Cabbage with turmeric

Holy cabbage, batman!!! It's 2012. This blog has been revived again! whoohoo!!

I decided to try out the local CSA box and just my luck, they give me a giant head of lettuce. It's HUGE! There's no way I would ever buy this much cabbage. It's enough to feed a small country.

Coincidentally I had a potluck to get to the following day and decided to make this classic indian style cabbage. It is generally paired with rice and something like this or this to make a complete classic Konkani/Indian meal. Pair with some yoghurt and you are set. Another selling point? Brassica/Cruciferous veggie paired with turmeric = anti-cancer all the waaaaaay!!

Serves 2

Ingredients

Cabbage - chopped or sliced - 2 liberal hand-full [2 cups, maybe?]
Onion- yellow (or other)- chopped fine - 2 tbspn
Black mustard seeds - 1 tspn
Asafoetida - 1 pinch [1/4 tspn]
Green Chillies [serrano or thai]- 1/2 [remove seeds depending on spice tolerance]
Canola or other vegetable oil - 1/2 tbspn
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tspn
Split chick pea / bengal gram [ can find in indian store] (optional) - about 15
Salt to taste
water -1-2 Tbspn

Method

1. Heat up oil in a wok [medium-high]. Add the bengal gram. Saute until it seems a little bit swollen and brown. Add mustard seeds and asafoetida. This will pop all over the place. use a lid to contain them.
2. Once the popping subsides, add in the onion. Saute until translucent.
3. Add chillies and cabbage. On top of cabbage add the turmeric and salt. Toss in the wok.
4. Sprinkle the water on this and then lower the heat to medium low and cover. Let cook for about 5 or so minutes. Uncover and let the water cook out.
5. Cook until completely cooked. I like it to have a little bit of a bite to it but also completely cooked. So keep an eye on it.

Enjoy.

Pongal

Another quintessential breakfast item of Tamil Nadu. Go to any restaurant for breakfast, and you find this. I am ecstatic that I was able to make this. Delicioso.


Ingredients

Mung/Moong dal - 1 cup
Rice (You can do this with basmasti. I used a variety called "sona masuri') - 1 cup
Mustard seeds - 1 tspn
Cumin seeds - 1 tspn
Curry leaves - 8
Asafoetida (optional)- a pinch
Dried Red Chilli - 1-2
Fresh Green Chilli (Thai) -1-2 slit lengthwise
Cashew nuts - 1/4 cup
Ginger : Sliced about 2-3 thin slices
Water - 2.5-3 cups (to cook the rice and moong dal)
Oil - 1tbspn
Butter - 1/2 tbspn (optional)

Method:

1. Wash the moong dal and rice with water. then drain all of the water and let it dry as much as possible (15-20 min air dry).
2. In a saucepan, put the oil. Let it heat up. To this add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, asafoetida, dried red chilli, and pepper corns. Let this pop and crackle and then add the curry leaves, ginger, green chilli, and cashews.
3. After about 1 min, add the dried rice and moong dal. Fry it for about 3-4 minutes (you basically want the raw taste to be roasted out).
4. Add water to cover this and to cook it. Add a dash of butter and salt and let it cook (I use my nifty rice cooker at this step).
5. Eat hot with butter melting at the top. Can pair plantains boiled in salt water alongside this or just regular ripe bananas.

Asian Crunchy Salad

Dressing:
Hot and Sweet chilli garlic sauce (1 tbspn )
Sriracha sauce (just a smidgen)
Vinegar (3 tspns or more)
Sugar (2-4 tspns or more!)

* those are vague measurements, so adjust according to taste. the key are white vinegar and sugar.

Salad:
Carrots (grated or julienne)
Lettuce (I used red romaine from my CSA box)
Sugar Snap peas (I substituted snow peas)
Red Cabbage if you have some (i didn't)
Spring onions
tomatoes
Red Onion
Crunchy Noodles (you can get these now at Panda Express)
Grilled Chicken (optional), could also substitute fried/grilled tofu.

Method
In a salad bowl prepare salad dressing according to taste (this will be bright red in color). Layer the veggies on top of this and finish off with the crunchy egg/chinese noodles. Toss just before serving.

SO SO good.

