Uttaranchali Sabut Masoor Ki Dal (Whole Lentil broth)

A meal of Rice, Sabut Masoor ki Dal, Palak ki sabji, Sprout Salad and Coriander-Mint Chutney

Uttaranchali Sabut Masoor Dal (Whole Brown Lentil) 

Whole pulses and grains carry many nutrients which are lost during splitting the dal and removing the thin colorful layer each dal (Pulse) has. The top layer is rich in vitamin B, Thus each of us should include the whole grains and pulses in our diet. Masoor dal is light brown to dark brownish grey in color from outside and orange in color from inside. Easy to digest very good in taste this dal can be combined with many other split pulses to make a mix pulse savory (Mixed dal). Best combination is Sabut masoor dal with plain boiled rice and some green vegetable and of course coriander – mint chutney which is such an integral part of Kumaoni meal. In Kumaon onion, garlic is not used for seasoning of any dal because many people avoid onion and garlic. I wish to tell something, the reason of which I have not understood till date, is that Masoor dal (Whole/Split), onion, garlic was forbidden for widows in Kumaon along with many other taboos. Why??? Things have changed for good since my generation.

Preparation Time: 5 min.

Cooking Time: 20-25 minutes

Servings: 4 Large Servings

Nutritional value Daal made from of 150 gm Sabut Masoor (Whole brown lentil) : (Approx.) 

Energy : 190 cals. 

Fats : 4gm

Carbs : 30 gm

Cholesterol : 0 

Dietary fibers : 12 gm

Proteins : 13gm

Sugars : 3gm

Sodium : 10 mg

Potassium : 731 mg

Vitamins : folates, Thiamine, Riboflavin, Naicin B6, Pentanoic acid 

Micronutrients: Selinium, Phosphorus, Magnesium, Iron, Copper. 

Due to high fiber content sabut masoor helps in avoiding constipation. 

It helps in lowering HDL and increases LDL. 

Helps in avoiding gestational diabetes. 

Ingredients Required For Making sabut Masoor dal (Whole Lentil):

• 150 gm. Whole Lentil (Sabut Masoor dal)

• 1 teaspoon Cumin Seeds

• 1 Pinch of Asafoetida

• 2-3 Whole Red Chilies

• 5 ml. Ghee

• 1 Teaspoon Jambu (Optional)

Jambu a Herb of higher region of Himalayas

• 4-5 Cloves

• 2 cm. Piece of Cinnamon

• Salt to taste

• 1/2Teaspoon Turmeric Powder

• 500 ml. Water

Directions For Making Sabut Masoor Dal:

• Clean and wash the masoor dal nicely.

• Soak washed dal in ml. water for 30 min.

• Add

• Turmeric

• Cinnamon

• 2 Cloves

• Salt

• Boil the dal and spices mixture till dal is soft to touch. (Dal should get mashed when pressed between fingers). 

Boiled Sabut Masoor

• Heat ghee in a pan and when the ghee is smoking hot, lower the flame.

• Add 
• 2-3 cloves

• Jeera (Cumin seeds)

• Whole red chilies

• Jambu

• Hing (Asafoetida).

• Cook for 30 sec. (The jambu and red chilies should become light brown in color. Wonderful aroma will come. Seasoning is ready.

Tadaka (Seasoning) for Sabut Masoor Ki Dal

• Add the seasoning (Tadaka) to boiled dal and cover the dal.

• Add water to the dal if the dal is too thick for your liking and give just one boil. 

Uttaranchali Sabut Masoor Ki Dal

• Serve hot with rice with Palak / methi / lai vegetable as side dish.

Rice, Sabut Masoor ki dal, Palak ki sabji, Sprout Salad and Coriander Mint Chutney

Tips:

• Do not boil the dal so much that it dissolves in water. The dal should be visible but soft.

• Do not add too much water. Watery masoor dal does not taste good.

• If the dal is soaked and cooked in pressure cooker then it takes 10 min. for the dal to be cooked. In open vessel it takes at least 45 min.

Suggested Variations:

• Jambu is not available everywhere therefore instead of jambu pinch of oregano can be taken.

