Chana dal-vegetable masala rice

Chana dal sundal (cooked chana dal stir fried in spiced oil with mustard seeds) is one of my favourite things to eat as a side dish with rice and mor kuzhambu. I like to mix the rice and sundal together (as weird as that may sound), which is why I thought that this recipe would work. There's no mor kuzhambu involved this time, though. Just the rice and chana dal. Oh, and some vegetables.

If you think about it, recipes that combine protein, carbs and vegetables in a tasty package have to be top of the list for those occasions where you don't want to spend ages in the kitchen but also don't want to be tempted to order a takeaway. This recipe takes about 30 minutes from start to finish, especially if you prep and cook the vegetables while the rice is cooking. If you have leftover rice, this recipe is even quicker to make. And it tastes lovely.

A word of warning with regard to the chana dal - because it's easy to cook it to mush, I don't add any extra water while cooking it with the rice. I like my chana dal very slightly undercooked so that it still has a gentle bite. If you prefer it well soft, feel free to add another 1/8 cup of water while cooking the rice & dal.

Recipe for: Chana dal-vegetable masala rice

Ingredients:

1 cup basmati rice
1/4 cup chana dal
1 medium potato, chopped into small cubes
1/4 cup sliced runner beans (or green beans)
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 fat clove garlic, sliced
2 medium onions, sliced thin
1 tbsp oil
3-4 green chillies, sliced (to taste)
1 tsp chana masala/garam masala/curry powder
1 tsp cumin seeds
Salt to taste
Chopped coriander leaves for garnish
Roasted peanuts, for garnish (optional)

Method:

1. Wash and soak the basmati rice and chana dal together for 15 minutes. Then place in a saucepan along with 2 cups water over high heat. When the water begins to bubble and holes appear in the rice, stir the rice, turn down the heat to the lowest setting, and cover the pan with a lid placed over a clean tea towel (the towel will absorb the steam). Let it be for about 8-10 minutes, then turn off the heat. Let the rice stay undisturbed for 10 minutes so that it can absorb the moisture, then fluff it up.

2. While the rice is cooking, heat the oil in a saute pan until it shimmers, add the cumin seeds and fry them for 10 seconds, then add the green chillies and garlic and stir-fry for 30 seconds or so. Stir in the onions and cook them till they turn soft.

3. Now add the chopped tomato, potato and runner beans/green beans and stir well. Cover the pan and cook on simmer for 10-15 minutes, till the vegetables are done. Stir in the chana masala/garam masala/curry powder and salt to taste.

4. Finally, add the rice-chana dal and mix it in gently but thoroughly with the vegetable masala. Sprinkle with coriander leaves and peanuts, and serve hot with any raita.

Vegetable-mushroom soup

I made a version of this soup last month when I was with my family in Seattle, to go with the herby cheese pull-apart bread that was our first baking challenge set by Aparna Balasubramaniam. The soup is not exactly as I made it the first time, because mixed vegetable soup can be whatever you make of it. 


If you're a wannabe Masterchef contestant or judge, or have more money than sense, you can use expensively exotic ingredients - mushrooms that have been grown in soil imported from a remote corner of the Brazilian rain forest and watered with dew gathered in moonlight on a full moon night in June; the rarest blue-spotted heirloom potatoes from Venezuela that have been hand picked by an endangered tribe (gotta support them, don't y'know); cream from milk where the cattle were exclusively hand fed on the finest grass prepared by Cordon Bleu chefs while classical music was played by the London Philharmonic live in their air-conditioned, state-of-the-art barn (the cows' barn, I mean, not the London Philharmonic's. The London Philharmonic wouldn't be allowed to live in the same building as these super-exclusive posh cows!)... you get the idea.

OR, you could just use whatever vegetables you have in your refrigerator that need using up, and standard chestnut or white mushrooms (or whatever you can get), to make this soup. It's a guide more than a recipe, anyway.

That said, though, I bought the mushrooms specifically to make this soup. But because I have more sense than I have money, I bought them from the "reduced for quick sale" section. Yay me! 

Recipe for: Vegetable-mushroom soup

Ingredients:

4 small onions, sliced thinly
2 baby leeks (green and white parts), sliced thinly
4 cups mixed mushrooms (I used portobello/cremini, shiitake and oyster), sliced
1 medium potato, chopped (skin on)
1 medium carrot, chopped
1 litre (4-5 cups) vegetable stock/broth
1 tsp dried thyme or Italian herb mix
1 bay leaf
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 tbsp olive oil + 1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp sour cream/Greek yogurt or full fat milk (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp parsley for garnish

Method:

1. Heat the oil and butter in a large pan, add the onions and leeks and cook over medium heat till they begin to soften (about 5 minutes), stirring frequently.

