Lentil Sprouts Usli..

A simple and nutritious usli/fry, which is very tasty and wholesome and takes only a few minutes to prepare. We make these Uslis usually with different kinds of sprouts or soaked beans.

This post is my contribution to the JFI-Sprouts at Ammalu' Kitchen hosted by Dee.

So, here goes..

Ingredients


Lentil sprouts - 2 cups
Onions, chopped - 1 small or half of a big one
Green Chillies, slit lengthwise - 2
Curry leaves - 3
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Lemon Juice - 1 tsp
Fresh/Frozen Coconut - 1 tbsp (optional). I did not use it.
Salt - to taste
Oil.


Method


- In a kadhai, heat little oil, add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds. Once the seeds crackle, add the curry leaves and the green chillies. Add the chopped onions and fry till they turn soft and transparent.
- Add the lentil sprouts, turmeric powder & salt and saute for a minute. Just sprinkle about a tbsp of water, not more.
- Sprinkle the grated coconut (if using).
- Cover and cook on medium-low heat for about 5 mins, with stirring once in between.
- Pour lemon juice and mix well and its ready to serve.
- Serve as a side in a vegetarian meal.


Note: I have seen my mom using both red chillies as well as green ones in this dish. I dont know the difference, but I personally prefer green chillies.

Stuffed Thai Eggplants....

I found these cute little Thai eggplants and bought them thinking I will make the Engaayi. But I changed my mind and followed the same recipe that I did for the Stuffed Okra that I had made earlier.

The only difference in the recipe is that in a non-stick pan, I fried 1 big sliced onion in some oil, put in 1/2 tsp of cumin seeds and then put in the stuffed eggplants. I put 2 tsp of lemon juice instead of 1.

The rest of the recipe is the same and is here.

Eggplants with stuffing mixture

The dish tastes great with rotis or as a side with rice and dal. Hope you like it..

Tangerine Cranberry Chutney- Hot & Sweet

A simply delicious chutney that I can gaurantee will leave you licking your fingers and wanting more. A complete mix of sour, sweet and spice. That explains it all, isn't it ??

The recipe is adapted from Laxmi Hiremath's ' The Dance of Spices'...

I have made some changes to the original recipe. Will note the differences below.

The following is the way I made this chutney..

Ingredients

1 Small tangerine.

1 1/2 cup - fresh cranberries, stemmed and washed.

1 tsp - grated fresh ginger

3/4 cup - jaggery

Cardamom powder-made from seeds of 3 pods

Red Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp ( Reduce it if you want it less spicy )

Salt - to taste

1 inch stick - Cinnamon

Method

- Halve the tangerines crosswise without peeling, remove the seeds and cut into 1/2" wedges.

- In a heavy pan, combine the tangerines with the cranberries, ginger, jaggery, cardamom, cinnamon, chilli powder and salt. Bring to a gentle boil, reduce the heat to low & cook, sitrring regularly, until the jaggery dissolves and the tangerine rind is slightly softened, about 10 mins.

- The chutney is done when its thick and glossy & will be reduced in quantity.

Note :

- The original recipe calls for sugar, but I used jaggery instead.

- The original recipe has 1/4 cup of onions to be added and cooked along with other ingredients, but I didn't add the onions.

- Original recipe calls for 1/4 cup of chopped, toasted walnuts also, but I skipped them. If adding the walnuts, after the last step, stir in the walnuts.

For best flavour, allow the chutney to sit, covered at room temperature for a day before serving. You can store this in the fridge upto 2 weeks.

- Serve as a side with some kind of rice, or on bread or enjoy just by itself.

Dill Rice..

I had made this Dill rice and thought of sharing it. I like the fragrance and flavour of these leaves and try to use them whenever I can. Instead of addition to a dish, I thought this time of making a rice itself with Dill in it and it turned out very good. So, here goes..

Ingredients

Basmati Rice - 1 1/2 cup
Dill leaves, chopped - 1 1/2 cup ( only the leaves, no stems)
Onions, chopped - 1 medium
Garlic, finely chopped - 3 cloves
Ginger, grated - 1/2 inch piece
Red Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - a big pinch
Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Udal Dal/Split Black gram - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 4
Lemon Juice - 1 tsp (optional)
Garam Masala powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - taste
Oil

Method

- Wash the rice and soak it in water.
- Meanwhile, in a non-stick pan, heat some oil, add the udad dal, mustard seeds, cumin seeds and curry leaves. Once the mustard seeds crackle, add the onions and saute till they are soft and transparent. Then add the ginger and garlic and saute.
- Then add the dill leaves, saute for a minute, add salt, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, mix well.
- Drain the water from the rice and add to the pan. Mix well with everything for a minute, then add 3 cups of water and add the garam masala and lemon juice. Check for salt.

