A Knock-Off Recipe: Madras Lentils

A close friend (the one who taught me to make potstickers) came to me with a culinary challenge. Her six year daughter is not a particularly adventurous eater, but she loves loves loves one thing: a packaged curry called Madras lentils made by a company called Tasty Bite, sold in shelf-stable pouches. You snip open the pouch, heat the curry and it is ready to eat. My friend wondered if there was a way to make this stuff at home- to avoid the packaging, and there's no doubt that making it at home would be cheaper, and with more control on how much salt, oil and spice goes into the dish. Challenge accepted. I told her we could it quite easily with some reverse engineering.

I've never tasted this packaged curry myself, but a web search gave me the ingredient list- a gratifyingly short and simple one: Water, Tomatoes, Lentils, Red Beans, Onions, Cream, Salt, Butter, Sunflower Oil, Chilies, Cumin. 

Looking at the ingredient list, I'd guess that they cook onions and tomatoes together in some oil, season with cumin, salt and chilies, then add the paste to cooked lentils (whole masoor) and red beans (rajma or kidney beans) and add some butter and cream to finish. By the way, I'm not sure at all why these are called Madras lentils. Just sounded like a catchy name, maybe?

We got together this Saturday evening and cooked it together. Since I had dried kidney beans and a pressure cooker on hand, I just soaked a cup of rajma/kidney beans overnight and cooked them with the lentils. But I'm trying to make this recipe amenable to those who are total newbies to Indian cooking, so the recipe below calls for no special equipment and for no ingredients that you couldn't find in any old supermarket.

Copycat Madras Lentils

1. Soak 1 cup dry brown lentils (sold in supermarkets as lentils and Indian stores as whole masoor) for a couple of hours (see pic above). Rinse and cook in a pot with 2 cups water until tender. Set aside.

2. Rinse 2 cans red kidney beans, drain and add to cooked lentils. 

3. In a pan, heat 1 tbsp. butter + 1 tbsp. oil. 

4. Saute 2 diced onions until browned. 

5. Add salt to taste, 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper (or 1 tsp. paprika for even milder version) and 1 tsp. ground cumin. 

6. Add 1.5 cups canned crushed tomatoes and stir fry for 5-10 minutes.

7. Cool the mixture, then blend to a smooth paste in a food processor or blender.

8. Combine cooked lentils, beans and onion-tomato paste in a saucepan, adding some water if needed. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. 

9. Stir in 1 tbsp. butter, 2-3 tbsp. cream and serve as a stew or over steamed rice. 

According to my friend, our curry looked just like the real thing, except that the packaged version looks much redder. Maybe they add Kashmiri chili powder- which is mild and bright red? She was delighted that the dish was so simple to make. According to my friend's daughter, our curry was "even better than the real thing, because it is not as spicy". She approved of the knock-off version and ate two helpings. Mission accomplished! 

Now, to my own taste, I would have loved some ginger and garlic in this dish, and perhaps some turmeric and definitely more chili powder. But it is a great starter recipe for anyone new to tasting or cooking Indian food and most importantly, it made a kid and her mom happy, which is all I set out to do. 

Have a great week, friends.

Lentils with Peanuts

The daily bread for me (like for many Indians) is actually daily rice and dal. I was so excited when Suma announced the Delicious Dals of India event. Adding a few new dal recipes into the dinner rotation can only be a good thing.

Growing up, the everyday dal was the simplest ever- varan. On other days, there was amti. In fact quite often, leftover varan would be converted to amti. Other types of dals were made off and on. This was one of them- masoor (whole lentils) cooked with mild spices and peanuts.

This mild dal gets most of its flavor from cumin and coriander. As is quite typical with the Brahmani variety of Maharashtrian cooking, it has some sweetness from jaggery and some tangy from dried kokum fruit. You can substitute tamarind for the latter.

I like using tiny brown lentils from the Indian store in this recipe (for some reason, it is labeled "masoor matki"), but any lentils will do.

Masoor Shengdana Amti

{Lentil stew with Peanuts}

1. Cook in the pressure cooker-

• 1 cup brown lentils (whole masoor)
• ¹⁄₃ cup raw peanuts

2. In another pot, do the tempering-

• 2 tsp. oil
• 1 tsp. mustard seeds

3. Add 1 medium chopped onion and saute until translucent.

4. Add spices and stir for a few seconds-

• ¹⁄₂ tsp. turmeric 
• ¹⁄₂ tsp. red chilli powder (or more to taste)
• 2 tsp. cumin-coriander powder
• ¹⁄₂ tsp. garam masala

5. Add the following and simmer for 5 minutes-

• Cooked lentil-peanut mixture
• Small lump of jaggery
• 4-5 pieces of dried kokum
• Salt to taste
• Water as required to get the desired consistency

This dal tastes even better if you let it rest for 30 minutes or so before serving. Serve it with any bread or with steamed rice. Garnish it with a handful of chopped cilantro if you wish.

