Sprouted Matki usal

Matki or moth beans are used to make a tangy usal or beans curry.When any beans like matki are sprouted,it is all the more beneficial for health.

I have brought a sprout maker recently online .I make sprouts in that.Though ,I would hardly ever advise anybody to buy it as it occupies space & is not that useful.Beans can be sprouted in thin cloth as this post shows.

Ingredients : 1/4 cup moth beans,1 tomato,1 onion,2-3 green chillies,1/2 " grated ginger, 1/2 tsp any readymade sabzi masala powder,1/4 tsp mustard seeds,1/4 tsp curry patta powder ( optional ) or 1 tsp chopped curry leaves  ,1/4 tsp haldi,1/4 tsp hing,2 tsp oil,salt to taste.

Method : Sprout the moth beans .Keep aside.

Clean & finely chop onion,tomato & green chillies.Take kadhai & put oil.Put on gas.After oil heats up ,add mustard seeds.When they crackle,add chopped onions & grated ginger followed by chopped green chillies. Saute them in the oil.Add haldi & hing.Now add the sprouted moth beans .Mix nicely.Add chopped tomatoes & curry patta powder ( optional ).Mix nicely.Add ready made sabzi masala powder.Add salt to taste.Add half cup water or less, if dry version of curry is preferred. Now pressure cook all this beans veggie mix up to 2 whistles. Sim down the burner. Cook for another 10 minutes on slow flame. Put off the gas.After the cooker has cooled,remove the matki usal & serve.

Alternatively ,pressure cook sprouted moth nbeans upt o 2 whsitles & then on slow flame for 5-10 minutes. Put off gas.Keep aside.

In a kadhai prepare vagar of mustard seeds. Add ginger , kadipatta, green  chilli paste. Add hing & haldi. Mix all nicely. Saute nicely. add finely chopped onions. Saute nicely till it turns translucent. Add tomato puree or finely chopped tomatoes.Saute nicely by mixing all ingredients. Add salt . Remember toadd slt sparingly as sprouted moth beans have been cooked with salt .

Add pressure cooked sprouted moth beans. Mix all nicely. Add water depending on how much watery usal is needed.If dry usal is needed, no need to add water.


After the cooker has cooled,remove the matki usal.Serve it with chappatis and or rice.

I prefer watery version as it can be mixed with rice as well in place of dal or sambhar or rasam.For carrying in tiffin box to office,a drier version would be convenient to avoid spillage.

I had curry patta powder & so I used it.Alternatively,curry pattas can be used.

If no onion version is needed, skip the step of adding finely chopped onions & sauteing them.

If usal has turned out too watery, add 1/2 tsp flax seed powder. Mix nicely. After 15-20 minutes, the usal would be not so watery. 

Makhana in palak spring onion greens gravy.

When I visited Allahabad as part of a pilgrimage,I had my first dish of makhana.There was a bhandara at Ganesh Chaturthi in the purohit's home .They had a feast .In the feast,I observed  chhole along with sweet stuffed puris.I was enjoying the creaminess of the kabuli chana in chhole.I was told that it was not kabuli chana but makhana or fox nut.

Fox nuts are  healthy .They can be made into a light tea time snack as well.

I came across some recipes of fox nut recently from the various food blogs that I follow.The next step was to go & buy the same.I got it & tried this recipe today.

I had half a bunch of palak leaves.I had spring onion greens & so I decided to mix the two greens for the gravy.I was quite skeptical of the spring onions being pureed nicely & I was wrong.The two greens blended nicely .

I looked up two recipes .One was at Lite Bites & another at Tummy khush.

Ingredients : 1/2 bunch palak de stemmed,cleaned & roughly chopped,1/2 a bunch or less of spring onion greens( optional - even a small carrot can be cut up & pressure cooked & pureed along with other veggies in place of onions ) ,2 small tomatoes,1 small onion(  optional ) ,1/2 ' grated ginger,1-2 green chillies,1/2 cup makhana or fox nuts,1/2 tsp red chilli powder ( optional ) ,1/2 tsp dhania powder,1/4 tsp black pepper powder,1/4 tsp turmeric,1/4 tsp hing,1/2 tsp cumin ,1-2 tsp oil,1tsp ghee,salt to taste,

Method : Wash the palak ,spring onion greens ,tomatoes,onions & green chillies.Roughly chop them.Pressure cook for 1 whistle.Keep aside.

After the veggie mixture has cooled down ,puree in blender or mixer.Keep aside.The puree was 1cup.

Fry the fox nuts in ghee till the fox nuts slightly change colour.Keep aside.

Take oil in a vessel & put on the gas.Add cumin .When they crackle,add haldi & hing.Then pour the veggie puree into the vessel Let it cook for 5 minutes.Add dhania & black pepper powder.Add red chilli powder( optional ) .Mix nicely.Add salt & mix nicely.Add water if gravy is too thick.I added half cup water.Boil.Add fox nuts to gravy & mix.Let it cook for 5 minutes.Put off gas .

Serve makhana in green gravy with chapatis and or rice.

When I tasted the green gravy ,I felt it was lacking pungency.Hence added red chilli powder.And it turned out more pungent.So red chilli powder can be skipped in case ,one likes less pungent dishes.Other than it being slightly more pungent by my standard,the  taste was superb .The fox nuts just melt in the mouth ! Must try some more dishes with makhana !

 

Seasonal fruit parfait

Sangeeta Khanna's food blog banaras ka khana  introduced me to the fact that just milk & rajgir ladoos can make a wonderful cereal .And to a lazy  person like me ,this was too yummy .I loved the flavour ! Moreover,rajgir ladoos have no oil and or ghee.Rajgir danas bound by jaggery ! Then through her blog post on healthfooddesivideshi,I learnt to add fruits & dahi to rajgir  laddoos to make morning breakfast cereal !

And here is my recipe...actually it is Sangeeta Khanna's recipe just tweaked a little, by me  !

Ingredients : 2 Rajgir laddoos,1 orange desseded & peeled & cut ,3-4  strawberries cut, 1 chikoo deeseeded ,peeled &  cut & 1 apple deeseded & cut , & peeled,1 banana peeled & cut into thin slices, 3-4 tbsp dahi or milk  ,1 tbsp crumbled cookie or crumbled cake ( optional ) .this quantity is enough for 1 person.

Method : Take a glass tumbler ( so that one can look at the parfait & start oogling at it ) .Drop 2 rajgir laddoos inside it.Add the seasonal fruits like bananas,apple,oranges,strawberries even black & green grapes,etal In fact any seasonal fruit can be added .Moreover,in any quantity.Add yoghurt ( I prefer yoghurt....alternatively milk can be added or maybe a mix of both  ) ..... on top of the fruit mix.Now add crumbled cookies or cake.Let it stand for 10 -15 minutes.

Now take a spoon & try to mix all the ingredients reaching upto the bottom.And just eat it spoon by spoon ! It is just heavenly !

Instead of cookie or cake ,dry fruit can be added for the crunch like almonds,cashews,walnuts.etc.Even kismis can be added for extra sweetness.Though the jaggery in the laddoos will impart the needed sweetness !