How to cook dal: Arhar

Another recipe for the number one search on Timid Cook: How to cook dal!!

Am learning to buy in smaller quantities despite the hassles of shopping more. Larger quantities, I have learnt are not really economical because they attract weevils or worse (eeks). Also, I am cooking in smaller quantities. Just enough for one meal. That way we are eating hot fresh food and not storing them away in the fridge and re-heating (where they lose their taste and sometimes I forget about them and discover later, lurking in a corner and looking distincly alien with variety of growth in it not to mention the smell)!!

I didn't look up the recipe. I just followed my hunch or rather memory of the dal from the local dhaba. And I'd say it turned out pretty well and cooking time was 20 minutes max. Just the thing for a cold winter night.

What I used:

Arhar dal: 1/2 small cup about 3 full tbsp (to be precise)
Water for pressure cooking the dal: 2&1/2 cups
Turmeric: 1/2 tsp
Salt: 1 tsp
Onion: 1 small
Garlic: 1-2 pods
Tomato: 1 small
Hing (asefoetida): 1/2 tsp
Dried red chillie: 1
Mustard seed: 1/4 tsp

How to:

1. Wash the dal with several changes of water, drain and put in the pressure cooker with the turmeric, salt and fresh water. The rule for pressure cooking is that water should be approximately slightly less than double of the other ingredient in this case, dal. But given the cold weather and the fact that arhar dal takes a bit longer to cook than say masoor or moong dal, I added 2 and 1/2 cups of water. Let it cook for quite a few whistles. (I let it cook for 7 whistles of the cooker and found that the dal was still a bit hard. So I simply added a bit more water and let it cook for another 5).
2. Chop the onions, garlic and tomatoes.
3. After the dal is cooked, add oil to a small kadai or pan. Add the mustard seed and hing powder.
4. When the seeds start popping, add the garlic, onions and stir till they are browned. Keep stirring or they might stick to the pan.
5. Add the tomatoes and fry till the tomatoes release their juices.
6. Then, add the cooked dal. If the water has evaporated while pressure cooking, add more water. Arhar dal is usually thicker than other dals, so don't add too much water.
7. Bring to a boil, adjust salt and remove.
8. Eat with chappatis!

Note: The red chillie can be added while tempering (before the mustard)....but A can't eat anything remotely hot. Also, while serving, add a generous spoonful or lump of ghee and if not, then buter! This step I omitted (lower calories for A)!

PS- We finished it all up and really fast and so there are no photos to show....alas!

Is it Pizza?

It looked liked it, smelt like and tasted like it too ... but dare I call it a pizza? Well why ever not? And it was quite easy to make. I actually made it in the commercial breaks while watching Gerard Depardieu in "My Father the hero"!



What I used
(I made two. The following are the ingredients per pizza)
Pizza base: 6" diameter
Capsicum: 1
Tomato: 1
Onion: 1 (A insisted)
Salami: 2 slice
Salt
Olive oil
Cheese


What I did

1. Brushed the pizza base with olive oil.
2. Sliced the capsicum, onion, tomato in to thin rings. Quartered the salami slices.
3. Layered the the pizza base, in order - the tomato, onion, capsicum, salami.
4. Topped it up by grated cheese.
5. Grilled the pizza in my OTG at 210 deg for 15 minutes. And viola!

Note: The cheese had melted nicely all over but the base had become crunchy. That wasn't bad to eat...but I still have to figure out how to keep the base soft.

R' Coffee-honey-cashew cake

Hmmm...both A and I were suddenly yearning to eat a coffee cake. Now that I have the werewithals (an OTG - a diwali gift from A), I googled to look up a recipe and I found as expected tons of recipes of cakes to eat with coffee...all sorts of cake. Not the recipe I was looking for which was well...a cake with coffee. So, e-mailed R for a recipe for cake with coffee as an ingredient (and honey too, A added) and trusty R promptly sent back one and subsequently revised the proportions for a very small cake mould which would fit inside my small OTG. And yesterday, with shaking hands, heart thumping wildly, I tried it out.

You will need:

Flour: 1 cup

Baking powder: 1 tsp

Clove and cinamon powder: 3/4 tsp

Ground nutmeg: 1/4 tsp

Chopped walnut/almond/cashew: 1/3 cup (I used cashew. R's says walnut is the best but others will do.)

Instant coffee: 1&1/2 tbsp

Hot water: 1-2 tsp

Powdered sugar: 1 cup

Honey: 1/4 cup

Eggs: 2 lightly beaten

Butter: 150 gms

Milk: 1/4 cup

Here's How:

1. Sift the flour, baking powder, ground spice and a pinch of salt ina bowl.
2. Add the chopped cashew.
3. In another bowl mix the sugar,honey, butter and water and coffee well.
4. Then add the flour spice to it along with egg, milk.
5. Mix to form a smooth batter.
6. Grease a mould and pour the batter in to it and bake for 40-60 minutes till a knife inserted comes out clean. (I baked the cake for 40 minutes at 210 deg C).