This dal goes to Suma for the Delicious Dals of India event.

Once the entries are posted, I'll be busy making everyday meals special by trying dals from other homes. Isn't it extraordinary that humble lentils and everyday spices can be put together in so many permutations and combinations?

If you grew up eating home-style Indian food, what was the go-to dal in your home?

Ven Pongal and Eggplant Gothsu

Blog hopping in search of new and interesting rice cooker recipes, I stumbled on this rice cooker ven pongal from Sukanya's blog. What an enticing picture it is- definitely the sort of recipe that makes you want to run to the kitchen and cook it right after you have tried pawing at the screen. Which is exactly what I did last night, the cooking, not the pawing at the screen.

Yes, ven pongal (a soft mushy combination of rice and lentils, a cousin of the khichdi) and gothsu (a tangy eggplant curry) are traditional breakfast fare in Tamil Nadu but I have always embraced the idea of breakfast for dinner.

The ven pongal was a breeze to make in the rice cooker- simply cook the lentils and rice with some salt, then add the tempering and mix. Could it be simpler? The only slight problem was that the lentil-rice mixture bubbled and frothed ferociously as it was cooking, resulting in some clean up at the end.

Ven Pongal

(adapted from Sukanya's recipe)

1. In the rice cooker bowl, soak the following for 30 minutes:
1 rice cup measure Sona Masuri rice
³⁄₄ rice cup measure moong dal

2. Rinse well. Add the following and put on "cook" mode:
5 rice cup measures water
1 tsp. salt

3. When the rice and lentils are a comforting mushy mess, stir in a tempering:
2 tbsp. ghee
1 tsp. cumin seeds
8-10 peppercorns, crushed
2 sprigs curry leaves
2 tsp. minced fresh ginger
Handful of broken cashews

For the accompanying spicy eggplant, I turned to a cookbook that is full of Tamil classic recipes.

Kathrikkai (Eggplant) Gothsu

(adapted from Samayal by Viji Varadarajan)

1. Heat 2 tsp. oil and temper it with 1 tsp. mustard seeds and a pinch of asafetida.

2. Add
1 medium onion, cut in small dice
3 Japanese eggplants or 10-12 Indian eggplants or ¹⁄₂ Italian eggplant, cut in small dice
2 tomatoes, cut in small dice

3. Add
¹⁄₂ tsp. turmeric powder
¹⁄₂ tsp. red chilli powder
1 tsp. sambar powder
1 tsp. tamarind paste
Salt to taste

4. Cook until the vegetables are tender. Add a little water if required to help the cooking process along. Garnish with plenty of cilantro.

This is the comforting khichdi meal taken to a new level with all kinds of aromatic additions.  I'll be making this again and again.

I am sending this post to the first edition of my own Blog Bites event. There's one more week left to send in your entries- to participate, simply try a rice cooker or pressure cooker or slow cooker recipe from another blog. We're already collecting tasty entries. Thank you for your participation!

Dale's Tales

When I see creatures of the puppeh and kitteh and bebeh variety, the unbearable cuteness makes me lose my grasp on normal language. I start babbling and calling them all kinds of silly names. Dale is not amused at being referred to as a sticky dessert. But it is when I call him a "baby kitty" that he gets really indignant.

My friend Bek looked at the picture above and sent me this cartoon :D

I'm trying a rice cooker dessert tonight- if it works out, I'll come back and tell you about it. 

A Home-style Punjabi Dal

In all seasons and every kind of weather, I need my dal-chawal (lentils-rice) fix every few days. The particular hunger for dal-chawal is just not satiated by any other kind of comfort food. Luckily, between the various regional cuisines of India, there are enough types of dal to keep me happy and well-fed for several more decades.

For last night's dinner, I dusted off a long-bookmarked dal recipe from As Dear As Salt, a blog that features some wonderful and off-beat regional Indian dishes but has been sadly dormant for a couple of years. Richa made a very homely Punjabi dal called maa choliyaan di dal. This recipe uses two lentils that are popular in Pujab, split black urad dal and chana dal. If you want to see what these lentils look like, take a look at the first picture on this post.

Richa has a charming way of writing recipes. In this recipe, she says that the use of cinnamon in the dal is optional but goes on to issue a warning.

"...the love affair between chana dal & cinnamon is legendary, not putting it will be akin to separating Heer from Ranjha or Laila from Majnu..."

Oh dear. Far be it from me to keep cinnamon away from chana dal. I made sure I found a cinnamon stick to add in the dal. I followed Richa's recipe quite closely. Here it is, in my words.

Maa Choleyaan di Dal 

(adapted from Richa's recipe, served 6-8)

1. Soak 3/4 cup split black urad dal and 1/4 cup chana dal in hot water for 2-3 hours. Rinse them well, then pressure-cook until tender. Set aside.

