Saturday lunch

Lunch on saturdays is a leisure affair in our home. I try to make a complete meal with dal, chawal, subzi and if I'm in the mood an extra rasam or chutney. Today I made pappu with fuzzy melon and roasted eggplant pachadi. DH made his signature egg curry.

I picked up fuzzy melon from Korean grocery not thinking of what to make with it. I read in one of the blogs "safest way to try green leafy veggies is making them into dal" and thats the route I took with this lauki look alike (except this has some striations on the skin). It tasted pretty much like lauki and was awesome in this dal.

Fuzzy Melon: Photo courtesy from Chinesefood.about.com

Ingredients:
Fuzzy Melon - 1 medium, chopped
Tomato - 2 medium, chopped
Green chilies - 3, chopped
Curry leaves - 6
Moong dal - 1 cup
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp (optional)

For tadka:
Mustard seeds, cumin seeds - 1 tsp each
Red chilies - 2
Hing - pinch

Method:

• Pressure cook moong dal and the melon separately till done.
• In a medium sauce pan, heat 2tsp oil and add tadka ingredients. After the seeds splutter, add green chilies, curry leaves and cooked melon.
  
• Saute for couple of minutes; then add turmeric and tomatoes. Cover and cook till tomatoes turn pulpy.
• Add cooked dal, salt, red chili powder (if using) and 1/2 cup water. Simmer for 5 minutes and serve with rice or roti.

I love eggplant and I absolutely love roasted eggplant pachadi (Kalchina vankaya pachadi). This is a very simple dish with just roasted eggplant, green chilies and seasoned with tadka. The dish depends entirely on the eggplant, there is no masala or seasoning to manipulate the taste. The huge eggplants we get in U.S. lack flavor and I would never make this dish with them. I bought a medium size Italian eggplant and it tasted OK, nothing compares to the brinjals we get in India.

Ingredients:
Italian eggplant - 1 medium(Indian medium round is highly prefered)
Green chilies - 2, finely chopped
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Hing - pinch
Curry leaves - 6
Method:

• Roast eggplant on stove top till the skin's wrinkled all over. Or Bake in a 400F oven for 30-40 minutes.
• Once done, cool till its safe enough to handle, peel off the skin and mash the pulp.
  
• Heat 1 tsp oil and add mustard and cumin seeds; once the seeds start to splutter add red chilies, hing and curry leaves.
• Add tadka and salt to the mashed eggplant. Mix well and enjoy with rice and dab of ghee.

Fuzzy Melon dal is my entry to lovely Suganya's Hot & Spicy version of My Legume Love Affair, an event started by Susan @ Well Seasoned Cook.

And I think both the recipes are simple enough to go to Ramki's Recipes of the Rest of Us event.





Usha of Veg Inspirations gave me Yum Blog award to my site. Thanks Usha for sending the award over.