2. Add the mushrooms and cook for 2-3 minutes or till they start to reduce.

3. Add the potatoes and carrots along with the dried herbs and bay leaf. Stir for a couple of minutes.

4. Then add the stock and the fresh thyme sprigs.

Bring this to a boil, cover the pan and let the stock simmer for 10-15 minutes or till the carrots and potatoes are soft and cooked.

5. Fish out the fresh thyme sprigs and bay leaf, then turn off the heat. Let the soup cool, then blend it to a smooth consistency.

If you would like a bit more texture to the soup, blend only about 3/4 of the soup smooth, then add it to the remaining unblended soup in the pan. Add the milk or sour cream/yogurt, if using, and stir it in. Add salt and pepper to taste. Reheat on low heat till thoroughly warmed, but do not let it boil. Serve with parsley sprinkled on top, and croutons if you like, and crunchy buttered toast on the side. 

Simple curried brown rice

I've always been convinced that white rice is best for South Indian food - Sona Masoori rice, for preference. Even basmati rice, that queen of all rice, comes second here... if only because its own heavenly aroma and flavour tend to get downplayed by the competing flavours of the accompanying dishes. Sona masoori rice, however, is the perfect vehicle to exhibit the pungent, spicy, hot, sour and piquant flavours that are the trademark of South Indian dishes such as sambar, rasam, kootu etc, without itself taking centre stage.

So with sona masoori and basmati rice in my pantry, I was not sure that brown rice would play a big role in my cooking. Still, when I came across a small packet of brown basmati rice in the supermarket, I impulsively bought it.

It was surprising how long it took to cook the rice - way more than any white rice, and the typical aroma of basmati wasn't immediately evident either. Since I didn't quite know what to make with the cooked brown rice, I decided to make a sort of vegetable fried rice, only without too much of the frying.

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by the taste of the brown basmati. It was chewy in a nice way, with a flavour reminiscent of "aval" or "poha" (beaten rice). I liked it a lot, and while it will not be replacing my beloved sona masoori or Tilda basmati any time soon for traditional Southie dishes, I think I will be using brown rice a lot more in other areas. It's nice to no longer be a brown rice virgin!

Recipe for: Curried brown rice



Ingredients:

3 cups brown basmati rice, cooked and cooled
1/2 cup green beans, sliced into thin rounds
1 medium potato, chopped into 1/2 cm pieces
1 medium onion, sliced thin
1 scallion, sliced thin
2 green chillies, sliced vertically
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp sambar powder
2 tsp oil
Salt to taste
Fresh coriander leaves, to garnish

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a pan, add the cumin seeds and green chillies. Fry for 40 seconds or till the seeds turn a darker shade of brown.

2. Add the vegetables to the pan now and stir, then pour in 1/8 cup water, cover the pan, turn the heat down to medium-low, and let the vegetables steam-cook till done.



3. Now add the red chilli powder and sambar powder to the cooked vegetables along with salt to taste, and mix it well. Turn the heat up and let the vegetables caramelize a little.



4. Throw in the cooked brown rice and stir till everything is well mixed.



5. Add chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with a raita, if preferred.

Baked vegetable pakodas

I have a favourite new snack – baked vegetable pakodas (fritters). Granted, they don’t look like traditional pakodas, and possibly they don’t taste traditional either (read “deep-fried”) – but boy, they DO taste really good. Actually you might as well call them savoury cookies because I flattened them for more even baking. Whatever (a rose by any other name and all that...), these are extremely more-ish when fresh, with dips.

These pakodas become kind of chewy and hard the next day, but I liked them that way nevertheless. But then I’m odd like that. So if you're not like me, eat 'em fresh. I dont know if they would soften when re-heated in a microwave, because I didn't try that for myself. (But if you do, let me know what happens, please.)

Recipe for: Baked vegetable pakodas



Ingredients:

1 small potato, boiled and grated
1/2 cup fresh peas
1/2 cup green beans, chopped 1/2cm thick
1/2 cup spinach leaves, sliced
1 medium onion, chopped fine
10 cashew nuts, chopped
1/4 cup chopped coriander leaves
1/4 tsp cumin powder
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 cup gramflour (besan/chickpea flour/kadala maavu)
1 cup rice flour
1/2 tsp chilli powder or 2-3 fresh green chillies, minced (optional)
Salt to taste
1 tbsp oil
Water as required

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.

