Tadka Dal

  

Sometimes it is the simplest of recipes that takes time to perfect, to master. For me, it has always been so. Partly, it might  be due to me taking the simple recipes for granted. And partly I may be careless dealing with easy recipes and don’t pay enough attention. Or am I over-confident? I don’t know, but I almost always screw up simple recipes. I handle complicated recipes at ease as I pay too much of attention, care and take good amount of time preparing it. But when it comes to easy recipes I have always been a sucker!! I rush into making it, carelessly throwing in ingredients and then ruining the entire dish or rather unappealing. Dal was a constant victim of such careless preparation. So this time, I planned to do everything slow, taking time and care and adding my love while preparing it. That was it. It was just the way I want.  When you cook something, you have to cook with love for it to be tasty. That is not just saying, that is the truth. One should love what you are cooking, for the outcome to be good.

One of my friends who hail from Pakistan called fouziya prepares very good dal curries. She prepares them at a fast pace, randomly throwing in stuffs, but her recipes always turned out very tasty. She had given me her recipes; I tried them quite a few times long ago but I never got it right. Now that I have been cooking for a while and learned to cook by instincts rather than sticking to a recipe, I should be able to get those recipes right now. I should try them again. 

Dal has always been my easy way out when I am in no mood to cook. It is simple, healthy and requires less effort and time. I prepare them quite often to include great protein in our diet especially when we cut down on our meat intake. This is one of the easiest of dal curries that I prepare for rice and roti. I usually add potatoes, but this time I opted it out as the husband has been repeatedly asking me to prepare dal without potatoes. This is the kind of dal my mother makes. She makes it quite watery for having it with rice, but I like it slightly thicker, so I use more lentils, less water.  This could go even thicker if you reduce the water content. You could also reduce the water and add little coconut milk once the lentils are cooked for a different taste.

I usually slow cook dal over low heat for a good amount of time as pressure cooking gives a different texture to the gravy.  When you pressure cook the lentils, you can see that it gets thicker as it sits. Hence, we would have to loosen the curry later on by adding water which I feel spoils the taste of the curry.  But with lentils being slow cooked in a saucepan retains its texture and flavour throughout and doesn’t set or become thick later on. You also get creamier dal when you slow cook dal and you can control the amount of water that goes it giving it the right consistency. 

Tadka dal is a popular Indian dal curry, which in simple words means tempered dal curry. I guess some call this dal fry as well. Any variety of dal could be used for preparing the curry and then temper it using any blend of spice. I usually prepare it using masoor dal, toor dal and moong dal (Green gram dal). You can also mix 2-3 lentils, but water should be adjusted accordingly. Spices are tempered in ghee or oil to release their flavour and this tempered oil is added to the curry imparting their flavour and aroma to the curry. The spices used differ from place to place and people and accordingly there would be slight variation. Nevertheless, this effortless dish is comforting and is a staple food in India.

This post also goes for the event My legume love affair originally started by Susan of The wellseasoned cook, being hosted by Sra of whenmysoupcamealive.

 
Tadka Dal

Serves 4

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 30-40 minutes

Ingredients:

1 cup split red lentils

1 ½ large tomato chopped, 150 g

1 large onion chopped, 200g

3 large cloves of garlic, chopped

2 ½ - 3/12 cups water

1 large potato (optional)

1 teaspoons mild chilli powder or paprika

½ tsp turmeric powder

1-3 green chillies or omit it if you want it very mild

salt – as required

1 tsp oil

To temper (Tadka):

1-2 tbsp coconut oil/vegetable oil or ghee

½ tsp black mustard seeds

2 twigs curry leaves

¼ tsp cumin seeds

1-2 broken red chillies

To garnish:

Chopped coriander leaves.

Preparations:

1. Wash lentils in several changes of water and soak for ½ an hour. Drain the water. Wash and cut the potato into 4 or 6 pieces, if using.

2. Place the lentils with all other ingredients except the tadka in a medium saucepan and bring to boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer until the dal is cooked and the gravy is thick. (First add 2 ½ cup of water and if it goes dry, add little by little to get the thickness of your liking).

3. You can also reduce the water and add coconut milk towards the end of cooking, before the tadka.

4. Once the dal is cooked to your liking, temper/tadka it. I like my dal cooked completely, but holding its shape.

For tadka:

1.In a small frying pan or kadai heat oil/ghee.

