Mahanandi

Sona Masuri Rice, Roasted Yellow Moong Dal, Roasted Cashews, Cumin and Peppercorn

Some foods are simply divine, pongal belongs to that category. There isn’t anything quite like pongal! Creamy and luxurious rice dish that you get by cooking rice with toasted moong dal in little bit of ghee. Lots of water, sometimes milk is added and seasoned with cumin, black peppercorn and salt. The whole mix is cooked in a big pot until the rice and dal are soft. Roasted cashews are sprinkled at the end. This simple dish is so fragrant, the whole house will be filled with wonderful aroma. And the taste, I won’t gush but I will say this; it’s often prepared and offered to Gods in temples. Can we, mere mortals resist the pongal temptation? I don’t think so!

Pittsburgh’s Sri Venkateswara Temple serves the best pongal I have ever tasted out side India. At the temple’s kitchen, the chef prepares pongal in a big caldron following the traditional method. The secret is not only quality ingredients but also the method of cooking, no pressure-cookers there. I think that’s why temple pongal tastes so good. Since last year I have been preparing pongal in a big pot and stopped cooking it in pressure cooker. The difference in taste is tremendous and surprisingly the preparation is also easy.

Here is my recipe:
(for two)

1½ cup rice (preferably Sona Masuri)
1 cup yellow moong dal
2 tablespoon of ghee
1 tsp of cumin
½ tsp of black peppercorn
1 tsp of salt
½ cup of cashews
7 cups of water and
I also add 2 cups of milk (my preference and optional)
A big sturdy pot (Big sauce pan)

Pongal - Starting Point

Pongal - After 15 minutes of cooking

Pongal - at 20 minutes of cooking

1. Heat a teaspoon of ghee in an iron skillet on medium heat. Add and roast moong dal to golden color, constantly mixing. Take care not to black. Remove them to a plate. In the same skillet heat another teaspoon of ghee. Add and roast cashews to golden.

2. In a big sturdy pot, heat a tablespoon of ghee. Add and toast cumin and black peppercorn for few minutes. Stir in the toasted moong dal and rice. Mix them with ghee for few minutes. Pour water and milk and stir in salt. Cover the pot with lid and cook on high heat. Within 10 to 15 minutes, you will see the water gurgling and trying to lift the pot lid. At this stage, remove the lid. Mix the cooking mixture once and partially cover the pot with lid, leaving little bit of gap for water vapor to escape.

3. Within 5 minutes, you will see whole thing coming together. Rice-dal mixture will be doubled in volume. Each grain will be plumped but not broken open. Turn off the heat, and stir in roasted cashews. Close the lid fully and let the rice sit for about 10 minutes. At this stage, you can stir in more ghee if you want to and also add salt to suit your taste.

Rice-dal mixture absorbs the remaining water-milk liquid and becomes little bit tight. Pongal’s consistency can vary from something resembling a thick soup to a creamy porridge, but never like a tight hard ball. Resist the temptation to overcook and turn off heat early.

Usually we will have this pongal with chutney, potato kurma or with a cup of yogurt depending on the time of the day.

Pongal with Coconut Chutney ~ Traditional Indian breakfast
My first entry to JFI - Dal hosted by Sailu of Sailu’s Food and also to Paz’s For the Love of Rice

Along with cumin and black peppercorn, curry leaves are also added to the ghee. I didn’t have any curry leaves when I prepared this recipe so the omission.

Though I enjoy vegetable shopping, I rarely get excited about it. Squeals and mile length smiles - I reserve them for rare finds like fresh plump pea pods. Late June is fresh pea time here in Ohio. Though peas are always found in frozen grocery section, I miss the taste and experience of shelling the fresh peas out of pods. This was one of those cherished practices from my Indian days.