Potato Masala for Masala Dosa

Masala dosas are ridiculously amazing. Dosa is the indian equivalent of crepes (made out of rice). This very delicious and spicy potato and onion mixture is the filling. It is served hot with chutney and sambar. Each place has its take on the masala and this is my mom's. This is the only version *I* love, so that should be good enough for you all.

You can also serve this with Rotis/naans, or basmati rice or even make indian style paninis with it.

Ingredients:

1-2 Boiled potatoes (I used baby small yellow potatoes, red potatoes are too sweet for this dish); chop into cubes
1 small red onion or 1/2 large onion thinly sliced
1.5 tspn black mustard seeds
10 curry leaves (can omit)
1/2 tspn red chilli powder
1/4 tspn turmeric powder
2 pinches of asafoetida (can omit)
1 tspn of Channa dhal (can totally omit) [basically dried and split chickpeas without the seedcoat. TOTALLY not required)
1 tbspn of vegetable oil
1 serrano chilli sliced lengthwise or a couple of jalapenos would work too (can omit entirely)
Salt to taste


Directions

1. In a pan, add the oil and let it heat up. Add mustard seeds, Channa dal, and asafoetida. After about 30 seconds toss in the curry leaves. You should hear a lot of popping and hissing now.

2.Once the popping subsides (don't wait for everything to burn) add in the sliced onions and green chillies. Saute until translucent and cooked. After about 2 minutes of sauteing add the turmeric, red chilli powder, and salt.

3. Once the onion has cooked, add in the rough chopped boiled potatoes and mix and let it cook/heat up. after about 2 minutes your dish should be ready!

optional: garnish with fresh chopped cilantro.

Dhal Fry (Pigeon Pea and Tomato Curry)

Ah, it is good to be back with my yummy dhal recipe and signature crappy picture.

Still stuck with some of those pigeon peas? Here is recipe #5! A staple in any North Indian meal (I think, I really wouldn't know. :-D). It is very mildly spiced and delicious. Try it out!

Ingredients
1/2 cup pigeon pea (toor dhal) - soaked overnight in water (12-14 hours, the longer the better)
3 Tomatoes
3/4 tsp red chilli powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1/4 of an onion, finely chopped (about 2 heaping table spoons worth)
8 cloves of garlic (you could use a few lesser, but I'm obsessed with garlic)
2 tbspn of oil
Salt to taste.
A dollop of butter or ghee (which I did not add, but now that I'm typing this, it definitely would have enhanced the dish)

Directions
1. I use a pressure cooker to cook the dhal, so I'm done cooking it in 15 minutes. Should you not have this wonderful device, you could cook it stove top until really well done. It may take you over an hour.
2. Boil the tomatoes (i just cook these along with the dhal in the same pressure cooker)
3. In a saucepan, heat up some oil on medium high and add the onions. Saute for 2 mins.
4. Add the garlic, and spice powders. Saute until oil separates (or if garlic begins to brown)
5. Add the cooked dhal and tomatoes (semi mashed in) mix well. Add just enough water to make it semi-liquidy.
6. Add salt according to your taste and let it come to a boil. Add the ghee/butter at this point as well.

Serve with naan or roti, basmati rice, and raitha.

Parmesan Crusted Zucchini Dippers

Closet Cooking yet again makes an appearance on my dinner table. I love that guy, I really do. He’s into everything I am: eating seasonally with global recipes. Here is one of his latest, faithfully reproduced by yours truly: Parmesan Crusted Baked Zucchini Sticks with Marinara Sauce. For the sauce, I did my new favorite recipe of throwing a bunch of chopped tomatoes, ½ onion, a handful of baby carrots chopped, fresh basil, oregano and parsley, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and wine into a casserole dish. Put that in the oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, then blend in a food processor (or immersion blender – my new best friend) and you have delicious sauce. OH, don’t forget to add 1 can tomato paste, parmesan and ½ tsp of sugar. Those are important.

