Moong dal dill curry

Introducing Herbie dill and a reason to eat them Desi style.

Dill leaves

I often find myself buying dill to flavor my salads and fish. As a small handful of dill can go a long way in imparting the flavors, rest of the bunch stays untouched, go frail and eventually make it to garbage in my kitchen. 

The recipe is from Tarla Dalal. I feel this curry itself as a lavish celebration of dill with no evidence of  overpowering taste. 

I highly recommend this to people who is looking for more ways to cook with dill.  

Say no more dills to bins!

A simple tomato onion salad

Ingredients
Moong dal - 2 cups
Dill - 1 bunch
Onion - 1 small
Garlic - 5 cloves
Curry leaves - 1 stalk
Cumin seeds - 2 tsp
Dry red chilli flakes - 2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 2 tsp
Coriander leaves for garnishing

• Don't use the thick woody stems in this curry as it bring forth the sharp taste of the dill.

Method
Pressure cook moong dal with salt and turmeric till the first whistle is about to come. Keep the cooked moong dal aside.

Heat oil in a pan, allow cumin seeds to splutter, then add curry leaves. Add garlic and onion. Allow the onion to go a little brown. Now tip in dry red chilli flakes and turmeric powder. Fry for a minute. Immediately add dill leaves and cooked dal. Allow it to boil and thicken.

Serve the curry runny or thick as desired.

Kerala Kadala curry/Kerala black chana curry/varutharacha kadala curry/Black chana in roasted coconut gravy

I like to call this curry a posh cousin to our everyday kadala curry. If you have friends like us who think Kerala cuisine is all about puttu, can talk endlessly about how tasty puttu is, and painstakingly learn the entire process of puttu making, pass on this recipe to them. Let them create Kerala heaven in their homes with smell of roasting coconut wafting through air. Don't forget to gift them a puttu maker.

Ingredients
Kadala/Black chana - 1 1/2 cups
Onion sliced - 1 medium
Garlic - 2 cloves
Ginger - 1 tsp
Green chillies - 1-2
Curry leaves - 2 sprigs
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Coconut oil
Salt

To Roast and grind

Grated coconut - 1 cup
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder - 2 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
Garam masala powder - 1 tsp

Method
Soak black chana overnight. Pressure cook chana along with salt and water. Keep it aside.

Heat a pan, dry roast grated coconut. In between the roasting process, add 1 tsp of coconut oil and fry till it turns brown in colour (don't burn it). Switch off the stove. Now add coriander powder, chilli powder, garam masala powder, and turmeric powder. Mix them well. Allow it to cool. Now grind them in a blender.

Heat oil in a pan, crackle mustard seeds. Saute onion. When onion turns translucent, add garlic, ginger, green chillies, and curry leaves. Stir them well. When onion turns light brown in color, add ground mixture to this. Saute for 1 minute. Now add cooked black chana along with water and allow it to boil. When the gravy starts to thicken, switch off the stove. Transfer this to a bowl and serve hot with steaming puttu.

Dal Nizami

Let me tell you I am a Dal crazy female. How far I go to satiate my hunger pangs with the so called dals? I say at least 4 times a week and 5-6 a max. So that explains my love of it all. I love runny dal made by my Mom (with toor dal), not exactly Maa ki dal. Do I sound like a broken record from Bollywood ..... I know I know...... but you know what I am in a mood to confess. I made my meat eater man, a dal convert, and he is now a happily practicing dal addict. But after all those good years of eating it, I must say a variety of it, I feel so sorry for lentils that even a single recipe didn't make an entry into my blog. You know why ...... I was happy cooking and eating ...... simple joys of life, with latter being a no brainer ......and of course sharing with my dear ones. By the way, it has been a while I have watched a bolly movie.

If last time my Chicken Nawabi made you come here, stay, and afterwards I disappointed you by creating a void in my space of Nizams/Nawabs, I am keeping the area live again with my Dal Nizami.

I love to call it custard dal for its texture and color. I am not sure if the curry will appeal to a mallu palate (though half a dozen mallus enjoyed it !!!), all I know is that the addition of wheat flour towards the end of the curry, exalted curry to a new level, which was just fine. I think I didn't do justice to the recipe by avoiding the addition of fried onions towards the end, which was called for and is so essential for well-rounded Hyderabadi curries.

You know, Kacchis love their fried onions. Lessons learned from living Kacchis (Haleema aunty) who stock up their freezer with fried onions, which they lavishly sprinkle in their dishes all the time. The best chicken korma I tasted was from her and will be cooking it soon.

Ingredients

Chana dal - 4 tbsp

Whole masoor dal - 4 tbsp

Toor dal - 4 tbsp

Moong dal - 4 tbsp

Urad dal - 1/2 cup

Chilli powder - 1 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1 1/2 tsp

Green Cardamom pods - 5

Black Cardamom pods - 3

Cloves - 5

Cinnamon sticks - 2 nos and 1-inch long

Bay leaves - 5

Ginger paste - 3 1/2 tsp

Garlic paste - 2 1/2 tsp

Tamarind Extract - 1/4 tsp

Whole wheat flour - 1/3 cup

Lemon juice - 2 tbsp

Salt 

For tempering

Ghee or vegetable oil - 5 tbsp

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Garlic - 8 cloves crushed

Sliced onions - 2/3 cup or 100 g

Crisp golden fried sliced onions

Green chillies - 2

Mint leaves - 10

Method

Pressure cook all the dals along with chilli powder, turmeric powder, cardamom pods, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaves, ginger paste, and garlic paste. 

Heat 2 tbsp ghee or oil in a frying pan over medium heat, add the cumin seeds and garlic and stir fry until the seeds start to splutter. Pour over the dal and stir. 

Heat another 2 tbsp ghee in the pan, add the onions and fry for about 3 minutes, then add the chillies and fry for a further minute. Pour over the dal and stir. 

Heat the last tbsp ghee in the pan, add the mint and fry for about 1 minute or until browned, then pour over the dal and stir. 

Remove the whole spices from the dal and puree in a blender with 1 cup of water. Return to the heat, add the tamarind extract, wholemeal flour and 2 1/4 cups of water, then bring to the boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, for a further 2 minutes, or until a thin custard consistency. Remove from the heat, add the lemon juice, stir and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Sprinkle with fried onions. 

Note:- The dal tasted best even without pureeing, but I proceeded to get the authentic taste as the author (Pushpesh Pant) explained.

Makes for a great evening protein soup.

Serve this with ghee rice, ponni rice, chapatis, and tomato salad.

I enjoyed Nizami with rice than chapatis. 

Sending this to event hosted by Soumya of Nivedhanams and Vardhini.