Meet Indian Cousin of Falafel

Yes! you read it right, Indian Cousin of Falafel. Both are Legume based snacks, made with grinding soaked legumes, mixed with spices & herbs and deep fried. I know I got you when I say deep fried, who doesn't like deep fried food. One is world famous, made with garbanzo beans or you can say our very own white chana/chite chole or in plain English chickpeas. Where as other one is not very famous outside India, I'm talking about dal ke pakode(Lentil fritters) here. Famous or not famous these are perfect for any time, specially for this cold weather we are getting here in north east, snow storm after snow storm.

snow measurement by kiddos while the white stuff was still falling

Different parts of India have different versions of these made with different lentils but the one I'm going to talk about today is moong & chana dal pakode. In Dilli you can find moong dal ke ladoo(they are not called pakoras) from street vendors and that is totally different version, right now i'm saving them for some other day. But in Rajasthan very similar dal ke Pakode is very famous street food. I still remember after few weeks of my marriage when I went to Rajasthan we had these & they were the best...hot & hot....means garma garam & very spicy...loved it.

You can certainly make it with combination of different lentils(moong dhuli/yallow moong, masoor dhuli/Orange lentils & chana dal/Bengal Gram are my fav. for these pakoras) or with one only but the recipe today here is for the one made with moong & chana dal/lentil mixed together. It's very simple recipe more of a guideline. You can follow the recipe or add your own flavors to it & enjoy them garama garam with chai or roll them in a roti with some salad to keep it on the line of Pita & falafel sandwich or as we call it roti wrap.

What I Used :

1. 1/2 cup moong dhuli (yellow moong lentils) Soaked5-6 hrs.
2. 1/2 cup chana dal (Split & skinned Bengal Gram) Soaked 5-6 hrs.
3. half cup packed chopped fresh cilantro
4. 1 & 1/2 TBSP. of finely chopped ginger
5. 3-4 green chillies finely chopped
6. 3 TBSP. finely chopped onion (Optional)
7. 3/4 tsp. ground cumin
8. 3/4 tsp. ground cilantro
9. 3/4 tsp. garam masala
10. 1/2 tsp. red chilli powder
11. 1/4 tsp. Turmeric powder /Haldi
12. salt as per taste  ( I use mix of table salt & kala namak/black salt)
13. Oil for deep frying

Tip : If not sure about the spice & salt level, you can always taste a tiny bit of batter(a drop size) to check the salt as it doesn't contain any ingredients like raw meat or egg which can make you sick. I always do it while making any kinda fritters/pakoras.

 

What I did :
1. Wash and soak both the lentils for 5-6 hrs.

2. Drain water and grind them to paste using no or very little water(depending upon the power of your blender). I like to keep the texture bit coarse like wet semolina/suji.....take a little mixture between your thumb & finger & feel the consistency. You can have it smooth too.

3. Next add cilantro, ginger, green chillies, onions and all the dry spices. Mix them altogether.

4. Heat oil for frying preferably in a kadai, because that way u have to put less oil as compared to regular pot/pan.

5. Keeping the gas on medium drop the small size balls of the batter into the ball. Fry them till golden brown.

6. Drain on paper towel. Serve them while they are still hot/garma garam with some hot/spicy green chutney.

No Ketchup Please only kids are allowed to take regular ketchup :) .

Everyday meal : Sabut Masoor & Chana dal /Whole Red Lentils soup

Dal is an important part of any Indian meal. We all love chicken and fish in our house but it's dal which comes under the category of everyday food. It's comfort food for us. Growing up soup was a fancy meal it was dal which was our soup/stew, without it dinner felt incomplete. Even now after so many years it's same. If there's no chicken or fish, there has to be dal, that's our protein part of the meal. No particular one but any dal, depending upon how much time you have to cook and what kinda mood you are in.

 

I have 21 different dals/lentils/dried beans in my pantry(yes, I counted them). So, there are many different combinations which are made out of these  and then there are some dals which are cooked standalone, just made like that, no mix and matching. Every household have their favourite and further every family member have preference of one dal over other.

