Dal Pakwan

OMG!!!! I did it. From last 2 years I wanted to make this dish. When I first time saw this recipe in Alka's Blog. But some or other thing took me away from trying this recipe. Thanks a lot Alka it was really yummy and now it will be in our regular weekend menu list.  Dal Pakwan is a traditional Sindhi breakfast  recipe.  Though it is full of calories but some time you can try out this yaar. The only thing I did to reduce  my guilt is I used half a quantity Maida and half wheat flour;-)

Ingredients

For Dal

Chana Dal - 1 cup

Tomato -1 (finely chopped)

Green Chillies - 3-4

Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon

Turmeric Powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Curry Leaves - 4-5

Oil - 1 teaspoon

Salt to taste

For Pakwan

All purpose flour (Maida) - 1 cup

Whole wheat flour - 1 cup

Ajwain - 1 teaspoon

Red chilli powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Tamarind extract - 1 teaspoon

Hot Oil - 2 tablespoons

Salt to taste

Oil for Deep Frying

For Serving

Chopped onion - 1 medium

Chopped coriander - 2-3 teaspoon

Chopped tomatoes - 1 small

Sweet Tamarind chutney - As required

Chilli powder -  - As required

Procedure

For Dal

Wash and soak dal for one hour.  Now Pour oil in pressure cooker. When it becomes hot add cumin seeds, curry leaves and green chilies. Fry it for a minute.  Now add chopped tomatoes and cook it properly. Then add dal, turmeric powder and salt. Mix it properly.  Add little water and close the lid of cooker.  Cook till two whistles.  When the pressure got released open the lead. Cooked dal should  not  get mushy completely.  Add tamarind extract and mix well.  Again cook for a minute.  Dal is ready.

For Pakwan

Mix all ingredients of Pakwan. Except oil for  frying ;-).  Add little water at a time and kneed a stiff dough.  Cover it and rest it for 20 minutes. Then Make small balls of dough (approximately 10-11) .   Heat oil in Kadai for frying. Roll each ball like puri. Prick puri with knife so that it will not get puffed while frying. Now fry this Puri (pakwan) on medium flame till it turns golden brown and crisp.   Drain the  excess  oil on kitchen towel.

For Serving

While serving take  dal in a bowl.  Sprinkle chilli powder. Some sweet tamarind chutney. Then chopped coriander, onion and tomatoes. Serve it with hot and crispy pakwan

Italian summer salad

Heat is showing it's effect in March itself. Eating regular meal twice a day is real hard these days. So salad , juice, buttermilk are some good options.  Here is the nice and healthy option in Summer.

Ingredients
Brown Bread  - 2-3 slices
Boneless chicken - 100 gms
Tomato - 1
Cucumber -1
Lettuce leaves - 3-4
Green olives - 8-9

For DressingOlive Oil - 3 tablespoon

Garlic cloves - 3-4
Basil leaves - 1/2 cup
Vinegar - 1 tablespoon
Salt to taste

Procedure

Preheat oven on 180 C. Make small cubes of bread slices.  Bake this cubes in oven for 10 minutes.   Cut chicken into small cubes and boil with little salt into it.  Remove seeds of tomato and cucumber and cut in small cubes. Now take all the ingredients of dressing  in mixer pot and grind to coarse paste.   Now take this in a salad bowl.  Add olives, bread cubes, chicken cubes, tomato & cucumber cubes and cut lettuce leaves with your hands and put it in bowl.  Toss well .  Transfer it in salad plate and serve it.

Note - Vegetarians can replace chicken with Paneer  or boiled Rajma.



Kaju Curry

From last 2-3 months I didn't try any new dish. Don't know why but was not feeling very enthusiastic about cooking anything new. My husband suggested me to do some variety dish for Sunday lunch. Then after a looooooooooooooooooong discussion we decided to make kaju curry and neer dosa. Since I was trying the kaju curry for the first time so he was my guide in making it. Finally it turned out very good. Even my in-laws liked it :-)

Ingredients
Cashew Nuts (Kaju) - 1 cup

Onion - 2 medium

Tomatoes - 1 big

Garlic - 7-8 cloves

Ginger- 1 inch

Khoya - 1 tablespoon

Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon

Garam Masala - 1 teaspoon

Sugar - 1 teaspoon (optional)

Pure ghee- 2 tablespoon

Cashew nuts - 7-8

Coconut milk - 1/2 cup

Salt as per taste.

