THE RECIPE LARDER

Soong Dal

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It’s that time of the year when Mahabaleshwar beckons, with its myriad sunsets, fresh fragrant strawberries and over powering array of flowers. We had ourselves farm fresh and organic vegetables just off the farm.

 

Since we do not use fertilisers or pesticides of any kind, we pluck off cherry tomatoes and radish straight from the Canadian pharmacy plants and merrily munch it on the go!

fresh off the farm.

For a day and a half, we were just mom and son! We ate, drank and had some crazy conversations.

We both wanted something a bit healthy for our brain doping lunch, and anyways friends who love this dish have been asking for the recipe. So we decided to make it and blog it.

This is a super healthy snack.  I sometimes have it as the lonesome dish for dinner too. It’s super filling, high in protein and very very healthy. It does not sit in your tummy, but leaves you feeling full and satiated. The tangy, spicy flavour makes it soooo very edible and tasty.

I optionally also add finely chopped raw mango (kairi) to it and reduce the lemon a wee bit. You can play around with it as you like. Reduce the spice, increase it (yaay!), add onions, take off the coconut, add a dash of green chutney!!! Just go for it. Not much can destroy this dish!

Add to it a dhokla mix, or to some other chaat item. Serve it mixed with broken idli and podi chutney. Let your creativity flow and do tell me also how you played with it!

Soong dal goes amazingly well with drinks. But serve it chilled. Like – absolutely and totally chilled. If you think of heating it – u might as well eat dal. So DO NOT HEAT this dish!!

Have fun! Cheers!

 

PS: Here is the video shoot we did for the Soong Dal. It’s very basic and rustic, as is the kitchen in our farm.


Soong Dal
Print Recipe
A healthy and tasty snack. Super with drinks.
Servings Prep Time
4 pax 5 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
5 minutes 4 hours
Servings Prep Time
4 pax 5 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
5 minutes 4 hours
Soong Dal
Print Recipe
A healthy and tasty snack. Super with drinks.
Servings Prep Time
4 pax 5 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
5 minutes 4 hours
Servings Prep Time
4 pax 5 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
5 minutes 4 hours
Ingredients
Servings: pax
Instructions
  1. Wash and soak the yellow moong dal for 4 hours.
  2. Drain the water, rinse the dal and keep on a draining sieve for appx 20 minutes, so that no water is left.
  3. Once the water has drained, get the tadka ready. Keep the moong dal in a mixing bowl.
  4. In a tadka pan, add the oil.
  5. When hot, add the mustard seeds.
  6. When spluttering, add the hing and finally the curry leaves.
  7. All the curry leaves should splatter, so mix it with a spoon once, while still on the fire.
  8. Take off the fire and put it on the moong dal.
  9. Now add the salt, chopped corriander, coconut and green chillies (and optionally the raw mango)
  10. Lastly squeeze in the lemon juice.
  11. Mix well.
  12. Serve completely chilled.
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Radish Salad

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I detest radish! It’s bitter, pungent and according to me serves no purpose in the culinary world. The Japanese use a lot of radish in their cuisine, and I always wondered what they do to it to make that pungent and mouth twisting bitter taste, disappear ?! Even after tasting that kind of radish, I could still not lift a piece of raw radish from a salad! Until – this lady made me taste her concoction.

…

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Corn Pulao

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There is something about the farm  in full bloom, the birds happy with themselves, bees humming, butterflies swarming around, and our two dogs furtively chasing away the monkeys (who want to uproot our vegetable patches!). The entire happy cycle of nature makes my soul sigh in satisfaction.

This season we got bushels and bushels of corn from our farm in Mahabaleshwar. And strawberries. And radish.  And beans. And cauliflower!! And so many other small batches of pure organic vegetables. The taste and inherent sweetness of the freshly plucked organic vegetables is a  world apart from what we get in cities.

We had freshly plucked corn, and we all decided to have Corn  Pulao.

