Truth Personified

Dhokla/Steamed gram flour cake:

Made from scratch. I wonder how the gujaratis made it before we had Sodium BiCarbonate(NaHCO3)

My Mom gave me this recipe after tempting me with her Dokhlas over Skype. Well, yea she does that when we chat and she’s having her breakfast :)

So I made up my mind to use the last of the besan I had and make some yummy Dokhla. I used low fat yogurt so I think I can call this a healthy Dokhla dish.

What you will need:

Besan/Gram Flour - 1 Cup

Curd - use low fat yogurt - 1/2 Cup

Oil - 1 Tbspn

Turmeric - 1/2 tspn

Sodium Bi Carbonate - 1/2 Tspn***

Tempering:

Oil - 1 Tspn

Mustard - 1/2 Tspn

Ginger - finely chopped 1/2 Tspn

Chilli - finely chopped 1/4 Tspn

Oil to grease the baking dish

Procedure:

In a big glass bowl add gram flour(besan), curd and water. Mix well to make a smooth batter. The batter should be similar to that of a cake batter. Add turmeric and salt and keep aside. Most recipes let you make this instantly but I kept this mixture overnight.

Prepare the steamer/cooker by filling it with water and letting it come to a boil. Meanwhile grease a baking dish/steel dish and keep aside.

Now mix Sodium bi Carbonate/Baking soda oil and lemon juice and immediately add this to the gram flour mixture. The mixture will start frothing thanks to the baking soda and lime mixture. Pour it into the baking dish upto 1” or 2” maximum and steam for about 10-15 minutes. Mine took 15 minutes and keep checking just the way you check a cake. Use a tooth pick and pass it through and it should come clean if its done right!

Heat oil in a small pan and add mustard seeds, ginger and chili allow to splutter. We call this tadka. Pour over the cake and serve hot with mint chutney. The dokhla I’ve had outside has always been spongy and a little wet which made me wonder if people sprinkled it with water. The wet part made sense because it allowed for the dokhla to pass your food pipe easily because when you eat this cake dry, it feels heavy and it also makes you feel thirsty. Another thing to do is drink a lot of water as you eat it ;) I’ve loved this recipe forever now.

As a kid Mom and I used to visit her Gujarati friend, Vasant Aunty pretty often. Each time it was a treat and Vasant Aunty used to make Dokhlas with different types of healthy flours(jowar/bajra). Gujaratis are known for their snacks and sweets and this aunty always seemed to have stuff in her pantry - sweet pickles, sour pickles, papads, sweets, hots and what not… I’ll always have awesome memories of visits to her place…

Off this goes to MLLA # 29 hosted by Lisa, originally Susan’s baby…

P.S: My entry to the MLLA28 round up is here. 

Happy Deepawali…

It was simple, quiet and nice for a first time… Not much cooking but we tried to do a bit of pooja to lure Laxmi, the Goddess of Wealth into our home… The lamp is still lit and the festive season is on!

We also tried to paint our own diyas, use natural colours for rangoli and make some simple food to avoid over burdening our tummies.

Natural rangoli colours: Mix turmeric with rice powder for some yellow, vermillon for some red and so on and so forth. If you have some glitter from some crafts put that in too… And you always have flowers.

A few glimpses…

Alu Vada:

What does one do when one gets an atrocious deal like 10 pounds of potatoes for 88 CENTS!!! One gets down and dirty to make Alu Bonda(Fried dumplings dipped in gram flour with a potato stuffing), Alu Curry, Alu Fry and anything with Potato in it. (Alu = Potato) So for a very long potato filled week it was baked potato, and then thai potato curry, simple fried potato, mashed potato and I still have potato left waiting to be worked on…

What you need:

Urad Dal 1 cup cleaned well under running water twice and soaked in water overnight

Onion paste - 1 Tspn (optional as it adds too much water)

Chili paste - 1/2 Tspn (adjust to taste)

Ginger paste - 1/2 Tspn

Coriander - a few stems finely chopped(optional)

Salt to taste

Grind the urad dal with very little or no water to a really fine thick paste. You have to drain out the water and use maybe 1 spoon water while grinding -that’s how i did it and it came out pretty well. Then add all the remaining ingredients and mix really well. The batter is the same consistency as that of the Vada batter maybe just a tad bit runnier.

On the side boil and mash some potato and add a bit of garlic salt and mix really well. Make into small balls and keep aside. Drain all the water from the mashed potato. The balls should be as firm as possible.

Heat oil in a deep bottomed vessel.

