Rice porridge and Pigeon peas

This is my all time favorite food. When I am a little low on energy and need a break from all the spicy and oily food, I make this. I know the name sounds too fancy but it is a very simple Jain Gujarati dish, that we make quite often. We call this Ghensh and Tuvar in Gujarati. I don't know what it is called in Hindi and whether other people except Gujaratis make this or not.
Do you see the ghee floating around the sides?


For the Rice porridge (Ghensh)
You will need:

1 cup rice (I use a mix of jasmine and basmati rice) makes it so fragrant

salt to taste

Plenty of water to cook the rice to porridge consistency, about 4 cups or more

1 cup yogurt (should be sour)

Wash and soak the rice for half hour. Now bring the water to boil and add salt to it.

Add the rice and cook it for about 20 minutes till its fully cooked, now whisk the yogurt and add it to the rice and whisk the rice vigorously to get the yogurt incorporated. Do this as soon as you add yogurt, or else the yogurt will curdle. Simmer on low for about 10 minutes and the porridge is ready. Some people eat this with milk. I eat this with little ghee added to the porridge and then the tuvar.

For the Pigeon peas (tuvar)

For the pigeon peas you have to use the dry peas and cook it in pressure cooker. I am not sure whether you get canned pigeon peas. The ones that you get in can are the fresh green ones so the only option is to use the whole dry pigeon peas.

Soak the pigeon peas overnight and pressure cook it adding salt for 6-7 whistles. Yes it takes longer for the whole tuvar to cook.

1 cup dry whole pigeon peas cooked

1 tbsp oil

1/4 tsp haldi

1/4 tsp chili powder

1 tbsp dhania powder

a pinch of hing

salt to taste

you can adjust the spicyness and salt according to your taste

Heat the oil and add hing and then add rest of the masalas and little water just about a tsp and then add the cooked pigeon peas and stir and simmer for about 5-10 minutes.
Serve it with the Rice porridge.

Oats and Cabbage Muthias

This is my entry for WBB#13 brainchild of Nandita of Saffron trail

and hosted by Madhuli of My Food Court.

This is a simple and nutritious recipe.
I wanted something different for this event as I do not like sweet stuff for breakfast. So here is the savory muthias.

Oats, like any other varieties of grains, belong to the Graminae family (grasses)'s called 'Jai' in Hindi and Jav in Gujarati.

I used the quick oats and gave it couple of pulses in a processor to make it coarse flour like consistency

and also used little bit of wheat flour to bind the dough.

Here is the recipe:

For the muthias:

1 cup grated cabbage

1 cup oat flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

5 tbsp low fat curds

1 tbsp chopped coriander

juice of ½ lemon

1 tsp ginger-green chilli paste

2 large cloves garlic, grated (optional)

½ tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
a pinch of baking soda

sugar to taste (optional)

salt to taste

For the tempering:

1 tsp mustard seeds

1tsp sesame seeds

¼ tsp asafoetida (hing)
1 tsp oil

2 tbsp chopped coriander For the garnish

oil for greasing

Combine all the ingredients for muthias in a bowl and knead to make a soft dough using very little water as Cabbage has lot of moisture. (Don't let the dough rest as it will get all watery and gooey because of the oats and cabbage). Divide the dough into a 3 equal parts and shape each portion into a cylindrical roll. Place the rolls on a greased steamer and steam for 10 to 12 minutes till firm. Remove, cool and cut into thick slices.

Heat the oil in a non-stick pan and add the mustard seeds. When they crackle, add the sesame seeds and asafoetida . Add the sliced muthias and sauté over a low flame till they are lightly browned. Serve hot, garnished with the coriander.

P.S. Before you make the dough for muthias have all the ingredients ready and set water to boil in a big pot in which you will steam the muthias and grease the steamer so when your dough is ready you can steam the muthias.

Chana Daal Khaman with Methi leaves

When I think about eating snack, I love fried stuff, but what if you want to stay away from all that oil and calories. Well my list of options include, steamed muthias, chilas, dhokla, or khaman, because it's not fried, so less calories and it's healthy.



This is the recipe with Methi leaves. The recipe is the same as chana dal khaman from my earlier post. Click here for the recipe.


You add the chopped Methi leaves to the batter before you add the baking soda and then steam the khaman and do the tempering with the same ingredients mentioned in my earlier chana daal khaman post.

So simple and delicious!

I was asked by Burekaboy of Is that my bureka about what's the difference between Khaman and Dhokla.

Well Khaman are always made with either Besan or any of the Daals soaked, ground, femented and then steamed.

