Potlakaya Pala kootu

Snake Gourd is a delicious Vegetable which I feel has not yet been discovered by the whole world. South Indians have mastered the art of cooking this vegetable. This kootu is a standard recipe which you will find pretty often, especially when snake gourd is in season. A delectable Kootu. Remember, tempering in this dish is totally optional. We never use tempering. Many people love to add garlic, so add according to your preference. You can reduce coconut or eliminate it for health reasons.

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups packed, finely chopped potlakaya (Snake Gourd)

1 cup Milk

Dania seeds, 1 Tbsp

Cumin 1 tsp

Red Chili, 4

Dried Coconut ½ cup

Urad dal 1 Tbsp

Rice, 1 tsp

Tempering:

Cumin 1 tsp

Rai or Black Mustard Seeds, 1 tsp

Red chili, 1 broken

Method:

Soak Dania + 1 tsp rice + Red chili for 2 hours.

Grind with dry coconut + cumin

Boil Potlakaya w/o water and add milk.

Simmer on low flame until well cooked and soft.

Add blended paste and mix well.

Add salt and put lid on.

Let sit for 15 minutes.

Serve hot with rice or rotis.

Thota Koora Kobbari Pappu

Amaranth Leaves are very nutritious. This dal dish is a staple, made regularly. It is utterly delicious as it is nutritious. The delicate balance of flavours between the tender leaves, the freshly grated coconut, and the cumin pepper spices is a harmonious blend that pleases the senses. I eat it with a generous serving of ghee and white rice. My dad used to enjoy this with rotis. This was one of his favorite dishes.

Ingredients:

4 cups cut spinach

2 tsp cumin

Hing ½ tsp

1 cup Cooked Toor Dal

Tempering

Urad dal, 2 Tsp

Rai, Black Mustard Seeds, 1 Tsp

Red Chili, 1 broken

½ tsp Cumin

Coconut Oil, 2 Tbsp

Blend together:

Urad dal 2 Tbsp

4 red chili,

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp rice, hing:

Coconut and blend

Fry the first four ingredients without oil. Add to the blender, add coconut, a little water and make a thick paste.

Method

Add tender spinach leaves to a big pot of boiling water. Lightly salt the water and cook the leaves until wilted.

In a large thick pan, complete the tempering process.

To the tempering, add the ground paste and fry for a minute.

In a blender, add the boiled amaranth leaves, hing and blend until it becomes a coarse paste.

Add the leaves to the pot and mix the masala and leaves very well.

Add salt, and a little water.

Put lid on and let cook until done.

Serve hot with rice and ghee.

Thota Koora kobbari koottu

Amaranth Leaves are very nutritious. This kootu dish is a staple, almost made atleast twice weekly. It is utterly delicious as it is nutritious. The delicate balance of flavours between the tender leaves, the freshly grated coconut, and the cumin pepper spices is a harmonious blend that pleases the senses. I eat it with a generous serving of ghee and white rice. My dad used to enjoy this with rotis. This was one of his favorite dishes.

Ingredients:

4 cups cut spinach

1 cup fresh grated coconut

4 green chilies

2 tsp cumin

Hing ½ tsp

Rice flour, 2 tsp

Tempering

Urad dal, 2 Tsp

Rai, Black Mustard Seeds, 1 Tsp

Red Chili, 1 broken

½ tsp Cumin

Coconut Oil, 2 Tbsp

Method

Make a paste of chili, coconut, cumin and rice flour in the blender with a little water.

Add tender spinach leaves to a big pot of boiling water. Lightly salt the water and cook the leaves until wilted.

In a large thick pan, complete the tempering process.

To the tempering, add the ground paste and fry for a minute.

In a blender, add the boiled amaranth leaves, hing and blend until it becomes a coarse paste.

Add the leaves to the pot and mix the masala and leaves very well.

Add salt, and a little water.

Put lid on and let cook until done.

Serve hot with rice and ghee.

Dosakaya Pappu

This dal is the ultimate. It is so tasty. The Dosakaya is a versatile vegetable. You can make pickles out of it that tastes superb. Make this dal and see how you like it.

Ingredients:

2 Cups Dosakaya

1 Cup Toor dal

2 Green Chiles

raisin sized Tamarind (pulp extracted)

½ tsp Hing

2 tsp Red Chili Powder

Cilantro, as required for garnish

Curry leaves, 2 sprigs

Tempering:

Oil 1 Tbsp

Black Mustard Seeds, 1 tsp

Cumin, ½ tsp

Urad dal, ½ tsp

Method:

Take a large pot and add a tsp of oil and 4 cups water.