 

Coming to today's recipe Sabut/whole masoor and chana dal, is one of the hit combination in my house. While growing up I don't remember my mom making this combination, though both the dals were popular but separately. I don't remember when I started cooking them as a mixed dal but we like the texture & taste both and also chana dal makes it more nutritious.

 

 

It's very simple, the only thing is whole/sabut dals usually take little extra time to cook as compared with dhuli(skin off) dals. I have used 2 part masoor & one part chana dal, feel free to change the proportion as per your taste. Same recipe can be used for making only masoor dal also. 

 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Sabut Masoor (Whole Red Lentils)
• 1/3 cup Chana Dal (Bengal Gram)
• 1 onion, finely chopped (around 3/4 cup)
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
• 1 tablespoon chopped/grated ginger
• 2 tomatoes finely chopped (or puree them in the blender)
• 2-3 green chillies
• salt
• 1/ tablespoon Jeera (cumin)
• 1 tsp. dhania powder (ground coriander)
• 3/4 tsp. haldi (turmeric)
• 3/4 tsp. Kashmiri Mirch powder/deggi mirch (or Paprika can be used ) *see notes
• 1 tsp. garam masala
• A big handful of fresh dhania/ cilantro ( finely chopped)
• 3-4 tsp. cooking oil/ghee
• Water

Method :

1.  Pick out any stones from the dal, specially sabut masoor, because this dal do have small stones in it. Wash both the dals in running water together and soak them in enough water to cover them, for at least 3-4 hours.
2. Once ready to cook, drain all the water in which dal was soaked and boil them with fresh water(3 times of the dal), turmeric & salt. Like most Indians I also use pressure cooker, I have never tried to boil them without pressure cooker.
3. Cooking in pressure cooker : Put dal, water, turmeric & salt in the cooker close the lid. Put it on high flame. After first 3 whistles turn the flame to med. low & let it cook for 5-7 minutes more. DO NOT OPEN the pressure cooker till all the steam escapes by itself. Once all the steam escapes open the cooker  and check dal, if you press cooked dal between your fingers it should be easily squished. It might look separate (water & dal) but once U mix tarka, mix it & let it simmer together for few minutes & it'll be all good and delicious looking.
4. While dal is boiling in the pressure cooker,start working on tarka/seasoning. Take a heavy bottom pan. Heat it on med. high, add oil.
5. Once oil is hot, add cumin seeds, once they start to sizzle, add Garlic. Few seconds and garlic is cooked(do not let it get brown) add chopped onions & sprinkle a pinch of salt.
6. Turn flame to med. low, slowly onions will turn translucent(around 6-8 minutes), keep stirring them as we are not using lot of oil then add ginger.
7. After 30 seconds or so add coriander powder, Kashmiri mirch powder, mix & cook for few seconds. Add tomatoes and chopped green chillies, mix well.
8. Keep the flame med. low & let tomatoes get cooked properly .
9. Once the tomatoes are cooked add this tarka to cooked dal , mix it and let it simmer for 6-8 minutes, check the consistency of dal. If it's too thick add some water & let it simmer for 5-7 minutes on med. low. And if by any chance dal is too soupy let it boil for a while till it comes to the right consistency.
10. Add garam masala & chopped fresh cilantro(hara dhania).
11. It tastes good with both rice as well as any kinda flat bread,

 Notes:

1) Here's the pic of uncooked sabut masoor, they are also referred as brown flat lentils :

 

2) Kashmiri mirch/degi mirch powder is relatively mild but flavorful and gives very nice color to the final dish. If not available use paprika.

3) If U don't have time to soak the dal, you can boil them straight away but it'll take extra time.

4) If boiling without pressure cooker, try to soak dal a night before, it'll cut the cooking time. Also do check in between boiling to make sure there is enough water in the pot.

5) This dal tastes good when it's not too soupy or not too thick.

6) If you are new to whole lentils, so let me share this tip: make these little ahead of time at least 3-4 hours before meal time, they taste better once they are sitting after getting cooked. Just warm it before eating.

