Showing posts with label Dal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dal. Show all posts

Thursday, 13 March 2014

Mixed Vegetables in Gravy.....a trip to Pondicherry.....Fresh Homegrown Drumsticks

Ok a very long title, I know...but how do I cover all that I want to say in this post on a short tag...so never mind...let that remain...and we shall move on...
Drumsticks from Pondicherry
What is the connection u ask...well we went on a trip...you guessed it...:-) to Pondicherry ....what can I say - it was such an insightful trip...
Let me give you some background...before I continue....

I had never been to Pondicherry before I got married...but T (hubby) and his family had been there many times...they believe in Sri Aurobindo & Mother (a lady from France...whose original name is Mirra Alfassa) and so after my marriage I had made a few trips to Pondi, loved going there - it was a very serene, peaceful place.. and I also looked on it as a good break in our hectic lives full of work, home, and family....

Recently due to a whole lot of stuff happening - we had not visited for over 8-9 years...me longer as T had visited once in the interim period....and the past few years was stressful to say the least - esp. with regards to our families...parents, the inevitable happenings in the passage of life...leading to a lot of introspection, wondering about the what's why's and how's of life....

With all this going on...this trip happened (quite unexpectedly I should add )...and this time around things were very different for me at least...I focused more on the spirituality of the place, rather than viewing it as a holiday spot...and imbibed from the atmosphere and the feelings of all around me...felt that the change in my thoughts, feelings which had already begun... start to consolidate and am hopeful that this will affect my actions, attitude too gradually....
At home

For those who are not in the know - Pondicherry has an ashram which is the main spot for all to gather, people come there, meditate, pray, read books about the ashram's philosophy(we got a few too), there are a lot of ashramites who stay there, who have come from different places in India and abroad, from different walks of life, different professions, who have given up their original lives to make a new one here under the guidance of Sri Aurobindo and Mother...they work here, live here, excersise, meditate,  and follow the philosophies laid down.

Streets of Pondicherry
The few days we were there we too visited the ashram regularly, went to their meditation session, OM choir session, ate the very simple food that they prepare at their Dining hall  and generally tried to just live in that moment. It was a great experience.....

We met T's cousins there, and had another surprise of another cousin's daughter(L)  who was also visiting, met up with some of our old friends there(J&A, a very lovely couple...thank you for all your help, M&G we had a great time meeting up with you both too )...and on the return trip back had an opportunity to catch up with some more family in Chennai( and a delicious lunch, thanks S,and great meeting Ma & Sh there too) enroute to Mumbai...so all in all it was a very satisfying trip. 

Beach of Pondicherry
The beach at Pondi is so awesome...our evenings were spent sitting out there, taking walks, and generally soaking in the ambience...our ashram guest house was right on the beach road...



Tea in our balcony
so morning tea was on the 
balcony of our room with 
the ocean in front of us...
sigh...missing it already..








One of the Ashram guest houses

So where does the drumstick come in and mixed vegetables in a gravy ??? well let me start with the second...the menu in the dining hall in the afternoons used to be, rice, curd, bread, mixed veggies in gravy, and sometimes a banana...and at night there used to be a variation with a slightly sweetened dalia. It is surprising how we used to relish such a simple menu every day.

Monday, 1 July 2013

Rasam - Saaru ( A South Indian Speciality ) - Tomato & Lentil Soup

Rasam
 


Well this was a certainly a long time in coming...why is it that when we learn new dishes and recipes - some of the old ones fall by the wayside...at least it seems to happen to me. According to T - each of the different places that we have lived in had a totally new set of items on our regular menu...:-) .

I think maybe I do agree with him - cause there is no excuse for me not making one of my and all in our family's favourite dishes ...the absolutely mouth-watering  rasam ....more often. When we were kids - my sister used to love lunch when it was aloo ka subzi, rice, and rasam - the most simple and yummy fare...and when she was down or not too well and wanted to feel pampered Mom had to prepare this ...nothing else would do...we call it saar or saaru...and the recipe has undergone slight changes over the years...

Here's how I made it today...though this is one dish which could do with a lot of different additions or subtractions...and tastes best with plain steamed rice. It can also be had with vadas, in fact when in US whenever we went to a South Indian restaurant - we would start off with vada rasam, then move on to the rest of our meal...they would make it pretty spicy...the version given below is not as much...but that is something that can be upped if required...entirely as per your requirements. This can be had as a soup - a very tasty and spicy tomato & lentil soup.