Incidentally, I didn’t put all of the parmesan bread crumb mix into the bowl. I put in a little, used it up, and put in a little more when I needed it. Now I have a reserve of uncontaminated parmesan breadcrumbs in a ziplock baggie that I can dredge fish in, or chicken, or pork, or anything else that would taste good baked in breadcrumbs (and really, what doesn’t taste good baked in bread crumbs?).
But onto the recipe, which makes use of late summer’s finest. --AnglophileLV


Parmesan Crusted Baked Zucchini Sticks with Marinara Sauce
(makes 4 appetizer sized servings)

Ingredients:1/2 cup bread crumbs (I used Italian style)
1/2 cup parmigiano reggiano (grated)
1 teaspoon oregano
1 pound zucchini/courgettes (sliced into sticks and pat dry)
salt and pepper to taste
1-2 eggs (lightly beaten)

Directions:
1. Mix the bread crumbs, parmigiano reggiano and oregano in a bowl.
2. Season the zucchini with salt and pepper.
3. Dip the zucchini in the egg and then dredge in the bread crumb mixture.
4. Place the zucchini on a baking sheet in a single layer with the skin side down.
5. Bake in a preheated 425F oven until golden brown, about 25 minutes.

Garlic and Scallions Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients
2 White or Russet potatoes, cooked to mashable consistency.
3 scallion stalks, chopped up.
1 large garlic clove
Pepper and Salt to taste
Milk
1/4-1/2 tbspn butter (I generally don't have butter at home except ones that some restaurants give with take-outs. I use 1/2 of that amount).


Method:

1. Mash potato, garlic, salt, pepper, butter.
2. After it is more or less uniform, add the milk to make it smooth. Also then add the scallions and mix thoroughly.
3. Serve warm!

Whole Wheat Banana Nut Bread

I got a loaf pan finally and decided to try baking some banana nut bread. Someone told me baking is about precision and accuracy (this reminded me of biochemistry lab) but, screw that, I'm a rebel. Since I wasn't following a recipe, I did not measure things accurately but here is an estimation.


Ingredients

whole wheat flour - 1-1.5 cups
evaporated unsweetened milk (normally i would use regular 2% milk, but i didn't have that) - I used enough to get to a pancake batter consistency maybe about 1 cup
sweetened condensed milk - 1 can (but i had some leftover since I don't like it too sweet)
Cardamom (green) powder (optional) - I had these whole (I used 1), so i got the seeds out and TRIED to powder them and failed..so I just threw the seeds in; just use vanilla extract if you have that.
Ripe bananas - 2
chopped walnuts - 3/4-1 cup
Baking powder - 1 tspn
Vegetable Cooking oil - 1 tbspn and some to coat the loaf pan.


Method

1. I found a sieve so I sifted the wheat flour. (yay, I've never done this before, it was exciting. not.)

2. To this add the baking powder and mix.

3. Add the condensed milk and regular milk and mix. Don't add everything at once, since you might add too much. I used my hands and it was gooey until you get it to the pancake batter consistency. I recommend starting out with some regular milk and then working with the condensed milk until you get the desired sweetness. Then you can add more regular milk until desired consistency.

4. Mix, mix, mix. Taste to check sweetness. Add the vegetable oil, roughly chopped up banana bits and walnuts and mix some more!

5. Pour into coated loaf pan and bake at 350 for about 30 or so minutes or until done.

Tastes best when it is warm.

Tangy Gourmet Potatoes

My brother came up with this recipe. We tried it out on beans and broccoli but both of those veggies couldn't hold the marinade too well. We had a bag of potatoes (fingerlings + baby reds + purple potatoes) lying around and well, best thing to do: grill 'em up in the oven.

I didn't measure ANYTHING, here's an estimate

Ingredients

Potatoes
Fresh lime juice - 1 tbspn
extra virgin olive oil - 2 tbspn
italian seasoning (spices like oregano, rosemary, thyme, etc.) - 1 tspn
garlic powder with herbs - 1 tspn
Salt - 1/2 tspn (to taste)
Cumin Powder - 1/2 tspn

Method

1. Preheat oven to 425F.
2. Mix everything but the potatoes.
3. Coat the potatoes with marinade and bake in oven for about 30-40 minutes.

Enjoy with other grilled veggies or as is.

Pigeon Pea Soup Version 2 aka Varn

I like this version more than the previous one. I could eat this everyday. This is extremely simple to make and has very subtle flavoring. Pair it up with white rice and a spicy side dish, and you're set.