Note: Lightly dust powdered sugar on top of cake or Spread coffee cream on top of the cake

For coffee cream: Mix 250 g butter, 2& 1/3 cup icing sugar, 3tsp heaped instant coffee, 6 tsp hot water well, to form a creamy paste and spread on cake top with a spatula or cut the cake horizontally into two and use it to sandwich it.

(I didn't do either....just served the plain cake as is, fresh from the oven).

How simple the above recipe reads doesnt it? And it is too. But if I described my process...it would take pages and probably be a primer on how not to do it but despite or perhaps inspite of it all, the cake was quite OK. It was rapidly eaten up and pronounced quite good for a first effort. And what's more, if I can do it...so can anyone...So try it out.

Thanks to A for mental support.

Thanks to R for the recipe, long distance encouragement including answering three phone calls on silly issues like I have added the milk before the water or how does one grind the nutmeg etc?

Thanks to J who didnt say anything at the enormous amount of dishes to be cleaned although she did say that while this cake is nice, the one didi (R) sent was BETTER!

Arusuvai Friendship Chain: Amaranth Spinach Tomato Mushroom Soup

The secret packet that Bhags sent me contained Amaranth seeds also called Rajagiri -- completely unknown territory to me. In fact, Bhags took pity on me and told me what it was!! I found a recipe which I altered a wee bit and it turned into one of my favorites: A hearty, healthy soup meal!

You will need:

1 cup amaranth seed

3 cups water

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 bunch spinach (or young amaranth leaves if available - I used spinach)

2 ripe tomatoes, skinned and coarsely chopped

1/2 pound mushrooms (I used 6-7) stemmed and sliced

1&1/2 teaspoons basil

1&1/2 teaspoons oregano

1 clove of garlic minced

1 tbsp onion, minced

Salt and pepper to taste (the original recipe called for Sea salt or a salt substitute)

How to:

A good place to start was to stick up the recipe on the kitchen wall.

Add one cup amaranth seeds to 3 cups of boiling water

And cook for 12-15 minutes. This is how it will look...a bit messy.

While amaranth is cooking, stem and wash spinach, then simmer until tender. Drain and chop it. Blanch tomatoes in boiling water to loosen skin, then peel and chop. Mince the onion and garlic.



Heat oil in a pan over medium heat and add garlic and onion. Sauté approximately for 2 minutes. Add tomato, mushrooms, basil, oregano, salt, pepper. Add tomato. Cook for 10 – 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Lightly mash tomato as it is cooking.

Then pour the amaranth into the spinach-tomato mixture. Raise flame to high and let the whole mixture come to a boil, adjust for seasoning, remove...

...and treat yourself to a hearty soup, with bread of your choice.

Thanks due to U for loaning me his cam...photos (a bit blurry) up on Timid Cook for the first time.

Thanks to A, for bravely tasting it altho' spinach and tomatoes are a no-no for him and he is kind of allergic to mushroom :-(

Thanks Bhags...I found out that I could!

And lastly.......

Umm...what a load of dishes to be cleaned....

PS- I know I have to pass it on....but blogging has taken the wind out of my sails....I will get around to it shortly....so, in this post, I don't have two names to pass it on to...yet.

PPS - Sushma of Cookspot is the next link in the Arusuvai Friendship Chain. I have sent her a secret packet and am waiting eagerly to see what she cook's up!

Shahi Bharta

Bhags sent a mail to me yesterday convinced that I had chickened out of the Arusuvai Friendship Chain. Afterall, I couldn't even figure out the contents of the secret package she sent me!! I assured her that I would be coming up with my post on it soon, in the next few days, infact. Till then, here is a recipe that R sent me. It combines brinjals with prawns

You will need:
Eggplants: 2 large, seedless variety
Mustard oil: 3 tbsp
Onions: 2 minced
Garlic: 1tbsp minced
Small prawns: 1/2 cup, shelled
Oil for frying
Egg: 1
Salt, sugar and red chilli flakes

How to

1. Cut the eggplants into halves , boil, de-skin, cool, mash and then keep aside.
2. Heat 3 tbsp mustad oil in a pan, add the minced onion and garlic, saute.
3. Add the shelled prawns.
4. Fry for a while and then add 2 chopped tomatoes and the mashed eggplant.
5. Stir fry till the oil separates.
6. Gradually add salt, sugar, red chilli flakes and finally a shredded fried egg. Mix well.
7. Serve with rotis
   

Viola! Although R has written serve with rotis, a hard core bengali like me would obviously prefer it with rice!!

Pabda Curry

Ask a bengali about his / her's favorite dish and more often than not, the answer would be: Mach-bhat (Fish and rice). And yet, we (A and I) don't eat fish all that regularly. Not because we don't like it all that much, rather we haven't got a fixed schedule for shopping or even a menu plan. Whenever we happen to be in the vicinity of the three good fish shops (aren't they called fish mongers?), we might pick up some. I had picked up some pabda from David's in E Block Market in Gurgaon. And now that our water supply was back to normal (after four harrowing days without), I felt brave enough to cook the pabda!

There are many other ways of cooking pabda, but this is the only one I know. So here goes. (This is how I make it. There will be slight variations from person to person. This is just in case there are people out there, who like me, in my early days, thought each recipe learnt was the ONLY way to make it. Anything else was not the correct way)!!

