 tsp oil (I used coconut oil)
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
4 shallots, chopped
A few curry leaves

How I Made It:

1. Cut the broccoli florets out first. Peel off the thick skin on the stem and chop the rest into small pieces. Wash and set aside.

2. Grind the coconut coarsely with the shallots, jeera, green chillies and turmeric. Don't add any water to it.

3. Heat oil for tempering and add the rest of the ingredients. Once the mustard seeds pop and the shallots turn transparent, add the ground coconut and fry for a minute. To this, add the moong dal, 1/2 cup water and cook closed on a low fire for 10-12 mins.

4. Check the moong dal to see if its soft and add the broccoli with some salt. Cook on an open fire until the broccoli is soft. We like it semi-soft so I cooked it for lesser time. Adjust according to your liking.

Serve warm with rice and some curry.

Lemon Rasam Recipe

My mom only makes one kind of rasam. Its watery, peppery, has no dal, and is ready in 7 mins flat. After getting married to a Tam Brahm I realized there are close to a gazillion different types of rasam and then some more. If dal or paruppu is added to rasam back home then we explicitly call it paruppu rasam and it resembles sambar, although taste-wise, its quite different.

Anyway, long story short, now I am introduced to the world of rasam where every single variety has a unique taste not just on the ingredients used but also depending on who makes it. Isn't that mindbogglingly amazing? 

Let's just say yes and move on shall we. 

Ingredients for lemon rasam

Lemon rasam is interesting to me for two reasons. Lemon or lime totally rocks. Although I would still choose a molten chocolate cake over a lemon pie for dessert, as a fruit, I respect lemon. It really packs a lot of stuff in its small yellow self. Another reason why this lemon rasam calls out to me is addition of fresh ginger. Gotta love that. 

I have tried this rasam with and without adding cooked toor dal. The lighter version makes for a quick and easy kozhambu on weeknights and the other can be made if you are serving with a light vegetable curry on the side and nothing much else. 

Lemon Rasam Recipe
Source: TH's mom aka repository of unending rasam recipes

What I Used:
1 marble-sized ball of tamarind (remember the lemon will make the rasam more sour)
Half a lemon
1/2 cup cooked and mashed toor dal / thuvaram paruppu / pigeon peas (optional)
1 small tomato, chopped
A 1" piece of ginger, cut into small pieces
2 green chillies, or to taste
2 tsp sambar cum rasam powderA pinch of turmeric powder
Salt to taste

For tempering:
1 tsp ghee or oil
Some mustard seeds
A pinch of asafoetida / hing / perungaayam
Curry leaves
Coriander leaves (for garnish) 

How I Made It:

1. Soak the tamarind in 1 cup warm water for 10 minutes. Kneading with your fingertips, extract juice and discard pulp. 

2. Take the tamarind extract in a bowl and add the chopped tomatoes, dal if using, slit green chillies, ginger, sambar cum rasam powder, turmeric powder and some salt. Bring to boil and simmer on low fire for 10 mins. Mash up the tomato well once its cooked and soft.  

3. Next add another cup of water. Bring to boil. Test salt and tanginess. Remove from fire and while hot, add the juice from half a lemon. 

4. Heat a small kadai and add the ghee or oil for tempering. Add all other ingredients and when the mustard seeds start popping, dunk into the rasam.
Serve hot with white rice and paruppu usili. 

Keera Vadai / Lentils and Spinach Vada Recipe

What better way to start a Monday than talk about deep fried snacks?

However, this recipe, like a few others, is going to begin with a disclaimer. I don't claim that this is the authentic keera vadai recipe that all Tamilians are probably proud of. I used what I had in the pantry and whatever took the fancy.

What I can guarantee is that its super simple and very crunchy. An ideal, quick tea-time snack.

Its also quite crazy in a way that you can customize all you want.

I used amaranth leaves / mulai keerai. I like the flavour and use it in pretty much all dishes that call for spinach / keerai.

This picture reminds me how long back I made this recipe.

My cutting board is not even close to its original colour that's seen here!

I also used channa dal / kadala paruppu in this recipe although most vadai recipes call for toor dal or peas paruppu, which amma is what most South Indian restaurants use because its a much cheaper alternative to the expensive toor dal.