Where as Dhokla is always made with equal parts of Rice and Daal, soaked and ground together and fermented and then steamed.

So that is the basic difference.

Methi leaves Kadhi

This is one of my favorite dish and I have been eating this since my childhood. So wanted to share it with you guys.

It's a tangy Kadhi with all the goodness of Methi leaves (Fenugreek leaves).


Yogurt mellows down the bitterness of the Methi leaves so kids really will have no problem eating this.
My 4 year old will just eat this kadhi by itself.
Sometimes he eats this kadhi with rice.



You will need:
2 cups chopped fresh Methi leaves (if using frozen Methi leaves, thaw it before making kadhi)
2 cups yogurt
2 tbsp Besan (gram flour)
1 tsp Green chili-ginger paste
3 cups water
1/2 tsp haldi
1/2 tsp chili powder

salt to taste

a pinch of hing (asafoetida)
2 whole red chilies
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp oil or ghee

Mix the gram flour (besan), curds and 3 cups of water till smooth, add the green chilli-ginger paste and salt and set it aside.Heat oil/ghee in a pan and add jeera, once its popped add the whole red chilies and hing. Now add the Methi leaves, haldi, red chili powder,and just a bit of water to cook the Methi leaves. Cover the pan and cook the Methi for 5-7 minutes on a medium to slow heat. Once it cooks add the yogurt-besan mixture and bring to boil, turn the heat to low and simmer for 5-10 minutes.

Serve with rice or phulkas and any dry sabji.

Cabbage and Tuvar Lilva shaak

Here is another variation to the regular boring cabbage sabji.

It tastes really good and it's not too complicated to make.

I love tuvar lilva (pigeon peas) in any form. Be it along with eggplant, or by itself, or in khichri or with papadi.

Here is the recipe:

3 cups shredded cabbage

1 cup tuvar lilva (pigeon peas) canned, frozen or fresh.

3 cloves garlic sliced

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tbsp oil or more if you like the sabji oily

salt to taste

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp dhania powder

1/2 tsp haldi.

Boil the tuvar lilva separately in a pressure cooker with little water and salt As they take more time to cook. Don't need to boil the lilva if you are using canned stuff.
Now heat oil and add mustard seeds, as they pop add cumin seeds, once they crackle, add garlic and saute for about 1 minute then add haldi and the shredded cabbage and stir fry for a minute and than add chili powder and dhania powder and saute till the cabbage wilts. Add salt and boiled tuvar lilva and cook the sabji for 10 mintues. Serve with roti, dal and rice.

Chauli-Makai nu Shaak

Mélange! (Medley of life)

That's going to be the buzz this week.

No I am not teaching you french, rather it's about the combination of vegetables you try to get a new dish.I always experiment dishes to see how the combination of vegetables taste like and can I call it a dish of my own. Well the following vegetable is just that.

All gujaratis know chauli ( for others it is the long beans sometimes also called chinese long beans and in hindi it is called lobia). I made a combination of chauli and corn to see how they taste together, and it worked out well. I was bored eating chauli just by itself or mixed with potatoes, so I tried this one. I know corn is so versatile that it can be mixed with almost any thing, but sometimes corn also makes the dish sweet overpowering the dish with the sweet taste but with this it was just perfect.

The recipe:

1 pound of chauli (long beans) chopped into 1/2 inch pieces

1 cup corn (canned or frozen)

3 garlic clove minced

1/2 tbsp tomato paste

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp dhania-jeera powder

1/2 tsp haldi

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp garam masala powder

1 tbsp oil

salt to taste

Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, as they splutter, add cumin seeds, once they pop add the minced garlic and saute for 2 minutes, add the tomato paste, and all the masalas except garam masala. Add a little water so the mixture doesn't stick to the bottom. Simmer till the oil floats, now add the chopped chauli beans and corn and add 1/4 th cup of water and salt, cover the pan and let the vegetables cook for about 10-15 minutes or till the choli is fully cooked. Once done, sprinkle the garam masala and mix well. The sabji should be semi-dry. Squeeze some lemon juice and serve it with hot phulkas as I did.

Gaanthiya nu Shaak

This dish is a regular favorite in my house.
My two year old would just pick all the gaanthias and eat it.
It is really good with roti or rice.
Jain Gujaratis make this a lot.

You will need:
(for 4-6 people)
For gaanthia:

2 cups besan (chickpea flour)
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp dhania-jeera powder
1 tbsp oil
salt to taste
water to knead a semi-soft dough.

