Raw Mango-Moong Dal Curry

As a child, I always looked forward to the summer season; mainly the summer vacation which brought with it all the flavours of the season, especially mangoes! My mouth waters at the thought of the raw mangoes we instant-pickled and ate, or the ripe ones we tore apart with our teeth and licked the juice running down our fingers-all freshly plucked out of the numerous mango trees scattered in my grandmother's enormous backyard. Those memories will always be cherished.

At home, Amma always uses raw mangoes in a lot of dishes, raw mango and coconut chutney, fish curries with mango and coconut gravy etc. After Vishu, I wanted to use the raw mangoes I had picked out for the Kani and was wondering what to do with them, since A does not like coconut chutney much (sad, but true!). So I decided to make Mango Dal with Moong Dal with it and adding the bottlegourd vegetable too.



To make the Raw Mango-Moon Dal Curry seen in the picture, you will need:

Moong Dal - 2 cups
Raw Mango - peeled, chopped large
Bottlegourd/ Dhoodhi - peeled, deseeded, cubed - 1 cup
Onion - chopped - 1 (optional)

Coconut - grated - 1/2 cup
Ginger - peeled and pounded - 2 tsp
Green chilly - sliced - 1 small
Coriander seeds powder - roasted - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds powder - roasted - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Red chilly powder - 1/2 tsp

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 strand
Asafeotida/ Hing - 1/4 tsp/ a pinch
Oil - 1 tsp

Salt - to taste



Method:

• Wash the moong dal well and soak for about 15 minutes
• In a pressure cooker, add dal, bottlegourd pieces and chopped onion with enough water and boil for 2-3 whistles
• While it cools, grind raw mango pieces, grated coconut, green chilly and ginger along with the powders and salt into a smooth paste
• Mix the paste into the cooked moong dal and bottlegourd vegetable and adjust consistency with water and bring to boil on low flame
• Temper mustard seeds and curry leaves in oil with hing and season the curry
  

Serve with rice. It also goes well with chapathi if made thick.

Parwal (Pointed Gourd) Sambar

Yet another gourd! I can't help it, I am a gourd-eater. I was introduced to the Pointed Gourd (Parwal/ Potol in Hindi/ Bengali) only after I got married, just like the Teasle Gourd. R prefers to have it with potato as a curry, or sautéed.

In an effort to make my little one eat all vegetables (and become a true member of the gourd-eating family), I try to make what she likes best - Sambar! Of course, I can't ever think of making bitter-gourd sambar. Since my 3 year old ate the parwal pieces in this sambar, I feel confident enough to post this.

To make the Parwal Sambar seen in the picture you will need:

Toor Dal - 1 cup
Parwal - 4-5 medium sized - sliced, deseeded, and quartered
Water - 3 cups
Tomatoes - 3 medium sized - quartered
Onion - 1 large - chopped
Green chilly - 1 - sliced
Ginger - 1/2 tsp - peeled and pounded
Tamarind paste - 1 tbsp (OR lemon juice from 1 whole lemon)
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Red Chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
Sambar powder - 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 strand
Hing/ Asafeotida - a pinch/ 1/4 tsp
Coriander leaves - chopped (optional)
Oil - 2 tsp
Salt - to taste

Method:

• Pressure cook the toor dal along with chopped onions, tomatoes, parwal pieces, green chilly, and ginger
• If using tamarind paste, add the tamarind paste at this stage, mix well, add salt to-taste and boil for a minute. Add the sambar powder and mix well
• If using lemon juice, just add salt to taste along with the sambar powder and boil for a minute
• Add water to adjust the thickness or consistency according to your preference and allow to simmer on low flame
• Heat oil in a tadka pan, temper the mustard seeds, add hing, curry leaves, and turmeric and red chilly powder at the very end
• Add this to the sambar, and stir well without breaking the parwal pieces
• Garnish with coriander leaves
  

Another view

Serve with rice.

Note: I avoid the use of tamarind as much as possible. I add more tomatoes and use lemon juice as a substitute. I also do not use red chillies in the seasoning/ tadka process.

Dal Roti

Being tired of the normal Dal curries, but wishing to include it in my diet, I thought of using it in making rotis quite accidentally. The toor dal being cooked for Sambhar got slightly burnt at the bottom of the vessel, and I managed to salvage the remaining. Since I did not want to make curry out of it, as it may give a burnt taste, I decided to make rotis out of it. One of my roomies (during the good old days when we were eligible spinsters living together and cooking) used to make rotis out of left over dal curry. This is how I made the dal rotis.

