Carrot-Zucchini Dhal Fry

Category: Dhal Recipes
Preparation Time: 10-15 mins
Cooking Time: 20 mins
Servings: 3-4 servings

Carrot-Zucchini Dhal Fry

Ingredients:

For Pressure Cooking:

• Toor Dhal - 2 tbsp
• Channa Dhal - 2 tbsp (soaked for atleast 30 mins)
• Masoor Dhal - 2 tbsp
• Green Split Moong Dhal - 2 tbsp
• Castor Oil - few drops
• Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
• Water - around 2 cups

Veggies:

• Carrot -1 small sized, grated
• Zucchini - 1 small sized, grated (or 1/2 of a big sized one)
• Small Onion - 4-5 nos, finely chopped
• Tomato - 1 no, finely chopped
• Ginger - 1/2 inch piece, grated
• Garlic - 2 cloves, grated
• Green chilly - 1 no, chopped (Optional)

For Tadka / Tempering:

• Oil - 1 tsp
• Ghee - 1 1/2 tsp
• Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp
• Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Curry leaves - few
• Red Chillies - 1-2 nos, broken
• Asafoetida - a pinch

Spice Powders:

• Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
• Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
• Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
• Garam Masala - 1/4 tsp

Other Ingredients:

• Kasoori Methi - 1 tsp, crushed
• Lemon juice - around 1 tsp
• Salt - as needed
• Water - as needed

Method:

1. Here I used mix of dhals, we can use either all the dhals or any one or two of them. If using Channa dhal, its advisable to soak it alone for atleast 30 mins to 1 hour for easy cooking. Wash the dhals and pressure cook it with turmeric powder, few drops of castor oil and required water. Once its done, mash it well and keep it ready
   
   
   
   
2. Chop and grate all the veggies and keep them ready. No need to peel off the skin from Zucchini
   
3. Heat Oil+Ghee in a pan, once it becomes hot add mustard seeds, followed by Cumin seeds, curry leaves, red chillies and asafoetida
   
4. Add grated ginger and garlic and saute for 2 mins till the raw smell goes off. If using green chilly, we can add now 
   
5. Add onions and saute for 2 mins
   
6. Add chopped tomato pieces and saute well until it becomes soft and mushy
   
7. Now add the grated carrot and zucchini, saute for 3-4 mins in medium flame
   
8. Add the spice powders and fry for a while in low flame
   
9. Now add the mashed dhal and mix well
   
10. Add required salt and adjust water consistency; allow to boil in medium low flame for few mins (Dhal will get thicken once it cool down, adjust accordingly)
11. Once it reaches the desired consistency, add crushed kasoori methi and mix well
    
12. Switch off and finally add the lemon juice before serving
    
13. Serve hot with Rotis / rice (For Kids I prefer slightly thicker dhal)
    

Cabbage Kootu

Category: Kootu / Lunch
Preparation Time: 15 mins 
Cooking Time: 20 mins
Servings: 3-4 servings

Cabbage Kootu

 Ingredients:

• Cabbage, finely chopped - Around 2 cups, tightly packed
• Moong Dhal - 1/4 cup
• Channa Dhal - 2 tbsp
• Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
• Castor Oil - few drops
• Salt - to taste
• Water - as needed

For Grinding:

• Fresh Coconut - 1/2 cup
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Red chillies - 1-2 (Adjust as per spiciness)
• Small Onions - 4-5 nos

For Tempering:

• Coconut Oil - 1 1/2 tsp
• Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp
• Curry leaves - few
• Asafoetida - a generous pinch

Method:

1. Wash and finely chop the cabbage and cook in a separate vessel with required water until its done. We can also pressure cook it along with dhal, if we want little crunchy we can cook in this way
   
   
   
   
2. In a pressure cooker, add the dhals,turmeric powder, few drops of castor oil and required water; cook in medium flame for 2-3 whistles
3. Meanwhile grind the coconut, cumin seeds, small onions and red chillies into a fine paste
   
4. Once the dhal gets cooked, open up the lid and mash them well
   
5. Add the cooked cabbage to the mashed dal and cook for 2-3 mins
   
6. Add the ground coconut paste to the cooked dhal and allow to boil for few mins in low to medium flame
   
7. Add required salt and once it reaches kootu consistency (little thick), switch it off
   
8. In a small pan, heat coconut oil and once it becomes hot add the mustard seeds followed by curry leaves and switch it off and then add asafoetida
   
9. Pour the tadka into the kootu
   
10. Serve hot with Rice!!
    

Beetroot Sambhar with Freshly ground Masala (Arachuvitta Sambhar)

Category:  Sambhar Recipes
Preparation Time: 10 mins  
Cooking Time: 30 mins
Servings: 4-5 servings

Beet Sambhar

For the last 1-2 years, I am preparing Sambhar in this way only with freshly roast & ground Masala, since my kid loves it:) Its a bit time consuming, but really worth it. The fresh Masala gives a nice flavour and aroma and of course very tasty than using the Sambar Powder. This time for a change, I added Beetroot in Sambhar and it really comes out very well. Kids who wont like to have beetroot as poriyal will surely like it:)

BeetRoot Arachuvitta Sambhar

 Ingredients: 

For Cooking Dhal:

• Toor Dhal - 1/2 cup
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp (For cooking Dhal)
• Castor Oil - few drops  (For cooking Dhal)
• Water - Around 1 1/2 cups