 

This delicious & hearty dal stew is on it's way to  My Legume Love Affair # 57 event hosted this month by PJ of Seduce Your Tastebuds. This event is brain child of  Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook and now this event is administer by Lisa of Lisa's Kitchen.

Moong Dal Wadi with Spinach

Sun dried dumplings of yellow lentils that's the best English translation I can do for wadi(sun dried dumplings) made with moong Dal(yellow lentils). Usually when someone talk about wadi the first thing or I should say the first place associated with wadi that comes into mind is Amritsar(Punjab). Famous for the most sacred Sikh Shrine "Golden Temple" and at the same time famous for it's delicious, rich food and Amritsari papad and wadiyan. Wadis that come from Amritsar are mainly made with urad dal & whole spices, very spicy and they are big in size also(about the size of fist). But the wadis I used here in this recipe are from Rajasthan, not at all spicy small in size, looks very much like nutrella nuggets also known as mangodis. I ate them first time only after my marriage when my MIL prepared it with some different combo, I loved it form the day one.

Amritsari wadis are usually fried first in little oil though you can do same with these also but if I'm using these in some sort of gravy dish I don't feel any need of frying, but to keep it little crunchy one can surely fry it first. Also as they are not spicy, you can control the level of heat. Amritsari wadis are usually cooked with something else like chana dal or potato, to balance the heat. Where as moong dal wadis because of there mild flavor, can be cooked in large quantity without adding any other veggie or lentils to it. Now for the recipe :

What U need :

• 1 pound of frozen spinach defrosted OR fresh spinach cleaned & chopped
• around 1 cup of dried moong dal wadi
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 2 tomatoes, finely chopped
• 1 Tblsp. of chopped garlic
• 1 Tblsp. of chopped ginger
• 2-3 green chillies chopped
• 2-3 whole dried red chillies
• pinch of hing(asafoetida)
• salt as per taste
• 1 tsp. whole cumin(jeera)
• 1 tsp. turmeric(haldi)
• 1 tsp. paprika
• 2 tsp. coriander(dhania) powder
• 1 tsp. garam masala
• little oil

What to do :

1. Heat oil(around 2 spoon) in a big pan or karahi(wok). Add hing to it after few seconds add cumin & dry red chillies.
2. When cumin starts to splutter, add garlic followed by ginger, sprinkle some salt so that ginger release it's juices which will prevent ginger from sticking to the pan. Add onions & let them cook till they become translucent.
3. Add all the dry spices, saute for a minute or so than add tomatoes.
4. After around 5 minute or so add wadis to the pan. Mix them so all the wadis get coated with the onion tomato mixture.
5. After 5 minute or so add 1 cup of water. Cover it & let it cook for around 10 minute or so. These wadis absorb a lot of water as they are not fried. So keep an eye just in case if it gets too dry add some more liquid.
6. Add chopped up spinach, green chillies & let the whole thing cook on med. heat for about another 10 minute or so. It's a thick kind of gravy dish, adjust the amount of liquid as per your taste.
7. Serve it with roti/phulka/prantha, it's one wholesome dish with protein pack wadis & healthy greens cooked together.

Note : Sometime these wadis can be really tough & can take little longer to cook. My MIL prefer to cook them in pressure cooker while making it in gravies. I sometime when in hurry, cook them halfway in microwave, covered in water in big bowl for roughly 5-7 minute & finish cooking them with rest of the gravy & spinach for around 10 min. or so. But again timings are only guidelines as sometime two packets bought together can also consume different time to cook.

Another important thing to remember is to keep these wadis in the fridge, in fact I keep all type of wadis in fridge. Specially moong dal wadis go stale easily, keeping them in fridge assure freshness for long time.

Spicy Multi-Legume Cakes...... A Healthy Snack

I guess that's the perfect English name for dal(lentils/legumes) dhokla, a very popular gujrati snack, usually made using besan(chickpea flour). They are quite healthy full of protein, first of all the credit goes to the ingredients and secondly the method of cooking is steaming and most important of all they are tasty. All of you who make dhoklas must be thinking what's with the name "Multi-legume"......yes, in my house the dhoklas made with 4 lentils are very hit. In fact I never make the ones with besan(chickpea flour), but these ones at least once a week that too double batch, my daughter never gets bored eating this anytime of the day with the side of cilantro chutney.

