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sarson wali sookhi bhindi : baby okra stir fried with mustard seasoning...
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triple lemon cakes for a kid's birthday : the kind of cakes that spread sunshine...
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sheer brunj, birunj or biranji, the kheer that cooks without rice....
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a mughlai meal and the possibilities of a great take home nawabi zayeka...
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kundru ki lehsuni bhujia : ivy gourd cooked with chilly garlic
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a mixed fruit cake that is the real tutti frutti cake, not with the candied and colored papaya bits...
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some meals are meant to be a part of your memories, we had one such dinner at The Pianoman...
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dhaniya pudine wala hara murgh | chicken curry with mint coriander gravy....
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A ghazal evening at Saleem Restaurant : the old world charm gone awry...
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dahi wale achari tindey and another quick recipe of tinda...
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gosht dopyaza or mutton dopyaza (UP style), a simple home style mutton curry...
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easy paneer makhni recipe...
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an Indian dinner at Varq, The Taj Mahal Hotel...
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murgh safaid qorma : a white stew with chicken and almond paste..
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sookhi sevaiyyan made easy for a modern kithcen | Eid ki sevaiyyan coming late..
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hari mirch ka sarson wala achar | green chilly pickled with mustard ...
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Truck along the trunk | a dhaba at The Cladridges...
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okra stir fry with coconut and ginger | bhindi nariyal ki subzi...
Okra or ladies fingers are called bhindi or bhendi in Indian languages. This is a favorite vegetable in my household for two reasons. One I don't have to peel them and secondly the husband likes them. Ah and there is another reason too, both of us can eat this vegetable on it's own most of the times. So I cook a lot of okra when I do and we rarely have any leftovers.
This is one of those okra recipe that you can eat in large servings. More so if you love coconut. And this is one of those okra recipes that don't get slimy after cooking, even if you just cook the vegetable mildly, not fried to death.
ingredients...
okra/ladies fingers/bhindi 400 gm
dry red chilies 2-3 broken
sliced garlic pods 2 tsp or to taste
ginger julienne 1 tbsp or more
grated fresh coconut 3/4 cup
turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
mustard or sesame oil or use olive oil if you wish 1 tbsp or a little more depending on what kind of pan you are using
lime juice to taste (optional)
procedure...
Wash and drain the okra and let them get dry before chopping them. Remove the cap (the stalk) and slit lengthwise twice at cross angles so it is quartered. Chop the whole thing from the middle if the okra is too long.
Heat oil in a pan (or kadhai) and tip in the broken red chilies and sliced garlic. Wait till the garlic gets slightly aromatic and pinkish (not brown) and add the sliced okra. Add salt and stir fry on medium flame for about 5 minutes.
Add the salt and turmeric powder and stir fry for another 5 minutes or so. The okra shouldn't brown but get cooked.
Add the grated coconut and ginger julienne, mix well, cook for another couple of minutes and take it off heat. Serve hot or at room temperature. Lime juice can be added after adjusting seasoning.
Goes well with an Indian meal as a side dish. Simple flavors, freshness of coconut and ginger is the first thing that this brings to the palate, the mild heat of chilly and garlic complements really well.
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mung ki sookhi daal made two ways...
Mung ki sookhi daal is something that has a texture of hummus, smooth creamy on the palate and yet separate grains of this wonderful lentil make this daal really unique from regular daal recipes.
Yes, this is one of the few simple recipes of daal that taste so different from the regular fare. Daal is such a versatile dish in Indian cuisine and gets so many treatments depending on what state it belongs to. This sookhi mung ki daal is more of a north India thing, made in UP, Punjab, probably Bihar as well. I have seen a variation of sookhi mung ki daal in Bengali families too, they make a mung daal sheddho (boiled mash) which is a nice mash of boiled mung daal, more like a hummus with mustard oil or ghee and some chopped green chilly, chopped onion and sometimes a hint of dhaniya patta.
Our daals definitely get different flavors form different states, even different families of the same state or city.
So this sookhi mung ki daal is a little difficult to achieve and many people just don't cook it because it ends up being a solid gooyi mess or the cooked lentils feel too dry.
I cook this sookhi mung ki daal two ways depending on how dry I like it and if I am adding coriander greens or fresh baby spinach to it. If you want to mix some hopped greens in the daal it needs to have a little liquid so the chopped coriander greens are incorporated well into it.
ingredients :
(2-3 large servings)
split mung daal 1 cup
turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
salt to taste
water 2 cups + 1/2 cup
ghee 2 tbsp
red chilly flakes 1/2 tsp or more to taste
asafoetida a pinch
cumin seeds 2 tsp
chopped garlic 1 tsp
coriander greens chopped 1/2 cup Or baby spinach, no need to chop those tender leaves
procedure :
Pressure cook the mung daal with the said amount of water, salt and turmeric powder. Cook only till the whistle blows and then take the cooker off the heat. Let it cool on it's own.
Heat ghee in a small pan and add the asafoetida, chopped garlic and cumin seeds, wait till everything gets browned a bit. Add the chilly flakes and pour it all into the cooked daal along with 1/2 cup water. Add half of the coriander greens (or spinach if using) and give it a good mix. Simmer for 3-5 minutes till everything is incorporated and daal is a thick consistency.
Garnish with more coriander greens and serve hot. We love it with ragi or whole wheat rotis , pita crisps and even with rice. Being an absilute daal lover I can have it as a meal.
The leftovers are diluted with water, and some rolled out ragi dough (cut into strips) is added to make it into a nice daal dhokli meal.
