Dill-Dal Stir fry/Sabsige Soppu Palya and Rasam

It is always confusing for me what to cook for lunch and dinner daily because of the limited variety of vegetables and greens available here.Dill leaves is one of the greens which are abundantly available here but I rarely cook them at home.My mom makes excellent stir fry with the dal and greens mixture which is surprisingly very dry and complements well with both rice and roti.I like to eat this stir-fry especially with roti as it complements very well with it.Even the rasam which is made up of this mixture is very simple and flavorful and the meal with both the stir fry and rasam is simply yummy.If you like the flavor of dill leaves you will definitely like this combo,give it a try to believe my words.

Ingredients:
1 bunch Dill leaves
1 cup toor dal
1 big onion,chopped
1 tsp green chilli paste
1 tbsp thick tamarind pulp
1 tsp sambar powder
1/2 tsp grated jaggery/sugar
1 tsp chana dal
1 tsp urad dal
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
salt to taste

Method:

• Pressure cook dal and dill leaves for 1 whistle.Do not cook more otherwise the dal becomes mushy.You can even cook this on stove top until the dal is cooked slightly.
• Strain the water from the above dal-dill mixture and squeeze out the extra water from it.Save the water which is strained and sueezed fom this mixture for making rasam.
  
• Heat oil in a kadai crackle mustard seeds and add urad and chana dal and fry until golden in color.
• Add finely sliced onions and green chilli paste and fry until they are light brown in color.
• Add the squeezed dill leaves-dal mixture to it and fry for a minute.
• Add tamarind paste,jaggery,sambar powder,salt and fry until the mixture is dry and all the masala's are well blended.

Serve it hot with rice/chapathi/roti.

Note:
Adjust tamarind,jaggery and spicyness according to your taste.



Dill flavored Dal Rasam :

Ingredients:
2-3 cups of water strained from dill-dal mixture(cooked above)
1/4 cup cooked toor dal(optional)
2-3 tbsp tamarind pulp
1 tsp jaggery
1 1/2 tsp rasam powder/sambar powder
salt to taste

for Tadka:
1 tsp oil/ghee
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
a sprig of curry leaves
a pinch of hing

Method:

• Heat the water along with the cooked dal and add tamarind pulp,salt, jaggery,rasam/sambar powder to it and boil properly.
• In a small tadka pan heat oil/ghee and crackle mustard seeds and add curry leaves,hing to it and add the tadka to the boiled rasam and cover it with lid.

Serve it hot with rice and papad.

Raw Mango Dal...completely Andhra Style(mamidikaya pappu)

Raw mango dal is one of the few delicious and easy dals which are prepared in Andhra.This dal has a very typical flavor because of the natural sourness of the mango and is complemented well when mixed with hot white rice with lots of ghee and some fry.Here goes the recipe of this simple and yummy dal.

Ingredients:

1 sour Raw mango,peeled and chopped into small thin slices
1/2 cup Toor dal
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp red chili powder
salt to taste

for Tadka:
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp jeera
a pinch of hing
5-6 garlic pods,slightly crushed
2 red chillies
8-10 curry leaves
1 tsp ghee/oil

Method:

• Pressure cook toor dal mixed with turmeric and mango slices in different containers until the dal and mango pieces are soft.
• Add the cooked mango pieces to the dal and mash it properly.Add some water to the mixture and let the mixture come to a boil on stove.
• Add red chilli powder and salt to it and mix well.
• Mean while in a small tadka pan heat ghee/oil and crackle mustard and jeera and then add smashed garlic pods,hing and fry until they are light brown in color.Add broken red chillies and curry leaves and give a stir.
• Add the tadka to the dal and mix well and cover the pan wid the lid.

Serve it hot with hot rice and a dollop of ghee(must) wid some fried papad/fritters.

Notes:

• Always cook dal and mango pieces separately,otherwise dal will not be cooked properly.
• Add lots of garlic to the tadka,it will give very nice flavor to the dal.
• If you dont have fresh mangoes,you can even add dried mango pieces to prepare this dal.
• For a Vegan version use only oil instead of ghee in tempering.
  

Creamy Cauliflower Soup

First of all I would like to apologize for my sudden disappearance and I know its been a very long time that I posted a recipe.These last three months were hectic to us as we were in the process of shifting and was also busy with my parents and inlaws who visited us during the shifting process.Now I got settled down at my new place and I am back to my normal life style and I can promise you guys that I will be active in blogging from now.

In Mumbai the rainy season has started and its pouring like anything from the last few days.Sipping into a hot cup of coffee or a bowl of soup or savoring hot hot pakoda's are few cravings for us to enjoy in this rainy season.Cauliflower is one of my favorite vegetable as it gives a wonderful taste in what ever form it is transformed.The richness of this soup is even doubled by adding cauliflower even though no cream is added to the soup.This is again one of the no fail recipes which I tried from her soup's book.

Ingredients:

1 medium sized Cauliflower
1 big onion,sliced
1 1/2 tbsp butter
1" Ginger
1 Green Chilli
1 tbsp wheat flour
1 1/2 cups Milk
2 tsp Sugar
1/2 tsp pepper powder
salt to taste

Method:

• Heat butter in a pressure pan and fry sliced onions for 2-3 mins in reduced flame.
• Add cauliflower florets and continue stirring for few more mins.
• Sprinkle wheat flour and fry for another one minute.
• Pour a cup of milk and half cup of water to it.
• Add ginger and whole green chili to that and pressure cook for 1 whistle in reduced flame.
• Cool down completely and discard ginger and green chilli pieces and grind the rest into a very smooth paste and pass the same through a sieve.
• Dilute with half a cup of milk and water .
• Add enough salt,sugar and let it come to a boil in reduced flame.
• Sprinkle pepper before serving.

Note:

• You can serve it hot with grated cheese on top.
• Discard the ginger piece,otherwise it will create a strong flavor of ginger for the soup.