Moong Dal And Fenugreek Leaves (Methi,Vendaya Keerai) Paniyarams

          When I get tired of making the same idlis and dosas, I like to make these paniyarams, most of the time, I'll use the same idli/dosa batter for making it, but sometimes I make a different and separate batter. When I saw this Moong Dal Paniyarams, I wanted to give it a try. The batter is made with split moong dal/payatham paruppu ( with skin ) and to make it more flavorful and nutritious, I have also added some sauteed methi leaves. The paniyarams came out soft and fluffy, you can serve it as a snack, for breakfast or dinner and it goes very well with a spicy chutney..

Thotakura Pappu, Amaranth Leaves With Lentils

          After that long post 'Shaam Savera' last week, I wanted to start this week with a simple dish, Thotakura Pappu. This is basically a greens and lentil preparation and a simple everyday Andhra ( a state in India) dish. We have used Amaranth leaves, known as Thotakura in Telugu and pappu means dal/lentils and we have used tuvar dal/pigeon peas in this dish. Serve this with some hot white rice and a fry or some nice spicy pickle on the side for a simple and delicious meal..

Dal Makhani, Creamy Lentils

          Dal Makhani, I know it's a favorite for many people, but I like Dal Tadka better than this, I found this always very creamy. So, till recently, I never made it at home, even now, I made it for the blog and to my surprise I liked the homemade version with lesser cream. Whole Urad dal with the skin is the main ingredient here and it's supposed to be very good for you. Usually at restaurants, they make this dish very rich and creamy, but when making at home, you can use very little cream and make it healthier. The Dal Makhani turned out too good and it goes well with both rotis and pilafs..

Hitikida Avarekalu Saaru, Hyacinth Beans (Field Beans) Curry

          Like I had mentioned in an earlier post, this Avarekalu season, I had bought a few pounds of it and had tried a couple of dishes with them. Today's dish is the most common dish that's made during the season, Avarekalu Saaru. It's a simple and delicious gravy and it goes very well with rice, rotis, idlis, dosas or if you like Ragi Mudde ( Ragi Balls, post coming soon ), then, this is the best combination with it. We use the beans after removing the skin, so it's known as Hitikida Avarekalu Saaru. Though the season is almost done for this year, if you are in the US, you can still make this dish with frozen surti papdi lilva, or even with dry beans..

Rajma Sundal, Red Kidney Beans Sundal ( Snack )

          Rajma/Red Kidney Beans, this is one of my favorite beans, I simply love rajma chawal ( rajma curry with rice ), so every time I cook rajma, I always end up making rajma curry. This sundal, I had made long time back during Navratri, but I am posting it now only. Since rajma doesn't taste like chickpeas, we need to add some spice and coconut to make this sundal tasty. We don't need any festival to make sundals, in fact whenever I make a gravy that does not have dal/lentils in it, then I try to make up for the protein with some kind of sundal. This is also a very healthy and filling evening snack for kids and adults as well..

Payatham Payaru Sweet Sundal, Moong Bean Sweet Sundal

          This Payatham Payaru Sweet Sundal had been on my do list for a long time, finally I did it today. This is again a simple recipe, the only part that has to been taken care is cooking the moong beans perfectly, they should be cooked well but at the same time not mushy. We add a little jaggery to give a slight sweetish taste to the sundal, other than that, everything else is like the regular sundal..

Fresh Lobia ( Karamani, Black Eyed Beans ) Curry

          Today's dish, a curry with fresh lobia/karamani/ black eyed beans is another dish that I had made sometime back. Though dried lobia is available easily, fresh karamani is not found every time, so whenever I find fresh beans like this, I always buy and stock some. We can make all the dishes that we make with dried beans with these fresh ones, no need of soaking and of course they taste awesome. I have added some capsicum for some flavor and also a paste of coconut, small onions and fennel seeds to make a thick curry. We had it with rotis, but the curry would go very well with any kind of pilaf too..

Paruppu Thogayal, Lentil Chutney

          As I had mentioned in my last post, today's dish is the simple and tasty Paruppu Thogayal or Lentil Chutney. When I say Paruppu/Lentils, I mean tuvar dal or arhar dal or split pigeon pea and the thogayal needs just 3 more ingredients along with the dal. An easy and flavorful chutney that makes a perfect combination with the Sundakkai Vathal kuzhambu, serve it with some hot white rice, drizzled with ghee or sesame oil and some sutta appalam ( pappads ) for a simple and delicious lunch..

Cholar Dal, Bengali Style Chana Dal ( Lentils )

          Though Bengali cuisine is more famous for non-vegetarian dishes, especially fish, there are still many vegetarian dishes that we can try, and I really liked the few dishes that I had a chance to taste at a restaurant here. Today's dish is one of them, Cholar Dal, it's chana dal cooked in Bengali style, this dal has a slight sweet taste from the raisins and sugar added, it's not very spicy and has a nice flavor from the ghee and coconut pieces and goes really well with luchis..

