Mushroom masala with fresh green channa

I like trying different combinations of vegetables and legumes in my curries. Yesterday i got all excited and decided to combine Mushroom and green channa. I haven't heard of this fresh green channa(Garbanzo beans)when i was in India. Recently found frozen green channa in the indian grocery store. I have always used dried kabuli channa or brown channa. These green channa are so fresh and do not require soaking in water overnight. That's one thing i liked about these. I usually think of making channa masala for the next day and would forget to soak it overnight. Any form of channa or garbanzo beans is rich in protein and fiber, and low in fat and calories. They are a good source of folate, folic acid, calcium, Vitamin B and iron.
And speaking of mushrooms, i like fresh white ones. One thing about the mushrooms is it gets dark when kept for long time. Proper wrapping with ziploc or storing them in air-tight containers can help. Mushrooms combined with green channa was so delicious as a side dish. Here is some of 'em for you.

10 to 15 nos.- White button mushrooms
1 Cup - Frozen or fresh green channa or garbanzo
1 - Medium Onion Chopped
3 - Medium Tomatoes chopped
1 tsp - turmeric powder
1 tsp - red chilli powder
1 tsp - corriander powder
1 tsp - cumin powder
1 tsp - garam masala
1 tsp of Kasuri methi
1 tsp - cumin seeds for tadka
1 tbsp - oil
Salt to taste
Fresh cilantro to garnish

Remove stems from mushrooms, clean and with a neat cloth wipe the surface of the mushrooms to remove any dirt. Cut into halves or any shape. Wash channa into two to three runnings of water, drain and set aside. Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds. Let the cumin seed splutter. Add turmeric powder to them. Then add the onion and fry till transparent. Add mushrooms and saute for two minutes. Add Chopped tomatoes to the pan and cook till the tomatoes are mushy and mixes with the mushroom. Stir in red chilli powder, corriander powder, cumin powder and mix well to coat the mushroom with the masala. Let the spices cook for two minutes. Add green channa and enough water and let it cook covered for 10 minutes. Stir in the garam masala and continue to cook for another 5 minutes. By then the mushrooms should be soft and green channa doesn't require more time to cook. Mix the kasuri methi and cook for another minute and then garnish with cilantro.
Serve hot with naan or your favourite rotis.

Add-on...
Add quarter cup of milk or cream before adding the garam masala. This would give the dish a rich creamy colour.

Moong dal with Zucchini

Zucchini, funny name isn't it:-). Not knowing what to do with this summer vegetable, i was reluctant to buy them. But my husband said that i could use them in stir-fry. Ofcourse it was good in stir-fry. Almost everyday we have roti's for dinner and so i get really confused what to make as side dish for roti's. Yesterday i thought of making dal for roti's and then suddenly it strike why can't i use this zucchini in my dal. Guess what, turned out to be delicious. Being calorie consicious i checked the nutritional information on zucchini. Zucchini is low in calories (19 calories/cup). It is low in fat and carbohydrates. One cup of zucchini is a significant source of vitamin C and adds vitamins and minerals when added to recipes. Also found that overcooking(adding too much water and heat)zucchini might destroy the vitamin C in the vegetable. Here is how i made the dal with zucchini.


Ingredients
Moong dal - 1 cup.
Zucchini - 2 nos diced.
onion - 1 medium
Tomato - 2 nos.
Green chillies - 3
Sambar powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Asafoetida - 1 tsp
Oil - 1 tbsp
Corriander leaves to garnish

Method
Pressure cook moong dal till soft, mash and set aside. Chop onion, tomatoes. Slit green chillies. Heat oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds, cumin seeds, asafoetida, turmeric powder. Add the chopped onion,green chillies and fry till transparent. Then add the tomatoes and fry till it gets mushy. Stir in zucchini and fry for 2 to 3 minutes. Add sambar powder, fry for a minute. Sprinkle some water over this and let it cook till the zucchini is half cooked. Do not add more water or overcook zucchini. Cook in medium heat. Add the cooked dal and mix well. Let it boil for another 4 minutes. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve hot with Chapathi or rice. Add a tsp of Ghee on top before serving for added touch.

Check out fellow bloggers zucchini dishes.

Zucchini Kurma from Mahanadi
Easy Potato-Zucchini Stir-Fry from Foodie's hope
Zucchini and Feenel fritata from WFLH

Spicy Tomato Pulav

Thanks to all fellow food bloggers who took a peek at my blog and dropped their valuable comments.

Tomatoes are rich in vitamin C(which most of you might know very well), but do you know it can prevent cancer. The presence of pigment lycopene, which gives the red color to the tomatoes is the most powerful antioxidants which can protect us from the free radicals that cause cancer. It's also rich in vitamin A and E, which is good for your skin. All these information, i learnt by reading about health and diet. To me, its pretty much the one and only vegetable(or fruit???) i use in my everyday cooking. Be it dal, chutney, curries and so on, tomatoes are the main ingredient in any indian kitchen. I am sure you guys will agree with this. This spicy tomato pulav is a recipe which i got from my mother-in-law. BTW she is a great cook. You may also call it as tomato rice, but i prefer saying it as tomato pulav because of the varied spices used in this dish. There goes the recipe.