2. In a heavy pan, heat 1 tbsp. ghee.

3. Temper it with
1 tsp. cumin seeds
1 pinch asafetida
2 Indian bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick

4. Add the following and saute well
1 large onion, sliced thinly
1 heaped tsp. ginger-garlic paste
1 tbsp. ground coriander seeds
2 tsp. kasuri methi
1/2 tsp. turmeric
1 tsp. red chilli powder

5. Add 3-4 juicy chopped tomatoes (fresh or canned) and saute well until the tomatoes are cooked.

6. Stir in cooked dals, salt to taste and water if required to make a thick dal. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.

7. Stir in 1/2 tsp. garam masala. Serve with rice or bread.

If you want a very special treat on a weeknight, this dal is it. I can't wait to eat leftovers for lunch today.

I'm sending this post to My Legume Love Affair: 20th Edition, hosted @ The Crispy Cook.

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This Tuesday, I got to do something fun- I was invited as a guest instructor to teach a 5 hour session on Indian cuisine to culinary arts students at a local community college. My task was to deliver a 1.5 hour lecture on the basics of Indian history, culture and cuisines, and then to help the students prepare a lunch based on "authentic dishes, things your grandmother would make". 

All in all, it was a fantastic experience for me, the students seemed to enjoy it and the executive chef who heads the culinary arts program was pleased with how it turned out. The students were extremely skilled and disciplined, not to mention professionally dressed in starched white aprons and tall hats (in stark contrast, I wore a frilly black and green apron that my sister sewed for me). When they minced garlic, you can bet that every itty-bitty piece of garlic is exactly the same size as every other piece. 

I decided on a fairly typical Maharashtrian menu, with matki bhaat (sprouts pilaf featuring the typical goda masala), tomato saar (a spicy soup with coconut and curry leaves), kakdichi koshimbir (cucumber salad with lemon, peanuts and cilantro), bharli vaangi (stuffed baby eggplants), kobichi bhajji (cabbage fritters/pakodas) and shrikhand (thick sweet yogurt with saffron and cardamom). There were several things that I wanted to illustrate with this menu, including the richness of Indian vegetarian cuisine and the layering of spices in different ways. 

For a home cook, a professional kitchen is like a playground filled with fancy equipment, but translating dishes to this setting can also be quite challenging. There were plenty of things that went wrong that morning, but I know that the only way to learn is to do something, make mistakes and try not to repeat the mistakes. For one thing, I spent hours making a presentation with dozens of colorful pictures. On the computer where I showed the slides, none of the pictures showed up. I have given talks in so many places without such a problem and I guess the law of averages caught up with me. Sigh. Bharli vangi is so dear to my heart that I chose to make it without considering that fresh baby eggplants are not easy to find in Missouri, especially at this time of year. It was difficult for me to supervise all the groups of students working on the different dishes, and half the eggplants were served without being cooked through. I did not specify the brand of yogurt I needed for the shrikhand and the one we used was so incredible tangy that the shrikhand did not turn out the way I would have liked it. But now I know better- that if I do this again, I have to be very specific about brands and ingredients I need, or better yet, shop for them myself. I have to choose dishes where I can find reliable ingredients here. I have to go around and taste everything and make sure it is cooked and seasoned correctly. I have to find a way to test out my slides ahead of time.

In spite of the missteps, it was fun to see the students tasting and smelling all kinds of ingredients that they had never seen before- asafetida, jaggery, tamarind, curry leaves, matki sprouts- and to demonstrate a few cooking techniques that were new to them. Everyone was extremely curious and gracious about the dishes we were making.

It is always much easier to do something yourself than to teach something else and let them do it. Teaching is a tough job, but the only way we can spread knowledge and skills, and I'm very grateful that I got to do it even if just for one morning.

***   ***   ***

The cooking classes don't end here. Next month, I have volunteered to teach two cooking classes for kids. These children are part of an incredible after-school program right in my neighborhood that is designed to equip at-risk kids with social skills, life skills and self-esteem so that they can learn to avoid smoking, alcohol and drugs as they grow into teenagers.

I will have a class of about 13 kids ages 9 to 11, and about 1.5 hours to make 2 or 3 dishes that the kids can make and eat together.

The program is geared towards exposing the children to new enriching experiences, so I would like to plan a menu that incorporates some Indian flavors. The most important requirement is that the recipes I plan should involve many prep. jobs (mixing, shredding, slicing, chopping etc.) to keep 13 pairs of hands busy.

I am thinking of making mango lassi (mango pulp, yogurt, milk, sugar, cardamom, ice) because mango is a classic Indian fruit and smoothies seem to be popular with kids. The downside is that lassi blends together in a jiffy and does not involve much prepping.

Vegetable cutlets might be nice: all kinds of shredded and diced veggies held together with mashed potato and breadcrumbs, shaped into cutlets and pan-fried. If I can get my hands on some cute heart-shaped cookie cutters, they might be even more fun to make. I remember I loved these vegetable cutlets as a kid; who am I kidding- I still love them, slathered with ketchup.