Dal Tadka ( Lentils )

          Whenever we ordered naans at restaurants, we usually order some kind of dal and vegetable curry to go with it. When it comes to dal/lentils, my personal favorite is always dal tadka, I simply love the flavor of the tadka/seasoning, cumin and garlic seasoned in ghee gives an amzing flavor to this dish. I have used a combination of masoor dal/ red lentils and moong dal/husked green gram, again, masoor dal has a unique flavor, it's a very simple dish but extremely tasty with both rotis and rice..

Payatham Paruppu Sundal, Moong Dal ( Green Gram ) Sundal

          Another Sundal for Navratri, Payatham Paruppu/Paasi Paruppu/Moong Dal/Husked Split Green Gram Sundal. This is very easy to make and tastes very good with the grated coconut added to it. Cooking the moong dal perfectly without making it mushy is the tricky part, other than that, it is so simple to make, very healthy and delicious snack..

Kadala Curry, Brown Chickpeas Curry

          Kadala Curry is a very popular dish in Kerala ( a state in India ), it's mostly served with puttu ( a steamed dish made with rice flour ). We use brown chickpeas ( it's more nutritious than the white variety ) for this curry, and it's cooked in a coconut based gravy. The flavor is very distinct and it tastes equally good even with idlis and dosas..

Radish Dal, Radish And Lentils

          Radish, though I buy this vegetable, almost every week, I have posted only a few dishes with it, the reason being, I use it only in a couple of dishes, most of the time, in a sambar, stir fry or parathas. For a change, I wanted to try out a dal with this vegetable. I have used split moong dal ( green gram ) with skin, it's a very simple dish, using basic ingredients in the Indian kitchen, goes very well with rotis and rice and a nice way to sneak in the vegetable, the kids would never be able to pick it out..

Vendiya Keerai Kootu, Methi ( Fenugreek Leaves ) With Tuvar Dal

          Vendiya Keerai, Methi or Fenugreek Leaves, whenever I see a nice fresh bunch, I always buy it. Even if I don't use it the same day, I clean, chop and freeze it and add it later to sambar or curries. Only recently I have started making this kootu and now this has become my favorite dish with these leaves. It's a very simple and healthy dish, tastes great when mixed with rice or even with some rotis..

Appalam Kootu, Dal With Pappads

          Appala Kootu, a dal/ lentil dish where at the end, you add fried pappads to the curry, I tasted this so many years back, I liked the taste but those were the days when I had no idea about cooking. Later I had noted it down from some magazine, I don't remember it, and then once again, totally forgot about it. Recently while sorting out things, I saw this piece of paper with the recipe, and this time I made it the very next day. It's a very simple dish, no chopping vegetables or grinding masalas involved, but the taste is awesome. It tastes very good when mixed with plain rice, also goes equally well with rotis and dosas too..

Dali Varan, Lentil Gravy

          Couple of months back I bought this cook book Rasachandrika, a very old book on Saraswat cooking, originally written in Marathi and later translated in Hindi and then in English. The first edition of the book came out in 1943 and I love the picture on the front cover, showing an Indian kitchen in the 1940's. There are many interesting recipes, and I tried this Dali Varan, a simple gravy with tuvar dal/ split pigeon peas. It's like our sambar, but tastes a little different and goes very well with plain white rice or even with idlis and dosas..

Kurumilagu (Fresh Green Peppercorns) Dal

          Kurumilagu or Fresh Green Peppercorns, this is not available everywhere, but when I get them I do this dal with it. When we went to Coorg, I came to know that pepper, cardamom and vanilla beans are grown along with the coffee plants. When we were shown around the coffee estate, I saw these pepper plants and the green peppercorns in them. The guide plucked me some and I brought them with me to Bangalore. This is a very simple dal, I have used tuvar dal/ split pigeon peas and flavored the dal with some garlic and the green peppercorns and it goes well with both rice as well as rotis..

Potato And Lentils, Aloo Dal

          On weekdays, when I pack lunch, and when it's rotis, I try to make some side dish that has some protein in it, usually by adding some dal/ lentils or some form of soy, so that it's filling and doesn't make you hungry very soon. Today's dish is one such, I have cooked moong dal along with potatoes, and I have added kasuri methi which gives the dal a nice flavor. This is so easy to make, you have to only dice the potatoes and tomatoes and the entire cooking can be done in the pressure pan. This dal goes very well with pilafs, rotis or even with dosas..

Zucchini Dal, Zucchini With Lentils

          After all the sundal and sweet recipes last week, I thought I'll post a simple dal recipe today. The same dal/ lentils, when cooked with different spices and a different vegetable gets an entirely new flavor and taste. For today's dal I have used tuvar dal/ split pigeon peas, zucchini and seasoned it with panch phoron. This is a very easy recipe, extremely flavorful  and it goes very well with both rice and rotis..

Black Eyed Peas Sundal, Karamani Sundal

          As I had said before, I am going to post only Navarathri recipes this whole week. So today's post is again another sundal, Black Eyed Peas Sundal/ Karamani Sundal. We can cook the black eyed peas and just do the simple seasoning with mustard seeds, asafoetida and curry leaves, in fact we can do this simple seasoning with all the beans or lentils. To make it a little different and to add a nice flavor, I have used some freshly ground spices and added it to the cooked black eyed peas, and also a little jaggery which gives a light sweet taste to this delicious sundal..