Langar ki dal

I love langar ka khana.The feast is so simple & yet fulfills sumptuously.I have been thinking of trying the dal which is served at langars for quite some time. I choose two recipes .....one from divinetaste & another from vegrecipesofindia.I mixed the two & made this dal.

Ingredients : 1 /4 cup split urad dal + 1 tbsp chana dal soaked for 2-3 hours, 1 small onion finely chopped, 2-3 small tomatoes pureed in mixer , 1 green chilly finely chopped, 1 tsp grated ginger, 1/2 tsp red chilli powder, 1tbsp dhania powder, 1/2 tsp whole jeera , 1 tbsp ghee, 1/2 tsp haldi, salt to taste.

Method : Pressure cook the dals with haldi upto   1 whistle.Then cook on slow flame for upto 15-20 minutes, Put off gas Let it cool.

In a kadhai take ghee.Heat it.Add jeera.When they splutter add finely chopped onions ,grated ginger & hari mirchi.Nicely shallow fry till the onions start turning brown.Add tomato puree. Mix nicely.Cook for five minutes. Then add dhania powder followed by red chilli powder. Mix nicely.Add the cooked dal. Add water if consistency is too thick.Add salt.Mix.Let it simmer for 5 minutes or till it thickens.Put off gas .Serve with garnished fresh dhania.This goes well with rice as also rotis.

I generally make a paste of chopped onions ,grated ginger & chopped hari mirchi & put it in kadhai.Then I make a puree of tomatoes & put it in kadhai.I am not good at chopping finely & so this shortcut.

I loved the langar ki dal Will make this often now.

Mavinkayi anna

My mom uses raw mango to make flavoured rice during the mango season. I thought that since I had a small kairi in the refrigerator,why not make use of that.I googled for the recipe.I came across one at Padhu's kitchen .

 Ingredients : 1 cup washed rice , 1/4 cup raw grated mango, 1 tbsp peanuts, 1 byadgi mirchi broken into 2-3 pieces, 1/2 tsp mustard seeds,1 tsp urad dal, 2-3 green chillies chopped roughly, a sprig of curry leaves washed,1/4 tsp haldi,1/4 tsp hing, 1-2 tbsp oil,1/2 tsp sugar ( optional ) , salt to taste.

 Method : Pressure cook rice. After the cooker has cooled down ,spread rice in a large plate so that grains are separated. Keep aside.

 In a kadhai ,heat oil. Add mustard seeds.After they splutter add peanuts.Let them brown a little.Add urad dal.After the dal gets golden brown ,add curry leaves followed by byadgi mirchi & chopped green chillies.Add grated mango. Add haldi & hing .

Mix all nicely.Let it cook for 2-3 minutes.Add salt to taste & if you like. 1 tsp sugar  .Let it all cook for 1-2 minutes. Put off gas. Pour the vagar mix of grated mango on to the spread out rice. Mix nicely so that the grated mango vagar coats all rice nicely.Serve with raita or papad.

 

 It looks just like lemon rice except for those translucent flakes of grated kairi or raw mango . And kairi is a cooling food.Enjoy !

Kosambri

This is a salad. This requires minimal cooking. It is specially good for summers & very light on the tummy. It is a must in feasts as well as it is is considered to be shubh for festivities.It is one of the dishes offered as prasad on Ram Navami ,the other being Panaka.Panaka is lemon sharbat or shikanaji falvoured with elaichi & saffron. 

This is generally served as Haldi kumkum snack in households in Karnataka & Maharashtra & parts of Goa. It is known as koshimbir in Maharashtra & Goa.

Kosambri is a must in all feasts in temples & even at social functions like weddings, etal. It is considered auspicious.

Ingredients: 

1/3 cup mung dal or split mung ( soaked for 2-3 hours in water ) ,

1 tbsp grated raw mango

1 small cucumber grated ( 1/4 cup grated cucumber )

1 small carrot grated ( 1/4 cup grated carrot ) .This is optional.

1 byadgi mirchi ( red dry chilly of byadgi variety )

1 finely chopped green chilli

8-10 curry leaves ( kadipatta )

1/4 tsp mustard seeds

1/4 tsp jeera

1/4 tsp hing

    1/4 tsp haldi

1 tbsp oil

salt to taste

1 tbsp Fresh grated coconut ( optional ) .

1 tbsp finely chopped dhania

Directions: 

Take the soaked mung dal & discard the water. Add grated carrot,cucumber & mango to it. Add green chillies & salt.Make vagar by heating oil.Add mustard to heated oil. After they splutter add byadgi mirchi ,curry leaves & jeera. Add hing & haldi. Put off gas.Pour this vagar over the mung dal veggie mix.Kosambri is ready !

Footnotes: 

Garnish with fresh grated coconut topped with hara dhania.

In case raw mango is unavailable, it can be replaced by lemon juice.

Raw banana curry

My hubby loves raw plantain curry.I generally try to make it once a week.This was my grandmom's favourite too when I was a kid though I hated it then. Nowadays,I like it. Especially  ,it is a good accompaniment to rasam rice.

Method : 2 raw bananas chopped into triangular thin pieces, 2-3 green chillies roughly chopped, a sprig of curry leaves, 1/4 tsp mustard seeds, 1/4 tsp urad dal, 1 byadgi mirchi broken into 2 to 3 pieces, a pinch of hing ,1/4 tsp haldi, 1 -2 tbsp fresh dessicated coconut, 2 tbsp oil,salt to taste.