Some other ideas: chana chaat (chickpeas tossed with lots of fresh salad vegetables and dressed with tamarind chutney), pulao with nuts and raisins, vegetable wraps (tortillas stuffed with a flavorful subzi)...

If there is down-time while the meal is cooking, they set up a craft table for the kids. Can you think of any simple crafts that are somehow tied to the "India" theme? Something like vegetable stamping with cross sections of bhindi dipped in watercolor paint, like in this pic.

If you have any ideas for kid-friendly food, or tips on how to run cooking classes for kids, please chime in with a comment. I am quite clueless about what kids ages 9 to 11 like to eat and do. Thank you for your advice!

The Bookmark Project: Cucumber Curry

My bookmark folder contains many hidden gems in the form of fantastic recipes just waiting to be tried. And I've managed to unearth one of them.

I was intrigued by this cucumber curry recipe the minute I spotted it. The cookbook that the recipe comes from (Madhur Jaffrey's excellent book 'World Vegetarian') is sitting right here on my bookshelf but I completely missed this recipe until I saw it on this blog. I make cucumber dosa often, but otherwise don't cook cucumber, preferring it as a raw salad vegetable. Cooking it into a curry is very new to me.

The curry, with mellow cucumber and coconut looked just right for summer. There is a mild spicy undertone from the chilli(es), but otherwise the fragrance is entirely that of mustard seeds and curry leaves spluttered briefly in ghee to release their aroma.

The curry leaves are the star of this dish, and the ones I used came from my own curry leaf plant. Before I left for my long vacation to India, I gave away all my plants and herbs, keeping only this most precious one. This plant sits in the kitchen window and I spend many anxious moments every week counting the newly sprouting sprigs. It started as the tiniest sapling given to me by an acquaintance but has grown inch by inch. While we were packing for the trip, my green-thumbed friend Julianne came by and kindly took the curry leaf plant away to her home to baby-sit it for the month. As she was getting into the elevator, V called to her, "You know, if you kill this plant, Nupur is never going to speak to you again". The poor thing! She sent me regular messages about the plant's health all month and needless to say, returned it to me in perfect condition.

My problem now is that the plant is growing tall but not laterally- I would love to have it branching out more and now just growing upright. Does anyone know how to accomplish this? Any advice from plant experts would be much appreciated. I "harvest" 3-4 sprigs of curry leaves from my plant every week and that is enough for my cooking needs. Even with just this one little plant, I have avoided buying many packets of limp curry leaves from the store, saving a bit of money and keeping the packaging out of the trash. Oh, the joys of growing your own herbs. I'm obsessed about getting a lemongrass plant next, and want to plant some mint and basil before July is over.





Just to contrast with my baby curry leaf plant, here is the one in my parents' yard in India. It is a curry leaf tree that is 3 stories tall! My parents are drowning in curry leaves. Meanwhile, I am sitting here and rationing sprigs of curry leaves, thinking, "If I use two sprigs today, I won't have any for the sambar tomorrow".


That big tree keeps giving off saplings here and there in the surrounding soil. I have friends here in the US who would give anything for these curry leaf babies that grow like weeds in my parents' garden.


OK, I got a little carried away there. Coming back to the recipe, the only real change I made was in using whole lentils instead of the split ones (masoor dal), because it is what I had on hand, and in reducing the amount of coconut milk a little. It is the very incredible-tasting recipe I have tried in several months. Now, it does not win any prizes in terms of looks; the lentils give the curry a dull muddy color, but this is completely worth overlooking. I highly recommend it. The delicate flavor is perfect for summer.

Cucumber Squash Curry

Inspired by the olan recipe on A Life (Time) of Cooking

Ingredients:
¾ cup lentils (masoor), rinsed
1 cup thick coconut milk
1 medium cucumber, peeled and diced
1 medium yellow squash, diced
1 green chilli, finely minced (or more to taste)
Salt to taste
Juice of ½ lemon
Tempering/tadka:
1 tablespoon ghee/clarified butter
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
2 sprigs fresh curry leaves

Method:
1. In a pot, add ½ cup coconut milk, lentils and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 110-15 minutes or until lentils are barely tender.
2. Add the cucumber, squash, chillies and salt. Cook for 5-10 minutes.
3. In a separate small pan, make the tempering by heating the ghee and popping the mustard seeds and curry leaves in the ghee.
4. Pour the fragrant tempering and remaining coconut milk to the curry. Stir for a minute or two, then turn off the heat.
5. Add the lemon juice and stir. Serve with freshly steamed rice, with mango pickle on the side.

Since the curry is proudly made by curry leaves growing in my kitchen, I'm sending this post to Grow Your Own #31, an event that celebrates foods we grow ourselves.

Cozy Kichuri Comfort

Sandeepa is hosting the Regional Cuisines of India event this month, and what theme could a self-proclaimed Bong Mom choose other than Bengali cuisine?


I have never visited Bengal, and know very little about Bengali cuisine, having lived all my life in the diametrically opposite corner of the subcontinent, but I do have two very dear friends who are Bengali. I turned to each of them and demanded sweetly asked for a home-style Bengali recipe to share on One Hot Stove. Here is the first of the two recipes.