Soaked Channa Dal

I love the way it brings a smile on TH's face when I talk deep frying. Something about dunking stuff into hot oil and then eating it makes that man happy. So happy that he even stood by patiently while I took 83 different angles of the following picture.

Lentil and Spinach Vadai / Keera Vadai Recipe

Makes about 18-20

What I Used:

2 cups channa dal / kadala paruppu

1 bunch spinach leaves, tough stalks removed

1 onion, finely chopped

2 green chillies, finely chopped

1" piece of ginger, grated or finely chopped

10-12 curry leaves, finely chopped

Salt to taste

Oil for deep frying

How I Made It:

1. Clean and soak the chana dal in water for an hour. Meanwhile, wash spinach and place in a pan over lot heat until the leaves wilt. Then, chop finely.

2. Once soaked, drain completely and pulse the dal in a mixer or food processor into a coarse paste. To give the vadai some texture, I keep about 1 tbsp dal aside and add it after pulsing the rest.

3. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.

4. Shape into lime-sized balls and flatten slightly. Deep fry in oil until golden brown. Drain and serve hot with chutney.

I haven't posted the recipe for this chutney before so here goes:

For the Coconut Chutney:

Grind together 1/2 cup grated coconut (fresh or frozen but not dessicated), 1 green chilli, a small piece of tamarind, 2 shallots and salt with very little water. I also added some fresh coriander leaves to this but its optional. We love the flavour so if I have fresh coriander leaves, I always add them.

I make this chutney very often and it goes well with dosa, idly and even medhu vadai.

Mullangi Sambar / Radish Sambar Recipe

A trip to Little India is always much looked forward to, especially because of the fresh and cheap 'Indian' vegetables that are available in every nook and corner of the place. A typical trip to Little India will comprise of a 1-hour long elbowing through the grocery section of Mustafa, a good Indian dinner at Murugan Idli Kadai, Anjappar or one of those super-crowded Indian restaurants in Little India.

The last time we went, I saw some freshly dug up radishes in the Indian vegetable store (this pic was taken 3 days after the shopping day so the shoots have wilted) and I had to buy them. I was thinking mooli paratha when I bought some, but the moment TH saw them, he said "ahh, we can have some nice mullangi sambar tomorrow!"

So mullangi sambar it was! Check out the lovely patterns on the radish pieces, they are so pretty!

Sambar is a very popular South Indian dish that is primarily toor dal and tamarind pulp and sambar powder (a blend of spices, sambar powder recipe here). Depending on what vegetable(s) you add to it, the flavour changes. In Kerala, there is only one kind of sambar because we believe in using mixed vegetables in it and this joins the other curries and theeyals that we keep rotating through the week.

In Tamil Nadu, the story is entirely different since sambar is often made on a daily basis and the vegetables rotated for some variation. Arachuvitta sambar is one of those variations that also has coconut added for a kick.

This is the first time I am making and tasting mullangi sambar and let's just say the radish added a lovely flavour to the versatile sambar!

Mullangi Sambar / Radish Sambar Recipe

Preparation time: 30-40 mins

Serves: 4

What I Used:

1 cup toor dal

2 white radishes, cut into 1" thick discs

8-10 shallots / pearl onions (or 1 red onion cut into chunks)

1 lime-sized ball of tamarind

1 tbsp sambar powder

1 generous pinch of hing / asafoetida / perungaayam

1 pinch of turmeric powder

1/4 tsp sugar or 1/2 tsp grated jaggery

For tempering:

1 tbsp oil or ghee

A few curry leaves

2 shallots/pearl onions cut into long slivers

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp jeera / jeerakam / cumin seeds

How I Made It:

1. Pressure cook the toor dal with 2 cups water, the radish pieces and pearl onions for 3 whistles. Make sure that you regulate the cooking time depending on your cooker because otherwise the radish will get mushy and mix with the dal. Mine's an ooold cooker so no risk of that ;)

2. Soak the tamarind in 1/2 cup warm water for 10 mins and extract the juice, discarding the pulp.

3. Once the pressure leaves the cooker, open and add the tamarind juice, turmeric, hing and sambar powder. Bring to boil on a medium flame, stirring gently just to mix the ingredients. If the sambar seems too thick at this point, add some water.

