Aloo-Saag Dum

Here is a delicious twist on the dum aloo recipe. This recipe uses fresh spinach and yoghurt for the flavorful and spicy gravy. Potatoes are boiled and added to gravy and simmered on low heat until the masalas are nicely absorbed.  Ideal companion for this dish would be a hot buttery naan but for a busy Thursday night meal cooked at home, Khichadi will have to do.

12 baby potatoes, boiled in 6-8 cups of water
About 3 cups chopped saag/spinach
2-3 table spoon oil
1/2 tea spoon of chopped green chili
1/4 tea spoon of grated ginger
1/2 tea spoon coriander powder
1/4 tea spoon cumin powder
1/2 tea spoon garam masala
1/4 tea spoon red chili powder
3/4  cup sour yoghurt, whisked
About a tea spoon of Salt,  1/4 tea spoon turmeric, a pinch of hing

1. Boil or steam cook potatoes in a pressure cooker
2. In a pan heat oil and add 1/2 tea spoon of cumin seeds and hing.
3. Add chopped spinach, ginger, chili, and turmeric.
4. Saute on medium heat until spinach is coooked.  About 10 minutes.
5.  Add all the spices/masalas, mix well and cook further for about 5 minutes.
6. Add whisked yoghurt, salt  and 1/2 cup of water.
7.  Simmer the gravy on low heat for a few mintue and taste and adjust salt and other masalas to your taste. 5 minutes.
8. Add baby potatoes  and stir gently to coat them with the gravy. 8  minutes.

Note:
1. Sour yoghurt will give this curry a nice tangy and spicy taste.  If yoghurt is not sour, you can add 1/4 tea spoon of amchoor powder along with the other spices/masalas.

2. If potatoes are not too smalll, first steam them as usual and then cut each in half before adding to the gravy.

Thotakura Moong Dal

Thotakura/Dantina Soppu/Amaranth/Chinese spinach is not as easily found or available as the regular spinach, at least here in SFO bay area. That really must be the case otherwise my friendly Indian grocer here wouldn’t have handed it to me so enthusiastically when I was vege shopping at his store.  I bought a big bunch of it just because it’s Thotakura, the revered one among greens.

This very tasty Moong dal with amaranth leaves  was a result  my of spur of the moment culinary instincts. As the leaves were getting gently sauteed in the pan, it just made sense to add sliced red onions and then some tomatoes for a slightly tangy taste. And Voila!  a wonderful, delicious Moong dal was ready for dinner.

3/4 cup Moong Dal
2 cups, loosely packed amaranth leaves/dantina soppu/thotakura/Chinese spinach
1 medium size onion, sliced
1 large tomato cut into big chunks
2 green chilies
1/2 tea spoon grated ginger
1/2 tea spoon red chili powder (use less if you prefer a mild dal)
1 table spoon ghee/oil
1/4 tea spoon turmeric/haldi
1/2 tea spoon each of mustard seeds and cumin seeds
salt

1. Wash Moong dal 2-3 times with water.
2. Add 3 cups of water and cook until almost soft. (Take care to not make it mushy)
3. In a big pan add 1 table spoon of ghee/oil and do a veghar/tadka with mustard seeds and cumin seeds.
4. Add chopped thotakura, green chilies, ginger, and onions. Cook for 8-10 minutes stirring now and then.
5. Add chopped tomatoes, 1/2 tea spoon red chili powder, 1/4 tea spoon turmeric, and 1 tea spoon salt. Mix well.
6. Cook for 5 more minutes and add cooked Moong dal.
7. Taste, adjust salt, add some more water, if required, to make a dal of medium thick consistency.
8. Bring the dal to a boil and take it off the stove.

Dinner today was Roti, Bhindi subzi, Moong dal, yoghurt,  and rice. And yes, Gulab jamoon made last week to celebrate a birthday.

Mango Ras and Poori

Ras-Rotli conjures up cozy memories of relishing this classic Gujarati combo for lunch and then slumbering away the afternoon… Ever tried this ? If not, give it a try. There is no special recipe to making this but you do need to  make rotis at  home and smear generous amount of ghee on it. If you can’t make rotis, how about pooris? Either way, this is a very unique combination of plain and exotic.

 

For Mango Ras, select a few good quality, sweet, ripe mangoes. The traditional way is to kind of press and massage the mango softly (an art in itself)  for a few minutes and then squeeze the juice out but you can just blend the cut mango pieces in a blender and strain the pulp to get a smooth Mango pulp.  Add cardamom powder, if you like. Chill the smooth pulp in the fridge for a few  hours. Eat with pooris or soft rotis.

Pooris:

2 Cups wheat flour

2 tea spoon oil

1/2 tea spoon salt

1/2 cup COLD water

Mix the first three ingredients and then add water to the flour. Knead into a smooth dough such that you can roll pooris  without using flour. Deep fry the pooris.

Enjoy!