This one comes from my darling friend Sutapa, who has been a close pal and confidante, acting as my multipurpose unpaid therapist for nearly a decade. She shared a recipe for Kichuri, the typical Bengali way of making khichdi- that medley of rice, lentils and vegetables that is made in its various glorious avatars in all corners of India.

Sutapa says, "Typically, this khichuri is eaten with eggplant slices fried in besan batter (which has a sprinkling of kalonji and red chilli powder) or fried fish (ilish) on rainy days. Also this is literally food for the gods since it is offered as "bhog" during the Pujas. Paired with tomato chutney and chaler payesh (good old kheer) for dessert, kichuri-beguni is a complete lunch on navami". Navami is a Hindu festival day.

Sutapa's Kichuri

(serves 6-8
Ingredients:
1 C Basmati rice
¾ C Yellow Moong Dal
3 C mixed vegetables (Sutapa suggests using cauliflower, green beans, carrot, peas and potato; I used cauliflower florets, carrot, lima beans and potato)
½ t Turmeric powder

Tempering
1 T oil
4 bay leaves (tejpatta)
4 dried chillies
2 t cumin seeds
1 inch piece of ginger, grated to a pulp
1 t cumin powder
salt to taste

1 t ghee
1 t sugar

Method:
1. Soak the rice in some water.
2. Roast the moong dal until golden and then soak in some water separately.
3. Heat a little oil in a pan and lightly fry the vegetables, with a sprinkling of turmeric, until they pick up a little color and are about half-cooked (they will finish cooking later). Set them aside.
4. Heat 1 T of oil in a large pot. Temper it with bay leaves, red chillis, cumin seeds and ginger and stir around for a few seconds.
5. Add cumin powder and salt and stir for a few more seconds.
6. Add the (drained) moong dal and stir for a minute.
7. Add 4 cups of water, cover and let it come to a simmer.
8. Add the par-cooked vegetables and (drained) rice, stir and cook, covered, until the water is absorbed and the rice is just tender.
9. Stir in the ghee and sugar gently. Do not overmix. Serve hot!

Vegan version: simply skip the ghee, or add a dollop of vegan margarine instead.

I served piping hot kichuri with some shallow-fried eggplant slices. One spoonful of this kichuri, and I knew I was eating something very special. The kind of food that nourishes body and soul. The kichuri is redolent with the flavors of cumin and ginger- spices that are warm and soothing. The very same qualities that I love and admire most in Sutapa. The only thing that would have made this meal perfect was if she was sitting at the table sharing the kichuri with me!

Soup and Spirals

The weather here in St. Louis is starting to change...fall is finally inching its way here. A few nights ago, a sudden chill inspired me to root around for something warm and hearty for supper. The fridge was rather empty, but I had half a batch of pizza dough in the freezer. Together with pantry supplies like brown lentils and canned tomato, this light meal was thrown together in 30-40 minutes. The aroma of simmering soup and baking bread in the kitchen is so therapeutic at the end of a long day.

The inspiration for the pizza dough spirals comes from a two-sentence post for savory bread rolls on the blog The Casual Baker. The method is analogous to that of the sinfully delicious cinnamon rolls, except that these are savory little bites with a tasty mixture of garlic, olives and red pepper flakes tucked inside. You could use just about any "filling" here- like pesto or chopped sun dried tomatoes, or minced herbs, or just crushed peppercorns. If you are a fan of cheese, that would make a nice filling too.

Pizza Dough Spirals

1. Preheat the oven to 425F.
1. Make the filling by combining 3-4 cloves minced garlic, 1/3 cup chopped olives (I used black Kalamata olives) and 1 t red pepper flakes (or to taste).
2. On a floured surface, roll out/ pat out the (thawed) pizza dough into a fairly thin rectangle. I used a half-batch of this dough to yield about 10 spirals.
3. Brush the dough lightly with olive oil, sprinkle the filling on it and roll up into one long roll.
4. With a sharp knife, cut the roll into slices. Place the slices cut-side down on an oiled baking sheet. Brush with more olive oil (optional) and bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden.
5. Serve piping hot with some soup or just as a snack. It is a real treat to pull apart these crispy spirals and tuck into the fresh-baked bread.

The soup I made was an extremely simple Tomato Lentil Soup, essentially a tadka-less dal. Because I was serving the soup with these flavorful spirals, I did not load it up with other flavors. Otherwise, I would have added some garlic and red pepper flakes to the soup. There is barely a recipe here...but in case anyone is interested, here is the general method. It makes 3-4 servings.
1. Heat 1 t olive oil in a saucepan and saute 1 sliced onion until lightly browned.
2. Add 0.5 C washed brown lentils (whole masoor), 1.5 C tomato puree (fresh or canned), 2 C water, salt and pepper and let the whole thing simmer until the lentils are meltingly tender. Add more water if the soup feels too thick. Turn off the heat and taste the soup. Add some lemon juice or a sprinkle of sugar to balance out the flavors if necessary.
A garnish of fresh herbs would be delicious, but I had none on hand.