We often hear that frozen veggies are same as fresh ones. Freshly shelled peas prove in a bite that it’s not true. Frozen peas do start out as fresh but all that freezing temperature and the ugly plastic wrap, bumping from one warehouse to another, finally when we open the packet - they would come out all shriveled up and lie there listless, looking at us ‘daya karo’ (merci). At that stage, I guess they are like us at the end of our lives - spent up but full of saccharine wisdom. In contrast the peas that are freshly shelled from fat pods are like cherubic faced babies, all plump and round, bouncing and rolling around. Full of energy and life force, tempting us to get hold of them. For that unforgettable sweet pea taste we would do just that.

Here in US, the capital of all things frozen, finding these green gems fresh is almost like buying emerald Cabs. So precious, so few and so pricey! Last Sunday I got lucky and bought 3 pounds of fresh peas for about 5 dollars, from the local farmers market. After the indulgence, what left was a cup of shelled peas and I have prepared Guggullu with them. Just a simple 5-minute saut? of green peas with finely chopped red onions pieces. Touch of black pepper, salt and fresh grated coconut, they are done. Quick and great tasting traditional Indian recipe to enjoy fresh green peas.

Toor dal and spinach - no onions but lots of roasted garlic makes this dal unique. You may already know, spinach and garlic make a great combination. In this recipe, garlic is finely chopped and roasted to gold color. Cooking in this manner completely changes the character of the garlic. The garlicy smell disappears and what standouts is the mellow sweet nutty taste, giving the dal flavorful boost.

Preparation is 3-step process. (1) Cook toor dal until it falls apart (2) saut? garlic and spinach (3) mix cooked toor dal and spinach-garlic. Add seasoning and simmer the whole combination for few minutes.

Recipe:

Pressure-Cook:
½ cup of toor dal and half teaspoon of turmeric in 1 cup of water
Cook the dal until it falls apart
Mash the dal to smooth paste using a wood masher and keep it aside

Meanwhile Prep Work:
1 bunch of spinach - cut into small pieces
1 small whole bulb of garlic - peel and chop garlic into small pieces
4 dried red chillies - cut them into small pieces
Soak marble-sized tamarind in half-cup of water for juice

Do the Tadka:
Heat a tablespoon of peanut oil in a big saucepan. Add and toast:
Dried red chilli pieces
Few pieces of curry leaves
One teaspoon of each - cumin and mustard seeds

Saut?:
Stir in garlic. Saut? them until golden. Take care not to burn.
Add the finely chopped spinach and saut? until the leaves wilt and come together

Stir in and Simmer:
Stir in smoothly mashed toor dal to this saut?ed spinach-garlic mixture
Add a tablespoon of tamarind juice, also half teaspoon each of - chilli powder and salt or to taste.
Stir to combine. If the dal is too tight, add about half cup of water.
Mix; close the lid and simmer for about 15 minutes on low heat.

Serve hot with ghee and rice for a great satisfying meal.

Pickle, Rice, Spinach-Garlic Dal and Ghee - ready for a homely meal

Recipe Source: My friend Lakshmi Prasad. Thanks Lakshmi!

Dal For Life ~ Toor Dal (Kandi Pappu)
Preparing For JFI ~ Dal on July 1st and For This Week’s Indian Kitchen

Dal with lots of ghee, simple plain dal, dal in rasam and sambhar - homesick or tired of home, feeling indulgent or not feeling well - for every mood and for every occasion, Toor dal is ‘the dal’ for us at least 300 days out of 365 days of a year.

After rice, toor dal is the most important food ingredient we, Andhra log would have in our homes. Our parents, their parents, for all of us, the building bone is toor dal protein. We may move to different countries, talk or think in different language, one thing that’s going to be a constant in our lives foodwise is toor dal.

The light golden color, the way they cook easily, their taste - smooth and unique, the way they would fill us up without making us sweat and make us feel satisfied without being overwhelming. I love everything about toor dal. I confess I am a dal fiend and a toor dal addict. I am sure millions of other Bharat vaasi are also passionate about this dal just like me.