2. Microwave the green beans and peas for 4 minutes on full power with 4 tbsp water.



Transfer to a large bowl.

3. Add the grated boiled potato, spinach leaves, chopped onion, cashew nuts, coriander leaves, cumin powder, sesame seeds and mix well.



4. Add the rice flour and gram flour along with salt to taste.



5. Mix with your hand now, adding water little by little until the dough comes together and you can make small balls with it. Do NOT make the dough watery. It should be thick and will be a bit sticky.



6. Heat the oil till it’s smoking, then pour onto the dough.



Wait a couple of minutes for it to cool before mixing it into the dough (or use a spatula).

7. Line a couple of baking trays with silicone or non-stick paper and additionally spray it with Pam or similar non-fat spray. Make small balls of the dough, place on the tray and flatten evenly with your fingers. You might need to wipe your fingers clean every so often.



Spray the tops of the pakodas with a spritz of Pam, then bake in a 180C oven for 15 minutes.



After that turn them over, and bake for another 15 minutes or till the pakodas are lightly browned on top.



If you like them to be crisp, bake for a few minutes longer (but keep an eye on them).

8.Serve warm, with or without dips, as a snack.

Curried vegetable-stuffed methi buns

It’s nice to be baking bread, because now I feel a bit emboldened to try recipes I’ve had since forever but never bothered making because – well, because I didn’t bake bread. It’s only recently that I’ve ventured into this area of baking, with so far – touch wood! – a reasonable rate of success. Who knows, I might yet get to be a Daring Baker and build whole edifices of cake (although I wouldn’t advise anyone to hold their breath waiting…).

Anyway, last weekend I made up my mind to bake curried vegetable-stuffed buns. And, in a breathtaking bit of daring derring-do (I felt like Errol Flynn at his most swashbuckling, to tell you the truth), I added fresh methi (fenugreek) leaves and omam (ajwain/carom) to the bread dough.



It all worked perfectly.

PS. I’m not going to gush any more than that this time, in case I alienate the few readers I have who expect me to be matter-of-fact, restrained and factual in writing about my recipes and their outcome… do I even have any such readers?

*sigh*

Recipe for: Curried vegetable-stuffed methi buns



Ingredients - For the stuffing:

1 medium potato, boiled, peeled and roughly mashed/crumbled
½ cup finely chopped green beans, cooked
1 cup sliced spinach
¾ cup finely sliced shallots (or onion)
½ tsp sambar powder
½ tsp garam masala
½ tsp red chilli powder
¼ tsp asafetida powder (optional)
1 tsp cumin seeds
¼ tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste
2 tsp oil

Method – the stuffing:

1. Heat the oil in a skillet and add the asafetida, the cumin seeds, turmeric powder and garam masala and fry for 30 seconds.



2. Add the sliced shallots



and fry for 3-4 minutes or till they start turning soft.



3. Then add the spinach leaves and sauté till they wilt.



4. Next, add the mashed potato and mix in,



then the cooked green beans.



5. Sprinkle the sambar powder, chilli powder and salt in to distribute it evenly.



6. Let cool completely. The stuffing should be as dry as possible, so let it cool uncovered, so that condensation does not drip back in.

Ingredients - for the buns:

1 cup methi leaves, washed, dried and chopped, sautéed in ½ tsp oil till wilted, then cooled

3-1/2 cups strong white bread flour
2-1/2 tsp instant dry yeast
½ tsp carom/ajwain/omam seeds (increase to 1 tsp if you really, really love the taste!)
1 cup water
½ cup buttermilk
2 tbsp melted butter
Salt to taste

Method – the buns:

1. Mix 1 cup bread flour, 1 cup water and the yeast in a large bowl so that there are no lumps. Let this stand, covered with plastic wrap, for 1-3 hours in a warm place, till it becomes bubbly.

2. Now stir 2 cups of the remaining flour,



the buttermilk and sautéed methi leaves, melted butter,



ajwain/carom/omam and salt into the starter.



Mix with a wooden spoon till the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl.

3. Turn the dough out onto a clean, lightly floured surface and knead, adding the remaining flour a tbsp at a time, if required.



The dough should be springy, smooth and elastic when done (takes 6-8 minutes of kneading by hand).



4. Now grease the bowl lightly with butter or oil, and put the dough in, turning it around once or twice so that it is coated. Cover with plastic wrap and pop back into your warm place. (Mine was again the oven.) Leave it for 1-1/2 hours or so till the dough is doubled in volume.



5. Punch the dough down lightly,



turn it out onto the kneading surface, knead very briefly, and divide into tennis-ball sized rounds. (This makes about 9 large buns.)