Serves 2 - 3
Ingredients

Pigeon Pea - 3/4 cup (soaked overnight in water)
salt to taste
cumin powder - 2
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tspn-1/2 tspn
ghee (optional; oil or butter is not a substitute in this case) - 1/2 tbspn
water

Method

1. Boil pigeon peas in water until mashable consistency.

2. Mash and add water until desired consistency is reached. I like mine semi-liquidy so I can enjoy it on rice.

3. To this add the turmeric, cumin powder, salt, and ghee. Mix well and bring to a boil on the stove.

4. Serve over hot white rice and that's it!

Seasoned Beans / Beans Upkari

One of my favorite upkaris....nothing against this and this, but beans..mmmm i love me some crunchy beans. I picked up some crunchy tender young beans from Costco the other day and decided to do this.

Serves 2-4

Ingredients

green french beans (that's right, i didnt measure) -2-3 fistfuls (chop to desire length or leave whole)
salt to taste
mustard seeds - 1/2 tspn
Red chilli powder - 1/2 tspn - 1 tspn
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tspn
Vegetable oil - 2 tspn

Method

1. In a wok/pan, heat up the oil (on medium-high) and add the mustard seeds. Wait for this pop around. At that point add the chilli and turmeric powder.

2. Add the beans to this (enjoy nice sizzling sound) and saute until the powders and mustard seeds are coated around the beans. Add salt and saute some more (about 1 minute)

3. Add some water, cover and let it cook for about 5-8 minutes. Cook until desired 'crunch.'

4. Done! Eat as an accompaniment or as is with some pita!

Yellow Pohvu / Seasoned Flattened Rice Flakes

I went to little India in Artesia for (what felt like) the first time with my friend, LV. I picked up two versions of flattened rice : a "thin" one and a "thick" one. I enjoyed the WTH-is-that-look on LV's face and I hope this recipe will clear up some of that look.


Serves 2-3
Ingredients:
thick poha - 2 cups
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tspn
salt to taste
mustard seeds - 1tspn
thai green chilli - 1 sliced roughly
Curry leaves - about 7
Vegetable oil - 1 tbspn or tspn
Dried Red chilli - 1
Shredded Coconut - 1 tbspn

Method

1. Wash the rice flakes with water and squeeze out the excess water and let it dry a bit in a bowl. To this add the coconut, turmeric, and salt. Mix.

2. On the stove in a wok, heat up the oil. Time to temper it!Add the mustard seeds and red chilli and wait for the popping to begin, once this happens, add the curry leaves and green chillies (enjoy the hissing sound). Saute for about 30 or so seconds and then add the poha.

3. stir until the turmeric is evenly distributed and the mustard seeds are spread out evenly. Takes about 3 minutes.

4. Serve Hot!

there are various versions of this: some people add some sugar and finely chopped potatoes. some add onions. some add carrots and peas...I like it simple.

Sweet Pepper Pakoras/ Bajjaes/Fritters

Hmmm hot masala chai and bajjaes at my kuladev temple in Aversa. Hmmm, hot bajjaes alongwith hot rice served with dalithoy....*drool face* Well nothing to it, its a vegetable of your choice (sweet peppers in the picture above) dipped in a savory batter and deep-fried. Often served as an accompaniment or appetizer with or without chutney.

Ingredients

1 cup besan/chick-pea flour
1/2-3/4 cup water (give or take, the batter needs to coat veggies)
1-2 tspn red chilli powder
1/2 tspn turmeric powder
a couple of pinches of asafoetida
salt to taste
1 tbspn corn flour (optional)
Vegetable of your choice: Sweet peppers (onions, cauliflower, eggplant, carrots, squash, sweet potato...anything works, really)
Vegetable oil to deep fry

Method

1. Mix all of the dry ingredients and then slowly add the water in. Too much water, and the coating will fall apart in the hot oil. Mix thoroughly and test out one pepper to see if the batter is seasoned right and if it stays on! If it doesn't add some more besan.

2. Heat oil on medium heat and deep fry coated peppers. Let it brown on both sides and strain on paper towels and serve hot!

Enjoy with a nice cup of masala tea or as is.

