Moong Dal Kattu - Green Gram Soup

Moong dal is also known as green gram or mung bean and is widely eaten in Asia.  It is used to make savory (soups and dosas) and sweet dishes (laddu, halwa, Lunar New Year cookies, and sweet soups). 

One of my favorite ways to eat this lentil is kattu or soup.  It is comforting and nutritious. Let's see how to make it...

Ingredients
- 1 cup whole moong dal (green gram)
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 2 to 3 green chilies, finely chopped
- 1 tsp salt (or to taste)
- 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
- 2 to 3 cherry tomatoes (optional)

For seasoning
- 1 Tbsp Vegetable oil
- ½ tsp mustard seeds
- ½ tsp whole cumin
- a pinch of Hing
- 4 to 6 fresh/dry curry leaves, chopped (optional)


Cooking Instructions
1) Place the moong dal into a pressure cooker/ pan and add 2 cups of water, pressure for 6 to 8 minutes or until you get 5 to 6 whistles. (You can also cook the moong dal on low/medium heat with 2-½ cups of water in a small Dutch oven until the dal is cooked to a soft texture.)

2) After the pressure is released, open the cooker and lightly mash the dal. Add more water to the required consistency. Then add salt, turmeric powder, and the seasoning (see instructions for seasoning).

Instructions for Seasoning

• Heat oil in a small skillet on low heat. Hover your palm over the skillet to see if you can feel the heat. When you feel the heat, add mustard and cumin seeds. When the seeds splutter, add Hing and then the chopped onions and garlic. Stir for 1 to 2 minutes until onions are transparent and garlic gives out its flavor. Next, add the curry leaves, stir for another 20 seconds and then transfer the seasoning into the cooked dal to cook them together. 

3) Next, bring the mixture to a boil for 1 minute and turn off the heat. The kattu or soup is ready to be enjoyed.  

Quick Tips:

You can eat the moong dal kattu on its own like lentil soup or like I do with warm Basmati rice. I also munch on fryums while eating it. 

 

The fryums on the left are what they look like in the bag. The fryums on the right are what they look like puffing up in the microwave. We suggest 30 to 60 seconds depending on the number of fryums.

Silky Broccoli Parmesan Soup

Recently, my grandma had to go to the hospital for some testing. In preparation for the test, the hospital emailed us a detailed list of all the food she had to avoid for 24 hours but maintain a high protein, low carbohydrate diet. My mom and I were trying to figure what that means and what to make for dinner that evening.  

You see, non-vegetarians can manage with boiled/steamed chicken or fish and vegetables. My grandmother is a pure vegetarian and has certain diet restrictions. After browsing through our pantry and refrigerator, we settled on soup. Everyone loves soup. 

Below is our version of a "creamy" and silky Broccoli Parmesan soup that is both high in protein and low in fat. 

Ingredients

- 3/4 lb Broccoli floret

- 1 tsp ginger-garlic paste

- 1/2 tsp chili paste

- 1-1/2 cups milk

- 2 Tbsp milk powder

- 1 Tbsp olive oil

- fried onions or croutons, for garnish

- 1/2 tsp salt or as needed

- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Procedure

Cut the broccoli floret into 1/2 inch pieces including the stalk. Make sure to peel the stalk before cutting it into pieces and transfer the broccoli pieces into a microwaveable container. Next, add ginger-garlic paste, chili paste, milk powder, and drizzle with olive oil. Microwave with covered lid for three minutes. Transfer the steamed broccoli into a blender and add milk and 1/3 cup of water and blend it to a smooth consistency. Transfer the soup into a saucepan and add Parmesan cheese and bring it to a boil. If it is very thick, add additional water or milk. Serve the soup hot, garnishing with fried onions or croutons. 

Quick Tip

We recommend using a high powered blender like the Vitamix blender or Magic Bullet for blending the ingredients together. 

It's Pumpkin Picking Time!!

Pumpkins, Pumpkins, everywhere!

It's that time of the season again. What's your favorite variety? I never knew there were so many varieties of pumpkins until I went to farmers' markets and picking myself. Curiosity got the best of me and I decided to do a little digging to learn more about this "fruit". Did you know that it was a fruit? Each variety has unique attributes in color, texture, taste and usage (such as baking, cooking, decorating). Here's some interesting nutritional facts:

- High in fiber
- Low in calories, cholesterol, and Saturated fat
- A good source of:
            - Vitamin A
            - Vitamin E
            - Thiamin
            - Niacin
            - Vitamin B6
            - Folate
            - Iron
            - Magnesium
            - Potassium
            - Phosphorus and more
- Even the seeds are high in protein, iron, & B vitamins.  