Sunday, 9 September 2012

Adai Dosa



Adai Dosa
 

 It is our anniversary today – and we have planned to go out to dinner, but I had wanted to make something different, something special at home…so decided I would make dosa the previous evening for dinner along with sambhar, potato veggie, chutney….hubby loves dosas ( I think he married a south Indian hoping he would have dosa, idli  everyday,  didn’t happen ) …...but as I said special occasion calls for special dosa…and so today it was the turn of adai dosa…....a mix of various dals (lentils) & rice …..

For a South Indian idli, dosas are normally a common affair…. at Mom’s place she would make the regular rice-udad dal dosa, or else neer dosa – which is only rice ( some make it with coconut & rice ), and she had her own concoctions when she had leftover batter – she would add rava, or maida or even egg and increase the quantity so that she had sufficient dough for another breakfast ( that was when we normally had it ) ….

In my case initially I would make only the regular dosa – rice-udad dal combo, tried neer dosa a couple of times without much success…it requires a skill to pour the batter and turn the skillet  to cover the entire pan and make a paper thin dosa – my mom’s were so amazing that we would generally coax her to make some for us.

Later I broadened my scope ( thru net, friends etc..) and tried  few other variations of dosa – one of which is already on my blog – pesarattu and the other is adai dosa. Am hoping to attempt the neer dosa one day ( hopefully with more success than my previous attempts, wish me luck )….nyways thought I should post my adai on the blog, this is one of the tastiest dosa and sometimes I feel that it can be had on it’s own ( almost )…it is that good….and here’s how I go about it…..

Oh and before I get down to the recipe let me tell you that there are many different combinations and proportions for this recipe – you could try out your combi too….so not too worry about the exact proportions….if you do not have any one dal, omit it or use more of the others…

Ingredients:
1 cup regular rice
½ cup idli rice, or you can use boiled rice
½ cup each of tuvar, moong, chana, udad dal  ( total 2 cups )
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
2-3 green chillies
A few sprigs of coriander
1 medium onion chopped ( optional )
 

Method :
1)      Soak  both rice, all dals, fenugreek seeds in sufficient water for 6-8 hrs or overnight.
2)      Chop green chillies  roughly…and add to above mixture.
3)      Grind with little water to make a fine batter. Do not add too much water initially, you can add it later if required to get dosa batter consistency.


 
4)      Keep for 6-8 hrs or overnight, the batter will ferment and rise to twice it’s quantity.
5)      Add salt to taste and chopped coriander and lightly mix it in.
6)      Take a ladle full of batter and pour onto a non-stick pan. Keep on high heat for a minute and then reduce the heat, keep covered, after a minute check if dosa is done on one side, turn the dosa over and keep for a minute on medium to low heat on the other side.



 





7)      Once done on both sides – take out and serve hot.
8)      If adding onions  - you could either put it in the batter along with coriander or after pouring the batter onto the pan you could sprinkle the onions on the top.

Enjoy !!!

The dosa was a big hit – took some over to Mom’s too…she too loved it, made some mini masala utappam with it the next day ( day of anniversary – so breakfast also was made special )…..here’s wishing my dearest hubby a very happy anniversary….and a big thank you for all the wonderful years that we have spent together.

Monday, 6 August 2012

Pesarattu Dosa - Green Gram Dosa

Pesarattu
Green gram dosa

A few days back it was raksha bandhan / balev...and I wanted to make some sweet for the occasion - decided to make puran poli / vedmi...though that is not the ideal sweet for decorating the rakhi thali...but it has been some time since we had made it and it is a particular favourite of Mom's ( which is another odd thing...you would have thought that I would have probably made something my brother liked...but he is not that fussy about sweets - so it was ok ...I guess ...I hope...I think I had better ask?!?). Regardless it was a good raksha bandhan.....got calls from my sister-in-laws too wishing me...thank you To & Ru....

So nyways thought I would post that down - but the past few days was too busy, besides which I had not taken any pictures of the process or the end product....and now it is all eaten and done with...so maybe the next time I make it....

I had missed blogging the past week...and so when I made dosa yesterday, immediately got out my camera - took pictures before, after and during...and here I am...pictures and post all set to go...