7 Layer Bean Dip

Shout-out to Closet Cooking for this addictive and delicious recipe. LV made it for our latest BBQ/Picnic and not one of us (including LV) could stop shoveling it into our mouths. I decided to make it 2 days later for my brother. Naturally, I ate 1/2 of it. SO SO GOOD. I actually did mine based on LV's description and added a couple more ingredients, and her's was a carbon copy of the one at Closet Cooking.

This should serve 4, but it ended up serving 2 adults one of whom had no self-control.

Ingredients

Refried beans (I used the "vegetarian" "no lard" version) - 1 can
Green chillies- 2-4 or 1/2 Serrano finely chopped or jalapenos.
Black olives - sliced, about 15
Avocados - 1, coarsely chopped
Roma tomatoes (since it's summer, use cherry or grape tomatoes instead, so much better)- 2 finely chopped
Cheddar Cheese - to cover the top, about 1/2 cup-1 cup
Fresh Cilantro - finely chopped for garnish
Scallions - finely chopped 1 bunch
Cumin Powder - 1 tspn
Cayenne/Chilli powder - 1 tspn
Pickled Jalapenos (optional)
salt to taste

Method

1. Heat up the refried beans and add water until dippable consistency is reached. To this add the cumin and cayenne powder. Also add the green chillies to the hot beans and mix everything.

2. Pour the beany mix into serving dish. Top it off with cheddar cheese. Microwave this for about 30seconds for cheese to melt.

3. Next up are the avocados, follow this up with the tomatoes, jalapenos, black olives, cilantro and scallions.

4. Serve warm. Add sour cream to make this a 9 layered bean dip. ;)

Serve with tortilla chips.

Maida-Peetaché Bakri / All-purpose Flour Pancake

My go-to breakfast. Actually a lot of the Konkani breakfast recipes that I will be posting shortly are going to be my go-to recipes soon. I love breakfast. I don't usually eat breakfast except when my mom makes it and that's only if I visit India or if she visits here. Time has come to rectify that, so here is my konkani breakfast recipe #1 : maida (all purpose)peet (flour) bakris (dosa/bread/pancake/whatever; everyone should pick up konkani words anyway).

Makes about 4 bakris
Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup water (give or take, the batter should be fluid but not liquidy)
10 torn up Curry leaves
1 Serrano or about 3 thai chillies (fresh green chillies) roughly chopped
1/2 cup of fresh shredded coconut (can find this frozen in Indian stores)
1/2 tspn salt
1 tspn sugar (give or take)
Vegetable oil to cook the batter in a pan.


Method

1. Mix the flour and water until there are absolutely no lumps. To this add the salt, sugar, curry leaves, shredded coconut, and green chillies.

2. The batter should be relatively thick but not too thick that it doesn't fall off a spoon.

3. In a non-stick pan, add some oil and let it heat up at medium-low heat. then using your hand or a ladle, ladle out some of the batter and slowly spread it around until its about the same thickness all over.. a little thinner than a pancake. I just used my hands to spread out the batter.

4. Cover it and let it cook for about 5-8 minutes. then uncover, the top should be as in the picture. Turn the heat up just a little and let it brown up on the other side. Flip and let the cooked side brown up.

5. Serve with some butter! that's how I like it, but you could use any leftover curry or eat as it!

Strawberry and Banana Lassi

It finally feels like summer here in Southern California. I live in Los Angeles on the top most floor facing the North-west (I'm guessing. I'm horrible with directions). But what I do know is that the apartment gets REALLY hot in the late afternoon-evening. And when it's hot, you drink tender coconut water to keep cool and when you don't have access to fresh coconut water, you get tanked on lassis! This is a sweet drink as opposed to the spicy version I posted earlier.

Makes about 3 glasses
Ingredients
1 cup of yoghurt (I always use plain, but I suppose you could use flavored ones)
1/2 Lb of strawberries (give or take) (remove the green bits)
1-1.5 bananas
1/2 cup water
about 8 ice cubes
2-4 tbspn of sugar depending on how sweet or tangy you like your drink.