4. Let the sambar boil for about 7 - 10 mins until it all comes together and switch off fire.

5. Heat the oil/ghee for tempering and add all other ingredients. Once the mustard pops and the shallots turn a light brown, remove from fire and add to the sambar. Mix well.

6. Optionally, you can garnish with chopped fresh coriander leaves. This changes the flavour of the sambar and takes it in a different direction :)

Serve hot with steamed rice and appalam/vadaam.

Instant Sambar Powder Recipe

My mom-in-law has three sisters, each of them different and unique in their own ways. During this trip, TH and I stayed in Bombay with her elder sister, Geetha Perima. She is a cooking wiz, makes her own ghee in 10 mins flat, always has pickles, thokku and different kozhambu pastes in her fridge - all homemade, and makes ice-cream which makes one wonder why we ever buy ice cream! She makes all of this seem extremely simple too.

One recipe of hers that immediately caught my attention is the instant sambar powder recipe. Her son is studying in the US and recently, she sent him this powder. All you need to do is add it to boiling water with your choice of vegetable(s) and chopped onions if you like them. The powder has all other ingredients for a sambar, like toor dal, tamarind, chilly powder, hing, etc etc.

Here's how you can make this powder. Great for lazy people, working folks and of course, for you to pack it for your son/daughter who is moving abroad and needs a quick fix of homemade sambar in no time!

Geetha Perima's Instant Sambar Powder
Makes about 1.5kg powder

What She Used:

1kg toor dal
100 gm dhania / malli / coriander
25gm channa dal / bengal gram / kadala paruppu
50 gm dry red chillies
10gm fenugreek seeds / uluva / menthayam
A large lime-sized ball of tamarind
2 tbsp whole black pepper
2 tsp jeera
1 tsp hing / asafoetida / perungayam
1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder (optional, added for the colour)

How She Made It:

1. Heat about 2 tsp oil in a pan and lightly fry the red chillies. When they start to brown, remove and set aside to cool.

2. Remove all strings and other stuff from the tamarind. Separate into pieces. Add these to the same oil and fry by pressing down, making sure all the sides are roasted. Keep fire on sim and continue to roast for about 5 mins. It will be very soft at this stage. Drain and set aside to cool. You will find that the tamarind has gone crisp and brittle to touch.

3. The other ingredients don't need to be roasted. Starting with the dal, powder each ingredient separately and keep adding to a big bowl. The tamarind will powder nicely once its cool.

4. Mix all ingredients well with salt. Store in an air tight container and use to make easy and quick sambar.

To Use:

To serve two, boil about 3 glasses water and add 2-3 tbsp of the instant sambar powder. Add chopped vegetables and onions. Let it boil on sim until the vegetables are cooked. Serve hot. This powder will make sambar that's a bit watery. If you want it thicker, also add some cooked toor dal while preparing it.

Chakkakkuru Parippu Curry / Jackfruit Seeds in Lentils

I love chakka kuru aka jackfruit seeds. In Kottayam, where I grew up, most houses have a backyard with various trees, most popular being jackfruit, banana, mangoes and of course the staple curry leaves plant. We've always had generous neighbours who share the fruits during season time and during summer, there's always a sack of some fruit or the other from friends and family around.

My mom makes the maximum use of any vegetable or fruit. She makes kumbil / varatti with the ripe jackfruit and reserves the seeds for aviyal or mezhukkupuratti, the two most popular chakkakkuru recipes in our house.

During a recent trip to KL, I bought a box of jackfruits. It had precisely 10 pieces inside which TH and I polished off in 2 mins. I washed and kept the seeds outside and once they dried, wrapped them in a shower cap and brought them back to Singapore. I had 10 seeds which meant there wasn't enough to make aviyal or mezhukkupuratti. I browsed around and finally zeroes in on this recipe from Sunita's blog. Her last post made me sad.. So here's wishing her all the very best in life.

Jackfruit Seeds in Lentils

Serves: 2

Recipe adapted from Sunita's recipe.