You will need:

Dal - cooked and mashed - 1 cup
Wheat flour/ Atta - 2 cups
Jeera powder - 1 tsp
Garam Masala powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp (optional)
Methi powder - 1 tsp (optional)
Oil - 2 tbsp
Salt - to taste

Method:

• Knead the atta along with all the ingredients, cover and keep aside for 30 minutes
• Heat the griddle and start rolling out small round portions of the dough with a rolling pin
• If you wish to add oil, as you would while making parathas, feel free to do so
• Make the rotis on the griddle, and again add 1/4 tsp oil, if you wish to

Serve hot with Yam Masala or any other vegetable side dish

Masala Chana

Chana (chickpea) or Kadala is used to make Kadala curry by Ama for breakfast, to go with Puttu. At home, we don't usually prefer the kadala curry. Because of the protein content, I try to use chickpea in some form atleast once a week. This weekend, to make a side dish for Ajwain rice (recipe here), I decided to make the Masala Chana. The recipe is not that of the typical Masala Chana made in North India. You will require:

Black Chana/ Kadala/ Chick peas - 2 cups

Chopped Onions - 1/2 cup

Ginger and Garlic - pounded - 2 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Red chilly powder - 1 tsp

Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp

Jeera powder - 1 tsp

Garam Masala - 1/4 tsp

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Oil - 2 tsp

Curry leaves - 1 strand

Coriander leaves - chopped - 2 tbsp

Method:

• Soak the chana overnight and pressure cook for two whistles or boil to cook
• Heat oil in a pan and temper the mustard seeds and add curry leaves
• Add chopped onions, ginger, and garlic and fry until the onions turn light brown
• Add the turmeric, red chilly, coriander, and jeera powder and mix well
• Mix the cooked chana dal and cook on low flame with the pan covered for about 5 minutes
• Remove cover, add the garam masala and mix well
• Garnish with coriander leaves

Serve with rice, bread, chapathi, wheat dosa, or wheat rava upma

Cherupayar (Green Gram) Curry

Cherupayar or Green Gram curry is usually served with Puttu/ Dosa/ Bread for breakfast, with rice gruel for lunch, and with chapathis for dinner by my mother (not 3 times a day, though!). I love it with Puttu and Bread the most.

The ingredients for the curry seen in the picture are:

Cherupayar or Green Gram - 1 cup

Grated coconut - 1/4 cup

Curry leaves - one strand

Chopped onion - 1

Ginger paste - 1 tsp (optional)

Garlic - 2-3 cloves (optional)

Turmeric and Red Chilly powder

Jeera or Cummin powder

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Oil - 2 tsp

Salt - to taste

Method:

• Pressure cook the green gram along with ginger and garlic and onion
• Heat pan, add oil and splutter mustard seeds
• Add the curry leaves, turmeric, chilly and jeera powder
• Immediately add the contents from the pressure pan
• Mix the grated coconut, stir well, and bring to boil

Serve hot with bread, dosa, chapathi, or rice gruel

Simple meal for lunch

After the breakfast of Dosa and chutney, I was so bored watching TV and playing puzzles with my daughter, that I decided to help Amma in the kitchen today. When I suggested I will help her wash the dishes, she said that I might as well decide what to prepare for lunch.
I opened the refrigerator to find kaya (plantain-1) and payar (yardlong beans-100 gms), and washed and cut them into small pieces. To make the kaya-payar thoran seen in the picture, you will also need:

Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
Red chilly powder - 1 tsp
Grated coconut - 2 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 strand
Oil - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste

Method:

• Add the finely cut kaya and payar pieces into a kadai with 1 cup of water and bring to boil
• Add turmeric, chilly powder and salt
• Cover the kadai and let the water dry
• Add grated coconut and curry leaves along with 1 tsp of oil

You may season with mustard seeds spluttered in oil along with the curry leaves

Serve with Rice/ Chapathi

The most common gravy curries made by Amma are Sambhar, different vegetable curries with Moru (buttermilk) and coconut as base, masala curries, curries with puli etc.

As I was given the option to choose, I decided to make a simple daal curry. Daal or lentil is rich in protein and easy to cook. Of the many varieties of daal, yellow daal is used in sambhar, and that is what I chose to make today, along with tomatoes.

To make Tomato-Daal you will need:

Yellow daal - 2 cups
Tomatoes chopped - 3
Ginger chopped - 1 tsp
Garlic - 2 cloves
Green chilly - 1
Curry leaves - 1 strand
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Red chilly powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Jeera powder - 1 tsp Oil - 1 tsp

Method:

• Pessure cook the yellow daal, chopped tomatoes, green chilly, crushed ginger-garlic paste with 2 cups of water
• After 4-5 whistles over medium flame, allow the cooker to cool down
• Heat a pan on low flame, and add the turmeric powder, red chilly powder, coriander powder, and jeera powder to it.
• Remove immediately, open the cooker, and add the powder mixture.
• Turn on the flame and stir the mixture well, adding boiled water to make a smooth curry.
• Add salt to taste
• Splutter mustard seeds and add curry leaves to the oil heated in a pan
• Season with coriander leaves, if you wish

Serve with Rice/ Chapathi