Method : In a kadhai heat oil.Pop mustard seeds.Add urad dal.When they turn golden brown ,add hari mirchi,kadipatta & red chillies..Add the raw banana pieces. Mix all nicely so that the oil hari mirchi spice mix gets coated on the banana pieces. Cover with lid & cook for 5 minutes. Remove lid. Add few drops of water. Mix nicely. Let it cook for 5 more minutes. Add some more drops of water if banan starts sticking to bottom of kadhai. Add haldi & hing. Mix nicely with banana slices. Add salt. Mix nicely. Let it cook for 2-3 minutes.Add fresh dessicated coconut & mix nicely.Let it cook for 2-3 minutes. Put off gas. Cover with lid. Serve after 5 -10 minutes .

Akhi Masoor ki dal

• I had some masoor  in my kitchen.I had not made it for quite some time. Sangeeta Khanna had shared a recipe on this lentil.I thought why not try it out .And it turned out to be so satisfyingly yummy ! 

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• Sangeeta Khanna has given many versions of sabut masoor ki dal.I tried only one of  the many recipes.
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• Ingredients : 1/3 Cup sabut masoor, 1/4 tsp pepper powder, 1/4 tsp roasted jeera powder, 1/4 tsp grated ginger,1 small onion chopped,1 small tomato chopped, 1 green chilly chopped, 1/4 tsp haldi,1/4 tsp hing, 1 tsp ghee,salt to taste.

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• Method : 
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• Make puree of chopped onions,tomato ,hari mirchi & adrak.Add this puree  to washed masoor .Add haldi ,hing & salt to taste.Add 1 cup water ( 1 cup water to 1/3 cup dal...proportion is 1 : 3 ) .Pressure cook on high up to 1 whistle.Then lower the flame & cook for 10-15 minutes.Put off gas.When the cooker cools,remove whistle followed by  the lid.Serve masoor with roti and or rice.

I had forgotten to add ghee while cooking.I added ghee when I removed the lid. The taste of dal was awesome. And texture superb ! I am going to make this often .

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Chitranna

Chitranna is what we call Lemon rice in Kannada.It is a quick rice that is part of feasts.On festive occasions like Ugadi,it is this  flavoured rice, that is part of the spread.

I love it as it is quite easy to make & is quick too.Moreover,the lemon juice brings it a freshness which is so invigorating.

Ingredients : 3/4 cup rice,1 tbsp oil, 1/ 2 a lemon 1 tbsp peanuts,1/4 tsp mustard seeds, 1/4 tsp urad dal, 1-2 chopped green chillies ,1 red byadgi mirchi broken into pieces, a sprig of curry leaves,14 tsp haldi,1/4 tsp hing, salt to taste.

Method : Pressure cook rice for 3 whistles.Take care to prepare rice by using lesser quantity of water than otherwise as the rice grains must be all separate for this dish.

I cook for 3 whistles. Then I put off gas.After the pressure is off,I remove the rice & spread it on to a plate so that rice grains are not sticking to each other,Keep it aside.

In a kadhai take oil. Put on the gas.Add mustard seeds,When they splutter,peanuts,Let the peanuts brown alittle.Add urad dal ,byadgi mirchi,chopped green chillies, curry leaves.After 1 minute.put off gas.Add haldi & hing to kadhai & mix.The oil ,peanuts,urad dal ,chillies,kadi patta mixture is all yellow .Keep it aside.

Take the spread out rice.Squeeze half alemon on the rice & mix nicely.Pour the yellow oily vagar prepared by using peanuts,urad dal etal over the rice. Add salt to rice & mix all the things with a spoon.The chitranna is ready.

Chitranna can be garnished with fresh finely chopped dhania & fresh grated coconut. I am too lazy to do all this .Moreover ,the aroma of lemon rice keeps beckoning me to savour it & I simply comply.

If the tanginess is found wanting ,more lemon juice can be added.Some even add 1/4 to 1/2 tsp sugar while mixing vagar with lemon juice.

Masala peanuts.

I attended microwave cooking demo class this week.The chef taught masala peanuts .It was simply amazing as this recipes makes no use of oil.And as far as I know ,this is deep fried snack.I knew that I had to try this.

I tweaked the recipe as the chef had used water .I used chaas,The chef had omitted use of ajwain or carom seeds.I added that as well.

Ingredients : 1 cup peanuts, 1/4 cup besan ,1/4 cup chaas ( not very thin ) ,1/4 tsp ajwain ,1/2 tsp red chilli powder,1/4 tsp haldi,1/4 tsp hing,salt to taste.

Method : Mix all ingredients nicely.If you feel the mix is too dry,add some more chaas or drop by drop water.Mix.

Take a microwaveable vessel.Put the mix in that.Turn on the microwave at full power.Put timer for 5 minutes.Keep the microwaveable vessel with mix in microwave.Turn on microwave.After 1 minute,press pause button.Take out the vessel & with aspoon try to seperate out all peanuts from each other.They would be sticking in bunches.Again keep in microwave for 1 minute.Puase.Take out & try to separate out bunches.Repeat this till 5 minutes get over .By the end of this ,the vessel will be in & out 5 times.Put off microwave.Take out the vessel.Let it cool for 5 minutes.Take a peanut & taste.It will be crisp & crunchy.If it i soft ,keep vessel in microwave on full power for 1 more minute.Put off microwave.

The snack was just apt for my consumption .My mom who eats less salt now said it was a tad bit salty.My friend said that more red chilli & ajwain could have been added.Accordingly ,more chilli powder n ajwain can be added.Same for salt.