What I Used:

1/2 cup split red lentils / masoor dal, washed and drained

1/2 cup toor dal, washed and drained

10 jackfruit seeds / chakkakkuru, soaked, peeled and halved

1 tomato, chopped

3 pods of garlic, chopped

1 tsp finely chopped ginger

1 tsp chilli powder

1/3 tsp turmeric powder

A pinch of hing

Oil and mustard seeds, for tempering

Salt to taste

How I Made It:

1. Place the dals and the jackfruit seeds in a pressure cooker with 5 cups water. Cook for 3 whistles and let it cool.

2. Heat oil and add the mustard seeds. Once they pop, add the ginger, garlic, hing, chilli powder and turmeric. Fry for 1 min.

3. Add the tomatoes and fry for another 2-3 mins. To this, add the cooked dal and jackfruit seeds. Mix well.

4. Add salt. Remove.

I served the dish with some warm chapatis. Sunita's version has vegetables too but I wanted to keep it simpler and give more 'importance' to the jackfruit seeds.

On a different note, thank you so much for taking part in my b'day giveaway. The winner has been announced :)

Sri Lankan Palak Dal Recipe

Ever since Siri hosted AWED Sri Lanka Recipes event, I got hooked to the cuisine. I had borrowed a book and this is the third recipe I tried from it. A simple palak dal recipe (lentils and spinach) but enhanced in true Sri Lankan way not to mention the addition of the ever-present coconut milk.

Fresh Green Spinach

The book I had only mentioned dal and I wasn't sure which dal they were referring to. So I used toor dal. You could also try this with moong dal and get a totally different flavour. Yummy either ways, I am sure.

Soaked Toor Dal

Sri Lankan Palak Dal /Lentils with Spinach
Preparation time: 40 mins
Serves: 2 to 4

What I Used:

1.5 cups toor dal
A big bunch of spinach, chopped (about 4 cups loosely packed)
1 small onion, chopped fine
1 small tomato, chopped fine
2 dried red chillies
2 garlic pods, crushed
A 1" piece of cinnamon
1/2 tsp cumin seeds / jeera
1.5 cups light coconut milk
Salt to taste

For tempering:

2 tsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
A few pieces of rampe/pandan leaves or curry leaves

How I Made It:

1. The first step is to cook the lentils. Usually I use pressure cooker but for this recipe, its important not to cook them mushy. So, add about 4 cups water to the 1.5 cups toor dal and soak for an hour. Then, keep on a medium fire to cook for about 20-25 mins. The lentils should be cooked yet stay as individual pods.

2. Heat oil and add the ingredients for tempering. Once the mustard seeds start popping, add the cinnamon, chillies, garlic, jeera and onions. Fry until onions turn transparent.

3. Then add the tomatoes and mix well for another minute. Add the chopped spinach now and lower fire. Let it wilt and reduce in size. Keep stirring till the it mixes well with the rest of the added ingredients.

4. Now add the cooked lentils and combine gently. Bring to boil. Reduce fire and add the coconut milk and salt. You can add some chilli powder if you'd like more heat. Simmer for 5 mins and remove from fire.

Serve hot with steamed white rice or roti.

This is my entry to MLLA-13 conceived by Susan of the "Well-Seasoned Cook" and currently being hosted by Sunshinemom of "Tongue Ticklers".

Garlic Rasam / Poondu Rasam Recipe

I suck at making rasam. I know that's a strange thing to say just before sharing a rasam recipe but I had to say it. My rasams usually suck. I have tried watching the MIL closely and writing down measurement of ingredients as and when she uses it. I have tried rasam recipes from different sites all over the blogosphere.

Then my rasam became okay.

That was before I devised this recipe. I stripped down all rasam recipes and came up with this uber simple recipe that really cannot go wrong. (TH actually makes better rasam but he has to add tomatoes to it). And Dal? What dal? I never add dal to rasam unless I am making this version which I call parippu rasam.