Now that we know a bit more about their nutritional value, it's time to get cooking. But which type of pumpkin is good for baking and/or cooking? New England Sugar or Baby Pam Sugar Pies are good for baking because they tend to have a sweeter flavor. For Indian cooking, we prefer West Indian Pumpkin also known as Calabaza Squash. It's great for curries and spicy soups. Check out our recipes below:

Seasoned Pumpkin & Butternut Squash Curry

Chunky Pumpkin Sambhar





  

Warm Up This Autumn with David's Bottle Gourds Sambhar

Our first dish of the season was contributed by guest blogger, David Huggett who hails from Roanoke, Virginia. Join us as we discover and learn more about David's adventures in South Indian cooking:

As a home chef who holds the cuisine of India as a personal favorite, I consider it to be quite an honor to be invited by Jahnavi to write this guest post. I'm a big fan of her blog and the recipes which she and her mother create. 
Let me begin by stating that I am an American and have never traveled to India. However, I have long held a keen interest in the food and culture of the sub-continent. As a young man, I was first introduced to Indian cuisine by the kindness of a friend's family and several excellent restaurants in the Washington D.C. area. I was quite intrigued by the complexity of flavors and soon, I began experimenting with my own Indian inspired dishes. Thus began my twenty year journey into learning to prepare dishes from different areas of India, and to be as close to authentic as I know how to do.
At a recent trip to an Indian grocer, I was interested in the big beautiful Bottle Gourds, which were for sale. I asked the lady operating the store how I might prepare the gourd, and specifically asked if it would go well in sambhar. She explained that this is known in parts of India as Dudhi, and it would indeed work well in sambhar. I bought two dudhi and the store keeper threw in a nice aborigine (eggplant) and Wax Gourd.

Here's the recipe for Dudhi Sambhar that I prepared for my family recently.

Ingredients:
- 1 Dudhi (Bottle Gourd)
- 1 Wax Gourd
- 1 Capsicum or Green Bell Pepper
- 1 Aborgine or Baby Eggplant
- 1 large Onion
- 1 firm medium Tomato
- 1 cup Chana Dal
- 1 tbsp Sambhar powder
- 1 tbsp dry Tamarind
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Turmeric
- A pinch of Asafetida
 For the seasoning:
- 3 tbsp Butter or ghee
- 1 tsp Cumin seeds
- 1 tsp Mustard seeds
- Dozen fresh Curry Leaves


Procedure:
We begin preparing the sambhar by lightly toasting the chana dal until fragrant.

In a pressure cooker, add the lightly toasted dal, 3 cups of water, salt, turmeric and asafetida. Bring to pressure and after 10 minutes, remove pressure cooker from heat and allow pressure to drop before opening the lid. Then mash well.

Peel dudhi and wax gourd and chop them into 1" cubes. Add them to the dal along with 1 cup of water. Place closed pressure cooker back on medium heat and bring to pressure. Once it reaches 10 lbs pressure, remove from heat and allow pressure to reduce.
Meanwhile, roughly chop the onion and capsicum. In a separate pan, heat the two tablespoons of butter. Toss in cumin, mustard seeds and curry leaves. Add onion and fry at medium heat until the mixture begins to turn golden brown. Add capsicum and stir for one minute. Then add chopped tomato, Sambhar powder, and salt. Fry this mixture for several minutes until tomatoes have become pasty and oil begins to separate from the vegetables.

Stir a small portion of the dal mixture into the onions and then return that to the dal. Soak dry tamarind in some lukewarm water for ten minutes and strain this into the dal. Allow the dish to simmer for 10 more minutes to allow the raw tamarind taste to cook out. Heat one tablespoon of butter in a pan. Add the fresh curry leaves and fry for 30 seconds. Drizzle the butter over the sambhar. Serve with Basmatic rice and chappati.


Check out more of David's Indian cooking...

~Reinvented Chili - Desi Style~

We found a way to help all our readers keep warm during this winter. Put aside all those canned soups, and spice up your cuisine a bit with some good ol' homemade Chili. We're not talkin' about any ol' chili now. This is chili made desi style.

It is actually called Rajma and it is made with red kidney beans. Coincidentally,  red kidney beans are called Rajma in Hindi specifically because of this dish. It is made with just the right amount of spices, protein, and carbohydrates to create a good wholesome meal for the season.