You will need:
Pabda: 1/2 kilo or 4 fish
Brinjal / Aubergine: 1
Kalonji / Kalo jeera: 1 tsp
Turmeric: 3-4 tsp
Fresh coriander: a handful
Salt to taste
Oil for frying

How to:

1. Wash the fish, pat them dry and smear well with turmeric and salt. Keep aside.
2. Slice the brinjals lengthwise into 1 to 1&1/2" strips. Wash the pieces, smear with turmeric and salt.
3. Heat oil in a pan (about 2 tablespoon) and lightly fry the brinjals. They don't have to be deep fried. Remove the brinjals.
4. Heat oil to smoking in a pan. Then add the fish. If they are big in size, fry them on or two at a time. Warning: Stand well away from the pan. The pabda's splatter hot oil, everywhere! I solved the problem by holding the lid of the pan in front of me like a shield!!
5. Each piece takes about 2-3 minutes frying on each side. Remove the fried fish.
6. You can make the curry in the same pan, but I like to use a kadai for the curry or 'jhol'.
7. Mix 1 and 1/2 tsp turmeric in a small bowl of water. Stir well to ensure that the turmeric is dissolved and there are no lumps.
8. Add 1/2 tsp oil in the kadai. Add the kalonji and wait till it splutters (about 30 secs).
9. Add the turmeric water into the kadai.
10. Stir briskly, on high flame till the water dries up.
11. Add half cup water and repeat the process at least two more times.
12. Then add water for the curry: about 500 ml or half of a normal mineral water bottle. Bring to a boil.
13. If you don't mind chillies, add couple of green chillies and 1 tbsp grated ginger to the curry.
14. Add the brinjals.
15. Add the fish.
16. Let it boil along with the curry for 3-4 minutes.
17. Lower flame and cover. Let the curry cook for another 7-10 minutes.
18. Uncover, add the chopped coriander.
19. Remove from flame and serve hot with rice.
    

Note: Having enjoyed your meal of pabda and rice, don't forget to clean the splattered oil. The turmeric in the oil leaves dreadful stains! But I am sure you will agree, that's a small price to pay! Bon Appetit!

Hearty Soup for a cold winter day

First day of the new year dawned cold, crisp and a minor crisis of taps running dry. (It has now developed in to a major crisis since we are still without water second day). We were constantly assured of the problem being resolved in the next half hour which kept getting delayed. Around 2, I tore myself away from the net and went into the kitchen and cooked up this one dish meal...a winter favorite for us and really easy to make.

The original recipe is a non veg one with "lardon fume". But the veg version is equally easy and tasty as well.

You will need:
Onions: 1
Spring Onions: 3-4
Garlic: 3-4 (or less if you dont much care for garlic)
Bay leaf: 1
Peppercorns: 5-6
Tomato: 2
Carrots: 2
Cabbage: 1/2 a medium sized one
Pasta: 1 cup
Chicken stock cubes: 2
Salt to taste
Olive Oil
Water

How to:

1. Heat 3 tbsp of olive oil in a deep pot (I use a pressure cooker).
2. Add the bay leaf and peppercorns.
3. Add the onions and spring onions and fry till they turn pink.
4. Add the tomatotes and the veggies, lower flame, cover and cook till the tomatoes release their juices.
5. Add the pasta, the garlic (which I smash using a heavy spoon), the stock cubes, 2-3 cups of water and cook on high heat for 5 minutes. Then lower and cook till the pasta is done (as per the instructions on the pasta packet which is normally 10-12 minutes).
6. Adjust for salt, you could add some chillie flakes if you like and hey presto...

Ah! Hot thick soup warming your belly on a cold winter day or night....

The Non-Veg version differs only in one ingredient and in the first step. The rest is identical:

In a pot, add the strips of smoked bacon directly, without the oil. As it fries, it releases its fat and then follow steps 2-6. Hmm...it tastes out of this world. And beware, this heavy soup is somehow siesta inducing. So be ready to crawl under a heavy quilt after this meal, and so logically keep this dish for a lazy weekend!

Arusuvai Friendship Chain

Oops! I have gone and done it. Said yes that is to the Arusuvai Friendship Chain. Where a food blogger sends a secret ingredient to another and the recipient has to then use that secret ingredient to make a dish and then pass it on to two or more people.

Well, one fine day Bhags asked me if I'd like to participate and in a moment of utter fearlessness I said YES. And I have been quaking ever since. Well, today, she tells me that she has mailed me the secret package. God...I know, I just know, the same postal system which manages to either delay or lose all my regular mail, will very promptly and in perfect condition, bring me the secret package any day now.

Although the whole idea is to well make a chain of friends who blog about food, I hope I have some left at the end of this...

Plain musoor dal

(This extremely basic recipe is for all those of you who keep coming to Timid Cook via the search for "How to cook dal" and there seems to be many such searches! Hope this helps)!