So in a nutshell, this rasam recipe goes against most Brahmin rules of making rasam:

- no toor dal / tuvaram paruppu (gasp)
- addition of garlic / poondu (double gasp)
- use of readymade rasam powder

Maybe I should rename the recipe mulagutawney like those fancy restaurants. Anyway.. If you don't want to add dal to your rasam, make it without dal. Go ahead, dare yourself ;)

Garlic Rasam / Poondu Rasam Recipe
Preparation time: 20 mins
Serves: 2

What I Used:

A small lime-sized ball tamarind
8 pods garlic, chopped (use as much or as little as you want)
1 ripe tomato
1 tbsp rasam powder (mine has chilly powder so if yours doesn't, add chilly powder to taste)
A generoud pinch of hing / asafoetida
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp jaggery or sugar
Salt to taste

For tempering:

2 tsp ghee / clarified butter (or oil)
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
A few curry leaves

How I Made It:

1. Soak the tamarind in 1 cup warm water for 10 mins. Extract juice and discard pulp. Add another cup of water to the tamarind juice.

2. Chop the tomato and mash it well with your finger tips.

3. Place the tamarind juice, tomatoes, turmeric powder, salt, hing, rasam powder and the garlic pods in a pan and bring to boil. Once it boils, lower fire and let it simmmer, keeping the pan open.

4. Once the mixture has simmered for about 15 mins, add sugar and adjust salt. Remove from fire.

5. Heat the ghee and add the mustard seeds and curry leaves. Once the seeds start to pop, add to the boiled tamarind mixture. Mix well.

Serve piping hot with steamed white rice and paruppu usili or drink straight from a glass.

Yellow Moong Dal Tadka / Cherupayar Parippu Curry

Plain yellow dal or dal tadka is the most requested recipes in here. I had posted the basic dal recipe with toor dal a while back. I also make this with yellow moong dal (splite green beans) when I run out of toor dal and it gives a very different tasting basic dal for your rice.

In Kerala, or atleast the parts that I am from, moong dal is usually preferred over toor dal. We make a curry with moong dal, any squash or cucumber we can get our hands on and also add coconut (but of course!). Oh wait, I actually have a recipe in here somewhere. Oh yes, here it is. Cherupayar Vellarikka Curry - yellow moong dal cooked with cucumber.

This goes to the 12th helping of the Legume Love Affair event started by Susan and hosted this month at Annarasa.

Yellow Moong Dal Tadka / Cherupayar Parippu Curry

Serves: 4

What I Used:

Yellow moong dal / split green bean / cherupayar - 1 cup

Green chillies - 2, split

Tomato - 1, chopped (optional)

Turmeric powder - 1 pinch

Salt - to taste

For tempering:

Oil - 1 tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Jeera / jeerakam - 1 tsp

Ginger - 1/2 tsp, grated

Red chillies - 2, torn into halves

Curry leaves - a few

Hing / asafoetida / kaayam - a pinch (optional)

How I Made It:

1. Cook the dal in 4 cups water until soft or pressure cook for 3 whistles with turmeric, green chillies and tomato (if using). Let it cool.

2. Heat oil in a pan and add the ingredients for tempering. When the mustard seeds start popping and the red chillies start to change colour, add the cooked dal to this and mix well. Add salt.

Yellow Dal / Dal Tadka Recipe

I had used the pictures of this recipe for one of my photography series posts - angles in food photography. Like I mentioned in that post, sometimes the simplest of dishes can make a great meal, like we enjoyed that weekend. I just wanted to jot down the recipe here for those of you looking for a comforting bowl of yellow dal for your dal chawal. 

What I Used:

Toor dal - 1 cup

(you can also use masoor dal / red lentils)

Tomato - 1, cubed

Turmeric powder - a pinch

Asafoetida / hing - a pinch

Amchoor / dry mango powder - 1/2 tsp 

(if you want it tangy)

Sugar - a pinch (optional)

Salt - to taste

For Tempering:

Onion - 1/4 cup, chopped fine

Garlic - 3 pods crushed (optional)

Jeera / cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Dry red chillies - 3 to 4, halved

Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp

Oil - 2 tsp

For Garnishing:

Chopped fresh coriander leaves (optional)

How I Made It:

1. Pressure cook the dal, tomatoes and turmeric powder with 3 cups water. I cook it usually for 4 whistles since it takes longer to cook dal in Singapore. 3 whistles should usually be enough. If you don't have a pressure cooker, cook in a closed, thick-bottomed pan for about 20-30 mins until the dal is cooked soft. 