Fresh corn, fragrant rice, a one pot marvel.

This is a really simple recipe, very easy prep and damn tasty to boot! Just before adding the rice, you will realise that the corn looks so good, and it tastes and smells good too. At this point you can easily not add the rice and serve it as a veggies with any kind of roti! (we almost did that, as the smell was making us go crazy – and we were fast loosing patience).

Serve it with yoghurt and papad! Or eat it plain! You can easily increase or decrease the spices. What I have written in my recipe is not a very spicy version. The yoghurt, balances the spices.

Fresh rice Pulao, made with organic corn.

I hope you like the recipe as much as all of us did!

PS: here is the link to the youtube video to make your life a tad easier!

Cheers and Ciao!

 

 

Corn Pulao
Print Recipe
Easy one pot Corn Pulao, full of fragrant spices.
Servings Prep Time
4 Pax 15 min
Cook Time Passive Time
25 min 30 min
Servings Prep Time
4 Pax 15 min
Cook Time Passive Time
25 min 30 min
Corn Pulao
Print Recipe
Easy one pot Corn Pulao, full of fragrant spices.
Servings Prep Time
4 Pax 15 min
Cook Time Passive Time
25 min 30 min
Servings Prep Time
4 Pax 15 min
Cook Time Passive Time
25 min 30 min
Ingredients
Servings: Pax
Instructions
  1. Take the corn grains off the cob.
  2. Heat oil. When spluttering add the cinnamon, green cardamoms, cloves, black pepper(optional), and bay leaves one by one.
  3. Roast well, then add chopped onions.
  4. When translucent and semi brown, add the garlic and ginger.
  5. After a minute, add the green chillies.
  6. Now add the turmeric and red chilli powder.
  7. Fry for a while till the (spices) masalas all mix together.
  8. Add the corn and toss and mix well.
  9. Now add the hing water and mix it all together.
  10. Add salt and fresh corriander.
  11. Add the yoghurt, and mix into the corn.
  12. When well mixed and small bubbles appear, add the soaked raw rice.
  13. Mix all together and add the water.
  14. Mix, and cover with well fitted lid, to cook. Medium flame.
  15. Keep checking the contents so that it does not burn and catch at the bottom.
  16. If water reduces, and rice has not cooked, add a 1/4th cup rice and then add slowly as needed.
  17. When cooked, garnish and serve immediately.
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One Pot Chole Chawal

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one pot chole rice.

My grand mom made the best Chole in the world. It was a hand me down recipe from her mother who was according to me was an un hailed, un acclaimed legendary cook worth atleast a couple of Michelin Stars. Not only did she cook like her hands were blessed by the gods, but she also remembered amongst the dozens of grand and great grand children, who thronged at her home each summer, what each of us loved to eat. Our stomachs and souls were in heaven when at her home. Every morning, no matter how early we woke up, we would find her tinkering in the kitchen, singing bhajans to her beloved Krishna. I asked her one day if she has any recipes written down – and she looked at me like I was asking her if Krishna liked dance music. Every single recipe, and there were thousands in her repertoire, was stored in her head. And not once was there a variation in what we ate. Each and every time over the years the dishes tasted the same – tasty, heartwarming and soul stirring.

My nani, handed me this recipe of Chole, very casually over dinner one day. I scrambled up and wrote it down. Over the years, I have also perfected this recipe with trials and error. And while it still does not taste like how she or her mom made it, it stills holds good on it’s own….

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Lasooni Palak

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If you have been following my blog, you would have realised that my favourite flavour is garlic. I have grown up in a family that cooked without onion and garlic, for religious purposes. Garlic is said to have “tamsik” qualities. Tamsik food is considered unhealthy, and it brings out the negative in you, gives rise to anger and other repugnant emotions. During the Vedic times, everything that was considered not good, was given a religious decree of non consumption.

