Garden Fresh - Poori with Aloo methi and Dal

A few days back I tried a Punjabi recipe from Tarla Dalal's book. It is a very simple dish, using few ingredients. This recipe uses fenugreek leaves, which is available in small bunches in the market. Be careful when you clean the leaves - the best way is to cut off the roots before opening the bunch. Then, clean the leaves several times in water.
Today I tried a combination - poori with aloo methi and dal. This is one of the best dinners I have ever had!



1 1/2 cups peeled and boiled potatoes
4 cups fresh fenugreek (methi) leaves
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 tbsp chopped ginger
2 whole dry red chillies, dry roasted and broken into pieces
1 tsp finely chopped green chillies
2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp asafoetida
4 tbsp oil
Salt to taste

Wash the fenugreek leaves and chop them finely. Sprinkle some salt over them and keep aside for half an hour.
Squeeze out all the water and keep aside.
Heat the oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds.
When they crackle, add the ginger, garlic, green chillies, red chillies and salt.
Add the potatoes and stir fry them for 5 minutes.
Add the fenugreek leaves, coriander powder, turmeric powder and asafoetida.
Cook covered for ten minutes on a low flame.
Serve hot.




Moong dal - 1/2 cup
Water - 2 cups + 3/4 cup
Salt to taste
Turmeric powder - 1/4 cup
Ghee - 2 tsp
Cumin seeds - 2 tsp

Wash the dal and pressure cook with 2 cups of water.
Mash the dal very well.
Add 3/4 cup water and bring to a boil.
Add salt and turmeric powder and simmer for a few minutes.
Heat the ghee, add the cumin seeds. Once the seeds crackle, pour it into the dal.

Basundhi

Basundhi is my all time favorite sweet. But I have never attempted to make it at home. I always thought it was a cumbersome process, but I realised I was totally wrong! Today I tried making it, and it turned out really well. Try my recipe...

Milk - 1 litre
Sugar - 3 tsp
Ghee - 1 tsp
Finely sliced almond & pista to garnish

Boil the milk on a slow flame. Keep stirring it once in a few minutes. Keep mixing the cream that forms on top. Keep boiling till 3/4th of the milk is reduced. This took about an hour. Add sugar. Remove from fire.
Cool completely. Refridgerate. Garnish with almonds and pista roasted in ghee.
P.S. I have not added my basundhi picture coz we finished eating it before I could click!

Quick starter!

Cauliflower florets – 4 ½ cups
Diced onion – ½ cup
Diced capsicum – ½ cup
Corn flour – ½ cup
Kashmiri chilli powder – 2 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying
Chopped coriander – 2 tbsp to garnish

Immerse the cauliflower florets in hot salted water for ten minutes. Drain.

Add the corn flour, salt and chilli powder when the cauliflower is still damp. Deep fry in hot oil and keep aside. Fry the onion and capsicum separately.

Mix all the vegetables and sauté together in a pan for a few minutes. Garnish with chopped coriander.

Ubiquitous Rava Upma!

Hi!
Ok! Ok! Ok!
I can see the smirk on most faces when you are reading this. Upma is a common dish in South Indian homes and at least 6 out of 10 people I know hate it. But, according to me, any dish is interesting when it tastes good. We often do not pay much attention and care to cook simple dishes and that is where we go wrong. The best thing about Upma is that it can be made in a jiffy and its a wholesome dish too! I’m sharing my recipe of Upma, and I’m sure you will love it…trust me!

Ghee – 1 tsp
Gingelly oil – 4 tbsp
Semolina/ Rava – 1 ½ cups
Boiling water – 5 cups
Finely chopped onion – 1 ½ cups
Roughly chopped green chillies – 2 ½ tbsp
Finely chopped ginger – 1 tbsp
Mustard – ½ tsp
Broken urad/black gram – 1 tsp
Bengal gram dal – 1 ½ tsp
Fresh curry leaves loosely packed – ¼ cup

I used a non stick pan to cook this dish, so that the upma is completely non – sticky.

Heat the ghee in a pan and fry the rava on a slow flame. Keep frying until you are able to smell the rava. Keep aside.

Heat 3 tbsp oil in a pan. Add bengal gram dal, urad dal and mustard, in the same order, leaving a few seconds gap in between each addition.

Add the green chillies, curry leaves, onion and fry till the onion is translucent.

Pour the boiling water into the vegetables. After 3 minutes, add the rava, little by little. Keep stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Cook for 7 – 8 minutes.

Finally, add the remaining oil and mix well. Cook for 2 minutes.