These fresh-baked spirals are my humble contribution to World Bread Day '07. Many thanks to Zorra for hosting this event. 2007 has been the year when I have really started to make breads- both our Indian flatbreads and other breads- on a regular basis, and it is such a rewarding experience each time! I look forward to plenty of bread-making inspiration in the round-up.

Hearty Heart-Lovin' Pasta

The Heart of the Matter is a food blog event with a difference- like many other events, you make a dish every month based on a theme, BUT with one important criterion: the food has to be heart-friendly and healthful! It is a wonderful challenge to think of the food we eat and come up with something that is both delicious and good for the body. The round-ups are collected in the HotM blog so that we can all have a handy collection of recipes to try out. The theme this month is something we all crave: Pasta!

The pasta I am making today comes from the lovely PBS food show Everyday Food. I always feel a keen sense of relief when I watch this calm and professional show, with efficient chefs demonstrating eminently do-able recipes for the home cook. It helps me recover from the trauma that I undergo when I come across some of those shows on Food Network that are so out-of-tune with where we should be headed, like Paula Deen's shows, with the sickeningly fatty recipes that are doing nothing to help America's obesity epidemic, or Sandra Lee's shows, with the wasteful shopping and unintelligent "cooking" that are hurting the eco-friendly changes the world needs to make.

What makes this dish heart-friendly...
...the extra-virgin olive oil, which is the sensible choice when one is cooking with fats,
...the lentils, which provide fiber and protein, making this a filling and satisfying meal,
...the vegetables, which provide taste, vitamins, minerals and a ton of other nutrients while adding minimal calories

What is even more special is what this dish does NOT contain...
...animal fats; there are no saturated fats in the form of meat, butter, cream or cheese
...excessive salt; I used the trick of adding some lemon juice, which brings out the flavor and lets you get away with minimal salt.

This pasta could be made even more healthful by using whole-wheat pasta instead of the regular one made with refined flour. I use both kinds of pasta in my kitchen. Regular pasta can be part of a healthy diet if it is served in small quantities, and in combination with protein and healthy fats. The orecchiette ("little ears") pasta is wonderful in this dish because the tiny shells capture the lentil sauce perfectly.

i heart pasta

(Adapted from this recipe from the TV show Everyday Food, makes about 4 servings)
1. Start boiling a large pot of water for pasta.
2. Place 1 cup lentils in a saucepan, rinse them, then cover with water and bring to a boil. Simmer for 15 minutes or so, until lentils are tender but not mushy. Drain and set aside.
3. As lentils are cooking, do the prep. cut up 1 large onion into slices. Mince 2 cloves of garlic. Chop 1 cup canned tomatoes and set side. Chop 1 fresh tomato into slices. Clean 1 bunch arugula and chop roughly. Take a fresh lemon and collect 2 tbsp juice.
4. Heat 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil in a non-stick skillet, then saute onions and garlic until golden brown and aromatic.
5. To the onions, add 1 cup canned tomatoes, chopped, and some salt and pepper.
6. Stir in the lentils.
7. When pasta water comes to a boil, add salt and 2 cups orecchiette and cook until just tender. Save 1 cup pasta water. Drain the pasta and return to pot.
8. To the cooked pasta, add onion-lentil mixture, chopped tomatoes, chopped arugula, lemon juice and pasta water. Toss well and serve!

Verdict: I will surely be making this again and again! It is perfect for summer, light and juicy. It tastes good hot, at room temperature and cold, like a pasta salad. It would be the perfect addition to a lunch box.

Thanks to Joanna and Ilva for hosting this event...I'm going to try and participate every single month! Here is the HotM Pasta Round-up with wonderful recipe ideas for making heart-healthy pasta dishes.

Quick "Bisibele" Bhaat

This week at One Hot Stove, it is "Q for quick"! So here is a quick post featuring my favorite quick meal. It maximizes flavor and nutrition while minimizing effort and prep time. Mixed vegetables, lentils and rice come together, and are flavored by tamarind and a ready-made spice mix. The whole thing virtually cooks itself in the pressure cooker and you are in for a treat!

Bisibele rice is a specialty from the Southern Indian state of Karnataka, featuring lentils, rice, vegetables and spices cooked together slowly and lovingly into a festive dish. In my quick khichdi, I use bisibele spice mix to approximate those flavors in a fraction of the time and make faux bisibele rice. Here's how...

1. Prepare 2 cups of mixed vegetables, cut in medium dice. Here, I have used green beans, frozen peas and carrots. Other vegetables that work well are zucchini, eggplant, cauliflower, lima beans etc.


