Split green gram(Moong Dal chilka) with Spinach

Other day my sister cooked split green gram and spinach combination for dinner.  This was so flavorful and tasty that it was very hard not to take second or even third helping with my chapatis and rice.  I fell so much in love with this combo that next day I had it as a soup.
Come to think of it, this combination of split green gram ( mung dal )with spinach is a boon providing us with the essential nutrients.
Green gram split is high in fiber.  If you are having trouble losing weight because of the hunger pangs when you reduce your calories intake, try adding green gram to your diet.  One cup of green gram serving has 15 grams of fiber and will fill you up.  One cup of this lentil provides 537 milligrams of potassium which helps reduce high blood pressure.  It is a great source of 14 grams of protein per serving.
Similarly, spinach has iron, vitamins and minerals essential for our well being.  This dark green leafy vegetable is important for our skin. hair and bone health.  It provides us with proteins as well.

I am very happy sharing that recipe with you all which is super yummy and beneficial.

Ingredients:

1 cup mung dal(split green gram), 2 cups spinach leaves washed and chopped, 3 cups water, 2 tsp cooking oil, 2 fresh tomatoes chopped finely, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 1/4 tsp asafoetida(hing), 1 tsp turmeric, 3 cloves of garlic minced,  1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 onion chopped into small pcs., 1 tsp fresh ginger grated, 1 tbsp ghee or clarifying butter, salt to taste, 1 tsp coriander powder, 1 tsp garam masala or any curry powder.

Method:

Wash mung dal in the running water and keep it aside.
 In the pressure cooker, heat cooking oil, add asafoetida, cumin seeds and turmeric in that order.  Reduce the flame to slow.  Add minced garlic and saute for five seconds.  Add washed dal to the cooker.
Now add spinach, tomatoes and water to this mix.  Increase the flame to medium.  Close the lid and let pressure cook it till two whistles.  Turn off the flame.
In a separate pan, heat ghee or butter and add mustard seeds.  When they stop spluttering add ginger and onion and cook on the slow flame.  Now add salt as per your taste. Sprinkle coriander powder on this mix.  Once pressure cooker opens up add this mix to the cooked dal and spinach.  Let it simmer for 8 to 10 minutes.  Turn off the flame and add garam masala.  Close the lid so that flavors of the spices remain intact.
Enjoy with rice or chapati.  You may enjoy this as a soup.

Vegetables in white sauce

Many times we do not feel like making an elaborate dinner and yet want to eat something healthy.  One of those evenings I cooked this medley of vegetables in a white sauce but without any cheese.  Most of the time people like to bake this dish but I did not have the time and the patience for that.  First time I had this dish at my sister’s home.  She cooked it with very little white flour and I loved the taste of it.  It was light and healthy.
I have used cauliflower, broccoli and corn but you may add mushrooms or any other vegetables you prefer.  It is not spicy as I have used just salt and black pepper  but the end result was very tasty and I enjoyed with crackers.

Ingredients

1cup Broccoli (cut into small pieces), 1 cup cauliflower (cut into small pieces), 1 cup of uncooked sweet corn kernels, 1 medium onion(chopped finely), 1 tbsp of white flour, 1tsp of butter, 1 ½ cup of skimmed milk, salt and black pepper to taste, 1 ½ tsp of cooking oil

Method:

 Wash broccoli, cauliflower and corn kernels well and soak them in water.   Sauté onion in a cooking oil till they turn pink.  Now drain the water of the vegetables in a colander and add to the sautéed onion.  Lower the flame and cover the lid.  Stir the vegetables occasionally.  When the turn tender turn off the flame.
In another pan, roast the white flour on a very slow flame. After thirty seconds add butter and mix it well.  Add milk and stir it well so that no lumps are formed. When it gets well blended add to the vegetable mix.  Add salt and pepper. 
Enjoy with your favorite crackers or bread. 

Citrus Saffron Sweet Rice

How many times we all have to deal with leftover rice.  I generally make some savory dish out of those by adding vegetables, peanuts and other condiments.  This time I decided to make a dessert out of my leftover rice.  The result was a gourmet dish which can make anyone take second helping.  Saffron rice is a popular dish on any auspicious occasion in India but by adding orange zest it gave a very refreshing citrus flavor to my rice dish.

