Paalak Masoor Dal

Was having another of those "I don't want to eat food made by me" days. Every now and then I'll go through this phase when I just get bored of tasting "my own haath ka khaana"! And on such days, the one thing that brings comfort is memories of food cooked by amma. Even better, making whatever I am craving, following her recipe to the T.

It is funny what we desire at times. One would think chaats and other snack items or sweets would trump simple day to day food when it comes to cravings! But it is my mom's paalak dal, khichdi, aaloo curry, kadhi, tomato rice and even lemon rasam - typical everyday food - that I miss the most!

Well, most recently I had a hankering for her paalak masoor dal. This is one of her "hit" items! Now, masoor dal (split red lentil), or pink dal as I used to call it,  is not very common among south Indians (which is what I am) and Mumbaikars (where my entire clan hails from)! This I came to know much later (after I got married, to be precise, for that is when I stopped identifying dals by their colors - sure was surprised to know that there were so many different yellow dals!). Till then I never understood what was so special about this dal that had people wondering how my mother's paalak dal got that unique taste. That was because she was using masoor dal instead of the standard moong dal that most people we knew were using. Well my mother's culinary repertoire includes dishes from all over the country thanks to my dad's job which took him to a lot of different places. And she tends to capture the local flavors pretty well!

So, for this dal, I stick to whatever she uses - thankfully I have made this enough times to no longer require a phone call to ask for the recipe! Though I do have friends calling me for the recipe once they have tasted it at my place ;)

Preparation & Cooking: 15 minutes          Serves: 2-3

Ingredients:
Masoor Dal (Split Red Lentil) - 1 cup
Spinach - 1 cup, chopped fine
Mustard Seeds - 1 teaspoon
Cumin Seeds (Jeera) - 1 teaspoon
Asafoetida (Hing) Powder - a pinch
Onion - 1 small, chopped
Ginger -  1 teaspoon, minced
Green Chillies - 2, chopped fine
Tomato - 1 small, diced
Turmeric (Haldi) Powder - ½ teaspoon
Coriander (Dhania) Powder  - 1 teaspoon
Cumin (Jeera) Powder - 1 teaspoon
Salt - to taste
Cilantro - chopped, for garnish
Butter - 1 tablespoon (optional)
Oil - 2 tablespoons

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a pressure cooker and add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds and asafoetida powder. When the seeds crackle, add the onions, green chillies and ginger.
2. Once the onions turn translucent, add the tomatoes, turmeric powder, cumin powder and coriander powder. Saute for a couple of minutes.



3. Now add in the dal (make sure it is rinsed thoroughly), the chopped spinach and salt to taste. Give it a good stir.



4. Add enough water to cover the dal, close the pressure cooker and cook the dal for 2-3 whistles. Once the steam is all let out, open the cooker and add a tablespoon of butter and garnish with chopped cilantro.



Steaming hot palak masoor ki dal is ready. Teams perfectly with jeera fried rice!







Handy Tip: You could use ghee instead of oil for this recipe but I prefer oil as that is what my mom uses.
On the other hand, the extremely health conscious may omit the butter, but trust me, the creamy taste when butter is added is just too good to be missed!

Sending this across to

Zesty South Indian Kitchen's  Favorite Recipes: Lentil, Legume, Beans Recipes

Gayatri's Cook Spot's Walk Through Memory Lane - January

and New "U" 2013 @ Zesty Palette.

Pasta in Moong Tomato Soup

I had made some moong tomato soup for dinner last night, and as always, there was some left over. So, I decided to use it as a base for pasta for my son's lunch to school. It contains moong dal for protein and has tomatoes, celery and carrot for the vegetable representation, what more could I ask for! I also happened to wake up really really late! So, this left over soup proved a blessing in disguise and worked perfectly to get lunch prepared and packed in no time at all.

Preparation & Cooking: 10 minutes    Serves: 1

Ingredients:
Left over moong tomato soup - ½ cup
Water - ¼ cup (for diluting the soup)
Pasta - 2 tablespoons, any kind (I used the tricolor rotini)
Goldfish Crackers - a handful

Method:

• Puree the soup into a smooth paste, add water and dilute it to required consistency and set it aside.
• Cook the pasta as per the directions on the package.
• Add this pasta to the soup and bring it to a boil, then take it off the flame. That's it! Lunch is ready to be packed!

I packed a handful of goldfish crackers in a separate container, so my little one could add it to the soup at lunch time for that extra crunch!

Moong Tomato Soup

After a wonderful week of eating out and enjoying, have decided to seriously try and lose all the excess pounds before summer officially begins. This isn't New Year's eve, but have made a resolution nonetheless! I am going to workout regularly and exercise control over my diet. Nothing too drastic in the food department though - that would be asking for too much from a foodie like me! So, as a part of the new healthy eating phase, have decided not to eat rice for dinner. In fact, I would like to stick to just soups and salads as far as possible - let's see how far that works out! Am hoping since its out there in black and white, will try harder to stick to it!!