Method

1. In your blender (ESSENTIAL GADGET FOR THE SUMMER), add the roughly chopped bananas, strawberries, yoghurt, water and blend (chop, puree, liquefy, mix, whatever as long as the fruits disperse into the yoghurt). Then do a taste test. Add sugar accordingly and also put in ice cubes and blend.

Pour into glass and ENJOY!

Mixed Vegetable Raitha / Yoghurt Salad

I could potentially be vegetarian. But I could never be vegan. I love yoghurt way too much. I grew up on this elixir of MY life. Some white rice slapped with homemade yoghurt and a side of some sort of vegetable and I was set. To this day, it is my comfort food.

There are lots of variations of Raitha. If I'm having Biryani , I pair it with an onion raitha. When I went to India, I discovered a fruit raitha (mostly with pineapple). You could do any version with either one vegetable/fruit, or more than one. Today, I did a mixed vegetable raitha to go with some store bought (trader joes, for the win) garlic naan.

Serves 2-4

Ingredients:
Carrot- finely chopped 1
Roma Tomato - finely chopped 1 (I added the seeds as well)
Fresh Green Chilli- 1/2 (omit this if you can't take the heat. I've been using chillies that I pick up at the local Persian or Indian market. Looks like they aren't as spicy as Serranos or Jalapenos; though I've used serranos too for this recipe and I didn't feel the heat).
Red Onion - finely chopped 1/4-1/2
Cucumber- 3-5" long piece don't add the seeds finely chopped

Cumin - 1/4 tspn (optional)
salt to taste
some water
Plain yoghurt (1/2 cup)- i use non-fat or 98% fat free.

Cilantro/Coriander - finely chopped

Method:

1. Combine all the veggies (including cilantro) in a bowl with salt.

2. Add the yoghurt and some water to make it come to a dressing consistency. Yoghurt in india is very liquidy, so we dont normally add water. But the Yoghurt in America is SO thick!

3. Mix well, taste and add salt if required. Add the cumin powder and mix again. Some people like the flavor of cumin in their raitha and some don't. I would recommend testing it out before you add cumin to the main bowl.

4. Optional: garnish with some red chilli powder for color. Serve cool.

note: You can douse this over some crisp Iceberg and eat it with some naan or pita. so delish!

Pigeon Pea/Lentil Soup version 1 aka Dali Thoy

Another konkani staple, in my opinion. There are different ways to make this soup so if you end up buying a pound of Pigeon peas to try this one out, don't worry!

note: Pigeon peas look like split yellow peas, but they are not the same. Make sure you buy the right lentil.

Serves: 1-2
Ingredients:

Pigeon Pea - 1/2 cup, soaked in water overnight
Mustard seeds - 1 tspn
Dried Red Chilli - 1
Vegetable Oil- 1 tspn
Curry leaves - about 5
Asafoetida - 1/4 tspn (literally a pinch) (optional)
Coriander (fresh) leaves- for garnish (optional; I didn't have any when I made it this time)
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Cook the lentils until well done. I use a pressure cooker, but you could just slow cook it for hours (I'm overestimating!). This is why soaking it overnight will help a ton.

2. If possible, mash the lentils when they are well done. Add water to desired consitency. I like mine liquidy. My brother prefers his thick. So add water accordingly. Add salt. Let it slowly simmer on low heat.

3. On the side in a small wok (teeny tiny wok, can also use a pan. you just want to really season the oil) heat up the oil. To this add the mustard seeds and dried red chilli (if u dare, cut this in half, I don't reccommend this) and wait for the seeds to pop all over the place. At this point add the asafoetida and curry leaves. I would recommend adding the leaves and getting your hand out of the way. Sometimes the hot oil that's splashing hits the open flame and little bursts of fire can happen. dont panic and don't worry, just stand back.

4. Before everything burns, add this very hot delicious spicy oil to the simmering lentil solution. Its going to sputter and crackle and hiss, but that's good.

5. DONE! Serve hot over freshly cooked basmati rice and some upkari or pathrodo, and yoghurt.


Note: You could use those yellow split peas or split green peas (dried) and try this out. My dad said it was a great substitute for lentils when he couldn't find lentils.