2. Prepare 1 tbsp thick tamarind paste. If you use tamarind pulp, the paste is prepared by soaking 1 heaping tsp of tamarind pulp in a couple of tbsp of hot water, then squeezing out the pulp and discarding the solids. If you are using tamarind concentrate, you can directly use 1 tsp of it instead of the paste.

2. Measure out 1/3 cup rice and 1/3 cup green (unhulled) split moong dal.


3. Have some ready-made MTR brand bisibele masala handy. It is available in Indian and international grocery stores, or in online stores.


4. Other prep: chop half a small onion.

5. Now, in the body of the pressure cooker, add 1 tbsp oil. Make the tempering with: 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, chopped onion, 5-6 curry leaves, pinch of asafoetida.

6. Saute for a couple of minutes, then add 1/2 tsp turmeric powder, 1/2 tsp red chili powder, 2 tsp bisibele powder (or to taste) and salt to taste.

7. Stir in vegetables, dal, rice, tamarind and 3 cups water. Pressure-cook for the amount of time that you normally need for cooking rice (in my superhuman efficient cooker, it takes one mere whistle).

8. Serve piping hot, with pickle and yogurt on the side, if desired. Potato chips/ papads take this dish to a whole new level :) When I have time, I throw together a pachadi to serve with this khichdi.


MTR's bisibele masala is extremely flavorful and authentic (to the extent that I am able to recognize authenticity of Kannada dishes, at any rate). And no, they are not paying me anything to say this, this endorsement comes straight from the heart. Quick "bisibele" rice is stewy and soupy, and may not be much by way of good looks, but it is the one dish that I make time and again. It has sustained me through countless busy nights, and through rough times at work, and through times of illness. Last week, it fed V when he was unable to eat anything else after dental surgery. Now I have made it so many times, I can make it in my sleep!

Got a favorite flavorful quick recipe? If it has vegetables in it, and Indian or Indian-inspired flavors, you can send it in for the Q of Indian Vegetables!

Jihva for DAL: Mujadarah

Jihva for ingredients, a brain-child of Indira of Mahanandi is an event that celebrates Indian ingredients. This month's host, Sailaja of Sailu's Food, has come up with the far-ranging theme of DALS or lentils. Indian cuisine is blessed with a surfeit of dals of all types, and they are invaluable to my vegetarian diet.

For this month's jihva, I decided to take a break from all my favorite dal preparations and explore lentils from a different cuisine. Two dishes that came to my mind immediately were (a) Ethiopian Yemisir wat (lentils cooked with aromatic spices and typically served with tangy injera bread). (b) Mid-Eastern Mujadarah, a simple dish of rice, lentils and fried onions. In the end, I went with the latter. Other traditional lentil dishes include the Greek Moussaka (I tried making this once, and quite liked it) and the Italian Pasta e Lenticchie (Pasta and Lentils).

My inspiration for mujadarah came from a post written by Lindy, who writes the lovely blog Toast. Lindy praised mujadarah as a dish that is "much more than the sum of its parts". It uses few ingredients, all of them inexpensive pantry staples, and is downright delicious. How could I not try it? The one modification I used was: instead of using the lentils plain, I sprouted them for this dish, to enhance their nutritive value. The resultant mujadarah is a perfect combination of carbs and protein, a complete one-dish meal. The addition of the fried chocolate-brown onions, with their complex flavors, elevates this simple dish to a whole new level.

Mujadarah

(Click here for original recipe. Thanks, Lindy! I owe you!)

Ingredients
1/4 cup olive oil (see note below)
2 large onions, sliced thin
1 cup brown lentils, sprouted
1 cup basmati rice
salt and pepper to taste
minced parsley/cilantro for garnish
Method:
1. Heat oil in a frying pan, then fry the onions on *medium heat*, stirring occasionally, till they are dark brown and aromatic (this may take 20-30 minutes).
2. Meanwhile, bring 5 cups of water to a boil, then add rice and lentils and simmer till both are cooked to tenderness.
3. Season lentil-rice mixture generously with salt and pepper. Stir in the browned onions, along with the oil. Leave covered for 15 minutes.
4. Serve hot garnished with parsley/cilantro.

Note: Extra-virgin olive oil tends to break down at lower temperatures than pure olive oil, so for this type of prolonged sauteeing, I prefer using a 1:1 mixture of extra virgin olive oil and pure olive oil, so as to get the flavor of the former and the frying characteristics of the latter. It still smoked a bit, but tasted fine in the end.

The verdict: You have to eat it to believe it! The combination of fragrant onions with the rice and lentils is absolutely heavenly. With gentle seasoning and the lack of other spices, the true flavor of the fried onions comes through. This goes right on my all-time favorites list. It reheats very well and tastes even better the next day.

Serving suggestions: I served mujadarah with Fage Greek yogurt. It would be also be delicious with a refreshing tomato-cucumber-radish salad. I can envision a delicious Mid-Eastern themed picnic spread with mujadarah, salad, pitas and hummus, with maybe some feta cheese to sprinkle on top.

Thanks, Sailu for hosting this event. The round-up of this event is going to be very valuable, with lots of new ideas to use dals in everyday cooking!