I'm writing the exact amount of dals(lentil) I use, but the idea is to get one cup of lentils + rice together. The ratio is 1 portion each dal and 1and1/2 portion rice. Even if you use little bit extra of one lentil  and little less of other, really doesn't matter but try to use approximately same size portions, as they give right texture & softness. I use the containers which come with  5 litre Indian pressure cooker to steam dhoklas and these measurements make the perfect portion batter for 2 of those containers which I can steam together in one time.

What u need :

• 3 Tblsp. each dal : chana dal, yellow moong , urad dal, masoor dhuli *(check note for english names)
  
• around 5 Tblsp. brown rice (or sona masoori can be used)
• around 3-4 Tblsp. yogurt/buttermilk/home made dahi
• ginger 1 Tblsp. roughly chopped
• 3-4 green chillies
• 1 tsp.salt
• pinch of turmeric(haldi)
• baking soda 3/4 of tsp.
• handful of fresh cilantro chopped up for garnish

For tadka you need :

• little cooking oil
• 2 tsp. mustard seeds
• few curry leaves (curry patta)
• 5-6 green chillies cut length wise
• little salt around 1/2 tsp. (dhoklas already have some salt)
• 2 tsp. paprika
• 2 tsp. coriander(dhania) powder
• 1/2 tsp. turmeric(haldi)
• 1 tsp. cumin(jeera) powder

What to do :

1. Soak the lentils and rice together overnight or at least 6 hrs. or so.
2. Drain the water and grind soaked lentils+rice, salt, turmeric, ginger, green chillies, yogurt/dahi.
3. Add little water at a time no more than 4-5 tablespoons.
4. Once it's grind pour it into a bowl.
5. Put the pressure cooker onto the gas add around 2 cups of water in it.
6. Grease two containers(for steaming).
7. Add baking soda to the batter and mix it. Pour half of the batter into each container.
8. Once the water in the pressure cooker is boiling, place the containers into the cooker. Close the lid, DO NOT PUT THE WHISTLE.
9. On high gas setting it takes around 11-12 minutes.
10. Once done, take it out let it cool a bit for 5 minutes or so. Just run a knife around the edges to make it little loose and invert it onto the cutting board(just like you would do with the cake).
11. Cut it into small squares.

For Tadka :

1. Heat oil in a BIG non-stick pan (I like to use iron karahi/wok). Alternatively do this part in two batches and divide all the spices into half for each batch.
2. Add green chillies cook them for 30-40 seconds, add mustard seeds and curry leaves.When mustard seeds start to splutter add all the rest of the ingredients from tadka list and saute them for few seconds.
3. Add dhokla pieces. Gently mix them so that each piece get coating of spices.  Turn off the gas. If you are using iron karahi it will make little crust kind on the sides of dhokla pieces which is really very tasty.
4. Garnish it with some chopped cilantro and serve it with chutney/sauce of  your choice.

*Note : English names of the lentils used in this recipe are as follows :

1. Chana dal       : Bengal gram
2. Yellow mung  : Green mung
3. Urad dal        : Black gram (skinned)
4. Masoor dhuli : Red lentils

If  time and weather permits batter can be fermented overnight  and in that case no need to use baking soda.

You can also make these lentil cakes in advance and season them(tadka) when you are ready to eat or keep them ready in the fridge just warm them up whenever you get the craving for it. It's also a healthy option for morning breakfast on the weekdays or after school snack. This healthy protein pack vegan dhoklas are off to :

1)  EC for MLLA - 19th event started by Susan of the well seasoned cook.

2) Srivalli's event Kid's Delight : Wholesome breakfast.

