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Soong Dal

March 4, 2019 By appu 1 Comment

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.

http://therecipelarder.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/soong-dal-converted-with-Clipchamp.mp4

Soong Dal
Print Recipe
A healthy and tasty snack. Super with drinks.
  • CourseAppetizer, Salad, Side Dish
  • CuisineIndian
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.
  • CourseAppetizer, Salad, Side Dish
  • CuisineIndian
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
  • 1 Cup Yellow Moong Dal
  • 1 Tspn oil
  • 1/2 Tspn Mustard Seeds
  • 1/4 Tspn Hing
  • 10-15 Curry Leaves
  • 1 Tspn salt
  • 1/4 Cup Coconut grated
  • 2 Tbspn Corriander Leaves finely chopped
  • 1 Tspn Green Chillies (or less/ more - according to taste)
  • 1 Tbspn lemon juice
  • 1 Tbspn Raw Mango (optional) finely chopped (reduce lemon juice)
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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Filed Under: Healthy, Sides Tagged With: appetizer, fresh, healthy, indian, lentils, Moondal, protein, protein power, quick, salad, Serve Chilled, snacks, south indian, spicy, tangy, yellow dal, yum

Radish Salad

April 6, 2018 By appu Leave a Comment

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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Filed Under: Brunch, Healthy, Lunch Tagged With: cold pressed mustard oil, farm fresh, farm to table, gluten free, healthy, indian, indian cooking, indian salad, mooli, organic, peanuts, quick and easy, quick salad, radish, salad, vegetarian, wholesome

Cucumber Boat Salad

February 20, 2017 By appu 2 Comments

Chilled Cucumber Boat Salad

The Daughter made another demand — I’m so pleased she has got into cooking! The chef in me feels fulfilled and the mom and me feel happy! 😛

I make this salad very often at home. It needs to be served really really chilled, so it is a good idea to make it a wee bit in advance.

It’s a messy salad though! Be prepared for a white moustache and a few drips down your chin! But it’s worth the dishevelled look you will sport while eating it.

Look for crisp cucumbers with a clean green interior. I always cut off the side of the cucumber and taste it before using it. Sometimes cucumbers can be very very bitter, and even one bitter cucumber in a salad of 20 cucumbers can spoil the entire dish. Taste it and throw it away if its bitter. (You can always chuck it in the compost pile of course!)

The yoghurt should be thick, so hang it for an hour or so if you want. There is zero neatness in this salad, so there really isn’t any right or wrong way to fill it. Slice the spring onions really thin and small. Garlic can be upped as per your taste. To my mind, too much garlic takes away the sweetness of the yoghurt and the original taste of the cucumber.

I add a little of chilli flakes, but you can always add some herbs too – parsley, thyme, oregano. Don’t use very strong herbs. Again – it takes away the original flavours.

The boats can get very wobbly, as the base is rounded. You can slice off a small part of the cucumber from the bottom to make a little steadier base. But – mostly, it will wobble and fall a little to the side, but if the yoghurt is not too drippy things should not slide out and drip into the plate.

I’m attaching a quick video for you.

I hope you enjoy this salad. Do write in.

As always – Cheers! and Happy Times!

http://therecipelarder.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/cucumber-boat-salad_CLIPCHAMP_480p.mp4

Cucumber Boat Salad
Print Recipe
Crips. filling, gooey, and crunchy. Great as a cocktail snack, as well as a salad. Don't let the fancy look deter you from making this perfectly easy and hearty salad.
  • CourseSalad
  • CuisineFusion
Servings
4 peopl
Servings
4 peopl
Cucumber Boat Salad
Print Recipe
Crips. filling, gooey, and crunchy. Great as a cocktail snack, as well as a salad. Don't let the fancy look deter you from making this perfectly easy and hearty salad.
  • CourseSalad
  • CuisineFusion
Servings
4 peopl
Servings
4 peopl
Ingredients
  • 2 large cucumbers peeled and slit lengthwise
  • 1/2 cup hung curd or greek yoghurt
  • 1 green oinion finely chopped with greens
  • 1 tspn salt
  • 1 tbspn garlic coarsely pounded
  • 1 tspn Black Pepper
  • 1 tspn chilli flakes
  • 1 tspn herbs optional.
  • 50 grams alfa alfa sprouts soaked in cold water
Servings: peopl
Instructions
  1. Peel and slit the cucumbers lengthwise.
  2. De seed the inner core using a spoon (see video) Chill in refrigerator till you need to fill it.
  3. Chop the green onions finely. Use all the whites and some of the greens
  4. Soak the alfa alfa in iced water, so that it untangles and the sprouts open up. Drain before using.
  5. In a clean bowl, mix the hung curd or greek yoghurt with all the other ingredients.
  6. Taking a small spoon, fill the cores of the cucumbers with the filling. A little will drip out. You can either leave it, or wipe it with a clean paper towel.
  7. Heap the sprouts on the yoghurt mix.
  8. This salad can be filled in advance, or just before eating. Either way, the filled boat, or the filling and cored cucumber should be in the refrigerator till served.
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Filed Under: Brunch, Cocktail Parties, Dinner, Lunch Tagged With: Alfa Alfa Sprouts, Chilled Salad, Chilli flakes, crisp, cucumbers, Foodie, Greek Yoghurt, Hung Curd, salad, Serve Chilled, Stufed

Italian Tomato Sauce

August 13, 2016 By appu 2 Comments

 

italian tomato sauce

Apologies about the link —- this is the corrected version.