Fresh Soymilk Skin (Fresh Yuba, Uba, Bean Curd Skin, Fuzhu, Foo Pi)

Few months ago, after much hesitation I dared and prepared soy milk at home. The milk was alright, but what I liked most was the skins that would form while boiling soymilk. Do you remember from India, when you boil cows/buffalo’s milk, a thick layer of skin would form on top of boiled milk. You can just lift the layer and eat - Milk meegada or malai, do you remember the taste? Mildly sweet and irresistible because of limited amount. Same thing here with soymilk.

Soymilk skins are much thicker, almost like samosa/wonton wraps. They taste sweet and have a distinct soy smell. What I gathered from the web is that Japanese call this soymilk skin “Yuba” and they are an expensive delicacy. Famously and religiously prepared by Buddhist Monks and used in several Buddhist recipes for its protein richness.

I wanted to try an Indianised yuba recipes and prepared two entries with soymilk skins. A savory and a sweet - Yuba:Potato Curry Rounds and Soymilk Halwa. As entries to IMBB+SHF ~ Soy, hosted by Reid of Ono Kine Grindz. Started the whole process first by preparing fresh soymilk. And then boiled the milk for about an hour. Constantly picking up the milk skins with a chopstick. I wrapped these milk skins around the potato curry and sauteed them for few minutes. With leftover soymilk skins and soymilk, I prepared halwa by adding sugar, finely chopped dates and freshly grated coconut. Simmered the whole thing until it came together like pala kova. Removed to a box and kept it in the freezer to make the halwa little bit firm.

Both the yuba-potato rounds and soymilk halwa tasted superb. Time consuming but worth my effort and I am glad that I tried this ancient classic Buddhist delicacy.

Here is the whole process in images. Enjoy!

Boiling homemade soymilk to pickup soymilk skins (Yuba, Milk Meegada)

Wrapping Potato curry in soymilk skins (Yuba, Milk Meegada)

Sauteing the Soymilk skin (yuba) wrapped potato curry rounds on low heat

Golden colored yuba-potato curry rounds - in closeup

Yuba-Potato Curry Round in fresh soymilk skin (soy paala meegada) with red chilli-garlic powder as garnish

Soymilk Halwa with dates and fresh coconut

More about Yuba - Here and from Egullet
Yuba making - in images
Tags: IMBB27 + SHF20

Of all different colored bell peppers, I like the red ones. Red bell peppers are matured green bell peppers and when bell pepper ages, not only the color but the flavor also changes. They become sweet, which is a surprise. Usually maturing into red signals the more fierce kind of flavor in vegetables, but here they mellow.

This favorite chutney of mine is prepared by roasting red bell peppers, onion and dried red chillies and by blending them including peanuts, jaggery and tamarind juice. The result is one of the flavorful and easiest Bharath-inspired chutnies you will ever try. Tastes superb with all the breakfast items, like idly, dosa, upma and also with rice, chapati or as a spread and dip for snack items.

Recipe:

Cut to big chunks:
2 big red bell peppers
1 medium sized onion
6-8 dried red chillies
2 garlic cloves

Roast:
Heat about 1 to 2 tablespoons of peanut oil in a skillet.
Add and roast the cut vegetables and dried red chillies on high heat. The vegetables should be very well browned and soft. Remove them from heat and allow to cool.

Meanwhile, Soak tamarind, and Roast Peanuts:
- Small Lime sized tamarind in half-cup of warm water for about 10 minutes. Or microwave for 30 seconds - This is to soften the tamarind, so it can grind well.
- Roast half-cup of peanuts until golden and remove skins. Store-bought un-salted, roasted peanuts are fine too.

Blend, in a blender or in a mortar using a pestle:
All the roasted vegetables
Tamarind, along with the water it soaked in.
Half cup of roasted peanuts
½ tablespoon of powdered jaggery
¼ tsp of salt or to taste
Grind them together to coarse puree, without adding any extra water.

Remove to a cup and serve with your favorite breakfast/lunch/supper items.

Besan Dosa and Red Bell Pepper Chutney

Recipe Source: My own creation