I have realised over the years that a lot of do’s and dont’s of the Vedic ages are now being proven scientifically true. Take for example the benefits of turmeric. The world over, turmeric is prescribed for it’s qualities. But there is also the other side of science, which has proven some foods that were earlier considered bad, are now proven to have health benefits. Garlic is very good for the heart.

As for me – I like to live dangerously and garlic is very good for my soul!

I can have garlic in every single meal, and not get tired of the taste. I think I am still making up for my lost childhood!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nishi enjoying the taste!

Lasooni Palak, or Saag as its called in some places, is my favourite version of consuming spinach. I like the smooth texture, but I also like the chopped version. So I came up with a recipe that was a mix of both. I like my food on the little spicier side (more Tamsik me!!) and somehow the taste of garlic, rough and smooth spinach with a hint of fire sets me in the absolutely perfect mood!

I experimented with this recipe in the green environs of Mahabaleshwar.  The spinach was not fresh off the farm, but it was still from the hills of Panchgani, and as fresh as one could possibly get. But the spinach I grow in our farm, is far superior, completely organic and I pluck it when still in baby stages. The result is a sweeter taste, with a hint of bitterness and then of course we add the ever loved garlic and fiery spices. In the near future, when the garlic grows green and fragrant in my farm, I will try this same recipe with new green garlic stalks. The taste will be a little different – more herby!

The recipe goes best with chappati, made with whole wheat or jowar.

 

 

Lasooni Palak or Lasooni Saag
Print Recipe
Greens flavoured with heady garlic, a perfect Indian veggie for any meal.
Servings Prep Time
2/3 people 15 minutes
Cook Time
15 minutes
Servings Prep Time
2/3 people 15 minutes
Cook Time
15 minutes
Lasooni Palak or Lasooni Saag
Print Recipe
Greens flavoured with heady garlic, a perfect Indian veggie for any meal.
Servings Prep Time
2/3 people 15 minutes
Cook Time
15 minutes
Servings Prep Time
2/3 people 15 minutes
Cook Time
15 minutes
Ingredients
  • 3 Bunch Spinach (each bunch has appx 25-30 leaves)
Tadka 1
Tadka 2
Servings: people
Instructions
Spinach
  1. Blanch all three bunches of spinach in hot water. After 2/3 minutes, drain the hot water and dunk the spinach into ice cold water. This helps it to retain its colour.
  2. Finely chop appx one bunch of spinach and leave aside.
  3. Roughly chop the remaining two bunches of spinach and leave aside.
Tadka 1 with roughly chopped spinach
  1. In a pan, add and heat the oil. Add the jeera till it splutters. Now add the green chillies, red chilly and let these splutter.
  2. Now add the onion and garlic and cook till a bit brown.
  3. Add the roughly chopped spinach.
  4. Add salt and mix well.
  5. Leave aside to cool.
  6. Once its cool, run it in a mixer grinder till it becomes a fine paste. All the ingredients should be made into a paste, red chillies and all.
Tadka 2 with finely chopped spinach
  1. Heat oil in a pan. When hot add the jeera.
  2. When it splutters add the bay leaf and red chilly.
  3. Add the finely chopped spinach.
  4. Now add the salt and the water.
  5. Mix well and leave aside.
Finishing the dish.
  1. Add the spinach which has been ground to a paste, to the finely chopped spinach in the pan. The heat should be on.
  2. Add the yoghurt and mix well. Voila your dish is ready!
  3. Serve hot with any form of Indian Bread.
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Aamba Haldi on Goat’s Cheese toast.

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amba haldi

amba haldi

This is something my grandmother used to have on her table, every winter – with big chunks of garlic and green chillies. This tart, sour mix tastes absolutely amazing with Indian meals. Try it with khichadi, roti, rice and dal, anything.

I made something completely off beat with it though. This is how it happened – I had guests coming over for dinner, I had fresh goat’s cheese on hand, and I love goat’s cheese, – And – I was bored of serving the same old goat’s cheese with the quintessential caramelised onions, or roasted veggies. So I looked in the fridge and saw my freshly made amba haldi.