For the gravy: 5-6 cups of water 1-1/2 cup yogurt
oil for tempering
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp hing
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp turmeric
salt to taste
Method Mix all the ingredients for gaanthia and make semi-soft dough. Let it rest for 15-20 minutes. Now take a small amount of dough and on a flat surface roll it like a thin noodle (sev). See the picture


















If you do not want to roll it by hand you can put the dough into sev machine and make the gaanthias with that. It took me about 3o minutes to roll this gaanthia.
















Now for the gravy:
Boil 5-6 cups of water in a stock pot. Add salt and turmeric powder to it. While the water is boiling add the gaanthia to it and break it with a wooden spatula . Don't worry the gaanthia won't stick. Let the gaanthia boil for 10-15 minutes and you can taste it to see that they are done or not. They shouldn't taste like raw besan.

Once the gaanthias are done, add the yogurt and simmer the gaanthia for couple of minutes.




Now for the tempering: Heat oil in a small pan and add mustard seeds, once they pop turn the heat off and add hing and red chili powder, and pour the tempering over the gaanthia and simmer for a while. Adjust the salt and other seasoning according to your taste.



We prefer this dish a little sour in taste, you can add lemon juice if the yogurt is not too sour.

Zucchini Thepla

This is my version of Zucchini Theplas. I just followed Trupti's recipe for Zucchini Thepla
Enjoy of course with Tea or offee.

16 Bean Dhokla

Look what I made on sunday.

I was too tired to cook the whole square meal. So got inspiration from 16 Bean Adai recipe on Saffron hut. And look how it turned out. Not only I made Adai but also experimented Dhokla from the adai batter and you will agree that it was worth giving a try.

I simply followed the saffron hut 16 bean Adai recipe for the Adai (though I omitted brown rice and some of the beans from that). And for Dhokla I added little Eno to the batter and steamed the batter in a steamer and voila!!!

I don't know but I just thought of omitting rice to the original recipe, because I did not wanted the slightest Dosa taste to it. I just wanted to have a blended taste of all the beans. I did add some urad dal though. And also soaked the beans overnight.

And look at the Dhokla now

Don't you agree with me?

Fada ni Khichdi (Broken wheat Khichri) and Carrot and Beetroot salad

So what you do on weekends, well for me it is cooking and cleaning, I am sure most of you will agree with that. I am a stay at home mom with a 4 year old and 2 year old. I am always short of time. I consider myself as a well organized person but somehow fail with this time management thing. I think it is because of the kids routine, I am always on my toes.

So what did I do this weekend, well on saturday I made this one dish meal called Broken wheat Khichri (in gujarati we call it fada ni khichdi). And then made this colorful salad with carrots and beets. The broken wheat khichri I made with broken wheat ( also known here as cracked wheat and bulgur wheat though the later one is little fine in texture then the cracked or broken wheat.

I also used moon dal with that and I used lots of vegetables, like potatoes, green peas and carrots, to make it a one dish meal. This is a gujarati dish and my mom use to make it real good, I have tried to follow her recipe. We normally eat this with yogurt, but some people prefer it with raita or kadhi.

This recipe makes approx. 4 servings

Ingredients


1 cup split yellow moong dal
3/4 cup broken wheat (fada)
1 cup potatoes, diced
1 cup green peas
1 cup carrots diced

1/2 teaspoon whole peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon haldi
1 teaspoon chilli powder
salt to taste


For the tempering



1 stick cinnamon
3 cloves
1 teaspoon jeera
1/2 teaspoon hing
1 tablespoon ghee

Method
Wash and soak the moong dal and broken wheat for at least 15 minutes. Drain and keep aside.
Heat the ghee in a pressure cooker, add the cinnamon, cloves, jeera and asafoetida and stirring for 30 seconds.
Add the dal and bulgur wheat together with all the other ingredients and stir for 4 to 5 minutes.
Add 4 cups water and pressure cook for 3 to 4 whistles.
Stir the khichri so everything is incorporated well, Serve hot with yogurt.



The Carrot and Beet salad recipe



I just love this salad not just because of the color but for the taste also and it is so simple to make.








3 carrots peeled and shredded
3 medium beets peeled and shredded (if you don't like the raw taste you can parboil the beets and then shred)
handful of scallions/green onions
3 tbsp lemon or lime juice
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Cracked black pepper



In a small bowl whisk together lemon juice, sugar, salt and olive oil. Season with pepper. Place beets, carrots and scallions in a serving bowl, pour dressing over salad, toss to combine. You can adjust the taste accordingly with more sugar, or black pepper or lemon juice.
I some time try to bring variation in this salad by adding chopped apple and raisins and for seasoning I add jeera powder and red chili powder for a slight different taste.
Enjoy!!!