Gently roll the potato balls in the batter and just as gently drop them into the oil and deepfry for about a minute or two evenly. An evening snack and lip smacking too!

Kala Chana fry & Green gram curry:

Another uniquely simple dish made as an offering to the Goddess on Dasera. One of the advantages of having so many festivals is the diverse cuisine you get to taste. Each part of India celebrates festivals differently. I have always been told to enjoy dasera in Calcutta and I’m still looking forward to that day. The gujaratis celebrate Navratri by dancing a special dance called ‘Garba’. Having had Gujarati friends and roommates I have heard about how fun the ‘Garba’ is for them. The attire for this dance is very pretty and so is the jewelery.

South Indians(Andhra Pradesh) celebrate this festival differently and there is dance involved called Bathukamma but its completely different from the ‘Garba’ of the ‘West’. There’s also a display of toys and idols of gods as part of the festivities. In Mysore this festival is celebrated for a month where as in other places it celebrated for 9 nights and in the extreme South(Kerala) it is celebrated for just 3 days! Read some more here. The immersion of the idol of a powerful Goddess ‘Durga’ happens on the 10th day in certain parts while in other parts the burning of an evil king ‘Ravana’ is celebrated. The uniqueness of the festival is such that the whole country celebrates - whatever the reasons.

Getting down to the dish:

Black chana/Chickpea/Bengal gram/Kala chana - 1 cup cleaned, soaked overnight and boiled in the microwave for about 20 min. Do not drain the water - keep aside.

Tempering:

Oil - 2 Tspn

mustard - 1 tspn

cumin - 1/2 tspn

dry red chili - 1

urad dal - 1 tspn

ginger - 1” slice finely chopped

curry leaves - 5 finely chopped

turmeric powder - 1/4 tspn

paprika powder - 1/2 tspn

salt to taste

Heat the oil in a heavy bottom vessel and add the ingredients in the order mentioned except for the salt. Saute well and then add the boiled chana along with the water. Cook on high till all the water evaporates. And it’s ready to be served. Kala chana can also be let to sprout and eaten jlt.

Alternate way:

Drain the water from the boiled chana and keep aside. Heat the oil in a heavy bottom vessel and add the ingredients in the order mentioned except for the salt. Put this mixture in the chana and mix well. Add salt to taste.

I did it the first way cause I like my chana to absorb all the flavours of the tempering. As I always say - do it your way, always!

As a bonus…

Green gram curry:

Green gram - 1 Cup cleaned, soaked over night and boiled in the microwave for about 20 minutes. Do not drain the water.

Use the same tempering as above. Heat the oil in a heavy bottom vessel and add the ingredients in the order mentioned except for the salt.Add the boiled green gram and mix well and let it come to a boil. Add salt to taste and your dish is ready to be plated.

Tomato Chutney:

This is a versatile dish. It can be paired with rice, all types of dosas, idly, vada and many many other south Indian main courses. It took a while to make but it lasts almost 2-3 weeks when refrigerated so it’s worth it.

It’s a little high on oil and spice so use in little quantities if you can ;)

What you will need:

Tomato - med size - 6 chopped into small pieces(deseeded if possible) Use younger and harder tomato. The success of this dish depends on the lesser water content of the tomatoes so try and reduce the use the juicy tomatoes.

Green chili - 1 finely chopped

Onion - 1/2 finely chopped(optional)

Garlic - 10 pods cleaned and mashed roughly(optional). Substitute with 1/2 Tspn asafoetida.

Tempering:

Oil - 2 Tbspn

Mustard - 1 Tspn

Curry leaves - 10(optional)

Dry red chili - 3

Coriander powder - 1 Tbpsn

Cumin powder - 2/3 Tspn

Paprika powder - 3/4 Tspns

Salt  to taste

    Heat oil in a heavy bottomed vessel. Let the mustard seeds burst and then put in the curry leaves, asafoetida and dry chilis. Now put in the coriander powder, cumin powder and paprika powder, mix all the ingredients and take off heat and keep aside.

    Heat a tspn of oil in another vessel and put in the onion, garlic and saute for about 5 min. When the onion and garlic turns brown add the tomatoes. Sprinkle salt and let the mixture cook till the juices start to separate and the tomatoes are almost mashed in consistency. Now add this mixture to the above mixture and cook for about 15 minutes till the oil separates. Let it cool and store in an air tight container. Take out a little to serve hot with rice or vada.