2. Heat oil in a pan and add the ingredients for tempering. Once the mustard seeds start to pop and the onions turn transparent, add the cooked dal. 

3. Next, add salt, hing, sugar and amchoor and mix well. If the dal is too thick, add some water. If too watery, let it remain on fire for longer until the desired consistency is reached. 

4. Garnish wtih coriander leaves and serve with steamed white rice, papad and pickles. YUM!

NOTE

You will see that a lot of ingredients I add are optional. This is because the basic yellow dal recipe is plain and simple with minimum flavours. Customize according to your taste and use just the bare minimum ingredients. It tastes great any which way. 

Dal Makhani Recipe

This dish is also known as maa ki dal, as I discovered recently. I think I can understand why. This is my least favourite dal dish to order in a restaurant. I am yet to eat a good dal makhani dish outside.

Ironically, my mom doesn't cook this so this isn't really maa ki dal to me. We are hardcore South Indian and though amma cooks an occasional rajma or paneer dish, dal makhani is too 'North Indian' for us and never really occurred to her to try and cook, I guess.

Her daughter, obviously, loves to take on more than she can chew sometimes (literally!) and takes pleasure in experimenting on never-before-cooked recipes especially when she has guests. I most often mess up on my most tried and tested recipes when I have guests (is it the pressure or is the behaviour expected, I can never tell).

Anyway, dal makhani has been on the back of my head forever and I recently got a bag of whole black lentils (whole black urad dal) and I decided to try it on an evening we had a young North Indian couple. Brave, arent I? ;)

This is a milder version of the dish as I was serving it with spiced up vegetable pulao. I also avoided the cream that is usually an essential indredient for this recipe.

Dal Makhani Recipe
(Serves 4)

What I Used:

1/2 cup whole ural dal (black lentils), soaked overnight
4 tbsp rajma (red kidney beans), soaked overnight with the dal
1 onion, chopped fine
1 tomato, chopped fine
2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1/2 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp red chilly powder
2 dried red chillies
2 tbsp milk
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp oil
salt

How I Made It:

1. Heat oil in a pressure cooker and saute onions till transparent. Add salt, chilly powder and the ginger-garlic pasted and fry for a minute.

2. Next, add the chopped tomatoes and cook for a few minutes so that the mixture combines well together. Add the lentils and beans, and enough water to just cover them. Pressure cook for 3-4 whistles. Remove from fire and set aside.

3. Once the pressure leaves the cooker, keep it on a low fire. Add the milk and bring to boil. Keep it on sim and let it boil while preparing to temper it.

4. Heat the butter and oil in a pan and throw in the cumin seeds. Once they start spluttering, add the chopped garlic and the red chillies each torn into 3 pieces. Fry until the garlic starts browning and smelling lovely.

5. Remove the dal from fire and add the tempered butter-oil directly to it. Follow immediately with garam masala and mix well. Adjust salt.

Serve with warm rotis, naan or pulao.

This goes to My Legume Love Affair event hosted this month by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook.

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Please keep those recipes coming for The Recipe Diary Contest.

Thanks to everyone who started contributing already. You are all that much closer to winning the cookbook of your choice!

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Arachuvitta Sambar

Arachuvitta sambar literally means sambar to which ground spices are added. The name itself is so traditional and delicious to me! This is a tried and tested recipe that works like a charm. The last time I made it, I made a note of the amount of ingredients I am putting in because normally for sambar, I throw in stuff and it comes out well invariably. This is a slightly more tedious sambar than how I normally make it but well worth the effort, as always :) TH loves to have this with curd rice, since I make it slightly thicker than normal.

