Bengali Red Masoor Dal (Bangali Musuri’r Dal)

I’m back to blogging with Blogging Marathon #5. Big thanks to Valli for organizing this event yet again and coming up with very interesting themes. I chose "7 Days of Regional Special" and decided to make dishes from Bengal. I was debating whether to go with Rajastani or Bengali dishes since I’ve never tried these before, but finally settled with the Bangla recipes. There are quite a few Bengali bloggers with authentic recipes that I’ve been trying and will be posting for the next 7 days.

For my first recipe, I made this very comforting dal from Sandeepa’s bongcookbook. It’s a simple preparation made with masoor dal and tomato that is tempered with panch phoron. Panch phoron or Panch puran is a mixture of 5 spices, fenugreek, mustard, fennel, nigella and cumin seeds. I bought a packet of panch phoron some time back and have been adding to curries just because I like the subtle flavor the different seeds impart to the dish. But this is the first time I used them in a dal and we really LOVED it. As Sandeepa says in her post that this is a comfort dish, I totally agree with her. It was so easy to make and wasn’t any different from how I make, but the final dish was amazing and oh-so comforting.

Sandeepa's original recipe here.
Ingredients:
Red masoor dal – 1 cup
Red onion – 1 medium, thinly sliced
Green chilies – 2-3, slit vertically
Tomatoes – 2 medium, chopped
Panch phoron – 1tsp
Curry leaves – 6-8
Salt – to taste
Lemon juice – 2tbsp or more to taste

Method:

• Pressure cook dal until tender, I cook for 4 whistles in my cooker.
• Heat 1tsp oil in a sauce pan, add panch phoron and curry leaves; once the seeds to splutter, add onions and green chilies. Sauté until onions are lightly browned and translucent.
• Add chopped tomatoes and a pinch of turmeric; cover and cook until tomatoes are mushy, about 4-5 minutes.
• Add the cooked dal along with 2-3 cups of water and salt. Bring to a boil on medium high flame, lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice and mix well.

Serve with steamy hot rice for a comforting meal anytime of the day.

Let's check out what my fellow marathoners have been cooking up today:
Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Priya Suresh, Srivalli, Usha
Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: Vardhini,
Seven Days of Indian Sweets: Harini, Suma, Veena
Seven Days of Regional Specials: Aarthi, Kalyani, Pavani, Shylaja
Summer Coolers: PJ, Vaishali
Under 15 mins Quick Breakfast: Sushma Pinjala

Pudachi Wadi for ICC-April

For this month's Indian Cooking Challenge (ICC), Valli chose Pudicha Wadi recipe from Archana's Tried & Tested recipes. I don't think I ever heard about or had this dish before, but the process making this dish looked very interesting. I thought wadis were like pakodas (pakoras) where the veggie (s) are mixed with besan and deep fried, but in this recipe chopped cilantro or kothimeer is stuffed inside a wrapper and then deep fried.

The filling and the wrapper were so flavorful by themselves that I couldn't help myself from snacking on bits of dough and pieces of cilantro while cooking. I thought the addition of roasted and ground coconut, sesame and poppy seeds made the dish extra special. All in all a very yummy dish that is a little time consuming to make but the result is totally worth it. It took me about 1.5hrs to make and we finished all of them in 15minutes. Thoroughly enjoyed making and eating, thanks to Valli for choosing this dish and Archana for a fool-proof recipe.

Here's how I made the dish:

• Filling: In a sauté pan, heat 2tsp oil and add 1 medium onion, chopped. Cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add 2 finely chopped green chilies, 1" piece of ginger grated and 2 cloves of garlic, minced. Cook for another 1-2 minutes or until garlic and ginger are fragrant don't smell raw anymore. Remove from heat and keep aside.
• Dry roast until golden 1tbsp sesame seeds, 1tbsp poppy seeds and 2tbsp dry grated coconut, preferably separately and grind them together into a coarse powder.
• In a medium bowl, add 2cups chopped cilantro, cooled onion mixture, sesame-coconut powder, red chili powder (to taste), 2tsp lime juice and salt (to taste). Keep the filling aside.
• Covering: In a bowl, mix ¾ th cup each of Atta (whole wheat flour) and Besan, along with a pinch of turmeric, ½ tsp of red chili powder, 3tbsp of hot oil and salt to taste. Add water as needed to make a smooth pliable dough. Keep aside covered.
• Spreading paste: In a small bowl, mix together 2tsp oil, 1tsp garam masala (kala masala) and 2tsp tamarind paste. Mix well and set aside.
• Making the Wadis: Heat oil for deep frying. Divide the covering dough into small equal sized balls. Roll each ball into a thin disk, spread evenly with the paste, and place about 2-3 tbsp of filling in the middle. Fold the disc in such a way that the edges overlap a little bit in the middle. Fold the corners to cover the filling. Press all the edges with little water to seal. Deep fry until golden brown on both sides, this does not take too long, about 1 minute per side.
• Remove onto a paper towel to drain extra oil, then cut them into bite size pieces and enjoy with sweet imli chutney or green chutney.