Procedure
Soak cashew nuts in a warm water. Slice onion vertically. Chop tomatoes. Now heat 1 teaspoon of ghee in kadai and fry onion till it turns to golden brown. Then add garlic and ginger fry it. Then add tomatoes and cook it. Let this get cool for some time. Fry 7-8 cashew separately in ghee. Now make a fine paste of all this fried ingredients. Now heat one tablespoon ghee in kadai. Add turmeric powder. Now add this paste and fry till the Ghee separates out from rest of the mixture. Then add khoya, chilli powder, garam masala, sugar and salt. Mix wel. Now add water little by little to get the desired consistency of the gravy. Boil it for five minutes. Then add soaked cashew nuts. Again cook it for 2-3 minutes. In the end add coconut milk , mix wel and switch off the flame. Thick creamy kaju curry is ready. Tastes good with roti, neer dosa or rice.

Maa ki daal ya Paa ke chawal......Phodanicha Bhaat

I think you must have got confused with the name. I have purposely given this name to this post because my father had prepared this bhaat for the first time in his life. For some reason my mother was not there in the house so he asked the recipe on phone and prepared the dish with leftover rice. I immediately asked him to click the picture. Aai (my mom) was so happy to see my Baba started cooking something other than tea :-) Love you Baba……

Phodanicha bhat is very famous and easy to make recipe with leftover rice.

 
IngredientsLeftover rice - 2 cups

Finely chopped onion - 1 medium

Chopped green chilies - 4-5

Peanuts - handful

Oil - 2 tablespoons

Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon

Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Asafetida - 1/4 teaspoon

Sugar - 1/4 teaspoon

Lime juice - 1 teaspoon

Salt as per taste

Chopped fresh coriander for garnishing.

Procedure
Heat oil in Kadai. Add mustard seeds. When it starts spluttering then add peanuts. After the peanuts turns to golden brown, add green chilies and sauté it. Then add onion. Cook it properly till onion turn translucent. Now add asafetida and turmeric powder. Now add leftover rice, salt and sugar and mix it properly. Cover it for 2-3 minutes. Now switch off the flame and add lime juice and mix wel. Garnish it with chopped coriander. It tastes good with curd.

This goes to simplysensationalfood's "Lets cook with Leftover" event.

Aachari Tamatar

Wish you all a very happy 2012!!!  Actually I was thinking of posting some sweet recipe to begin 2012 but as usual I'm starting this new year with Spicy & Tangy dish from Tomato. It's a a very tasty side dish, a pickle of Tomato. So once again wish you a tangy, spicy & sweet 2012!!!

Ingredients
Red Tomatoes - 500 Gms.

Garlic - 8-10 cloves

Ginger (Chopped) - 1 inches

Red chilli powder - 4 teaspoons

Mustard seeds powder - 1 teaspoon

Vinegar - 2 teaspoons

Sugar -1 teaspoon (Optional)

Salt as per taste

Tor Tadka
Sesame Oil - 1/2 cup

Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon

Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 teaspoon

Turmeric Powder - 1 teaspoon

Asafetida - 1/2 teaspoon


Procedure
Cut tomatoes in small cubes. Cut garlic cloves vertically. In a heavy bottom kadai heat oil and make a tadka using given ingredients. Then add chopped garlic and ginger. Sauté it. Then add tomatoes and cook it till it gets smooth. When oil separates completely from cooked tomatoes, add chilli powder, mustard powder, salt and sugar. Mix it nicely. Now switch off the flame. When it cool down , add vinegar and mix it. If you want you can give one more tadka of oil, turmeric powder and asafetida on this pickle. Store it in an air tight bottle.