Lightly salt and add washed toor dal.

Put lid on and cook till half cooked.

To this half boiled dal, add finely chopped Dosakaya and Green chilies.

Next, add Hing.

Let boil, add thick Tamarind pulp.

Add Red Chili Powder.

In a separate pan, add oil and tempering ingredients.

Once spluttering stops, add the whole mixture into the Dal.

Add Curry leaves, Cilantro and tempering.

Let simmer on low flame with lid on for 15 minutes until dal is fully cooked.

Serve hot with white rice and ghee.

Palakoora Theeya Pappu

Spinach is very nutritious and most dishes made with it taste awesome. My family enjoys this particular pappu or dal recipe very much. I make it atleast once a week. This is my MIL’s dish. She taught me how to make this when I was newly married. I immediately loved it and have regularly made it without fail. I personally enjoy this with Ragi Mudde, a dish from Karnataka.

Ingredients:

Tempering:

Method:

Serve hot with white rice, ghee, buttermilk chilies, and papadams.

Notes:

I’ve heard quite a bit that greens, especially spinach and mustard leaves are high in oxalate, a chemical that strains the kidneys and causes some serious pain. If you have any kidney problems, then maybe you should consult your doctor before eating this. I would certainly appreciate any information you can share with me and other readers.

 Most people, including my MIL make this whole dish in the pressure cooker and then finally add the tadka / tempering. I like it this way too, but I think my style of cooking this exact dish makes the pappu a little extra tasty. I do not add tamarind, onions, and tomatoes. I like to keep this dish very simple and counteract the sweetness of the beerakaya with the taste of green chilies.

To make this pappu taste its optimum and also retain nutrition, it is extremely important that the beerekaya’s are very  fresh. Try to cook it the very day you bring it home. When you cut into the beerekaya, it should be really white and tender. The seeds within should not be mature and rubbery. The seeds should still be forming and very tender to touch. Do a little taste test. If it is extremely bitter, then discard it. It should be somewhat slightly sweet. We will be using the skin and the seeds along with the flesh of the vegetable.

Ingredients:

2 very tender, medium sized beerakaya

Green chilies according to taste

½ cup Moong Dal (Toor Dal or Masoor Dal can also be substituted)

3 Sprigs Curry Leaves

Turmeric, ½ tsp

Raisin sized jaggery

Finely chopped cilantro

Cumin powder, ½ Tsp

Salt (according to taste)

Tadka/ Tempering

Black Mustard Seeds, 1 tsp

Urad Dal, 1 tsp

Cumin, ½ tsp

Asafotedia, 4 pinches

Oil, 4 Tbsp

Broken Red chili, 2/3 pieces

Method 1: Preparing the Dal:

Take a pressure cooker.

Wash dal thoroughly.

Add it to the cooker.

Add required amount of salt

Add Turmeric.

Pressure cook for 2 or 3 Whistles.

Open when safe.

Mash Dal until it is a smooth paste. Use a heavy ladle to do this.

Method 2: Making the actual Pappu:

Complete the tadka in a pan.

Add finely chopped beerakaya and fry on a high until roasted and golden.

Add green chilies.

Low the flame, put the lid on and let sit for about 5 or 10 minutes.

Stir in between to make sure the vegetable does not stick to the pan.

If other optional ingredients are needed to be added, then do so now.

Adding lemon juice to a hot pan will make the whole dish sour.

Add lemon juice just before serving.

Add Cumin powder, stir well. Turn off flame.

Set lid on and turn off heat.

Once the dal mixture is cooked and ready in the pressure cooker, transfer it’s contents to the pan.

The dal may be extremely thick now.

Add water according to your liking, usually about one Cup.

Heat the whole contents of the pan a little more taking care that all the water does not evaporate.

Taste test for salt. Adjust accordingly.

I usually add cilantro leaves and raisin sized ball of jaggery.

Taste test for salt and serve hot with rice and ghee or rotis and phulkas.

Tastes fabulous when served as it like a soup too.

You can totally avoid Cilantro and Cumin powder for the pappu recipe.

That is the reason I’ve included it in the Optional ingredients.