What I Used:

Toor dal / tuvar dal / thuvaram paruppu - 1/2 cup
Shallots / small onions - 1/2 cup, halved or quartered
Tamarind paste – 3 tbsp (or a marble sized amount soaked and squeezed in half cup water)
Asafoetida / hing / kaayam / perungayam - 1/4 tsp
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
Curry leaves - a few
Salt - to taste
Oil – 2 tsp
Chopped fresh coriander leaves - for garnishing

Roast, cool and grind for masala mix

Coriander seeds / malli – 2 tbsp
Grated coconut (fresh or dessicated) - 2 tbsp
Chana dal – 1 tbsp
Dried red chillies – 6
Fenugreek seeds / methi seeds / uluva / menthayam – ¼ tsp (or a little less)
Curry leaves - a few
Oil - 1 tsp

How I Made It:

1. Pressure cook the dal in 3 cups water for 3 whistles.

2. Roast and grind the masala mix and set aside.

3. Heat 2 tsp oil in a heavy-bottomed pan and temper mustard seeds until they pop. Add curry leaves and chopped shallots and fry for a minute. Then add turmeric and hing.

4. Add the cooked dal and tamarind paste to the above. Adjust water to get the right consistency. Bring to boil.

5. Now add the ground masala mix and stir well, reducing the fire to sim. Add salt. Let the sambar boil for about 2-3 mins.

6. Remove and garnish with chopped coriander.

Goes well with vada, dosa, idli and steamed rice.

Kandi Podi / Gun Powder / Andhra Style Paruppu Podi

This is my dad's favorite accompaniment to anything. So much so that each time I visited home from Hyderabad, he would request for this and only this. I try it when we go to Andhra thali restaurants but recently I started craving them and decided to make some.

Andhra Paruppu Podi

What I Used
(Recipe from here)

Toor dal / Tuvaram paruppu /Split gram - 1 cup
Moong dal /Paasi paruppu / Cherupayar Parippu - 1/2 cup
Chana dal / Kadala paruppu / Bengal gram - 1/2 cup
Red chilli powder - 2 tbsp
Black pepper powder - 2 tsp
Hing / Asafoetida / Perungayam - 1/2 tsp
Jeera / Jeerakam - 1 tbsp
Salt - to taste

How I Made It:

1. Dry fry all the dals separately until they turn golden brown. Mix well.
2. Add the jeera and hing to the dal mixture when its still hot and keep aside to cool.
3. Once cool, grind to a course/fine powder depending on preference.
4. Add red chilli powder, pepper and salt to the ground mixture and store in an airtight jar.

Serving suggestions:

- With steamed white rice and hot ghee.
- Mix with some curd or oil and serve with dosa.
- Some variations include adding dry fried curry leaves to the powder. I am sure that's yummy as well, I just didn't have enough curry leaves in hand.

This is my entry to the 7th helping of Legume Love Affair being served by Srivalli this time.

Kathrikka Podi Curry / Brinjal Cooked in Roasted Spices

I apologize to all those brinjal haters out there for posting so many brinjal recipes but these are quick and easy and one of the vegetables that are available at all times for me. Also, I love brinjals :D


This one is a traditional Tamil Brahmin Recipe except that I made a slight twist in it and added pureed onions. You can omit that and you will get a dry fry dish. I wanted something that was slightly soft and not fried.

What I Used:

Brinjal / eggplant - 2 cups, cubed
Onion - 1 small, ground to a paste or chopped fine
Mustard seeds - 1/8 tsp
Oil - 1 tbsp (preferably gingelly/sesame oil)
Salt - to taste

To dry-roast and grind:

Dhania / malli - 2 tsp (or 3 tsp dhania powder)
Bengal gram / Chana dal / kadala parippu - 1 tbsp
Urad dal / uzhunnu parippu / uzhutham paruppu - 1 tsp
Dried red chillies - 4, adjust to taste
Curry leaves - a few

How I Made It:

1. Dry roast the list of ingredients until golden brown, cool, grind and set aside.

2. Heat oil in a pan. temper mustard seeds and lightly saute the onion paste. Then add the brinjal pieces and fry until they turn colour and get soft. Add salt.

3. Mix in the ground spice mixture and fry well for 3 to 4 mins. Remove from fire.

Serve hot with steamed white rice and spicy baby potatoes.

Padavalanga / Podalangai Koottu

Padavalanga / Podalangai Koottu is one of my favourite types of koottu. I always say that koottu is the Tamil version of thoran, a staple recipe in Kerala cooked with a variety of vegetables. I make that as often as I make koottu, to balance out the Tamil-Mallu couple that we are. TH doesn't like too much coconut in his food either way, so I compromise by toning it down a bit.

