I love this soup. It is awesome for cold days. In India we don't call it soup. But just to help everyone relate to it ..I will call it soup / sambhar interchangeably.
Good:
It goes with lot of things. So you make one batch and you can use it with whatever you have cooked. Also it is very easy to store and reuse. I believe it tastes better next day anyways.
You can cook with as few ingredients you have to as many you want.
Bad:
Very easy to over eat.
Dal soup base
Ingredients:
Split toor dal (pigeon pea) - 1 cup
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tea spoon
Salt - to taste (you can even add it in the end according to taste)
Water - 5 cups ( more or less depending on how thick or thin you want it)
Tamarind (or kokum) pate - 1 tea spoon
(I generally add a piece of tamarind or few pieces of kokum. But if you don't have it, skip it.)
Add all the ingredients to pressure cooker and cook it.
Seasoning:
Ingredients:
I generally have all of these things so I add them. But feel free to use whatever you have. All of these definitely make it perfect. But most of them are not show stopper.
Butter / ghee - 1 teaspoon ( more or less is your choice)
Fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds, mustard seeds -1 tea spoon (whatever you have)
Asofoetida - A pinch (if you have - they say it takes care of your stomach.)
Tomatoes - 4
Curry leaves - A handful
Cilantro - As much as u like
Ginger - 1/2 inch ( as much as u like more or less)
Green chillies - 6 ( don't dare if you can't take it so go by your taste)
Fenugreek leaves (dry or fresh if you have it)
Red chilli powder - 1/2 teaspoon (adjust according to your taste)
Cumin powder (1 teaspoon if you have it)
Sambhar masala (A must) - 1 tea spoon or more if you like.
(Most of the indian grocery store carry it for a dollar) Amazon has it for $10. One pack will last you forever.
Add tomato, ginger, most of the curry leaves (keep 4-5 aside), cilantro (keep few aside to garnish), green chillies to blender or food processor and puree it. Few pieces are ok.
Add Butter / ghee in a pan. Let it heat.
Add Fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds, mustard seeds.
Add the remaining curry leaves. Be careful. It will sputter.
Add Asofoetida
Let it simmer for 30 seconds or so.
Add tomato paste.
Add red chilli powder.
Add sambhar masala.
Let it simmer for few minutes on low heat (5-7 minutes)
Once you think that it is cooked. Add it to lentil base prepared above.
Adjust salt.
Let everything simmer for few minutes.
It is not that difficult. Once you will know what you are doing you can do it quickly.
You can eat it with rice, idli, uthhapam, dosa, daliya, etc etc.
Lot of PROTIEN.
ENJOY !!!!
Monday, September 24, 2012
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Sooji utthapam (semolina pancake)
One of my aunt's introduced our family to this quick n yummy idea.
Ingredients:
Yoghurt - 2 cups
Sooji (semolina) - 2 cups
Salt to taste
Finely chopped Green chillies (if you can take it)
Ginger paste (1/2 tea spoon)
Grated cabbage (optional)
Finely chopped tomatoes (optional)
Any of your favorite vegetable chopped (optional)
Peas(optional)
Mix yoghurt, sooji (semolina) and salt. Add water to adjust consistency to pour. Let it sit overnight or more in refrigerator or outside. The idea is to let it get little sour. I generally use the mix over a period of 3-5 days.
When you are ready to cook add any of the veggies you prefer in the amount you prefer. I generally cook it plain and eat it just like that or with sambhar (a little spicy and tangy lentil soup).
Sometimes I add green chillies, ginger, cabbage and tomato to the mix.
Process:
Heat the nonstick pan. Pour the mix and cook it on one side like pancakes. Flip it over. Apply butter if you want. I sometimes apply lil butter and sometimes not. I like it crispy so I cook it little longer on low flame and add small amount of butter.
ENJOY !!!!!!
Ingredients:
Yoghurt - 2 cups
Sooji (semolina) - 2 cups
Salt to taste
Finely chopped Green chillies (if you can take it)
Ginger paste (1/2 tea spoon)
Grated cabbage (optional)
Finely chopped tomatoes (optional)
Any of your favorite vegetable chopped (optional)
Peas(optional)
Mix yoghurt, sooji (semolina) and salt. Add water to adjust consistency to pour. Let it sit overnight or more in refrigerator or outside. The idea is to let it get little sour. I generally use the mix over a period of 3-5 days.
When you are ready to cook add any of the veggies you prefer in the amount you prefer. I generally cook it plain and eat it just like that or with sambhar (a little spicy and tangy lentil soup).
Sometimes I add green chillies, ginger, cabbage and tomato to the mix.
Process:
Heat the nonstick pan. Pour the mix and cook it on one side like pancakes. Flip it over. Apply butter if you want. I sometimes apply lil butter and sometimes not. I like it crispy so I cook it little longer on low flame and add small amount of butter.
ENJOY !!!!!!
Dalia (wheat porridge)
I hated it when my mom made me eat this for breakfast while growing up. But now I kind of like it. P.S. no one ever tells mom about that.
The basic dalia is simple.
Ingredients:
1) Cracked Wheat - 1/2 cup
2) Split Moong dal - 1/2 cup (It is a a lentil green in color)
3) Brown rice - 1/4 cup or less
4) A pinch of turmeric powder (optional)
5) Salt to taste.
6) Water - 4 cups (you might want more or less depending on consistency that you prefer) I generally add more.
Add all the ingredients in pressure cooker and cook according to pressure cookers instructions.
I use
15 mins and done. It comes out like oat meal.
You can eat it directly like this for breakfast or lunch.
Me being me .. don't like such bland food. So, I generally eat it with soups (sambhar, a lentil based soup or kadhi, a yoghurt based soup. I will add them to the blog as well).
If I don't have time for making soups then I just season the porridge well enough. I have listed one of the seasoning here:
There are tonnes of other ways to season it. My mom adds vegetables like tomato, peas etc while preparing the seasoning.
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