So go ahead, try your hand at this dish and warm up your tummy.

Main Ingredients

Ingredients for Serving size of 6:

• 1 pound 13 ounces (822g) Goya Red Kidney beans
• 1 medium Potato, (microwaved for 3 min)
• 1 large Red Onion, peeled and chopped finely
• 1 ½ cups Crushed Tomatoes
• 1 tbsp Garam masala
• 1 tsp Ginger garlic paste
• 1 tsp Cumin seeds
• ½ tsp Turmeric powder
• 1 tsp Chili powder
• 3 tbsp Vegetable oil
• ¼ cup Fresh Coriander, chopped for garnish (Optional)

Procedure:
1) Pour the beans from the can into a colander and wash them thoroughly under running water & drain.

2) Peel the potato and cut into cubes.

3)  Heat oil in a heavy bottomed saucepan, add jeera and when it starts to sizzle add grated onion. Saute it until golden brown; add ginger garlic paste, turmeric & chili powder. Mix well.

4)  Add crushed tomato into the mixture and stir it for 2-3 minutes until the raw taste is gone. Now
add the beans and the potato cubes and mix. Add salt, garam masala, and some water to the desired consistency. Cook well under low-medium heat for 10 – 15min.

5) If using a pressure cooker instead of the saucepan, pressure cook for 10 minutes.

Now the rajma is ready to be served. Grab a bowl full with a side of rotis or naan as your bread for dipping. It can also be eaten with hot jeera rice or plain basmati rice. We served this dish at Thanksgiving as well and it was an instant hit and all gone by the end of dinner.

Everything Stew with an Indian Touch!

You've heard of the Everything Bagel, right?

It has different kinds of seeds, onions, salt and other ingredients on it. Well, we have something in the same line but it's a stew. It's called the Everything Stew! It's like a Minestrone Soup. 

It has all the vegetables that were in our vegetable drawer plus beans, grains, different kinds of spices and sauces.

I always believe that the best recipes are the ones that you make up on a whim. Everything Stew is just that. My mom started making the stew this way when we were running out of ideas for lunch and needed to make something healthy and hearty. At first, I was not excited about it, I was like, stew? Come on mom.

But you know what, as usual I was wrong. I think my mom knows I'll change my mind once I taste it (I'm the Official Taste Tester in the family). Kind of like how back in the Kings and Queens era, they had peons and servants taste their food before they ate it. It was to ensure that the food was not poisoned or spoiled. In my case, I tell her whether the food requires more or less of a certain ingredient.

I know, it might seem like I'm being biased to my mom's cooking. Everyone would say their mom's cooking is the best. You just have to try it. I would recommend making this when you want to spice up cooking regime. I like to eat it with potato chips, toasted bread or pita chips.

This recipe makes 6-8 servings and you know what....in just 4 steps you have The Everything Stew!!

Click image to enlarge

Ingredients:
- 1 cup or 1 packet of Brown rice/ Uncle Ben’s rice (cooked)
- 1 bunch of Celery, finely chopped
- 1 medium Onion, chopped
- 1 can (14.75oz/418g) of Sweet Corn, regular or cream style
- 1 medium size can of Beans (any variety), wash and drain well
- 1½ cup of Crushed Tomato
- 2 tsp of Ginger garlic paste
- 1 tsp of Red chili pd / paste
- 2 Red/green/yellow peppers, cut into ½” pieces
- 1 tbsp of Smoked barbeque sauce (optional)
- 2 tbsp of Olive oil or any cooking oil
- 1 tsp of Marjoram (Italian spice)
- ½ tbsp of Salt

Procedure:
1) In a heavy bottomed pan (casserole), preferably of 4 Qtz size heat oil and sauté onions and ginger garlic paste. (Indian Touch)

2) Add celery and peppers until celery is soft and firm. When celery is cooked, add chili paste and tomato pulp for 1-2min.

3) Then add corn, beans, cooked rice, marjoram and salt & cook well (add water to bring the stew to a thick soup consistency).

4) Serve it in a bowl along with veggie sticks or garlic bread or toast. It makes a very satisfying healthy lunch. Can be stored in the refrigerator for 1-week.

Quick Tips: 
- Barley/ Cracked wheat (dalia) or regular rice can be substituted for brown rice. Any variety of vegetables like carrots, zucchini, cabbage, cauliflower, beans or spinach can be used.

- If available, frozen mixed vegetable packets are convenient and save time in chopping and cooking.