Enjoy…

Thai black eyed beans gravy:

I love the Thai curry powder I got myself when I was trying to make this. I so fell in love with it that I either try to put it in every dish I make or not put it at all to save it for my next dish. Yea, I’m a little confused that way.  Right now I’m engrossed in watching old episodes of ‘Eureka’ and cooking up some delish Thai food while trying to save my carefully groomed nails from the knife. Gravy based curries are my favourite because when the different ingredients are blended together into a fine paste it gives an aroma nothing else can beat plus its easy on my teeth ;)

What you need:

Black eyed beans soaked overnight and cooked – About 2 cups

Tomatoes – 2 cups

Onion – 1 Cup

Garlic – 4 pods finely chopped (avoid this if you are using garlic salt like I did)

Green chili – 1 deseeded and cut(optional)

Paprika – 1 Tspn

Turmeric powder – ½ Tspn

Oriental Thai curry powder – 2 Tspns

Cloves – 4

Cinnamon sticks – 2

Oil – 1 Tbspn divided

Brown sugar – 1 Tspn

Fresh Coriander – 1 bunch finely chopped

Salt to taste

How you do it:

Heat ½ Tbspn oil in a pan and add garlic, onion, green chili and sauté for a few minutes till the onion turns translucent. Add the tomato and turmeric, paprika, the curry powder and sauté till the tomatoes turn soft and mushy. Take off heat and cool before you blend it into a smooth paste.

Heat the remaining oil in a heavy bottomed vessel and add the cloves and cinnamon sticks. Add the gravy and let it come to a boil. Put in the boiled black eyed beans and cover and cook on low for about 15-20 minutes. Add some brown sugar and salt to taste and garnish with fresh coriander and serve it with an elephant on the side. Or some rice… :D

Note:

• After I tasted it I felt like I could go low on the spice level so I suggest that you don’t use the green chili.
• If you like coconut based curries then add some coconut milk towards the end before the garnishing and bring to a boil. This way you can avoid the sugar because coconut eats up the spice quite a bit.

For me it’s sooper strange to know that some people rarely use coriander for garnishing their dishes. In fact I’ve read that it tastes like soap! For Indians, coriander is a very important ingredient for garnishing Indian Dishes. We even make coriander chutney for our sandwiches.  So if you don’t really enjoy the taste of coriander please avoid it…

My current favourite blog: Eat Live Run

Punjabi Kadhi

You can find a zillion recipes out there from different regions not too different from each other. Some have pakoras(deep fried onion dipped in gram flour) and some don’t. Some have palak(spinach) and some don’t. This is considered comfort food by many Indians. Hot kadhi with steaming rice accompanied with papad and a spicy pickle. It takes quite a while to prepare but the wait is worth it.  Also given that it can be stored for 3-4 days and consistency changed by adding the required amount of water makes it all the more likable.

Another thing about this is its simplicity. This recipe is closest to what I followed. In English they like to call it ’ Spinach in yogurt based sauce’. Since the main ingredient is Gram flour, I think its a pretty good entry to the MLLA event #28 hosted by Divya this month. The MLLA is originally Susan’s brain child.

What you will need :

• Low fat yogurt - 2 cups
• Gram flour (besan) - 4 Tbspn
• Spinach washed & chopped
• 1 tsp. black mustard ( rai) seeds
• cumin (jeera) - 1 tspn
• cloves (laung)- 2-3 
• whole dry red chillies - 2 
• Garlic - 4 pods finely chopped
• Ginger - as much as garlic again finely chopped (You can substitute the above two with ready made or home made ginger garlic paste. But be sure to go light on salt)
• Green chili - 1 finely chopped
• Turmeric powder - 1 Tspn
• Coriander powder - 2 Tspn
• Paprika - 1 Tspn
• Salt to taste
• Oil - 1 Tbspn

Procedure :

1. Whisk yogurt and gram flour and all dry spices(Turmeric powder,Coriander powder,Paprika) to remove all the lumps. Use a blender if you want a smooth paste. Add enough water to form a pouring consistency. Keep aside.
2. Heat little oil in a heavy bottom vessel and add mustard seeds, cumin, whole red chillies, cloves, green chili, ginger and garlic.
3. Add the yogurt mixture to the pan.
4. Add around 4 cups of water. Bring to a boil and then set it to medium high. The gram flour takes a while to cook so let it boil for about 30 minutes. Keep stirring every few minutes else it will form a blob at the bottom of the vessel.
5. Add the chopped spinach and let it cook for another 20 minute.
6. Add water to keep the consistency to your liking and bring to a boil. Adjust salt to taste.
7. Garnish with fresh coriander.

My previous MLLA entries: MLLA27, MLLA26, MLLA25