• Though garlic and onion are not used in Kumaon in dal but sabut Masoor tastes great with the tempering of onion and garlic with predominantly garlic flavor.

• Cut finely

• One small onion

• 8-10 cloves of garlic

• 1 green chili

• 2 cm. Piece Ginger

• Shallow fry onion and garlic in hot ghee till light brown.

• Add ginger and green chili. Cook for one min.

• Add boiled dal and cook with stirring till it starts boiling.

• Remove from heat and serve.

Minty-Paneer Tikka/पुदीना - पनीर टिक्का (Mint Flavor Barbecued cottage Cheese)

Minty-Paneer Tikka

Paneer tikka is made in many different ways and each preparation is absolutely delicious. Paneer, Mushrooms, chicken, Fish when marinated and barbecued to make tikka are best. The smoky, minty flavor of hot barbecued Minty-paneer  makes it very special. Simple to make, healthy and completely devoid of oil this paneer tikka is weight watchers delight.

Preparation Time: 45 min.(Including marination time)

Cooking Time: 5 -7 Minutes for each skewer

Servings: 10-12 pieces of Minty- Paneer Tikka

Ingredients required for making Minty-paneer Tikka:

• 250 gm. Paneer ( Cottage cheese/ Ricotta cheese)

• 1 Medium size Fresh coriander bunch (Cilantro)

• 15-20 Fresh Mint sprigs

• 100 gm. Fresh thick Curd

• 1 Tea spoon Coriander Powder

• Salt to taste

• 2 Tea spoon Amchur Powder
• Bell pepper of different colors

Directions For Making Minty- Paneer Tikka:

• Cut paneer to 4 cm. Cubed.

• Clean coriander sprigs (Cilantro)of any fellow leaves and hard stem.Wash coriander sprigs in running water.

• Clean mint of hard stem and discard the hard stem. Wash the leaves and soft portion of mint in running water.

• Grind mint, coriander and green chilies to thick paste.

Green Paste of Cilantro (Dhaniya patta), Mint, and green chilies

•  In a bowl take

• Curd

• Salt

• Coriander-mint paste

• Amchur

Curd, Green paste, Amchur and salt

• Beat to make uniform paste for marinade.

Thick creamy green marinade for Minty-Paneer Tikka

• Dip paneer cubes in the marinade and keep in a bowl.

• Pour remaining marinade on the top of paneer pieces. Cover and keep aside for marinating for minimum 30 minutes.

Paneer cubes Marinated in green Marinade

•  Remove the stem and seeds from pepperoni and cut bell peppers to 4 cm. cubes.

• Skewer the marinated paneer piece and bell pepper pieces alternately at a distance of 1-2 cm.

Marinated Paneer and Yellow Pepperoni in skewer

• Barbecue the paneer on the red hot amber with regular turning of the skewer.

Paneer marinated in green marinade being barbecued

• Remove the skewer from amber the moment paneer starts getting dark brown edges. It will take 4-5 min. for paneer tikka to be cooked to perfection.

• Serve hot Hara Paneer tikka with Coriander-mint chutney as an appetizer and with Laccha Paratha and chutney for main meal.

Minty-Paneer Tikka (Barbecued Green paneer Tikka)

 Tips:

• Make sure curd is thick otherwise the marinade will become too runny.

• Paneer should be fresh and juicy not brittle and old.

• If the paneer has been kept in deep fridge then allow it to stand at room temperature till it becomes soft, do not thaw in micro-wave or dip in hot water.

• Turning of skewer during cooking on hot coal is must to ensure even cooking.

• One paneer piece can be sandwiched between two pepperoni pieces.

Suggested Variations:

• Other vegetables like cauliflower, thick round pieces of carrots round tick pieces of brinjal can be marinated along with paneer and skewered with paneer for barbecuing.

