Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Paalakwali Daal

Paalak is the only green leaf veggie my kids eat, so once in every week I cook paalak.  We all love it a lot.
Here is the simple recipe of daal.


Ingredients:
1 bunch of paalak/spinach, u can use frozen also.
1/2 cup Toor Daal/Masoor Daal
1 small onion chopped
2-3 green chillies
2 cloves garlic chopped
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp Chilli Powder
1/2 tsp Jeera/cumin seeds
1 tsp tamarind pulp
1 tbsp Oil
Salt.

Method:
Cook daal in pressure cooker or in a pan till mushy with little salt and turmeric powder.
Wash & clean paalak, remove the thick stems soft/thin stems are fine.  Chop the spinach leaves.
In a kadhai/pan, heat oil.  Add the cumin seeds.
When the cumin seeds crackle, add the onion, green chillies and garlic fry till the onion & garlic turns brown.
Add the chopped spinach, sprinkle some salt and close with a lid.
Let the spinach cook at a medium low flame.
Mash the cooked daal and add it to the cooked spinach.
Add the chilli powder and tamaring pulp.
Check the consistency and if u want can add some water & bring to boil.
Check for the seasoning.  Remove from fire.
Serve hot with steamed rice with a dollop of ghee.
Tastes heavenly.  Enjoy.


Monday, August 23, 2010

After a long break,

Sorry and thanks to all those who sent me mails enquiring about my long absence.  Life is full of surpises, some are pleasant and some are not.  I know we should not get startled with either of them but I got. 

Sorry Valli, I could not post any entry for indian cooking challenge for last 2 months though I had prepared them.  Hence here now I am posting the entry for last month Kara Sev.

Kara Sev Recipe 1

Ingredients needed:
2 1/2 cups Gram Flour (Besan)
1 cup Rice flour
1/4 tsp Chilli powder
1 tsp Black pepper coarsely powdered
2 1/2 tsp Ghee
A pinch of Baking soda (optional)
Salt to taste.
2 pods Crushed garlic (optional, I didn't use it)
Oil to deep fry.

Method:
Sieve both Gram flour and Rice flour together in a bowl and make a pit.
Add chilli powder, Pepper powder, Salt, Ghee, Cooking soda.  If you are using garlic pods crush them and add at this stage.
Mix thoroughly with hands. It should look like bread crumbs. Divide the dough into 4 portions.
Take One portion of this mixture, sprinkle water, knead like Puri dough.
Heat oil in a kadai, Use a ladle with lot of holes (Kara Sevai ladle) or Sev maker. Put some dough on that and rub directly into oil.
It will be like split string. Deep fry in oil , drain excess oil.
After cooling this off, Store this in an airtight container.
Enjoy with a cup of hot tea.