Tomatoes - 5 nos. chopped
Basmati Rice - 2 cups
Red Onion - 1 big chopped
Garlic - 2 pods
Ginger - a small piece
Coconut - 1/2 cup
Green chillies - 2 or 3
Aniseeds/Fennel(Saunf) - 1 tsp
Poppy seeds - 1 tsp (optional)
Garam masala powder - 2 tsps
Cinnamon stick, bay leaf, Clove, cardomom - 1 no. each
Coriander leaves
Oil and salt to taste

Wash the rice well in water, drain and set aside. Grind Coconut, green chillies, garlic, ginger, saunf and poppy seeds into paste adding little water. Heat oil in a kadai and the whole spices(lavang elaichi, patta fry for a minute. Add the onion and fry for a minute. Add the ground paste and fry till the raw smell of the paste leaves. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook till they turn mushy. Add the garam masala powder and fry for a minute. Then add the rice and mix well till the rice gets coated with the tomato curry. Transfer this to a pressure cooker, adding 3 cups of water. Add salt, coriander leaves and leave the pressure cooker open until it starts to boil. Place the lid and leave it in high until the regulator weight blows twice.
Switch off the flame, let it cool and serve with potato fry or onion-curd raita.


P.S. If you follow the measurements of tomato, rice, water and the time to cook exactly as given above, the pulav will definitely not stick to the bottom of the pressure cooker.

Aloo Batura - for JFI Potato

Who wouldn't like this vegetable -- Potato??!
Be it the kids or grownups, everyone likes potatoes in any dishes... When i first saw the JFI for potato announced by vaishali of "Happy Burp", ideas flew into my mind. But somehow managed to end up with something new which i tried for the first time. "Aloo Batura" is my contribution to JFI-Potato...


Maida - 2 cups
Aloo or potato - 3 (medium)
Jeera - 1 tsp
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Oil for frying batura
Salt to taste

Boil the potatoes, peel off the skin and mash well without any lumps. With this add maida, salt, ghee, jeera and mix well adding little bit of water. The dough should be in chapathi dough consistency. Do not add more water to the dough as it may get loose and gets all sticky to roll. Roll the dough into batura's and deep fry in oil.
Serve with chana masala or any korma.

Sambar with freshly ground spices

Since my husband mostly prefers variety rices packed for lunch during weekdays, i get to make sambar and gojju only during weekends. Sambar mixed with rice and a dollop of ghee has a heavenly taste. Back at home, mom makes sambar and gojju alternately all week. Honestly, in my home even if it's sambar or gojju, the type of dish once prepared is not repeated until atleast a month. Though usually sambar is made with the home-made sambar powder, there are other varieties of sambar made with instantly ground pastes and powders. Here is one variety of sambar which we usually call as "Arachuvitta sambar" made on festive occasions. This is a thick gravy of vegetables(in any combination) with a freshly ground spicy paste.

Vegetables(red pumpkin, drumstick, potato, raw banana, broadbeans) - 2 cups
Toor dal - 1 cup.
Tamarind - large lemon sized ball
Chana dal - 1 tbsp
Coriander seeds - 2 heaped tbsp
Methi seeds - 1/2 tsp
Red chillies - 5-6
Jeera - 1 tsp
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
curry leaves - 6 leaves
Oil - 2 tbsp

Pressure cook toor dal in 2 cups of water along with turmeric. In a kadai heat one tbsp of oil. Fry chana dal, red chillies, coriander seeds, methi seeds, jeera. When the spices turn light brown, switch off the flame, add coconut and fry for a minute. Cool and grind to a paste adding water. Get pulp out of tamarind(i usually boil tamarind with water in microwave for 2 minutes and then extract the pulp).
Boil vegetables and tamarind extract until vegetables are half cooked. Add the ground paste and let it boil for few more minutes. Add cooked toor dal and let it boil for 5 minutes. Fry mustard seeds, curry leaves, asafoetida in remaining oil and add this tadka to sambar. Serve with rice and a side dish, rice crispies.

Pair radish and small red onions(sambar onions) as vegetables for this sambar. The rich flavor of red onions adds a unique taste of the sambar.

Rasavangi and Cabbage Palya

Though we do not get the exact taste of indian brinjal in here, I always keep brinjal in my crisper. My weekly grocery list will definitely have brinjal listed in it. We have a strong desire for eggplant. Kojju and vathakuzhambhu are the ones with a heavenly taste. My grandmother(Dad's mom) makes kojju which tastes yummy even after 2 days. My mom used to say that she learned many dishes from her. She is not with us today but she gave all her magics of cooking to my mom. Rasavangi is one among them which we got from my grandma.

Rasavangi
Brinjal - 6-8 nos.,preferably small ones, Cut into plus shapes easy to stuff masala
Tamarind - big lemon sized
Urad dal - handful
Red chillies - 5
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Methi seeds - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 4 tbsp
Asafoetida
Salt to taste

Tadka
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - 5 leaves

Heat little oil in a wok and fry urad dal, red chillies, mustard and methi seeds. Cool and grind to a fine powder. Stuff the eggplant with half of the ground powder. Heat oil and fry the stuffed eggplant seasoning with salt. Extract pulp from tamarind, add turmeric and asafoetida to it. Set aside. Once the eggplant is fried and half cooked, add it to the tamarind extract alongwith the remaining ground powder. Let it boil until it becomes a thick curry adding salt to taste. Fry mustard seeds and curry leaves in oil and add it to the rasavangi. Serve with rice and papad and cabbage palya(fry).

Added touch...
Add a tsp of gingelly oil while serving rasavangi for rice since gingelly oil reduces the heat in a dish, particularly for kids.

Cabbage Palya(Cabbage Fry)
Cabbage - 1/2 of big cabbage, thinly sliced
Coconut - 1/2 cup shredded
Red chillies - 2
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Chana dal - 2 tsp
Curry leaves - 5 leaves
Oil - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

Cook cabbage in microwave adding enough water and salt. Drain and set aside. Heat oil in a wok and add chana dal. Once the dal turns slight red, splutter mustard seeds and curry leaves. Then add red chillies, fry till they turn bright red. Add the shredded coconut and fry for a minute. Then add cooked cabbage, salt to taste and fry till they fully cooked. Serve with rasavangi or vathakuzhambu.