Spicy Spinach Cake / Pathrodo

Pathrodo. Say that again. brr. Fortunately, this dish is a complete opposite of how it sounds. This is a typical Mangalorean dish. The original dish is made with a specific leaf which is abundantly found in the Southern part of Karnataka. I used to eat this only when I visited with my grandparents and uncle in Mangalore. It was an absolute treat (and still is) whenever I get to eat this when I'm back in India. Anyway my mom, the genius that she is, concocted the same recipe for spinach. It is a little complicated but hey, if I can do it...well, you know how it goes. Oh and it's RIDICULOUSLY DELICIOUS, in a Konkani way.

Prep time: overnight

Serves 2 (minimum; depends how you eat it ;) )

Ingredients

1/2 cup toor dal/yellow pigeon pea (soaked overnight, uncooked)
1 cup rice (basmati works) (also soaked overnight, uncooked)
5 dried red chillies (i'd stick to 2-3 thai dried red chillies; soaked overnight with the above two)
3/4 tspn Asafoetida
1 tbspn tamarind paste
1/4 cup coconut milk (approx. )
1/2 tbspn vegetable oil
1 tspn black mustard seeds
1-1.5 cups of very roughly chopped spinach (i used baby spinach. just tearing a leaf in half is more than enough. Do not add the stems)
Salt to taste.

You need a food processor for this one..a blender might work as well. you need something with a blade. If you're really retro (try getting one of these...haha. that's what some of my family members used when electricity was shut for the entire day).

Method:

1. Soak dal, rice, and red chillies overnight (12 hours) in water in the same bowl.

2. Strain it and let it dry a little bit (I gave it about 20 minutes).

3. In your food processor add the coconut milk and red chillies. Grind.

4. It will be coarsely ground. To this add the dal and rice and grind. Also add the tamarind paste, asafoetida and salt.

5. It should be a semi-liquid with coarse granules of dal and rice. Grind it until you can no longer tell if it's dal or rice, but you can feel the coarseness with your fingers. taste this to see if it's sufficiently salty. it will be really pungent and strong.

6. Add the spinach to the mix. It's not going to coat very well as you can see in the picture, but that's fine.

7. In a pan, add oil and let it heat up. Add the mustard seeds to the hot oil. Let it pop, crackle and sizzle. at this point add the mixture. Stir it around a little bit on medium low heat (2 minutes), just enough to coat it all with the essence of the mustard seeds.

8. Next transfer it to your pressure cooker (without the weight) or steamer and steam it until it is cooked. If it is gooey and sticks to your toothpick when you poke it, let it cook. It took me about 20-30mins to cook it.

9. Let sit for about 10 mins and then serve!!!

10. If you are obsessed with mustard seeds like me, then do this: after you let it sit, cut it up into bite size pieces. In a pan, heat up some oil (1/2 tbspn oil) and add mustard seeds to it. You know the drill, once it starts jumping all over your pan, add the pieces and just pan fry them on both sides. Serve hot!

Note: It is generally eaten as an accompaniment. My brother enjoys them as is. I eat it rice+ yoghurt or rice+ dal soup (next recipe). SO GOOD.

Also this was my first time ever making it. Epic success.

Seasoned Cauliflower / Cauliflower Upkari

Picture here

Ingredients: Serves 2-4

2 cups florets of cauliflower
1.5 tspn Black mustard seeds
1 tspn Vegetable oil
1-2 Dried Red Chilli (thai works, just use one)
Salt to taste 1/2 tsp-1tsp
Some water , say 1/4 cup
OPTIONAL asafoetida (hing) – pinch of a pinch of a pinch!
** refer to this recipe for a variation.

Procedure:
1. In a non-stick pan, add the oil and let it heat up on medium heat. Then add the mustard seeds and red chilli pepper and allow them to pop and crackle all over the place.

2. As the seeds are popping all over your stove, toss in the florets and saute so that it's covered with the mustard seeds. Add salt.

3. Add some water and cover to cook florets. Takes about 3-7 minutes on low medium heat. Once cooked turn off heat and this can be a side dish to a number of Indian dishes like this.


This upkari recipe is different from the earlier one because of the source of the heat; Here it is dried red chillies and there it was fresh green chillies.

Note: Instead of Cauliflower, broccoli, green beans, potato, zucchini, etc. can be substituted for variation.