Palak dal

My mom makes delicious palak dal. I am sharing her dal palak recipe on my blog today.

Ingredients : 1/4 cup  washed toor dal, 1/ 4 cup washed & roughly chopped spinach,1 green chilli chopped into 2-3 pieces 1tsp sambhar powder, 1/4 tsp haldi, 1/4 tsp hing, 1 tsp mustard, 1 tbsp oil, 1 marble ball size tamarind ball, salt to taste.

Method : Soak tamaringd ball in 1/2 fglass water Keep aside.

Put chopped palak & dal in a vessel.Add sufficient water ( add 1/2 cup water for 1 / 4 cup toor dal ) .Pressure cook for 2-3 whsitles.Then slow down gas & cook on slow flame for 8-10 minutes. Let the cooker cool.

In a kadhai, take oil.Warm it up.When it gets hot, add mustard seeds. Add green chillies.Add haldi & hing. Take the soaked tamarind & squeeze in the water in which it has been kept.Pour the tamarind juice so obtained into the kadhai.Let it be on slow boil.Reduce the flame. Add salt. Let it keep boiling.Some more water can be added to tamarind & more juice obtained if desired.Add to boiling tamarind water in kadhai.Let the tamarind water boil for 5-7 minutes.

Meanwhile , cooker would have cooled. Remove the dal palk mix from cooker.Pour this dal palak mix .Mix nicely with ladle.Add sambhar powder. Bring it all to a boil.Put off gas. This dal palak goes well with rotis as also rice.

I generally add green chillies to tur dal in pressure cooker itself.Instead of tamarind juice, one or two tomatoes or even lemon juice can be used. 

Apple cinnamon mug cake in microwave

I am fascinated by mug cakes.I tried once or twice.No more than that.Earlier attempts failed.This time, I tried sincerely ,I think.I loved this recipe.I tweaked it & made this cake in a mug !

Ingredients : 1/4 cup atta ( whole wheat flour ) , 1 tbsp apple sauce,1 tbsp jaggery sugar, 1/4 tsp cinnamon powder, 1 tbsp Nestle coffee mate powder , 1/2 tbsp peanut butter, 1/4 tsp baking powder & oil or ghee to grease the mug.

Method : To make apple sauce, deseed & peel an apple.Chop it into 4 pieces.Pressure cook the washed apple pieces up to 1 whistle. Cool.Mash up the cooked apple.Apple sauce is ready.Keep it aside.

Take atta in a bowl.Add the Nestle Coffee mate powder,baking powder, cinnamon powder.Mix all nicely many times over.Keep aside.

Take 1 tbsp apple sauce &  1 tbsp jaggery sugar.Mix nicely.Add peanut butter & mix nicely.Add this liquid mix to the dry atta mix kept aside.No lumps should remain. The  batter thus ready , must have drop down consistency similar to consistency of idli batter.

Grease inside surface of mug with oil or ghee.

Pour the cake batter into the mug.Microwave cake batter in mug for 2 minutes. Put off microwave. Cool.Put a toothpick in the mug cake to test if it is baked. If it is wet,microwave for 30sec -1 minute.Cool & enjoy !

In the topmost snap , the cake can be seen leaving the sides of the mug.That is an indication that it is fully baked !

The mug cake was fluffy & nice.Except that cinnamon was not traceble.Next time, I must put 1/2 tsp cinnamon instead of 1/4 tsp.

This mug cake or for that any mug cake is a great idea for a quick & easy bake.It is a sumptuous snack !

Tips : I used Nestle coffee mate as I had no options..My kid had got it some time before & was lying around in the kitchen shelf. In the original recipe, milk is used. Since, I used whole wheat flour & that too 1/ 4 cup ,I used 1/4 tsp baking powder.  As Nestle coffee mate is sweet ( it has some sugar ( , I used just 1 tbsp jaggery sugar.I replaced oil in original recipe with peanut butter .One can use ghee or oil .If flaxseed meal is used or even yoghurt, then , ghee or oil or butter need not be added.Flaxseed meal or yogurt will make up for the fat content.

I have posted picture of jaggery sugar in my earlier blog post of Vegan Strawberry cake.