Last friday, we returned from a short trip to Goa, sun tanned and over stuffed (with goan goodies), extremely happy but to a bare refrigerator. We were too tired to go shopping immediately so I had to make do with what I could find. Rice-musoor dal-begun (brinjal) bhaja! Ah! Comfort food.

There are varities of musoor dal recipes...the difference being the ingredients used for tempering or "chowNk". This recipe uses a small onion, garlic and cumin seeds.

You will need:

Musoor dal: 1 cup
Turmeric: 1/4 tsp
Bay leaf: 1
Red Chilli: 1
Salt to taste

For tempering
Onion: 1 small
Garlic: 3-4 cloves
Cumin seeds: 1 tsp
Oil: 1-2 tbsp

How to:

1. Wash the dal well with several changes of water. Drain.
2. In a pressure cooker, put the dal, turmeric, the bay leaf and the red chillie and salt to taste.
3. Add 1 & 3/4 cup water (a little less than double the quantity of dal) and cook for two whistles (might take more in winter). Leave aside for the steam to escape and the lid to open.
4. Slice the onions into fine rings. Mince the garlic.
5. In a kadai, heat oil and add the cumin seeds.
6. When the start to splutter, add the onion and garlic and stir well. Cook till the onions turn pink.
7. Add the cooked dal to the kadai.
8. Add water to make the dal thinnish. Sometimes, while cooking the dal in the pressure cooker, all the water evaporates.
9. Adjust salt and cook the dal in the kadai on high flame for 4-5 minutes.
10. Remove from fire and serve with rice (along with other veggies ... I prefer this dal - rice combos with fries or "bhajas" - brinjal or parwal or aloo and sometimes, fish!

Bon apetit!

Orange Peel Cake

Saturday was the coldest night that Delhi has had for a very long time. 6.8 degrees. Shiver me timbers. But this also had a happy flipside. R sent me a surprise package, which arrived intact thanks to her fabulous packaging and the weather: An orange peel cake. Scrumptious. I gave a slice to my help J and her comment was that I should get the recipe so that we can eat it more often. So, R obliged.

You will need:

Flour: 2 cups
Baking powder: 1tsp
Sugar: 1 cup
Eggs: 3
Vegetable oil: 3/4 cup
Orange essence: 1 tsp or Orange marmalade: 1 tbsp
Vanilla essence: 1 tsp
Orange peels: 1/2 cup
Warm milk
Butter

How to:

1. Mix 1 & 1/3 cup flour and baking powder and sieve this three times.
2. In a bowl, add 3/4 cup oil and 1 cup powdered sugar. Mix well.
3. To this add two tbsp flour followed by one egg and mix well. Then add another 2 tbsp flour and another egg. Repeat this till all the three eggs are in the batter.
4. Add a bit of warm milk to smoothen the batter.
5. Add 1 tsp each of orange essence and vanilla essence. If you don't have orange essence just add 1 tbsp marmalade and 1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence and add half a cup of chopped orange peel.
6. Grease a tin with butter or oil and dust with flour. Pour the batter and bake in an oven (preheated for 5 minutes) at medium for 40-50 minutes or till a inserted knife comes out clean.

Mmmm....just the thing with a hot cup of coffee!

Okra with Panchphoron & Brinjal with spring onions

I was really eager to attend the wedding of a friend's sister today. I had been planning on this for quite some time. The saree, the jewellery, A's clothes (phenomenal for me...since I always start planning with 5 secs left to spare)! And then last night, I got fever with chills and shakes and how. And this is really ominous since chills and shakes usually is a sign of Malaria. Today, thankgod, didnt have another attack but my temperature hovered around 100 deg C. At 7pm, I sadly gave up the idea of attending and called up my friend to explain...it sounded really lame over the phone. But what to do? That done, I had to prepare dinner. Thankgod I had bhindi, spring onions and brinjals. Could whip up two dishes in about half an hour. Another 15 minutes, 5 rotis were ready and we had our simple home cooked dinner (in place of the no-doubt lavish spread at the Sheraton...).

The bhindi recipe is one I learnt from m-i-l. Before this, I had never heard of bhindi being cooked this way and was a bit iffy about it at first. But really, its quite tasty and a regular fare for us.

Bhindi with Panchphoron

You will need
Bhindi / Okra 250 gms
Onion 1 medium sized
Panchphoron 1 tsp (equal parts of black mustard, anise, methi, cumin and kalonji)
Salt to taste
Sugar 1/4 tsp
Oil for frying

How to

1. Wash and drain the bhindi. Cut them into 1" pieces.
2. Heat 2-3 tbsp oil in a kadai.
3. Add the panchphoron.
4. When they start spluttering, add the onions and saute till they turn translucent.
5. Add the bhindi, the salt and stir well.
6. Cook over high flame for 5 minutes.
7. Cover, lower flame and leave for another 5-7 minutes or till the bhindis are done.

Brinjals with spring onions

Strangely, I never liked this dish although this is a popular bengali one, till I got married. A likes all things with brinjals in it. He likes them in pizza too (yes...). But once I made it (and it turned out good and really easy to make) I started liking it too!!