2.  Add in mustard seeds and when they splutter add cumin seeds, curry leaves and broken chillies and fry for few seconds until the leaves sizzle. Pour it in to the dal. Stir and keep it covered for few minutes to infuse the flavour.

3. Just before serving garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve it along with rice,roti etc.

Notes:

1.If you want it mild, reduce green chillies and chilli powder to you taste.

2. You can use any combination of dal or use the same recipe with mung dal.

Banana Smoothie

Are your bananas over ripened? Don’t bin them; smoothie them. They are high in fibre and a great energy booster. So you can whip up a smoothie like this and make an ideal breakfast and it will keep you full till noon. This is probably the simplest of smoothies that I make. I just breakup over ripened bananas into chunks by hand and blitz all other ingredients together.

The peanut butter takes the smoothie to another level. It’s a new flavour, delicious and quite interesting. Flavour of the peanut butter is not prominent as it is, but it marries well with banana bringing out a new flavour. Once made, I felt this smoothie has a cookie dough like taste!

Banana smoothie

Serves 2-3

 

Ingredients:

2 large ripe bananas ~330g

2 Tbsp smooth peanut butter

1 ½ cups chilled milk or more if you like it thin

2-3 tbsp honey or sugar to taste

2-3 ice cubes (optional)

Preparation:

1. In a blender, place roughly chopped bananas, peanut butter, ice cubes, chilled milk and sugar/honey and blitz until smooth and creamy.

2. Serve immediately. You may garnish with chopped peanuts and honey.

Notes:

1. If you want really cold smoothie, peel bananas, chop them into chunks and them place them in freezer until really cold. You can also freeze you over ripened bananas for later use.

2. You can also try omitting the Peanut butter and add 2-3 strawberries for a different taste.

Blackberry Ice Cream without an Ice Cream Machine

It’s autumn and the winter is soon approaching. Days started getting really shorter and colder. That also means cooking and photographing foods are going to more difficult with sun setting soon, and having shady days more often. But I love the season and what the season provides - aubergines, courgettes, pumpkins, figs, blackberries and so on. It’s amazing, shops and malls already started stocking up Halloween and even Christmas goodies!

Blackberries usually grow in the bushes and August - September is the peak season when they are rip and plumb with maximum flavour. They are available in plenty on the streets here. The ones that grow in the wild are usually of smaller size and tarter than the ones we get from shops. But still, I wouldn’t buy them when I can get them plenty from the bushes at no cost and more importantly, organic.  

Last week after dropping my son off to school, I decided to go berry picking and came back with a quite a good amount of them. I always pick them when they are in season, use some and freeze the rest for later use as they don’t stay fresh for long at all. They freeze quite well, so if you are not using them right away, freeze on the same day you pick them. I made this ice-cream on the same day of picking them to add maximum freshness to the ice cream. Even though I don’t enjoy blackberries or any berries as they are, they are really good and tastes superb in desserts and bakes. I have always wanted to make ice creams and crumble with blackberries. They are really delicious in desserts and ice creams, have wonderful flavour and impart a rich deep purple colour. 

There is nothing to beat the rich flavour and creamy texture of home made ice cream. The knack of succesfully making smooth frozen desserts largely involves making sure that no large ice crustals form during freezing. That means it is necessary to periodically whisk the freezing mixture by hand or elecrtic whisk, if you do not own an ice cream machine, which will do the job for you ~ The complete Book of Desserts, Good Housekeeping.

This is my first time hands on making an ice cream and I think it turned out great. I made it without an ice cream maker, so lot of stirring was involved in the making. It’s a tough job stirring the cold and set ice cream using a fork as suggested in many recipes. And I suppose my ice cream could have been a bit softer I would think. I blame the stirring part. I don’t think I stirred well enough. I am thinking of using an electric beater next time and I hope that will make the job a lot easier yielding softer ice cream.

I usually do quite a lot of research on anything when I make it for the first time. I found many recipes online and I own a fabulous book on desserts and it has many great ice cream recipes. This recipe is made using the custard base, which is the base or building block for any icecream. Properly made, custard based ice creams yield rich and creamy ice creams. It is a bit time consuming and needs good attention but always a good way to start with ice creams. You can then modify or flavour the base with your choice later on. I have used quite a lot of blackberries as I wanted intense flavour, but you can reduce the amount to suit your taste; like a cup or so if you want it less intense.