Other Optional ingredients include:

Garlic (3 cloves)

ginger (2 inches, skinned and chopped finely)

ginger-garlic paste 1 Tbsp

finely chopped onion, 1 medium sized

finely chopped tomatoes 2,

½ a raw mango,

finely grated coconut, ¼ cup

Cilantro (Finely chopped, 3 Tsp; Optional)

Lemon Juice, according to taste (Optional)

Cumin Powder, ½ Tsp (Optional)

Be it any special pooja or wedding or any other function. One constant dish that always reminds me of pleasant memories and makes me literally drool at its very thought is MP. During late spring and early summer the vegetable vendor in India used to bring the rawest mangoes of all. It used to be soo firm. We used to make pickles out of it, and maavidikaya pappu would be made regularly. Drizzled with a generous amount of ghee, I would devour it with hot white rice. Zooming back to the present, I get fairly good quality raw mangoes from Indian grocery stores here. Every time I make it, I know I am creating the same warm memories for my family. This MP when served with papadums and blacked yogurt chillies (oorna mirapakayalu) is a feast in itself. End the meal with ‘neer more’ or runny, seasoned buttermilk. Make sure you have a couple of hours to sleep right after this meal. If your stomach is a little sensitive like mine, then take beano before you start this meal:)

Ingredients:

Raw Green Mango, 1 fresh firm one
Toor dal, 1 Cup

Note: Pressure cook 1 cup of Toor dal with the raw mango wrapped in aluminium foil. Cook toor dal and the mango seperately. You can cook the whole raw mango, it’ll turn out perfectly.

Tadka:
Ghee or any cooking Oil, 2 or 3 Tsp
Black Mustard seeds, 1tsp
Red Chillies, 1 broken
Turmeric Powder, 1 tsp
Garlic (Optional, we absolutely do not want to ruin the mango experience by adding garlic. So we never add it.)
Urad Dal, 1tsp
Asfotedia, 4/5 pinches
Curry leaves, about 15
Cilantro, 1Tsp finely chopped

Method:

Heat oil.
Add Urad dal, and once slightly browned, add black Mustard Seeds and wait till it splutters.
Add red chillies and fry for just a second.
Add Washed and dried Curry leaves and green chillies.
Add Asfatodiea.
Add Turmeric powder.
Blend the mango to make it pasty.
Add the cooked Raw Mango, seed, skin, and all.
Add Salt as required and stir well until you can see the oil float on top.
Add the toor dal now and mix well. Check taste to make sure salt and spices are good.
Add a pinch of sugar to balance out flavours.
Garnish with cilantro.
Add water as reuired. As this dal cools down, it becomes really thick. I add one to two cups hot water before serving to keep the dal from being a thick glob. Slightly runny dal is perfect.
Serve hot with papadums, oorna mirapakaayi (marinated and blackedned yogurt chillies) with hot white rice and liberal amounts of ghee.
Wash the meal down with runny seasoned buttermilk.
Enjoy!

The night I made this video, I just got home from work and we all were hungry. Hubbyji suggested that we got out for dinner and the children screamed a vehement NO in protest. They wanted mom’s dal rice and a warm cup of rasam to sip on. Hubbiji wanted papads to go with it. While I started getting ready to cook, hubbyji decided to make a video of it!

The simple dinner was just the soul food we had all been craving for. The apple slices we ate just before I went into the kitchen helped us stay calm till dinner was served. I will provide individual recipes for each dish, and you can watch the video to see how you can club both the dishes to save time.

Ingredients:

1/2 an onion thinly sliced (optional, substitute store bought fried onion)
Green chillies depending upon taste
Salt as required
Turmeric powder as required (1/2 tsp)
1.5 cups Frozen Methi leaves
2 medioum tomatoes
1 heaping cup Moong Dal
Few curry leaves (optional)
1 Tsp Dania Powder (coriander) or Cumin Powder

Methi Dal:
Seasoning, Tempering, or Tadka:

2 Tsp Olive / Canola blend
1.5tsp ghee
1tsp Black Mustard Seeds
1.5 tsp cumin seeds
2 or 3 broken red chiilies

Procedure:
Pressure cook Moong dal along with tomatoes, a little salt and turmeric in two cups of water.
Remove from cooker and mash to smooth paste.
Heat a pan and add oil and ghee. Once hot, add the other Tadka ingredients. Once the black Mustard seeds stop spluttering, add the cooked dal to it. Adjust salt, add green chillies, add two cups water, set lid on and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring often.
Add a Tsp of Coriander powder or Cumin powder.
Serve hot with white rice or roti.
To make it look elaborate, serve with pickle and papad. Simple potato chips will do too.
I personally love Mango pickle.
Enjoy!