If batter is too watery, keep microwave on for up to 3-4 minutes, instead of 2 minutes.If batter is too semisolid, it may get done faster. Batter must have drop down consistency or be like idli batter ( dosa  batter is more watery in comparison to idli batter )

Tehri Pulao

I had read about Tahiri or Tehri pulao many times on the net.I wanted to try the recipe.I felt ,that winter is the best season to try this mixed veggie pulao,I googled & came across many  recipes.I made changes as I had some spices & not all.Moreover, I favour dishes to be slightly spiced.Sangeeta Khanna has a green tehri pulao recipe

Ingredients : 1.5 cups basmati or tukda basmati, 1/4 cup cauliflower florets ( boiled in water up to 1 boil with salt & turmeric ) , 1/4 cup beans chopped into 1/2 inch pieces, 1/ 4 cup carrot chopped into 1/2 inch pieces, 1 small potato roughly chopped into quarters ,1/4 cup peas,  1-2 onions, thinly sliced, 1/4 tomato roughly chopped, 1-2 green chillies, 1 tsp grated ginger, 1 tsp jeera, , 1/4 tsp clove powder, 1-2 bay leaves, 1 stick cinnamon broken into 2-3 pieces, 2-3 chhoti elaichi  chilkas, 1tsp dhania powder,1- 2tbsp ghee, 1/4-1/2 tsp red chilli powder ( optional ), 1/2 tsp haldi, salt to atste.

Method : Take ghee in pressure pan ( twin vessel of the pressure cooker ) .Heat it on slow flame Add jeera,When they splutter, add sliced onions, chopped green chillies, grated ginger & fry till onion changes colour slightly.Add bay leaf, cinnamon stick pieces & fry them till they get aromatic.Add chopped veggies & peas.Fry them all .All veggies will get mixed with spices.Add chhoti elachi chilkas, Add washed rice to the pan.Mix nicely. Add dhania powder, clove powder ,turmeric powder & red chilli powder .Mix nicely.Add 1/4 tsp garam masala powder.Add 2 cups water .Add salt. Mix all ingredients nicely.

Pressure cook upto 3-4 whistles. Cool till whistle sound stops.Remove lid .Serve tehri pulao with raita and papad.

Vegan Strawberry cake

I had some strawberries . I was itching to make a cake using strawberries. I had made a bread & an eggless cake earlier.This time, I was keen on making a cake & icing it with strawberry sugar mix.Finally, decided to make a cake decorated with strawberries & without icing.I feel ,that I may be unable to do icing.Maybe another time, on another cake !

I loved this recipe .I tweaked it & made it vegan.I discovered that I have made a vegan version of strawberry earlier though the recipe is different.

Ingredients : 1 cup wheat flour, 1/2 cup maida, 1 tbsp oil, 1/ 2 cup leftover gulab jamun syrup , 1/2 cup jaggery sugar, 1.5 tsp baking powder, 1/2 cup apple sauce, 16 -20 strawberries diced into four pieces each, , 1/2 tbsp flaxseed powder , a pinch of salt.

This is jaggery sugar...available in Sahakari Bhandar at BARC colony,Mumbai.Above is the packet photograph.And on this side is the actual jaggery sugar snap...it is dark brown. That's why my cakes are all dark in colour .Also due to whole wheat flour being used.


Method : Add 3 tbs water to flaxseed powder in a bowl.Mix nicely.Keep aside for 15 minutes.

Mean while , pressure cook for 1 whistle.an apple after dicing it into 4 -5 pieces.Cool the cooker.Remove the apple pieces.Deskin the pieces & deseed the pieces as well.Mash the apple pices.The pallesauce is ready.This is a good egg replacer for cakes & breads.Add oil & gulab jamun syrup to the applesauce .Mix nicely.

Take whole wheat flour.Add maida, salt, baking powder  & sugar.Mix all nicely with a whisk many times over. Keep aside.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees centigrade. By now , flax seed soaking is over as 15 minutes are over.Mix the flaxseed water mixture to the wet mix of syrup-oil-apple sauce.

Make a well in the dry ingredient mix. Pour the wet mix into the dry mix.Fold all nicely till a batter is formed without lumps.Line a baking vessel with butter paper.Pour the batter into the vessel.Tap it on sides so that air bubbles are released. Add water to batter if any lumps are there.  Add the strawberry pieces on the batter in any pattern as per wish.Bake the cake at 200 degrees centigrade for 10 minutes.Thereafter bake it for 180 degrees centigrade for 1 hour.With a toothpick ,check if cake is completely baked.Bake it in microwave mode for 2-3 minutes. Let it cool.

After it cools, let it drop down upside on plate.Turn it over.Cut into desired pieces & serve.

This cake turned out a bit too dry. It was not crumbly & yet it felt dry. I felt it was too sweet though my parents disagreed.I used leftover gulab jamun syrup.One can use white sugar as well.White sugar is more sweeter than this jaggery sugar and brown sugar.Hence , use accordingly.