"Chaat" and Chat

I have been enjoying this warm sunny Saturday...and I just finished a wonderful lunch with my BFF. She comes into the city every Saturday to train for a marathon, and after several weeks of not being able to meet up, we finally had a chat-fest over lunch.

I wanted to make a cool summer appetizer and settled on one of my favorite chaats or Indian street foods- Dahi Vada or lentil balls in yogurt.

Dahi Vada

(makes about 20 balls and serves 3)

For the Vadas:

• Soak 1 cup urad dal in warm water for 4-8 hours. Drain and process the dal in a food processor or blender to make a thick smooth batter. 
• Add 1/2 tsp of salt and 2 finely chopped chillies to the batter and mix. 
• Drop teaspoonfuls of batter into hot oil and deep fry to make golden-brown vadas.
• After frying, drop the vadas gently into a bowl of warm water.
• After soaking for a few minutes, remove each vada, press it between your palms to squeeze out excess water and then refrigerate them to chill.

For the Yogurt Sauce, whip together:

• 2-3 cups yogurt
• milk if needed to thin the yogurt
• salt to taste
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp cumin-coriander powder
• 1 tbsp minced cilantro
• dash of red chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp chaat masala

To serve: Simply place the vadas in a bowl and pour yogurt sauce on top. Add a spoonful of sweet chutney (such as tamarind or date chutney) and enjoy a tangy chaat.

In many ways it is a perfect appetizer- it can be made in advance, chilled and needs no re-heating. It is not much to look at, but it tastes great.

Khichdi-Kadhi: India's Comfort Food

If you asked a hundred Indians what their favorite comfort food is, I would guess that 95+ would say "Khichdi". I certainly would! This soothing combination of rice and lentils is the food that lights up my memories. When I was growing up, it was the dinner served before starting on a journey. It was the dinner of monsoon nights, when sheets of rain would batter us. It was the thursday night dinner in my college dorm when everyone would eat khichdi and kadhi and pretend they were in the comfort of home. When there was a death in the family, neighbors brought in pots of khichdi to comfort and console.
The nourishing, healing, comforting powers of khichdi are universally accepted. Khichdi is the first solid that babies are introduced to. In a world far removed from Gerber's baby food, rice and lentils are simmered till mushy, seasoned with turmeric and salt and fed to infants to introduce them to "people food". Khichdi is the only food people eat when they are sick. The warmth and aroma of just-cooked khichdi perks up palates which are dulled by illness; maybe we should dub it "Indian Penicillin". Khichdi is a meal that is simmered in a single pot. It is the ideal food for campfires and soup kitchens. Khichdi is the food of the poor, a meal that is accessible even with the food budget stretched to its limits. Khichdi is the food of the rich, a showcase for the choicest vegetables simmered with a plethora of lentils and studded with nuts.

The word khichdi literally means hodgepodge or mishmash. Hodgepodge or not, khichdi makes for a complete one-pot meal. The rice provides the carbohydrates, the lentils provide the protein, the vegetables add the vitamins and minerals and fiber. A dollop of ghee (clarified butter) provides the right amount of fat and calories, which are as important in a diet as any other food group. All over India, there are as many recipes for khichdi as there as households. It can be spicy or plain, made with a single lentil or combinations of 2-5 lentils. Special khichdis are often made to celebrate special festival days. Traditionally, khichdi is served with a yogurt curry called kadhi. Khichdi-kadhi is the food of the masses, and the food of the gods.

In keeping with the philosophy of khichdi-making, I will provide a method rather than a recipe.

• To make khichdi, heat oil/ butter/ghee in a pot, fry 1 tsp. of cumin seeds and some minced onion for a couple of minutes. 
• Season with salt and turmeric and a dash of garam masala. 
• Add a few cups of mixed diced vegetables (any combination of potatoes, eggplant, peas, carrots, cauliflower, green beans, spinach, tomatoes is generally used). 
• Add a cup of rice and half a cup of lentils (I generally use a combination of red and yellow split lentils). 
• Add 3-4 cups of water and simmer the whole thing till done. It should be mushy and comforting. 
• Garnish with minced cilantro and generous dollops of ghee.

The kadhi is made as follows:

• Mix 1 cup plain yogurt, 1.5 cups water, 3 tsp. besan ( chickpea flour), 1 tsp. sugar and a dash of salt in a bowl, whisk together and set aside. 
• Now heat oil in a saucepan and "temper" it will 5-6 curry leaves, 1 tsp. minced ginger, 3 dried red chillies and 1 tsp. each of mustard and cumin seeds. 
• Once the tempering is sizzling, add the yogurt mixture and bring to boil. Simmer it for 10-12 minutes stirring almost constantly or until the chickpea flour is cooked. 
• Garnish with cilantro.

I served the khichdi and kadhi with roasted papads and pickled vegetables, on a traditional Indian steel thali. This is the stuff food memories are made of.