What I Used (Serves 2):

Snake gourd / podalangai / padavalanga - 2 cups, cut into 1" squares
Chana dal / kadala parippu - 1/2 cup
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Shallots / small onions / chinna vengayam / ulli - 4 nos
Green chillies - 2 nos
Cumin seeds / jeera / jeerakam - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Red chilly powder - 1/2 tsp (optional)
Salt - to taste

For tempering:

Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves - a few
Shallots - 3 nos, chopped
Oil - 2 tsp

How I Made It:

1. Cook the snake gourd and chana dal in little water until both are soft. This will take about 15-20 mins. I pressure them for 2-3 whistles to make it quicker.

2. Meanwhile, grind the coconut + shallots + green chillies + jeera withvery little water. Set aside.

3. Heat oil in a pan and temper the mustard seeds. Add curry leaves and chopped shallots and fry for a minute.

4. Add the cooked snake gourd - dal mixture to the above and mix well. Add very little water if its too dry. (I added a little too much, as is obvious from the picture!)

5. Now add the ground coconut paste and turmeric + chilly powder. Fry for another about 5 mins. Add salt.

Remove and serve hot with steamed rice and vathal kuzhambu.

Paruppu Urundai Kuzhambu

Paruppu Urundai Kuzhambu literraly means dal balls in a gravy. As with most tam Brahm recipes, this one has the most common ingredients like toor dal, tamarind, hing and of course sambar powder! 

I have mentioned before how new I was/still am to an extend to Tamil Brahmin cooking. My parents-in-law are here for a visit and that means amma takes care of all the cooking and dinner is ready by the time I get back from office. Bliss. But, I told her first off that I wanted to watch her making Paruppu Urundai Kuzhambu. The dish features dal balls in a tangy tamarind sauce. Though it looks a bit like kofta curry, the recipe couldn't be further from it. Amma had given me the recipe long back and I tried it once but the dal balls (urundai) dissolved in the sauce and it ended up like sambar in the end. It does take some practise to get it right and what better way to learn than by watching!

What We Used:

Toor Dal – 1 cup, soaked in water for atleast 1 hour
Onion- 1 small, minced
Hing - 1/4 tsp
Dried red chillies - 3 to 4
Salt – 1 tsp

Tamarind water - 2 cups (or 2 tbsp tamarind paste dissolved in 2 cups water)
Grated coconut (fresh or frozen) - 1/4 cup, ground to a paste in little water
Sambar powder- 1 heaped tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Hing - a pinch
Oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard – 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves – a few
Salt - to taste

How We Made It:

1. Take a heavy-bottomed pan that's preferably evenly shaped at the bottom (so that the dal balls cook evenly). Pour in the tamarind water and add turmeric and salt. Bring to a boil.

2. Then add the hing, sambar powder and ground coconut and let it boil on low flame.

3. Meanwhile, rinse the soaked toor dal completely and grind it with red chillies, hing and salt, without adding any water.

4. Mix in the minced onions to the above dal paste and make small lemon-sized balls with it.

5. Add the dal balls one by one, slowly, into the boiling sauce. Do not mix around too much or else the balls will crumble. If you are trying this for the first time, add one or two balls at a time and then keep adding more.

6. Now its time to be patient and wait for the dal balls to cook. They will almost double in size as they boil in the sauce and the sauce will thicken as well.

7. Once the dal balls are cooked (will take about 15-20 mins), temper mustard seeds in some oil, add curry leaves and transfer to the boiling kuzhambu.

8. Remove from fire and serve hot.

We made this kuzhambu last weekend and though I didn't have a flat bottomed pan which brings out the best results, the kadai worked pretty okay too. We had to keep stirring the balls gently so that it cooks evenly. If you are making this for the first time, you can also try steaming the balls before dropping in the sauce. This will prevent break-age. I will let you know how it comes out when I try it on my own next :D

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There is something else that I kept forgetting to mention in my previous posts so doing so now. Better late than never. Mansi of Fun and Food had hosted a Healthy Recipes Contest and I won! She sent me this amazing book and I want to thank her for hosting and everyone who voted.

But wait! What's the recipe that won? Click here to find out!