You will need:

Brinjal / Aubergine 1 medium
Spring Onions: 3 - 4
Salt to taste
Oil for frying

How to

1. Wash the brinjal and dice into small cubes, smear with salt and keep aside.
2. Cut the spring onions into small pieces about the same size of the brinjals.
3. Heat oil in a kadai to smoking and add the brinjal.
4. Stir well and fry till softened.
5. Add the spring onion and stir well.
6. Fry for another 3-4 minutes and remove from fire.

Both are very subtle flavored, with minimal or no spices, easy to make and tasty too!

Akbaree pasand

Recently, I have been having a long distance reunion over email with a few old pals. We have been busy getting an update on our lives. I happened to mention I had a food blog. To which, my old pal S now living in Australia, had his own recipe to share. But be warned. This is for the really adventurous!

1. Drive to supermarket , pick up a kg of lamb/beef and Shan ' s kashmiri mutton masala
2. Put on a kadai, throw in the mutton with the masala and cook for 10-15 minutes while you down 3 scotch on the rocks.
3. Garnish as per suggestion on the box . And there was a time when I couldn't fry an egg ... brings tears to my eyes when I see what I have accomplished.

For those not into dare devilry, here is another recipe from R: Akbaree Pasand. She got it from somewhere. The USP of this recipe is that it works for both mutton and chicken! And it makes a change from usual mutton or chicken curry! She swears its easy. It reads easy. (Apparently it's an Aghan recipe).

You will need:

Mutton or chicken 1 kilo
Onions: 4 medium or 3 large ones
Shahjeera: 1& 1/2 tsp
Shahmarich: 1& 1/2 tsp
Jaiphal (nutmeg): 1& 1/2 tsp
Oil for cooking

For the marinade
Fresh curd 350 -400 gm
Red chilli powder 2 tsp
Salt 2tsp or to taste
Sugar
Garlic paste 3heaped tbsp

Marinade according to the meat: Mutton should be marinated for 3 hours and chciken for 40 minutes or so.

How to

1. Heat about a cup of white oil in a wok / kadai.
2. Add 4 medium chopped onions or 3 very large ones as you see fit. Fry for a few minutes.
3. Now add the marinated meat and fry till the oil separates (12-15 minutes for chicken and about half an hour for mutton).
4. Then add shaajeraa powder, shaamarich powder and jaipahal powder and toss and turn,(they should be 1 1/2 tsp to 2 but nutmeg 1 1/2 will do).
5. Lower flame and cover and cook till done.
6. When serving sprinkle fresh coriander leaves, onion rings or fried onions (beresta ) and whole green chillies.

Note: The dish is cooked without water. If the dish is made using chicken, the bones can be used but for mutton, minimal bones are preferred.

Jeera Chicken

R was here. For ten whole days. At first I was a bit nervous about my very basic kitchen. No mixer, juicer, blender. No toaster. No OTG. Very very basic. Turns out, I needn't have worried on that account. I was very eager to show off my house keeping -skills. And to some extent I did. But for some strange reason, whatever I cooked...fell flat and how. I even over boiled the rice to a unholy mess. Yikes. And served it to not only her, but even to two friends of hers, who had dropped in to say hello. I am lucky that one of them gave me a beautiful lapiz lazuli pendent, before he tasted my cooking. Eeps. So much for my bragging. Even A's vouching for my cooking (that is my cooking before R's arrival) seemed false. And to think I had the guts to keep a food blog. Anyhow, I managed to salvage the situation a little bit. I did make couple of passable veggies dishes. (The rice was still over boiled). So I am afraid of posting anymore of my own recipes. Instead, I have here a recipe for Jeera Chicken that R picked up from a programme on TV. And like she is wont to, remembered it properly without bothering to write it down. It was YUMMY. And yes, Shubo Bijoya to everyone.

You will need:
Chicken 1 kg, cut into medium pieces
Onions 2 large, cut into rings
Green Chillies 3, Chopped
Fresh corainder 1 1/2 cups, chopped
Cumin seeds / Jeera 3 tsp
Jeera powder 1 1/4 tsp
Dhania powder 2 1/2 tsp
Mustard oil, Salt and Sugar as required

How to:

1. Heat 4 tbsp mustard oil in a kadai / wok.
2. When the oil is hot, throw in 1&1/2 tsp jeera seeds; When the seeds start to pop, add jeera powder followed bythe dhania powder. Stir.
3. Add 2 tsp salt, sugar 2 tsp and a little water.When the oil floats to the top, throw in the chicken pieces and toss so as to coat the pieces well with the spices.
4. Let it fry on high for about ten minutes. Sprinkle a little water in between so that the chicken pieces don't stick to the pan.
5. Then lower the flame. Pour water to make the curry. Cover and cook till the chicken is cooked.
6. Again increase flame to reduce curry and then adjust sugar and salt. Take off fire.

To garnish

1. Heat 4 tsp mustard oil in a wok. Add 1&1/2 tsp jeera, chiilies, onionrings and lightly fry for two minutes. Add coriander and remove from fire. Garnish the chicken and serve!

Bon appetit!!!!