Blackberry Ice cream without an Ice cream machine

serves 8-10

Ingredients:

2 cups, 300g black berries (You can reduce the amount if you want subtly flavour)

300 ml double cream

300 ml whole milk

3 large egg yolks

1 vanilla pod

175g-200g sugar depending on the sweetness of the berries

Preparations:

For making the custard base for ice-cream:

1. In a sauce pan, heat milk and cream. Scrape in a vanilla pod and throw in the vanilla. Simmer it until the mixture is hot and starts steaming and small bubbles. Do not boil. Remove from heat and then pass this through sieve and leave aside for about 10 minutes to cool it down. Discard the vanilla pod.

2. Meanwhile, using an electric whisk, beat together the egg yolks and sugar until it is pale yellow and thick; for about 6-8 minutes. This will make a lighter, creamier ice-cream.

3. Pour the warm milk into the egg mixture in thin stream whisking the egg mixture simultaneously. Whisking so will avoid scrambling the egg from the hot milk.

4. Pour the milk in a heavy base saucepan and heat it on a very low heat stirring constantly for about 20 minutes to avoid cooking and scrambling the egg. Once the custard gets thick and coats the back of the spoon, take off the heat and let it come to room temperature. (I have placed a simmer plate beneath the saucepan to reduce the risk of scrambling the egg else you can cook in bain marie).

5. Pour the mixture into a shallow non metallic freezer container. Cover and freeze for about 45 minutes until it starts setting from the sides.

6. Spoon the mixture into a bowl and mash with a fork or electric whisk to break the ice crystals. You might need to work quickly so that ice cream does not melt completely.

7. Add the blackberry puree into this incorporating it well. Put it back to the freezer and set for another hour, take it out and mash with a fork again. Repeat this process for 4-5 times or until ice cream sets completely. Chill for further 3 hours or until firm.

8. Remove from freezer and leave it in room temperature for 15-20 minutes to soften before serving.

While the custard is setting:

1. Wash and drain the blackberries and place it on a sieve.

2. Puree the blackberries in a food processor. Pass it through a sieve to remove the seeds. Chill it and mix it with the custard based once it starts setting.

Pepper Chicken Bake

This is a recipe that my mother prepares at home quite often. Yesterday, I made it slightly different as I partly don’t remember her recipe and I was in a hurry to call her up to ask her eyeballed measurements. So I prepared the way I remember and it was nice. My mom serves it along with Arabic bread, boiled vegetables or salad and yogurt or hummus. She sometimes strip the chicken into small pieces, lay then on the Arabic bread, throw in some cucumber, carrot, onions and drizzle in some yogurt or hummus and wrap it up to make a delicious wrap. It is a nice comforting dinner and something quite easy to make and requires minimal amount of time. I usually make it as a side dish for chappati when the curry is usually a vegetable or dal based. The leftover chicken is usually cut in to strips, and is made into wraps with tortillas and some salad with some dressing or mayonnaise. Delicious!

I made it with the whole baby chicken, but you can also make it with thighs, chicken breast or anything that you fancy and bake it. And if you dont have an oven, you may fry it as well, turning couple of times until it is cooked through. Yoy may grill them as well.

Ingredients:

1 baby chicken, ~ 850g

2 ½ tsp pepper powder or as per taste

1 ½ + 2 tbsp tbs lime juice plus to squeeze after baking

½ tsp turmeric powder

2 tsp each ginger and garlic minced fresh

2 green chilliesminced *

¾ tsp salt or as required.

2 tbsp oil, vegetable or olive oil

Preparations:

1. Marinate the chicken with all the ingredients except oil. Cover and refrigerate for a minimum of two hours.

2. Line a tray with foil  rubbed with oil.

3. Place chicken on the lined tray, drizzle a tablespoon or two of oil all over and bake at 200 degrees Celsius for about 40 minute turning once or twice halfway until chicken is cooked through. To check the doneness, poke the breast of the thick part of the chicken with a skewer. If it’s done, juice will ooze out through the poked area. Cooking beyond this will over cook the chicken making it dry and rubbery.

4. Squeeze with more lemon juice if needed.

Notes:

* If you want it less spicy, you can scoop out the seeds from the chillies before you mince them.