• Gravy of cashew can be made and just before serving hot barbecued Minty- paneer tikka can be added to hot cashew gravy and served as main course with Roti/parantha/Laccha Parantha.

  http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.com/2011/10/roti-indian-bread-no-oil-dry-so-low-on.html

  http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.in/2013/10/lachcha-parantha-pan-fried-indian-bread.html

Making dough for Roti and Paratha (Dough for indian bread)

Soft, pliable dough for roti / paratha

The quality of dough is the deciding factor how good the roti / paratha are made. Hard dough and roti / paratha will not be soft, gooey dough and rolling the dough to roti / paratha will become extremely difficult. I learnt this truth hard way. After marriage when I entered my kitchen I had no Idea how to make dough for roti. I added water to flour and it became thin so I added some more flour and mixed. Now it became hard. I kept on repeating this and for myself and my husband landed up making dough of one Kg flour. Dough sticking to my hands and on the plate, flour spilled on the kitchen platform was sight to be seen. When my maid came she had a hearty laugh at my cost. Since then 30 years have gone by and now wish to write about the process of making dough for the benefit of other so that nobody has to face the same fate as mine!!!

Preparation Time: 5 min.

Making Time: 10 min

Servings: Makes 12-15 Roti / 8-10 Paratha

Ingredients Required For Making Dough for Roti / Paratha:

• 250 gm. Whole Wheat flour

• 200ml. Water

Direction for Making Dough for Roti / Paratha:

• Take wheat flour in a bowl or big plate.

• Add 40-45 ml. of water and mix with your fingers till all water gets mixed.

Adding water in little portion

• Repeat again by adding 40-45 ml. water and mixing with remaining dry flour.

Mixing the flour and water

• Add 20-30 ml. water and mix collecting the dry flour with wet flour.

Kneading and mixing

• Start ploughing through the wet flour mixture with your knuckles and fist. This is called kneading. Mix the wet and dry flour in this process.

Kneading the flour to mix dry and wet flour

• Flatten the dryish dough which will be formed and add 25-30 ml. water and mix by kneading  folding the flattened dough due to kneading and kneading again.

Folding and Kneading to get soft dough

• Repeat this flattening and kneading action 2-3 times.

• Flatten the roughly made dough (It will be slightly hard and not pliable). Add 10 ml. of water and knead.

Dough almost ready

• While kneading the dough will flatten, fold and knead 4-5 times. This will make the dough soft  and  pliable.

Soft, pliable doughfor roti / paratha

• Store in airtight container.

• This dough can be kept in fridge for 3-4 days but outside the fridge at 35-38^oCit starts fermenting in 6-7 hrs.
• The amount of water required may vary by with the type of flour and the coarseness of flour.

Tips:

• Excess of water can make the dough gooey which can be made to proper dough by adding dry flour

• Hard dough can always be made to soft dough by adding water and kneading so add water in little proportions to avoid messy situation.

Suggested Variations:

• 1/2Teaspoon salt can be added to the flour before kneading.

• After the dough is made 1/2teaspoon oil can be sprinkled on the dough and made to big ball and stored.

• 1 Teaspoon oil  / ghee can be added to flour before making the dough.

Dum Aloo (Stuffed potatoes cooked in gravy, Main course, Vegetarian)

Dum-Aloo with cream dressing

Dum is a method of cooking in which the vessel with all ingredients is sealed and then placed on low heat without disturbing for the time duration required.  In earlier times when food was cooked on charcoal stove, Dum cooking used to be totally different as the subtle heat of charcoal stove is totally different than the heat of gas stove.  Baking in sealed vessel is the good alternative. Kashmir is famous for its scenic beauty and rich delicious food. Dum Aloo is prepared in almost whole of the Northern India with different variations but the one made in Kashmir is simply delicious and I place it in number one position. I give here my own version of Dum Aloo which my children love very much :)

Preparation Time:   20min.

Cooking Time: 60min.

Servings:  Makes six large servings.

Ingredients Required For Preparing Aloo for Dum Aloo:

• 250gm. Potatoes (medium size)

For Stuffing:

• 50 gm. Cottage cheese

• 4-5 cashew nuts

• 1 Tea spoon finely cut onion

• 1/4 Tea spoon finely cut Green chili

• 1/4tea spoon Amchur

• 2Tea spoon Mozilla cheese (optional)

• 50 gm. Corn flour

• Salt to taste

• Cooking oil for frying

Ingredients Required for gravy of Dum Aloo:

• 2 Medium size Onions

• 4-5 Cloves of garlic

• 2-3 cm. Piece of Ginger

• 1 Medium size Tomato

• 2cm. Piece of Cinnamon

• 2-3 Cloves

• 2 Bay leaves

Ingredients for Dum Aloo

• 10-15 ml. Cream

• 3-4 Teaspoon Grated Mozilla Cheese

• Red Chili powder to taste

• 1 Tea spoon Kashmiri Mirchi Powder

• 10ml. Cooking oil

Directions for Preparing Dum Aloo:

• Boil the potatoes.