Lemon Dal

Dal is such a must for me. Dal (of the day) along with rice and veggies are always my first course. And since we have dal day in and day out (almost), a variation in the recipe is always welcome. Lemon dal is one such variation. It makes a nice change, once in a while. Like with most recipes on this blog, mine is a variation on the original. The lemon comes from the leaves of the lemon plant and not from actual lemon itself. (Although I have a recipe from a very interesting book Life & Food in Bengal by Chitrita Banerji which uses both the leaves as well as slices of lemon). This is my variation.

You will need:
Masoor dal: 1 small cup
Turmeric: 1/4 tsp
Lemon leaves: 3-4
Salt: 1-2 tsp
For tempering
Oil: 1 tsp
Jeera / Cumin: 1 tsp

How to:

1. Wash the dal, with several changes of water. Drain.
2. In a pressure cooker, add the dal and 2 cups of water and the turmeric.
3. Close the lid and cook for one whistle of the pressure cooker. (Might need two in winters or at higher altitudes).
4. Remove cover and stir the dal properly.
5. In a pan, add the oil and the jeera. When the jeera start spluttering, add first the lemon leaves and then dal to the pan.
6. Keep on high flame.
7. Adjust salt and also, add water if the dal has become too thick. It should be fairly thin.
8. Let it boil for 3-4 minutes and remove from fire.
9. Serve with rice and veggies (of course).

Note: It could possibly be a nice and different soup for non rice eaters!

Chappati Corn Rolls

Today is 2nd October the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and therefore a holiday through the length and breadth of India. Holidays always have this getting-up-late-lazing-around-after-a-huge-breakfast feel. Specially if the holiday comes in between a work week.

The first two are fine...but the huge breakfast is a perennial problem. I have always been a milk and cereal or tea and toast breakfast person. Alas, not hubby dear. He would like oily parathas, eggs and bacon and all sorts of cholesterol laden fatty oily food. And like all such things, incredibly tasty. So the challenge before me was manifold:

• Make it tasty enough to make him forgo parathas / eggs etc.
• Make it low cal enough to make it healthy without him realising it.
• Make it with the odds and end that there are in the fridge / kitchen
• Go make it myself, curbing the enormous desire to sit in the verandah and enjoy the wonderful teeny tiny nip in the air on this lazy morning
• Also, I have sacked my irascible maid ...just yesterday.

So I summoned up all my courage and made a hodge podge of ingredients and recipes learnt from m-i-l, my s-i-l (a terrific cook) and ofcourse R (even more terrific a cook if possible).

This is what I found in my fridge / kitchen and therefore used

1/2 a capsicum (bell pepper)

1 cube amul cheese

1 small cup corn

1 small onion

6-7 garlic

A pinch dried Thyme

Olive oil

Atta / Whole wheat flour

A tiny bit of butter

This is what I did of the above

1. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a pan.
2. Add the garlic and stir till the garlic releases its aroms (couple of seconds)
3. Lightly saute the onions till they turn pink
4. Add the capsicum, dried thyme, followed by the corn
5. About 3 or 4 minutes later, add the grated cheese and mix well.
6. Season with salt to taste.
7. Remove from flame, cover and keep.
8. Knead the atta in to a dough and roll out five (size of a quarter plate) thin chapattis.
9. Add 3-4 pods garlic crushed into a small bit butter (about a tsp full). Melt a dash of butter (I kept the butter in a small bowl on top of the pan with the corn mix).
10. Put the rolled chappattis in a pan - be careful about not burning the chappatis otherwise they will get hard.
11. When each chappati has been dry fried (their colour change) on each side, use a spoon to put a bit of the garlic butter on each side.
12. When done, remove from fire, add the corn mix, roll and serve. Viola!

End result: All rolls gone, a breakfast fit for a holiday, happy hubby and most importantly, low cal.

Low cal, despite the cheese and butter. How?

Butter: I used only one curl of butter. Curl? Well when you run a knife on the surface of the slab of butter, the knife will cut it out in a thin curl. And since I melted it, it was enough for all 5 rolls. And instead of lathering it on the chapattis, I dabbed a bit on each chappati. This is better than putting the butter in the corn mix. You'd or rather I'd need a huge amount to convince hubby that I had indeed used copious amounts of butter.

Now the cheese: I did grate one whole cube of cheese (enough for two sandwiches). However, I used only 1 tsp on the grated cheese, again sprinkled on top of the cooked corn...so that its taste was definitely identifiable!! The rest I put away in the fridge, in a small jar.

Oil: I used only 1 tbsp of olive oil.

And I was actually going to put the corn mix in lightly toasted bread. But we are all out of bread and hubby was feeling a tad lazy. And I, still dressed in my night rags, couldn't venture out.

So, the chappati innovation.

Note for other Timid Cooks like me: Bread, Pita bread are easier options than rolling out chapattis.

Note for Interpid Cooks: You might be right about laughing at this silly recipe if you happened to be anyone other than a Timid Cook. So please be kind to me, when you read this!