 Ingredients:

2 ½ cups cooked rice, 1 cup sugar, 1 ½ tbsp ghee (purifying butter),  2 cloves, 2 green cardamoms, 1 pinch of saffron, 1 tbsp of warm milk, a few drops of saffron color, 20 almonds slivered, 10 cashews divided into two parts, 15 raisins, peel of one orange

Method:

Scrape the white bitter pith of the orange peel.  Wash the zest, dry it between the paper towel. Take ¾ cup of sugar and zest of the orange and mince it in the mixer. Combine rice and this orange sugar mix in a bowl and keep it aside. Sprinkle leftover ¼ cup of sugar on the top of this rice mix.
In the meanwhile, combine warm milk, saffron threads and saffron color and keep it aside.
Heat ghee in a non stick pan and add cloves and cardamom and sauté for 30 seconds on a slow flame. Add rice and orange sugar mix into this.  Stir it occasionally on medium flame for 4-5 minutes till liquid of the sugar almost evaporates.  Now add saffron milk to it and lower the flame. Cook for another two minutes.
Add almonds, cashews and raisins to the mix.
Enjoy it warm.

Dark Chocolate Truffles

A wise man has rightly said: “Flowers wilt, jewelry tarnishes, and candles burn out…but chocolate doesn’t hang around long enough to get old.”  Hence it is never a sin to indulge in chocolate.  It is Valentine Day around the corner, a perfect time to make your own chocolate truffles.

One wonders why chocolate on Valentine Day.  There are many legends about it.  On February 14, 270 A.D. Roman Emperor Claudius II beheaded a priest named Valentine for performing marriage ceremonies despite the Emperor’s decrees outlawing them.  Another Roman martyr named Valentine was jailed and passed the time by writing love letters to jailor’s daughter, signed “Your Valentine”.  During the Middle Ages, Europeans believed that birds chose their mates each year on February 14.  It is believed that in the 17^th century, lovers began exchanging mementos on Saint Valentine Day, perhaps heeding the words of Shakespeare in Hamlet: “Sweets to the Sweet.”

In time though, chocolate made its way to the masses. By the 1800s, the Cadbury Brothers had set up shop in England making and selling chocolate to average citizens. In 1861, Richard Cadbury created the first ever heart-shaped box for Valentine’s Day. Thus, began the common link between chocolate and Valentine’s Day.   Little did he know that he was starting a new tradition?

Another important truth is modern science has linked the chemical phenyl ethylamine in chocolate to feelings of excitement, attraction and even pleasure. Indeed, chocolate and love go hand in hand.

I have made these truffles with dark chocolate but if dark chocolate is bit strong for you, feel free to use semi-sweet milk chocolate to make these truffles.  I have used orange flavor in these truffles.  You may use coffee, strawberry or any other fruity flavor in your truffles.

Ingredients:

1 ½ cup grated dark chocolate, 2 tbsp cream, 1 tsp ghee or unsalted butter, ¾ cup roasted and chopped almonds, 1 tbsp orange marmalade

Method:
Melt chocolate in a double boiler.  Make sure it is not melted all the way.
In another heavy bottomed pan, add butter (ghee) and cream and warm it till cream starts to make small bubbles from the edges.  Add orange marmalade and stir well.  As soon the marmalade gets blended, add immediately to the semi melted chocolate. Stir it vigorously.
Add chopped almonds and mix it well.
Put in the refrigerator for five minutes.  Rub cooking oil on your palms and make round balls with the chocolate mix.
Place these balls on the parchment paper and put in the refrigerator for an hour or so.
It made 14 chocolate truffles.
 Enjoy with your valentine.

Shahi Paneer in Three Minutes

Today I am going to share with you a much loved recipe that I have been cooking when guests arrive at a very short notice. It is called Shahi Paneer which loosely translated in Indian means Royal Cottage Cheese. It is a simple recipe that cooks fast, almost in three minutes, and something that you won’t usually find in Indian restaurants.
Paneer can be easily made at home.  You can buy a ready made at any grocery store.   Shahi Paneer, also called Royal Paneer, features cubes of fresh cottage cheese in a richly-spiced tomato cream sauce.  Like many "royal" dishes from India's Mughal cuisine, it features a slightly sweet, Persian-inflected spice combination from Mughal era. Although I am normally a bit shy about the mixing of sweet and savory but this dish calls for the beautiful blend of sweet and sour.

Ingredients:

2 cups Paneer(farmers Cheese) cut into cubes, 1 cup tomato puree, 3 medium size tomatoes, ¾ cup cream, ½ cup ketchup, salt to taste, 1 tsp powdered sugar, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 1 tsp brown mustard seeds, 1 tbsp cooking oil, ½ cup tomato ketchup

Method:

Heat oil in a pan.  Add cumin seeds and mustard seeds.  Reduce the flame and add tomato puree. In a mixer puree fresh tomatoes and add to the mix.  Let it boil.  Add salt and sugar. Add paneer cubes and let it simmer for a few seconds. Add ketchup and simmer for another 30 seconds.  Just before eating heat the mix and then add cream.  Enjoy with Nan or Parantha.