I ran the tastes of both goat’s cheese and amba haldi in my mind, and thought it was worth taking the risk. I served it with great trepidation and waited with baited breath for feed back (no I had no time to taste it before serving it! – in any case I had already liked the pairing in my head!)

amba haldi on goat's cheese toast

amba haldi on goat’s cheese toast

Everyone liked it. They loved the taste. And thank God, because it was very offbeat and very risky to serve something so bizarre!

Amba Haldi, is basically fresh white turmeric or mango turmeric. This is the yellow slices you see. The orange one is new turmeric. Ordinarily these two go together in this very traditional Indian pickle, optionally along with garlic and green chillies. It’s available in the onset of winter, and makes for a good healthy pickle which also works to build your immunity.

amba haldi with garlic and green chillies, in lemon juice

amba haldi with garlic and green chillies, in lemon juice

Amba haldi, tastes sour and tart. A lot like raw mango; even without the lemon juice decoction. Turmeric – well most of us have turmeric as a spice in our food. It really has no taste, but the raw turmeric does. It has an odd piquant taste, not very strong. Not something you need to get used to like truffles. It’s just a very different taste. I cannot liken it to any other flavour I have had.

Scrape the skin with a sharp knife, as the peeler will take away too much of the flesh. The skin is so thin and new that scraping with a  sharp knife is good enough. Be careful as the turmeric will colour your hands yellow. It needs a load of lemon juice. Adding garlic and chillies is completely your call, as is adding salt. We Indians, any case eat a lot of salt in our diet, so I skipped it in my amba haldi pickle.

amba haldi on goat's cheese toast 5

pile on the amba haldi as per your taste

pile on the amba haldi as per your taste

It hits the market as soon as the weather starts getting pleasant and the skin feels a bit dry! Also, try and get the fresh green peppers. I will give you the recipe for that real soon.

Enjoy and do send me feedback about this very off the beaten track combination.

 

Aamba Haldi on Goat's Cheese toast.
Print Recipe
Sour, tart amba haldi with soothing goats cheese.
Servings
4 -6 people
Servings
4 -6 people
Aamba Haldi on Goat's Cheese toast.
Print Recipe
Sour, tart amba haldi with soothing goats cheese.
Servings
4 -6 people
Servings
4 -6 people
Ingredients
amba haldi
goats cheese toast with amba haldi
other stuff
Servings: people
Instructions
  1. Scrape the amba haldi and fresh turmeric and dip in cold water to clean remnants of peels
  2. Slice into long thin slices (juliennes)
  3. Put the juliennes and the optional green chillies, garlic, salt in the glass jar.
  4. Top with lemon juice
  5. Keep in sun for 2 days (optional). You can also just leave it outside at room tempreture
  6. Use after two days.
  7. Can be served as a pickle with meals. Referigerate.
For the goat's cheese toast
  1. Slightly toast the baguette slices
  2. Add a good thick layer of goat's cheese (appx 2 tbspn) and spread it.
  3. Add juliennes of amba haldi on it. Do this just before serving, as the goat's cheese will get stained yellow. Add as many juliennes as you would like.
  4. Some people will not be able to have too many at a go, while some might like a load of it. You could leave it for your guest to add at their discretion. Though I wouldn't do that. Forcing them to try atleast a slice, with a few pieces would be ideal.
  5. You could leave some of the amba haldi in a bowl for people to add more if they so desire.
Recipe Notes

To keep your amba haldi fresh and uncomtaminated till it's over, always use a fresh clean and dry spoon to take it out of the jar. If you need to take out some more after the first round, use another spoon. We normally keep our spoons on the counter, where it either mixes with something else, or gets contaminated via the surrounding air and its bacteria.

Remember - each time a new spoon. And don't leave the spoon inside the jar.

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