Ma's Prawn and Sausage Fried Rice

Ma sprung this Prawn and Sausage fried rice on us during a do, long back when we were in the middle-east. Just like she does everything. No fuss, no elaborate planning, no discussion. Just go ahead and do it. I think she only made it just that once. And never afterwards. Like I remember the wafer thin, amazingly tasty sooji biscuits she ahd learnt at a cookery class. I still remember them although she made it only once when I think I must have been 6 or 7 . No matter how much I cajoled her - she never made them again.

I spoke to ma last night and asked her for this fried rice recipe. She absented mindedly said yes. Later, I shot off an email to R as well, just in case. This morning, I find the recipe in my mail box with an accusing note from R: "How cum you don't remember that I had cooked this dish for you when I had come visiting you in Paris? And yet you remember the time long back when ma made it"? Not deliberately, dear R, first time makes the strongest impression, right?

You will need:
Pre-cooked / left over rice: 2 cups
Onion: 1 medium diced finely
Green chili: 2 sliced finely (optional)
Tinned sausage: 1 cup, cut into roundels
prawns: 1/2 cup small prawns
Mixed vegetables like carrots, beans: 1 cup
Ajinomoto: a pinch
Salt: 1 tsp
Sugar: 1/4 tsp
Vinegar: a dash

How to:

1. Saute the sausage in oil. Keep aside.
2. Parboil the carrots, beans. Drain and keep aside.
3. Lightly fry the prawns. Trick is to heat oil in a pan on high flame. Drop in the prawns, stir and remove immediately. Should not take more than 30 secs.
4. Heat oil in a pan. Add the onions and fry till they turn pink.
5. Add the chili, sliced capsicum, the veggies.
6. Add salt, sugar, a pinch of ajinomoto (optional) and a dash of vinegar.
7. Add the prawns.
8. Stir to mix well.
9. Lower flame, cover and keep for couple of minutes so that the aromas mingle well.
10. Viola! Its ready to eat.

Note: This is really easy. Left over rice, sausages out of a can and any veggies that you might have in your fridge!

Cabbage Khichdi

I have managed, in this heat, to catch a cold. My head feels heavy and my movements lethargic. On top of that, my cook did no a show, but she was kind enough to inform me about that. I was not really feeling up to doing much cooking, so I made a one dish meal. This is a recipe that A taught me and it has been a life saver (mine) on many an ocassion.

You will need:
These are the proportions I used; these can be easily varied

Cabbage: 1/2 of a medium sized cabbage
Rice: 1&1/2 cups
Peas: a handful
Tomato: 1
Onions: 2 - quartered
Potato: 2, halved
Garlic: 4 cloves smashed
Ginger: 1/2 tsp grated
Bay leaf: 1
Cinnamon: 1" stick
Cumin seeds: 1 tsp
Cloves: 2/3
Green elaichi: 2 pods
Salt: 2 tsp
Sugar: a pinch
Oil: 2 tbsp

How to:

1. Shred the cabbage, wash well and drain.
2. Wash the rice and drain.
3. In a pressure cooker, heat oil. Add the cinnamon, cardamon, bay leaf and elaichi.
4. After 30 sec (by this time, the spices will have released their aroma), add the cumin seeds.
5. When the cumin start spluttering, which is almost immediately, add the cabbage, peas, garlic and ginger and turmeric and salt. Stir well.
6. After a minute, add the tomatoes. Stir well.
7. After a minute, add the rice. Stir well otherwise, the rice will stick to the pan.
8. Add the quartered onions and the potatoes.
9. Add 2&3/4 cups water - the same cup that was used to measure out the rice.
10. Cover the cooker and cook for one whistle. Remove from flame. Let the cover drop by itself. Don't lift the weight on top of the lid to release the pressure.
11. Viola! Done. Enjoy. Bon Appetit.

Note:

• The onions can be sauteed right in the begining right after adding the cumin. Any other vegetable can be used too.
• Since it's a khichdi or Khichudi in bengali, it can be accompanied by fritters - begun /brinjal, parwal /potol, papads.

And it does not take more than 20 minutes start to finish.

Faux Uttapam

A feels very hungry post his evening walk and the temptation to pick up the phone and order some calorie laden take away is enormous. So I am forever on the look out for easy at the same time tasty (enough to keep him away from fatty food) recipes. Also, if I am at work, my maid has to cook it and can't have any thing very complicated nor do I want to spend much time in the evening cooking something which requires a great deal of effort (should I be around). This is one easy and tasty recipe. And fool proof. Always turns out great and does not require exotic ingredients.

You will Need:
Semolina / Sooji: 1 cup
Curd: 2 cups (meaning double the amount of the sooji)
Onion: 1 small finely sliced
Garlic: 3 or 4 minced
Capsicum: 1 small finely sliced
Carrot: 1/2 cup finely sliced
Cabbage: 1/2 cup shredded
Coriander leaves: a few finely shredded
Oil for frying

How to:

1. In a bowl, add the sooji and double the amount of curd. I used one cup because that's all I had. Sometimes, you might have to add a bit more or less of the curd. It should be thicker, than the dosa batter. (The batter won't spread by itself on the pan. You will have to spread it out using a ladle or spoon).
2. Add the chopped veggies. These are strictly, optional. It tastes just as good with just onions.
3. Season with salt (about 3/4 tsp)
4. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a flat pan over high flame. Spread the batter out - should not be spread thinly; it might break while frying.
5. Keep on high flame for about a minute or so. Then turn it over carefully and lower the flame. Cover and keep for a few more minutes.
6. Press lightly with a wooden spatula so that all the batter inside is cooked as well.
7. The whole thing should take 6 to 7 minutes.
8. Serve with sauce of your choice!