———————————————————————————————————————

I am super super excited about this recipe. It’s complicated (a little bit!) but it looked so brilliant. I saw a version of this on a cooking channel and I got up from my chair, headed to my bar, collected the vodka, (yup! It has Vodka!!) and all the ingredients and started making it, changing a little bit of the recipe here and there.

After 15 minutes into cooking, the fragrance wafting from the kitchen to the rest of the house drew many of the family members and a few neighbours into our kitchen. I tell you I am on my knees, worshipping this sauce.

It’s a thick sauce. Really thick. It’s not to be had on its own (but you might finish a lot of it while tasting it – I warn you!). You will have to mix it with some stock water, hell even mixing it in the water used to cook pasta lends it an amazing flavour.

Use it as a pizza base, as a base for Bruschetta, in a salad! Just make it, creative ideas will flow in.

I don’t want you to read all these descriptions and explanations. What I want you to do is get hold of all the ingredients and start making it. Let the family members walk in with appreciative sniffs and exclamations. Keep them waiting, and then hit them with a pasta made from this recipe. Lie back and bask in the glory!

PS: There is one very important thing that you have to follow, that’s – the instructions. There will be times while making the recipe you might think I am joking or that I have lost my mind. Have faith. I am very serious when I say what I say, and I am very sane and going to wait for your comments after you have made this recipe. You can advocate my sanity.

Without more blah blah – here is the recipe for Italian Tomato Sauce.

PS _AGAIN__and here is the link to the video —–

A shout out to my school friends who always have my back — hey there girls 🙂

Thanks to Brinda – for helping me with this video.

 

Italian Tomato Sauce
Print Recipe
An amazing base sauce. Let your imagination flow and get creative.
  • CourseMain Course, Main Dish, Sauces and Jams
  • CuisineItalian
Prep Time
15 minutes
Cook Time
30 minutes
Prep Time
15 minutes
Cook Time
30 minutes
Italian Tomato Sauce
Print Recipe
An amazing base sauce. Let your imagination flow and get creative.
  • CourseMain Course, Main Dish, Sauces and Jams
  • CuisineItalian
Prep Time
15 minutes
Cook Time
30 minutes
Prep Time
15 minutes
Cook Time
30 minutes
Ingredients
  • 1/3 Cup olive oil
  • 2 Tbspn Butter
  • 6 garlic pods large whole pcs
  • 2 Tubes Italian Tomato Paste I used Ardita Parma Italiana - available in all stores.
  • 1 tspn brown sugar
  • 1 large onion diced
  • 150 gram cherry tomato
  • 1/2 tspn Red chilly flakes coarsely ground
  • 1 tspn salt
  • 1 tspn lemon zest
  • 45 ml vodka
  • 1/4 tspn cayenne pepper
  • 2 tbspn basil minced
  • 1 tspn Red Wine Vinegar
Servings:
Instructions
  1. Heat a heavy bottomed non stick pan. Add olive oil and butter. Olive oil should completely cover the bottom of the pan. Let the butter melt
  2. Add garlic and saute till it's a bit brown. Take out the garlic and keep it aside.
  3. Add 1 1/2 tubes of tomato paste to the hot oil/ butter mix. DO NOT STIR. I kid you not - DO NOT STIR!! Just see to it that the paste is completely submerged in the oil.
  4. Cover and cook for 10 minutes in med/ high flame.
  5. Add Brown sugar, salt and pepper. Once the bubbles subside, add the diced onions and cherry tomatoes.
  6. Now you can stir and mix. You might see a little blackened sauce when you mix. Don't worry, its normal. Ofcourse the entire bottom shouldnt be burnt. This means your pan wasn't thick enough at the bottom.
  7. Cook covered till tomatoes get squishy and cooked.
  8. Add the left over 1/2 tube of tomato paste.
  9. Add lemon zest and cayenne pepper and mix.
  10. Add the pre cooked garlic.
  11. Mix
  12. Add the vodka and mix.
  13. Cook covered for 5 minutes. Then add the basil. Cook again for 2 minutes.
  14. Add the red wine vinegar and taste!!! Voila-- you are done.
Recipe Notes

Dilute with pasta water or stock and add to pasta.