Hence the recipe for tonight - moong tomato soup. I do love the creamy tomato soups with heavy cream and butter, but that would definitely throw my resolution out of the window. So, I was looking for other options when I came across this tomato soup recipe at Tarla Dalal's website. I liked the idea of using moong dal for the soup's creaminess. But that's about all I took from that recipe and completely modified it to suit my taste. I added brown sugar because I read somewhere that it helps cut the excessive acidity from the tomatoes. So here goes...

Preparation & Cooking: 25 minutes           Serves: 4

Ingredients:

Moong Dal - ½ cup

Diced Tomatoes - 1 14.5 oz can

Grape tomatoes - 1 dry pint

Onion - 1 chopped fine

Garlic - 2 cloves, minced

Celery Stalks - 3

Carrots - 2, shredded

Mint Leaves - a handful

Roasted Cumin Powder - ¼ teaspoon

Turmeric Powder - a pinch

Brown Sugar - ¼ teaspoon

Salt - to taste

Pepper powder - to taste

Vegetable stock - 4 cups

Olive Oil - 2 tablespoons

Ghee/Clarified Butter - 1 teaspoon

Method:

• Rinse the moong dal, soak it in water and set it aside.
• Heat the ghee and oil together in a pressure cooker and saute the chopped onion, garlic, celery and shredded carrots in it.

• Once they begin to soften (about a couple of minutes), add the cumin powder, turmeric powder, salt, diced tomatoes, grape tomatoes, mint leaves, brown sugar, moong dal and vegetable stock. I leave the grape tomatoes and mint leaves whole for now, as they will get mashed in a blender later. 

• Pressure cook this mixture until the moong dal turns soft and mushy. Once this cools, use a blender to puree it to the required consistency. I like a slightly grainy texture, but you may make it very smooth as well.
• If you think it is too thick, add a little water/stock at this stage and bring it to a boil. On the other hand, if the soup is too watery, add some bread crumbs and bring it to a boil to thicken it.
• Ladle the soup into serving bowls and season it with freshly ground pepper to taste. Serve hot with croutons or as is.

Handy Tip: I pureed the left over soup into a smooth paste. Tomorrow, I'll  add some cooked pasta to it and send it for school lunch for my kiddo.

Herbalicious Black Bean Soup

My family loves soups. Especially in the cold winter months, a bowl of warm soup is just what the heart desires, or should I say what the tummy desires! I love experimenting while cooking, and one of the safest bets to experiment is soups – after all what is soup but a hotch - potch of different ingredients left to cook and simmer. Basically, once you put all the stuff in the pot, it pretty much cooks itself!

Whenever I hear “black bean soup”, I usually associate it with Mexican or Cuban food. Well, this is my take on the black bean soup.

Preparation & Cooking:  45 minutes                       Serves:  4-5

Ingredients:

Black beans – 1 can (15 oz. approx.)

Fire roasted diced tomatoes – 1 can (14 oz.)

Onion – 1 small (chopped)

Garlic – 2 cloves

Fresh mint leaves – a few sprigs

Fresh cilantro leaves – a handful

Fresh parsley leaves – to garnish

Roasted cumin powder – 1 teaspoon

Red chilli powder – ½ teaspoon

Turmeric – a pinch

Chipotle all-purpose seasoning - 1 teaspoon

Vegetable stock – 6 cups

Salt – to taste

Oil – 1 tablespoon

 

Method:

1.       Sauté the onions in 1 tablespoon oil until they turn translucent. Add finely chopped/grated garlic to it. I use a microplane grater/zester directly over the cooking pot.

2.       Add the cumin powder, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and salt and keep stirring until they mix well. Constant stirring will prevent the spices from burning.

3.       Now add the tomatoes and black beans and give it a good stir.

4.       Add the vegetable stock at this stage, bring it to a boil and then let it simmer on a low flame for about 25 minutes. Keep stirring occasionally to prevent burning.

5.       In the meantime, puree the mint and cilantro together with a little water.

6.       After about 25 minutes, add this puree along with the chipotle seasoning mix to the soup and let it cook for 10 more minutes.

7.       Now, I prefer my soup to be chunky, so I just use a potato masher directly in the pot to mash some of the beans and tomatoes to thicken the soup. But if you prefer your soups to be smooth, you could blend part or all of it (depending on the consistency that you desire) in a blender/food processor.

8.       Just before serving, ladle the soup into the serving bowl and garnish it with freshly chopped parsley.  

At the end of a cold day, a bowl of hot, spicy soup with some cheesy garlic bread is all I need!

Sending this across to  No Croutons Required - February 2012 challenge  hosted by Jacqueline of Tinned Tomatoes