Note: Its quick, uses less oil, simple to make, tasty. However, you CAN while frying, add a bit of butter to the oil or use only butter, if you are not counting your calories. It tastes terrific when fried in butter. You can fry them out in any shape. Normally they should be round and the size of a quarter plate. But you can make mini pizza size or like today when strangely while spreading the batter, it took a oblong shape. Tasted just as good!!

R's Noodles for Comfort

I have a biggish collection of cook books. Not for trying out recipes mind you. But to drool over the exotic recipes while I eat my every day fare!! (Ok, weird I know...). A new addition to this collection is one on Noodles. Udon, Soba and what not. I have gone through it cover to cover several times...but somehow, have never tried out any, although I keep meaning to. Instead, I bugged R several times to send me her own personal recipe - this I am going to try out. Perhaps tomorrow. It is really tasty. Try it. And simple. No fancy ingredients.

Poor R has been suffering from a very bad back and despite that (or perhaps I harrassed her a bit too much), she typed out the recipe and sent it to me. So here it is:

You will need:

Noodles: 200 or 250 gms (she hasn't specified what type of noodle - so can I dare to say "ordinary" noodles?)

Green chillies: 3-4

Assorted vegetables (carrots, beans, mushrooms, cauliflower) : 2 cups

Green Capsiscum: 1 medium sized

Garlic chopped: 6-7 cloves

Soy sauce: A dash

White vinegar - 1/2 cup

Maggie Chicken cubes: 2-3

Oil for sauting the vegetables

Salt, Pepper, Sugar

This is How:

• Boil the noodles and plunge in cold water. Drain, smear some white oil and keep aside.
• Chop the green chillies and put them in a pan with the vinegar. Add a little bit of water and bring the mixture to a boil. Remove from fire and keep aside.
• Julienne the beans, slice the carrots and mushrooms.
• Parboil the beans and carrots (and cauliflower if using)
• Slice the capsicum finely.
• Saute the mushrooms in white oil with pepper and salt.
• Heat some oil in a pan and throw in the chopped garlic.
• Add somefresh chopped chillies, then add parboiled veggies,
• Add the sauteed mushrooms and the capsicum
• Then add two tsp sugar and finally a little soy sauce, vinegar and chicken cubes.
• Finally, add the noodles. Mix well, taste and adjust seasoning.

Viola! There you have it. The chillies in vinegar is optional. Really. But it does add such a lovely tang to the noodles. The recipe reads so simple and easy...but believe me, its Comfort food.

Note:

• You can add your own combination of veggies. Shredded, sauteed meat / prawns too can be added. A would insist on adding eggs too....
• Chicken stock cubes are usually salty. So is vinegar and soy sauce. Be careful about the quantities.

Carrot Mushroom Fusilli

Just around 6pm, I feel so hungry. And the temptation to pick up the phone and order a take away is enormous. And that means my carefully planned dinner is put in to the refrigerator for tomorrow. I almost succumbed. And then I remembered a line from Everbody likes Sandwiches:

Just thinking about dinner — let alone getting up the energy to make it happen seemed like too damn much. But being the frugal girl that I am, I didn't want to order in take-out…Instead, I did what most modern cooks do. I went online to epicurious and typed in a couple things I had in my fridge and out popped a couple super simple recipes.

I did not go onto epicurious. Instead I looked in my fridge and kitchen and cooked up an easy dish with what I found.

Here is what I found:

1 small carrot
half a cube of Amul cheese
Dried mushrooms – a handful
Fusilli – a handful
Garlic – 3 cloves
Salt, pepper and dried rosemary
Olive oil

This is what I did:

Put the dried mushroom in a pan of water and let it simmer for 20 minutes while I watered the plants on my balcony. I also pruned some of them, in case you are wondering that my balcony must either be enormous or I must be having a veritable hanging garden. Neither. By the time I had finished with the plants, the mushrooms were tender. I drained them.
Next I put a pan of water to boil for the fusilli.
Then I scraped the carrot and washed it. And then using the peeler, I got really fine strips of carrot.
I chopped the garlic finely.
I grated the half cube of cheese.
I put a little olive oil into the frying pan and added the garlic.
As soon as it started to brown, I added the carrot strips and mushrooms.
Sprinkled some salt, paprika and dried rosemary.
Then I added the drained pasta and mixed well.
Lastly, I sprinked the grated cheese on top, turned off the flame and covered the pan and let it sit for couple of minutes.

The dish really looked good. The beige of the mushroom nicely contrasting with the orange of the carrots. (Alas no photos). And then, I ate it all up.

Upshot of this: The small quantity served as an appetizer and now I am really hungry and not really looking forward to the homely dinner. Eeeps!