Liberally coat a salad.

Layer your pizza.

Use in baked dishes.

Use for base of crostini or bruschetta.

 

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Filed Under: Sauces Tagged With: base sauce, bruschetta sauce, italian, pizza sauce, salad, tomato sauce, vegetarian

Mexican Fruit with Tajin

July 14, 2016 By appu Leave a Comment

Peaches and Pineapples with Tajin

Peaches and Pineapples with Tajin

Another Mexican dish? I’m telling you – the last trip to San Diego, I really revved on Mexican Food. It was so very different from the typical Enchilada, Burrito, Nachos!

San Diego stands on the edge of Mexico. My son was told in his orientation, to be very careful while on the local train. One stop further and he would be in Mexico, and if he did not have his visa and college papers, he would land into big trouble. That’s how close Mexico is! Now you can imagine, the Mexican food influence in San Diego!

The Mexican Street Food, was so yum! Very close to Indian food in some ways, yet a different taste bud was touched with each dish. This particular Fruit Salad was and is my favourite. The only hitch is you have to get hold of the Tajin mix, available easily online and in supermarkets all over USA.

Tajin

Tajin

Mexican fruit salad was served to us in a broad glass. They stuffed in strips of Pineapple, Apple, Mango, (and when I made it in India, I used Alphonso — OOOH! the taste!!) Melon, and a dried spicy mango, easily available in Trader Joe. The bottom of the glass had a huge dollop of this Tajin mix, and it copiously laden on the fruits too. I wanted to shove my face into the glass and lick up all the Tajin, once the fruits were over. My son had a friend join us for lunch that day. Poor chap must have thought his friend’s mom is completely addled!

watermelon wit tajin

watermelon wit tajin

Eat it on a hot day – refreshing, on a rainy day – soothing, on a blustery windy day – warming. This dish just makes you upbeat! The sour, tangy, mildly spicy (it looks very spicy, but is not), will make you want to sing and dance – the happy tune emanating from your palate. It hits all the right spots in your taste buds, and sends a zing up your body, almost like an adrenalin rush.

Use it with whatever fruit catches your fancy. Strawberries, Kiwi, Apples, Oranges, Pineapple, Peaches, Dried Fruits etc.

Pineapple with Tajin

Pineapple with Tajin

It takes only minutes to make – the major task being cutting the fruits. We had it with drinks, and it went very well with Whisky and Beer.

Peaches with Tajin

Peaches with Tajin

Let me know if you went as crazy over this dish as I did.

 

Mexican Fruit with Tajin
Print Recipe
Easy and immensely satisfying dish to make.
  • CourseSalad, Sides, Snack
  • CuisineMexican
Servings Prep Time
6 people 15 minutes
Servings Prep Time
6 people 15 minutes
Mexican Fruit with Tajin
Print Recipe
Easy and immensely satisfying dish to make.
  • CourseSalad, Sides, Snack
  • CuisineMexican
Servings Prep Time
6 people 15 minutes
Servings Prep Time
6 people 15 minutes
Ingredients
  • 500 gms Pineapple Cut into thick strips 3 inches long
  • 2 Mangoes Peeled and cut into thick slices
  • 2 Peaches Peeled and cut into thick slices
  • 3 pieces Dried Mango (Trader Joe) Cut to equal sizes
  • 1 Orange Peeled and segments separated.
Tajin Mix
  • 5 Tablespoon Tajin Mix
  • 4 Tablespoon lemon juice
Servings: people
Instructions
  1. Cut all the fruits and Chill.
  2. Add Tajin and Lemon juice. Add the juice a little at a time. The mixture should be a thick paste and not runny.
  3. Tajin mix already has dried lemon in it, so you don't want to drown the Tajin in too much lemon.
  4. You can make more Tajin, if the mix is less than you need. If making less the ratio become 1:1 - Tajin powder : lemon juice.
Assembling
  1. Arrange all the fruits in a dish.
  2. Drizzle the Tajin mix over the fruits.
  3. Serve a small bowl of the Tajin mix with the fruits. Some people might want to dip in for an extra dose of this amazing mix.
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Filed Under: Snacks Tagged With: amazing, fruits, mexican street food, salad, sour, spicy, trjin, vegetarian

Meet the Author

For the 21 years and some months that I have been alive, there has been this crazy, eccentric, always-charged-up woman with a full-time job of being a mother to 6 (2 children, 4 dogs).

In her spare time she blasts music on her DJ console, reads like a maniac, downloads shows (because God forbid she runs out of something to watch), runs an entire household, and to top it all off, manages a very successful catering business which makes the most delicious food in the entire world. Once you have her food, everything else will taste like stale socks.

This is what you call "Maa ke haath ka khana".

- Kanak

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