DHAL AND POTATO SUBZI

This is one of the easiest combination of dishes which you can make for lunch or dinner. It has a good taste and since there is dhal, there is good nutrition value as well. This is a quick and appetizing meal.

Here is how I make it:

JEERA DHAL

Ingredients:

1 tsp Jeera
1 tomato cut to fine pieces
Small piece of ginger
2 Green chillies
Small bunch of corainder leaves
1/2 cup Tuar Dhal
Turmeric powder
1 tbs Madras Curry masala/Garam masala

Procedure:

1. First put some oil in a pan. Put some jeera seeds and let it spurt a little. Add turmeric powder.
2. Add the ginger, chilli after slicing them finely. Add the corainder leaves to this. Stir well.
3. Add the finely chopped tomato to this and let it fry nicely until the tomato gets squashed by the stirrer. Add salt and Masala (if you don't have both the masalas, you can even put red chilli powder, it will give a basic dhal.)
4. Add the tuar dhal after rinsing it in water, and add Water such that for every 1 cup of tuar dhal there is 2 cups of water, hence add about 1 cup of water.
5. Transfer this whole mixture to a pressure cooker and pressure cook until 2 whistles. Stop the flame and your dhal is ready.

Hence a very tasty dhal is ready and has the goodness of jeera seeds. It takes about 15 mins to make this.

POTATO SUBZI

Ingredients:

1/2 kg potatoes
1/2 cup of green peas
Small piece of ginger
2 green chillies
Small bunch of corainder leaves
2 tb Garam masala
1 large onion sliced finely
Mustard seeds
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Wash the potatoes thoroughly. Slice each potatoes into four halves. Pressure cook these by putting them in a vessel and keep all the pieces soaked in water. Wait for one whistle.
2. Peel off the skin of the potatoes.
3. In a pan, add oil put mustard seeds. When they start spurting, add the chopped green chillies, ginger and coriander leaves. When they get slightly fried, add salt and masala. Saute the onions until golden brown.
4. To this add boiled potatoes and stir well. So that the masala and salt blend in well with all the potato pieces. Add the green peas. Let it fry well for five minutes on medium flame.
5. When the pieces get a golden brown coating, turn off the flame and your subzi is ready.

This makes a delicious and sumptuous meal when served with rice or Chapati. Try these dishes and let me know how you liked them. My family really enjoyed this meal when I served it with rice. :)

DIWALI DELIGHTS

Hi Everyone!!!!

Last weekend was Diwali.. And I would say last weekend since here in the middle East it is the start of a new week on the Sunday :) SO we should change the term Monday Morning Blues to Sunday Morning Blues :( :)

This Diwali was special for the reason that it was our First Diwali in the Middle East and Ved kutti's First Diwali EVER!!!!! So I made a few namkeen and a sweet dish... Please try these dishes and let me know how they came out. Leave a comment if you liked any recipe. Thanks!

RIBBON PAKODA

Ingredients:

1 cup Besan
1 cup Rice Flour
2 tbs Butter or Ghee
2 tbs Sambar powder
1 tbs Omam seeds or Ajwain seeds
Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. First take all the dry ingredients and mix them in a Bowl
2. Add butter and melt it by pressing with your hands
3. Add little water and make the dough. It is a little difficult to mix it as besan sticks to the hand. Once you have mixed it so that the water content is as much as you would use to make a sticky chapathi dough, Rinse your hands. Next take some butter or ghee add it to the dough, just enough so that once you mix the dough again completely it shouldnt stick to your hand.
4. Heat oil in a Kadai.
5. Take some of the dough and put it into a strainer. You will get this at any Indian store. Take a plate with straight slits. Mine had three such slits in one circular plate. Adjust the screw so that if you rotate the dough comes out of the slits in the form of thin long rectangular shapes.
6. Check if the oil is hot enough, for this just drop a small piece of dough into the oil. If the piece goes down and rises up immediately, the oil is hot enough.
7. rotate the strainer and get enough strands into the oil and deep fry. Once it is golden brown on both sides its cooked well... you can remove it and let it cool on tissues.



MIXTURE
Mixture is one of the easy items you can make with things available in the house.

Ingredients:

1 cup Broken chana dry roasted
1 cup Groundnuts
2 cups Sev
5-6 Biscuits (Any type that you like)
Peppermints
4 tsps Sambar powder
Salt to taste
Hing powder
Curry leaves

Procedure:

1. Take a Tawa and Dry roast Broken Chana, Groudnuts, Biscuits, Hing powder, curry leaves and salt one by one on high flame for few minutes.
2. Put each of these into a big container as you finish. Add the peppermints, Sev(I have given below the procedure to make this) and sambar powder. Mix everything well and your mixture is ready!

SEV

Ingredients:

1 cup Besan
4 tbs Rice Flour
2 tb Butter/ Ghee
Sambar powder
Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. Mix all ingredients and prepare a dough using the same method as the Ribbon pakoda dough.
2. Check if oil is hot.
3. This time in the strainer used to make the ribbon pakoda put the plate with small holes.
4. Squeeze the dough through the plate to get noodle like dough and deep fry it until golden brown.

DRY FRUITS SWEET

Ingredients:

1 cup almonds
1 cup cashews
1 cup walnuts, pistas
1 1/2 cup sugar
water

Procedure:

1. Take all the dry fruits and dry grind it in mixie.
2. Dry roast the powdered nuts and do so until the raw smell is gone and the mixture starts turning brown.
3. In a pan take some water (about same as sugar qty) and add sugar and boil until 1 string syrup is ready. to check if it is 1 string consistency, take some syrup in your hand and check between two fingers if one string is formed. If it is formed the syrup is ready, if not keep boiling until you get it.
4. Add the powdered nuts to the sugar syrup and heat until the mixture starts boiling or starts rising.
5. Empty the pan into a greased plate and let it cool.
6. Once its warm, take a knife and make square cuts or diamond cuts.