Note: If you don’t want to add cream you may replace it with plain yogurt.

Shortbread with fresh Orange flavor

Shortbread is a tender and crumbly kind of cookies which melt in the mouth.  It is Scottish in origin and was once served during Christmas and New Year’s Eve only.  Originally shortbread was made with only four ingredients; butter, sugar, vanilla extract and white flour, but today they are made with different ingredients and varied shapes.  I have made this shortbread with oats, white and wheat flours.  This shortbread is citrus flavored as fresh orange zest is added to the dough.  With every bite you feel a very refreshing taste.

Ingredients:

¾ cup sugar, 1 ½ cup white all purpose flour, 1 cup wheat flour, 1 cup oats(powdered), ½ cup butter on room temperature, ¾ cup canola oil

For Orange Flavor
¼ cup sugar, peel of 3 oranges.

Method:

Scrape off the white of the orange peels or grate the orange peels.  Make sure that only orange skin and not the bitter white pith is grated.  Puree the zest with ¼ cup of sugar in a blender until minced.
Beat butter and oil together.  When it gets well blended add ¾ cup sugar to it.  Now add minced orange peel and sugar mix to it.  Whisk it well.  Now add white flour, wheat flour and oats to this mix.  You may use food processor for it but make sure that you do not overwork the dough. Dough will look like crumbs.  Transfer dough to two pie pans, spreading it out as evenly as possible.  Press and flatten using your hands over the top.  Cut the dough into 12 triangles while still in the pie pan. Prick gently with fork.  Bake in the 350 degree F (210 degree C) for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown from the edges. Let it cool off for five minutes and then re-cut the bars along the previous cuts. They can be stored in an airtight container for up to two weeks.

Stuffed Dum Aloo(Potato)

We recently visited our son’s family at Aurangabad, not too far from Bombay in India.  This city is famous for ancient caves, Ellora and Ajanta of Hindu and Buddhist era and religious pilgrimage of Shirdi’s Sai Baba.  After one of our excursions, we went to a hotel for lunch.

We were seven of us and were totally famished by lunch time as we had started from home very early that day.  One of the dishes on the menu which caught our fancy was Dum Aloo Kashmiri style.  We all opted for that and did not regret for ordering such a scrumptious dish.  These potatoes were stuffed with khoya (solidified milk) and then cooked in the thick gravy.

I came home and the taste of this awe-inspiring dish was lingering for ever in the mind and the mouth.  I made a few changes.  I omitted Khoya as that is very fattening.  I replaced it with hung yogurt which has much less calories.

Once the dish was ready we tasted it and realized it came very close to what we ate at the hotel.  Of course it did not have the same richness because I was trying to make it a healthier version.

Ingredients:

4 medium potatoes boiled and peeled, 2 ½ cups of yogurt, 4 medium onions chopped, 4 cloves of garlic crushed, ½ inch piece of ginger grated, 1 tsp cumin seeds, ½ tsp brown mustard seeds, 1 tsp coriander powder, ½ tsp garam massala, ½ tsp turmeric powder, salt to taste, 12 cashews ground, 4 raisins washed, ½ tsp of lemon juice, 3 medium tomatoes, 1/4 cup fresh coriander leaves chopped finely.


Method:

For stuffing
Hung 2 cups of yogurt through a muslin cloth for 3-4 hours.  Save this water for the gravy.  Use the thick creamy part for stuffing.  Add one crushed garlic, half onion finely grated, little salt, ½ tsp of lemon juice to the thick creamy yogurt and mix it well.  Cut boiled potatoes in two halves.  Scoop out the middle of each potato and fill it with creamy yogurt mix and place one raisin in each potato. Save this scooped out potato part to be mixed in the gravy.  Over fill the potato and close it with the other half so that the original shape of the potato remains the same. Now deep fry this filled up potato gently till golden brown.  Do the same with all the potatoes.

For the gravy:
Heat one tbsp of oil in a pan; add cumin seeds and mustard seeds.  When they stop spluttering, add ginger, onion and garlic and sauté them for a couple of minutes till they turn pink.  Turn off the flame and let it cool off.  In a mixer grind this mix, tomatoes and scooped out potatoes. Take this mix out and put in the same pan and cook on the medium flame by covering it.  Add turmeric, red pepper, coriander powder and the leftover yogurt and the water left from hung yogurt to this mix.  Let it simmer for five minutes or so. Add ground cashews, salt and garam massala to it.  When you are ready to serve add fried potatoes and warm it up.  Garnish it with fresh coriander leaves.  Enjoy with Nan, roti or parantha or rice.