We enjoyed ours with sweet imli (tamarind) chutney (from Show me the Curry) and I have to say these wadis are definitely very addictive, even my 3-yr old came back for seconds. Enjoy!!

Soyflour-Chocolate Chip Pancakes for Maitri

All of you foodie bloggers in the US, have you signed up for Maitri yet?? Maitri is foodie friendship chain where you get a box of secret ingredient from a like minded foodie. This is the Videsi version of Arusuvai chain in India. Priya and Reshmi are the organizers for the event and don't forget to check out their blogs for details about Maitri and sign up to get your own secret ingredient.

I got matched with Rashmy who blogs at Amma & baby and I received my mystery ingredient along with a small hint last weekend. She said it's a high protein flour and my first instinct said that it is soy flour and Rashmy confirmed that it is.

Soy flour is gluten free and can be substituted for some of the all-purpose flour in baking which gives the baked goods a protein boost. It also keeps baked goods from going stale. It also adds rich color, fine texture, moistness and tenderness to baked goods.

Today, I used soy flour to make chocolate chip pancakes. I modified the vegan pancakes recipe that I usually use to incorporate the soy flour and added some mini chocolate chips to make them a little fancy since today is yours truly's birthday. Here's how I made them:

Recipe adapted from Vegan with a Vengeance.

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - ¾ cup
Soy flour - ¼ cup
Whole wheat pastry flour - ¼cup
Baking powder - 2tsp
Ground Cinnamon - 1tsp
Almond milk - 1 - 1¼ cup (Soy milk or rice milk can also be used)
Canola oil - 2tbsp
Agave nectar - 2tbsp
Vanilla Essence - ½tsp
Chocolate Chips - ½ cup

Method:

• Sift flours, salt, baking soda and cinnamon in a large bowl.
• In a measuring cup, add milk, oil, agave, vanilla essence, whisk until combined.
• Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, add the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Some lumps in the batter are OK.
• Heat a skillet on medium flame until nice and hot. Spray with cooking spray and pour ¼ cup of batter for each pancake. Let cook for 2-3minutes or until bubbles are formed to the top. Gently flip and cook on the other side for an additional 1 minute.
• Remove and serve warm with maple syrup and favorite fruits.

Here's a mini Pictorial:

Sheermal-Sweet Yeasty Indian Bread

Hope you are having a fun Easter Sunday. We went to Hershey Park yesterday and it was interesting to watch the whole process of cocoa beans turning into chocolate bars. Bought a lot of chocolate and kids had a blast on the roller coasters. Personally I'm not a roller coaster person, I'm happy watching everyone scream and have fun, I don't want to do it myself. It was a great Spring day to be out and about enjoying the weather and having fun.

For the last day of Blogging Marathon, I made these slightly sweet and yeasty bread called Sheermal. To me, the name sounds more like a porridge kind of a dish and not a bread. But apparently this is a sweetened naan made in the tandoor or an oven. I made these for lunch and served them to my son with some nutella spread on the top and he enjoyed it a LOT and called it "SWEET PIZZA". I have to say, these bread are very easy to make and the end result is soft, yeasty sweet bread that is awesome by itself or with some Almond Kheer like Yasmeen did here.

Thanks to Valli for organizing this marathon and looking forward to participating in the future marathons.

Recipe adapted from India Curry.

Ingredients:

Yeast - 2¼ tsp (0.25oz. pack)
Granulated Sugar - 1tsp
Milk - ¼cup
Salt - ¼tsp
All-purpose Flour - 1 cup

Whole wheat pastry flour - ½ cup (or just use 1½ cups of All-purpose flour)
Ghee - 2tbsp
Powdered Sugar - 2tbsp
Saffron - 6 strands
Egg - 1
Golden Raisins - for garnish

Method:

• Mix yeast, granulated sugar, saffron and warm milk (at 100 to 110°F) in a measuring cup. Set aside.
• Whisk egg and melted ghee in a small bowl.
• Whisk flours, salt and powdered sugar in a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the center and add the wet ingredients. Mix well to form smooth dough. Add water if needed.
• Knead for about 10 minutes until the dough is soft and supple. This dough is very easy to handle and is great to work with.
• Cover with plastic wrap or kitchen towel and allow to rise for about 1 hour or until doubled in volume.
• Preheat oven to 450°F.
• Knead dough again and divide into 6 equal parts.
• Roll each part into 5" disc and place raisins on the top. Press lightly.
• Bake on a greased baking sheet for 6-8 minutes or until golden brown spots are formed.

Serve hot and Enjoy!!

Here's a Pictorial:

Lets see what my fellow marathoners BM#4 have been cooking up today.

Diabetes Diet/Management: Kamalika, Smitha, Suma
Kid Friendly Recipes: Anusha, Cool Lassi(e)
Seven Days of Soup: Priya Suresh
Seven Days of Indian Bread: Jayasree
Seven Days of Cakes:Priya Vasu
Seven Days of Preserves: Gayathri Kumar, Vaishali
30 Minutes Meals: Priya Mahadevan, Srivalli