Chana Dal Pulav

This recipe came to life in my kitchen only after i saw it on SEDenufood. In one of my childhood memories i remember eating rice & chana dal pulav while sitting in a train going for vacation, one of my aunt made that. It was so simple but so vibrant at the same time....white basmati rice like they are smiling & yellow vibrant chana dal peaking from every where. I still remember that it tasted good and that picture is still there in my mind.So, on Monday when I saw it on SE's blog I told to myself i have to make it. Originally I was planning to make it white only but.......when I opened my cooler box to get something I saw the bottle of rasam paste..........(I know what you all must be thinking store bought rasam paste......who use that......well, we wanted to try it). Anyways, so plan changed a little bit, here's my version of this pulav.

Ingredient :

• 1 cup chana dal(bengal gram)(Soaked for 2 hr.)
• 2 cup basmati rice (soaked for 25-30 min.)
• 1 tsp. jeera(cumin)
• 1 tsp. mustard seeds
• 1 inch piece of cinnamon stick
• 3-4 cloves
• 2 dry red chillies
• 1 Onion thinly sliced
• 1 tsp. paprika
• 1 inch piece of ginger(thinly sliced lengthwise)
• 1 1/2 tablespoon of rasam paste(I used store bought)
• salt as per taste
• 2 tablespoon oil/ghee

Method :

1) In pressure cooker heat the oil then add jeera, cloves, cinnamon stick, mustard seeds & red chillies, when seeds start to splutter add sliced onion.

2) On med. high gas saute the onion till they become brown.

3) Now add rasam paste & 3-4 tblspn. of water to loosen up the paste.Add salt, paprika, rice & chana dal, stir everything together.Let everything get coated with the masala(spice & onion mixture)around two minutes.

4) Add 4 1/2 cups of water* and pressure cook it on med. high . After a whistle turn off the gas. If your stove is electric make sure you take the pressure cooker off the heated stove.after around 5 minutes open the cooker & using fork fluff up the rice.Serve it with plain yogurt/raita.

Note : *I use 1(rice) : 2(water) ratio while cooking rice in the cooker and I added 1/2 cup extra for chana dal.If you pressure cook rice, make sure not to let them sit for a long time in the pressure otherwise they will be overcooked & become mushy.

Lentil Salad

This is one of our favourite salad. Specially dear hubby likes it for lunch in the office. It's quite filling also because the main ingredient is lentils.Though I'm writing the ingredients which I normally use but then agian no restrictions, I always put whatever I have in hand for e.g celery, parsnip, red bell pepper, basically any kind of veg. which you would use in normal salad.

Ingredients :

1. 2 cups of cooked(boiled)* Lentils( I used Red Chorry available at Indian Grocery Stores)
2. 1/2 small onion
3. 1 Large tomato
4. 2 carrots
5. 1/2 cup salad greens of your choice
6. 1 small cucumber
7. green chillies as per taste
8. 1/2 bunch of cilantro
9. handful of raisns
10. handful of toasted nuts of your choice
11. salt as per taste
12. black pepper as per taste
13. juice of 1 lime

Method :

1) Finely chop all the Salad vegetables including green chillies (this is little time consuming, so I usually chop everything a night before & then assemble the salad hour or two before the lunch time).

2) In a big bowl mix drained lentils, chopped veggies, raisins, cilantro, salt, black pepper & lime juice and gently mix up everything.Keep it in the fridge.

3) When ready to eat take it out add roasted chopped nuts mix them well & one healthy lunch is ready. We usually eat it as a lunch but you can have it as a side salad in full meal.

Note : * For boiling the lentils for salad purpose don't use too much of water just enough water to cover them plus one extra cup, and then pressure cook them. Little salt & a bay leaf while boiling enhance the flavours.Water left after draining the boiled lentils can be used to make dough for the chapatis.

Variations : This salad also tastes good with black eye beans or chickpeas.

While we gonna enjoy this colorful & tasty salad today for lunch, I would like to send the same to My Legume Love Affair : the 16th helping event hosted this month by jeanne of CookSister.com, event created and administered by the lovely Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook. Also sending this entry to No Croutons Required event, hosted by Jacqueline.