• Peel them and cut to two equal halves.

• Scoop the center portion of the potatoes to form a cup of each half.

Boiled potato being scooped to make a cup

Cups of Boiled potato made to cup by scooping the center of potato

• Keep each half with its pair.

• Mash the potato pieces which have been obtained by scooping each piece of boiled potato.

• Take cheese, onion, cashew, salt, mashed scooping of potatoes, green chili and amchur.

• Mix all the ingredients in the bowl nicely.

Filling of Paneer, Mozilla cheese, onion, cashew and scooped potato pieces

• In a bowl take 3-4 tea spoon of corn flour and 2-3 spoon water. Mix to make a batter.

• Take each half of potato with a hollow in the center and fill the hollow with the cheese mixture.

One half of the boiled scooped potato being filled with the filling

Potato cups filled with the filling

•  Apply a little corn flour paste on the outer edges of the hollow and stick the two parts together.

Two filled halves being joined with the help of corn flour paste

•  Keep the filled potato aside to allow the two halves to stick to each other.

Two halves of stuffed Potato joined together

• Repeat with all the halved and scooped pair of potatoes.

• Roll the filled potatoes in corn flour to cover them with corn flour.

• Take oil in a thick bottom wok and heat on high flame, when the oil is smoking hot lower the flame.

• Put the potatoes one by one in the hot oil and fry to golden brown color on low flame.

Stuffed Potatoes rolled in corn flour and  being fried

• Potatoes are ready to be added to the gravy and cooked it dum.

Stuffed and fried potatoes for Dum Aloo

 Direction for Making Gravy for Dum Aloo:

• Peel and cut onions, garlic and grate ginger.

• Cut Tomato.

• Take 10 ml. cooking oil in a wok and heat it in high flame.

• When the oil is hot then add to it bay leaves, cloves and cinnamon.

• Let it cook for 30sec.

• Add cut onions and cook with regular stirring till they turn golden brown.

• Add garlic and ginger and cook for one min.

• Add tomato and cook till tomato pieces get cooked and become soft.

• Remove from gas and cool.

• Grind it to make a fine paste.

• Take a thick bottom pan with lid and take the paste of cooked spices in it.

• Add

• 100 ml. water

• Mozilla cheese

• Red chili powder

• Kashmiri Mirchi Powder

• Salt and mix nicely.

• Put stuffed potatoes in the gravy and cover with the lid.

• Seal the lid with dough of wheat flour,

• Keep a thick tawa (iron plate) on low flame and keep the pan with gravy and potatoes on it and let it cook in dum for at least 30min.

• Switch off the gas and let the pan be on hot tawa for another 10-15 min.

• Break the seal carefully.

• Open the lid and add cream.

• Give a gentle stir.

• Take out in a serving bowl and garnish with coriander leaves/ cherry/or simply ringlets of onion.

Aloo Dum

• Serve hot Dum Aloo with roti http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.com/2011/10/roti-indian-bread-no-oil-dry-so-low-on.html
  

  

  Aloo Dum with Paratha and Raita

     Tips:

• Make sure that the gravy is thinner than you require when you put potatoes to be cooked in it.

• Finally cooked gravy should never be flowing thin; it should be like cake batter.

• The pan taken for cooking in dum should be very thick bottom else dum aloo will burn.

 Suggested Variations:

• The gravy and fried potatoes can be taken in a glass container covered and sealed and baked at 180 C for 30 min.

• Into the cooked dum aloo finely cut and fried cashew and almonds can be added.

• Make Gravy Lazawab http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.com/2011/11/white-gravy-1.html,  or Creamy Delicious Gravy http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.com/2011/11/white-gravy-2.html  and cook stuffed fried potatoes in dum in  any of the two gravies.