Veggies:

• Beetroot - 1 no, chopped
• Small onions - 10-12 nos, halved
• Tomato - 1 no, chopped

To Roast &Grind:

• Channa Dhal - 1 tbsp
• Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp
• Red chiilies - 1-3 nos (adjust as per spice level)
• Raw Rice - 1/2 tsp (Optional and I didnt use this time)
• Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Methi seeds -  1/4 tsp
• Dry Coconut - 2 tbsp

For Tempering:

• Ghee / Oil -2 tsp
• Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Red Chilly - 1 no, broken
• Curry leaves - few
• Asafoetida (Hing) - a generous pinch

Other Ingredients:

• Oil - 1 tsp
• Tamarind - small lemon sized
• Water - as required
• Coriander leaves - for garnishing
• Salt-  to taste

Method:

1. Cooking Dhal: Pressure cook Dhal with required water, turmeric, few drops of castor oil for 3 whistles in medium flame (We can even presoak the dhal for 20-30 mins for faster cooking). Once it gets cooked, mash it up; If we are having more water, reserve a little for adding to the veggies or else take around 1 tbsp of cooked dhal and mix it up with a cup of water and keep it ready
   
2. Preparing Masala: Heat up a small pan, add the Channa dhal and roast it in low flame until it turns golden brown. Then add the coriander seeds, red chillies and raw rice and roast till the seeds start to brown; by this time the chilies would become crisp and rice gets puffed up a bit. Finally switch off the flame and add the cumin seeds, methi seeds and dry coconut, fry well in the heat of the pan itself. Transfer to a plate and alllow it to cool down. Then grind to a fine powder or we can even grind it with little water to a fine paste
   
   
   
   
3. Tamarind Extract: Soak the tamarind in warm water for 15 mins and extract the juice
4. Veggies: Chop the veggies and keep them ready
   
5. Heat 1 tsp of Oil in a pan, add the halved onions and saute for a min
   
6. Add the chopped tomato pieces and saute for 1 min
   
7. Now add the chopped beetroot and saute for 2 mins
   
8. Add the dhal water and allow to cook till the beetroot becomes soft and gets cooked
   
9. Then add the ground masala powder / paste. If we grind to a powder, we can even mix it up with few tsp of water to form a paste so that there will not be any lump formation while adding it. Mix it well and bring it to boil
   
10. Now add the tamarind extract with required salt and allow to boil for 2 mins in medium flame
    
    
    
    
11. Add the cooked dhal and mix well
    
12. Adjust the water quantity and check for salt (Sambhar will tends to become thick while cools down so adjust water accordingly)
    
13. Allow to boil for few mins in low to medium flame 
    
14. Tempering: Heat up a small pan, add ghee / oil, once it becomes hot add mustard seeds followed by cumin seeds. Once it splutters, add red chilly and curry leaves, fry for few secs and switch it off. Finally add the asafoetida
    
15. Pour the tempering over the boiling sambhar and switch it off
    
16. Mix well and garnish with coriander leaves
    
17. Serve hot with Rice or even with Idli / Dosa / Pongal:)
    

Carrot Dhal

Category: Dhal Recipes
Preparation Time: 10-15 mins
Cooking Time: 20 mins
Servings: 3-4 servings

Carrot Dhal

 Ingredients:

• Carrots - 2-3 nos, grated
• Tur Dhal - 1/4 cup
• Masoor Dhal - 1/4 cup
• Moong Dhal - 2 tbsp
• Onion - 1 no, finely chopped
• Garlic - 4-5 cloves, finely chopped
• Ripe Tomato - 1 no, roughly chopped
• Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
• Water - as needed
• Salt - as needed
• Oil - 1 tsp

To Roast & Powder:

• Coriander seeds - 1 tsp
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Pepper - 1/2 tsp
• Red chilly - 1-2 nos

For Tadka / Tempering:

• Ghee - 1/2 tbsp
• Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp
• Curry leaves - few
• Green chillies - 1-2 nos (Optional)

Method:

1. In a small pan, dry roast the coriander seeds, cumin seeds, pepper and red chilly in low flame till we get nice roasted aroma; then keep it aside and allow to cool
   
2. Once it gets cooled down, ground it into a coarse powder
   
3. Grate the carrots and chop the onion, tomato and garlic. I have used 3 small carrots here which comes around 1 cup tightly packed  after grating
   
4. Wash and soak the dhals for atleast 10-15 mins for easy cooking. Mix of dhals give nice taste so I used all three and we can adjust and use as per the availability
   
5. In a pressure cooker, heat 1 tsp of oil and add onions with a pinch of salt and saute for 2-3 mins till it gets transparent and add the garlic pieces; saute for a min
   
6. Then add the chopped tomato and grated carrots, saute for 4-5 mins till the raw smell goes off
   
7. Add the soaked dhals, turmeric powder and around 1-1.5 cups of water and pressure cook in medium flame for 3-4 whistles
   
8. After the pressure releases, open up the lid and mash the cooked dhal using masher / Mathu
   
   
   
   
9. If it becomes thick, add enough water and bring to boil
10. Now add the ground masala powder and required salt, boil in low flame for 5-6 mins
    
11. Once it gets done, switch it off and transfer to serving bowl
12. Prepare tadka / tempering in a small pan and pour it over the dhal
    
13. Serve hot with Chapathis / Rotis; even goes well with Rice