- On medium high heat, bring to a boil. Mix the rice slowly once. Then cover the pan and cook on very low heat till done.

- Serve hot with a side of your choice.

P.S.- I served mine with Cranberry chutney and yogurt.

Set Dosa with Vegetable Saagu..

Hmm, so I was all set to make Set Dosa and Saagu on the weekend. Google just made me scratch my head with all the different variations. I called up Mom and asked her and she gave me two different options to make Set dosas. I frowned at both the options and told her that I think she is confused as to what I want and irritated her. The ingredients she told me were no matches to my Google searches, so the arguing. She just told me to try and then tell her what happened ;). I was really pleased with the soft, spongy dosas that resulted in exactly what I wanted. So, am sure there are plenty of variations and this might not be the authentic way of making Set Dosas, but this is what I tried and will stick with coz I got excellent results. I will try mom's option #2 soon too. Do try it to know what I mean.

Set Dosa

Ingredients

Rice - 1 cup

Methi seeds/Fenugreek Seeds - 1/2 tsp

Moong Dal - 1/2 cup

Chana Dal - 1/4 cup

Toor Dal - 1/4 cup ( I used the orange masoor dal instead )

Grated fresh/frozen Coconut - 1/4 cup

Poha/ Beaten Rice/ Avalakki - 1/2 cup

Salt

Method

- Soak the Rice with the Methi seeds, moong dal, chana dal and toor dal for about 6-8 hrs.

- Before grinding, wash and soak the poha in water for about 10 mins. Squeeze out all the water.

- Grind the soaked rice and dal mixture alongwith the poha and grated coconut to a smooth batter. Take care that the batter is not too watery or runny.

- Add salt at the end of grinding, mix and let the batter ferment about 10-12 hrs or overnite.

- Once fermented and ready to make dosas, heat tawa, pour a ladle full of batter and just spread very lightly so that the dosa is thick. Drizzle oil/ghee on sides and top and once one side is done, flip and cook for just about 5 secs on the second side. When first side cooking, you will see tiny holes forming indicating a soft and spongy texture of the dosa and will be cooked through on both sides, but I turned and cooked the second side also for about 5 secs.

- Serve hot with Saagu.

Note : These dosas are made round and thick in size ( like pancakes).

Had never made Saagu also before, though eaten in the restaurants many a times in Bangalore with hot Puris and Set dosas. When I googled for the recipe, again confusion at all the variations. Mom of course, had her own recipe. Finally, I took tips from all the recipes that I saw and mom's recipe and made the Saagu which I thought would suit us. It indeed turned out yummy :). I followed LG's Saagu recipe mostly here, but added some extra ingredients apart from those she has mentioned. So, thanx LG :)..

Now, some recipes call for adding garlic while some I see don't. Are these both different options?? If anyone knows, please do let me know.

Saagu

Ingredients

Coconut - 1/4 cup ( reduce the quantity to 2 tbsp if you find this too much).

Putani/Hurgadale/Dalia/Roasted Chana Dal - 2 tbsp

Khus Khus/Poppy seeds - 2 tsp

Green Chillies - 3

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Cloves/Lavang - 5

Black Peppercorns - 7-8

Cinnamon/Dalchini - 1 inch piece

Cilantro - 1/4 cup

Mint leaves - 8-10

Tamarind - 2 small pieces

Surti Papdi/Flat beans/Chapparada Averakayi - 1 cup

Potato, cut into chunks - 1 1/2 cup

Carrots, cut into chunks - 1 cup

Onions, cut into chunks - 1 cup

Tomato, cut into chunks - 1 cup

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Curry leaves - 5-6

Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp

Salt - to taste

Oil

Method

- Boil the cut vegetables with little salt and enough water in a pressure cooker upto 1 whistle.

- Make a paste by grinding together all the items from Coconut to tamarind with very little water.

- In a pan, add oil, add the mustard seeds and when they start crackling, add the curry leaves.

- Add the ground paste & turmeric powder to the pan and on low flame, fry this paste till the oil starts oozing out slightly.

- Add the boiled vegetables along with the water, mix everything, adjust the salt and simmer to boil. Add water to adjust consistency if needed.

- Once simmered and boiled for about 5 mins, take off from flame.

- Ready to be served with Dosa, Puris, or Chapatis.