My comfort food, I plan daal leftovers for this.
And now is the absolutely dry version of sookhi mung ki daal. For this one I pressure cook the daal twice and the cooked lentil looks separate but you can't mix it further as it would result in a hummus like paste. Not that it would taste bad, but it wont be suitable for our dal roti meals. You are supposed to 'spoon' the daal using a piece of roti and enjoy this bite with utter bliss.
ingredients :
split mung daal 1 cup
water 2 cups
turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
salt to taste
asafoetida solution (1 tbsp water+ a pinch of asafoetida)
tejpatta 2
ghee 2 tbsp and some more to serve
cumin seeds 2 tsp
red chilly powder 1 tsp or to taste
preparation :
Pressure cook the mung daal with salt, turmeric powder, tejpatta, asafoetida solution and the said amount of water. Cook only till the first whistle blows and take off heat, let it cool on it's own.
Heat ghee in a small pan, add the cumin seeds and let them brown and get aromatic, taking care not to burn them. Take the pan off heat, add the chilly powder and let the chilly disperse in the ghee as it cooks. Pour this tadka as soon as the pressure cooker cools down. Mix well and cover the lid again and pressure cook again till the first whistle. You might need to add 1/4 cup of water before the second round of pressure cooking, if you don't see enough liquid to cook it again.
Serve hot with a drizzle of ghee. This is very aromatic mung ki daal and the ghee makes it even better.
Have it with roti and some subzi and raita/salad on the side. And do let me know if you liked it.
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modak, patholi, patole or pitha : a steamed rice dumpling with coconut jaggery stuffing, wrapped in turmeric leaves...
Haldi patra pitha for bengalis, patholi for Konkanis and patole for Maharashtrians, this wonderfully aromatic steamed sweet stuffed dumpling is something that definitely evolved in the oriental-tropical world. You would see a Kaa noom sword side in Thailand which is another variation of the same rice dumpling. How food connects the world.
Steamed desserts have a certain charm to them. Especially if the steamed desserts are made of rice with a coconut and jaggery stuffing. I don't know if you have tried any of those modaks and pithas but I took to them like fish takes to water as soon I got introduced to these sweet nothings. These were not made at my mother's place although a steamed round modak was made occasionally. I learnt this turmeric leaf wrapped modak or pitha on Sanjeev Kapoor's show more than a decade ago and steamed this aromatic treat the same day. There have been many repeats since then. That I grow turmeric in my garden helps, else you would have to get hold of some turmeric leaves if you want this subtle aroma.
This year interestingly, I couldn't replant my turmeric tubers and was missing having them. So when I saw turmeric growing in the backyard of a friend's place I immediately got a few for myself. That greedy for food I am. Made these the very next day.
The recipe is simple and you can make this dumpling by using raw rice paste as this patole recipe, but I made it with a cooked rice dough because I wanted the taste of ukdiche modak redolent with the aroma of turmeric leaves. And that's what I did.
To make the rice flour dumpling this way.. Cook the rice flour with twice the amount of water. For a cup of rice flour you need 2 cups of water and 1/2 tsp salt. Boil the water and salt in a pan and dump the rice flour at once into it as soon as the water starts boiling. DO NOT stir, cover the pot and let it simmer for 3-4 minutes. Take the pan off heat, open the lid and holding the pan with a mitten clad left hand, whisk the rice flour vigorously with right hand. The whole process takes about 10 minutes for this quantity. Use a wire whisk for convenience.
Now mix this lumpy dough with the help of a sturdy spatula or spoon, till the mixture becomes smooth and looks like a malleable dough. You would be able to make small balls out of it as soon as it is colder.
You can make the stuffing in the meantime. Half a fresh coconut peeled, sliced and coarsely shredded in food processor, added with jaggery to taste is cooked till everything incorporates together. I microwaved it for 2 minutes. And I used a raw rich brown sugar which made my work easy.
Now spread the clean turmeric leaves, grease them with ghee and flatten a rice dough ball over it. Place a generous amount of coconut jaggery mix over it and fold it nicely so the dumpling becomes half moon shape.
A little bit of leaked stuffing is not a problem, as the turmeric leaf is going to wrap around the dumpling.
Shape and wrap all dumplings and place them all on a ghee greased plate. I used a ceramic plate as I was microwaving them all together. You can use a perforated steel plate if you are steaming the dumplings in steamer.
It needs to be microwaved covered so I normally cover the plate with an inverted bowl. These required a 5 minute microwaving time. Just go by how many or how big your dumplings are, and a little raw dumplings wont be a problem since everything is cooked anyways.
But steaming them for some time helps the dumpling to hold better. The rice starches settle down to hold the stuffing better and you can pick up the patholi or pitha in your hands to have a bite.
This was heavenly. The turmeric leaf marks look really gorgeous.
How simple cooking techniques can make food so exotic, I wonder how our ancestors experimented with simple ingredients to cook such wonderful food. The slightly salted rice dumpling with a rich sweetness of jaggery and aroma and taste of coconut is something that satiates the senses immensely.
Please note that a modern baked dessert with all the butter, sugar and flour would NOT make you feel sated, it would make you want another sweet once the multiple helping dessert is over. With these modaks, you eat many of them and feel blissfully sated. And do not crave for more sweet once they are over. There is a reason for it. Real food makes your system behave well.
PS : Note that the turmeric leaves need to be cleaned really well, soak them, rinse them and wipe the leaves both sides with a clean muslin twice. The urban dust on them is not easy to get rid of.
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