Roll each round into a circle of about 5” diameter.

6. Place 2 tbsp of the filling in the centre of the circle,



then fold the circle closed.



Pinch the folds to seal the stuffing in,



then place the ball seam side down and sort of roll it in place to make sure the seams are fully closed.




Underside of filled dough ball after rolling in place to close the seams.

Repeat with remaining balls of dough and filling.

8. Place the filled dough balls on a baking sheet covered with non-stick silicone paper (or lightly grease the sheet if, like me, you’re out of non-stick paper)



and let rise for 20 minutes.



9. Put the tray in a cold oven and turn it on to 200C. (The rolls will rise further as the oven heats to the required temperature.)

Bake the filled rolls for 30 minutes or so, till golden brown on top. If they sound hollow when tapped on the bottom, they’re done.



10. Wrap the rolls in a clean tea towel if you like the crust to be soft. If not, let cool on a rack till just warm. Serve the buns as a snack by themselves or with soup.

The most beautiful baked rice

And by that I mean Nupur's version of Madhur Jaffrey's lubia polo. Ever since I read about the Persian dried limes, my one ambition was to somehow source it so that I could make this dish. I didnt want to use lime juice - how boring! So finally I came across a website that sold ingredients for Iraqi, Iranian, Turkish and other such exotic cuisine, so I lavishly ordered away. And in a few days, a little neatly packed box arrived all the way from - er, Germany, actually. Preserved limes, dried lime, dried lime powder - all of these are now in my possession. I have to tell you, the dried lime smells mouth-watering - like neer elumichangai that has ever so slightly fermented.

Anyway, with the dried lime and the dried lime powder (using which is a lot less finicky work than manually separating the black bits from the whole dried limes, I can tell you), I made lubia polo.


Dried lime tapped open with a hammer


Then pulled apart by hand


The black interior contents scraped out (on the right) and the discarded lime peel (left)


Readymade powdered dried lime - a much simpler option

And then I suddenly realised that the post had been hanging fire for at least 10 days, and it would be perfect for Zlamushka's "Tried and Tasted" event that's currently happening - assuming I'm not too late with my offering.

This baked green-bean and potato rice has the least amount of spices and seasoning that I've ever seen... and yet the end result is so INCREDIBLY flavourful! I followed pretty much the same method as Nupur, except that instead of garam masala I used a couple of pinches of my extremely potent, aromatic, home-made dhansak masala!

I have to admit that my lubia polo did not turn out as beautifully shaped as Nupur's, nor did it hold together nicely. But that was because I didnt - dont - have the right-shaped non-stick pan, nor even a heavy-bottomed non-non-stick (how else do you say it?) pan... so I improvised with a shallow vessel I use in the pressure cooker. It was too thin so the potato slices at the bottom got a bit burnt and the rice didnt get a chance to crisp up. But, like I said, it was fantastically tasty, even if not picture-perfect to look at. In any case, if you're looking for picture perfection, the blog to go to is Nupur's! :)

Recipe for: Nupur's lubia polo



Ingredients:

1 cup basmati rice, washed and soaked for 15 minutes
2 cups green beans, halved
1 onion, chopped
1 potato, peeled and sliced thin
1/2 cup tomato puree
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp butter
Salt to taste
1 tsp garam masala/pav bhaji masala/dhansak masala
1 htsp powdered dried lime OR 1 tbsp fresh lime juice

Method:

1. Boil the rice in 2 cups of lightly salted water till almost done. Drain well and reserve.

2. Heat the olive oil in a skillet and fry the chopped onion till soft and light brown.



3. Add the green beans and saute for a few minutes,



then add the tomato puree and whichever masala you're using.



4. Simmer the beans till tender, then add salt to taste. The sauce should be fairly thick now. Add 1 heaped tsp dried lime powder, mix and set aside.

5. In a medium deep non-stick pan, melt 1 tsp butter. Stir in 1/2 tsp turmeric and water. Layer the bottom of the pan with the thinly sliced potato.



6. Put half the rice over the potatoes,



then pour over the green bean mixture,



and finally the rest of the rice.

7. Cover the pan and leave on medium heat for 10 minutes, then lower the heat to its lowest point.



Place a clean dish towel under the lid and fold the hanging edges back on top of the lid.



9. Cook on low heat for 20 minutes or so, then let the pilaf rest for 10 minutes.

10. After the resting time, invert the pan onto a serving dish. The pilaf should unmold itself whole - but if it doesnt (like mine) dont worry... it will still taste delicious!