Basil Pesto - Simply Italian - Made in 5 minutes

I instantly fell in love with Pesto when I tasted it for the first time - in Rome! Yes, the most authentic Pesto one could ever get! Earlier, I knew that pesto is analogous to Indian "thogayal" and that, it is very simple to make. But when I tried it myself, I was really amazed at the wonderful flavor that comes when we put together fresh basil leaves, olive oil, pine nuts and some parmesan!  It is one easy recipe that even a beginner could get right easily! :-)

Ingredients -

 1/2 cup basil leaves
 3 tbsp pine nuts
 3 tbsp pure olive oil
 1 garlic clove
 1 tsp lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
 3 tbsp Parmesan cheese
 a pinch each of sugar, salt and pepper

Method -

Blend basil leaves, pinenuts and garlic in a food processor.

Add olive oil, lemon juice, salt, sugar and pepper and blend again. You can freeze this paste at this stage if you're not planning to eat pesto today.

When required, bring close to room temperature and blend with parmesan cheese! Voila! All you now need is to cook some pasta. Saute the prepared pesto with a little bit (~ 2 tsp) of olive oil and let pesto coat the pasta well! Bon Appetit! :-)

Elbow pasta with Pesto

Reference : http://www.pickyourown.org/pesto.php

Dal Makhani aka Maa ki Dal - Punjabi Cuisine

After a hat-trick of sweet recipes, I thought I should post something spicy for a change. I am at my mom's place right now and she won't let me cook anything elaborate, so I browsed through my Drafts and found this one waiting to be beautified and posted :-)

I had made this months ago when I had invited some friends home for lunch on a Sunday.  Dal Makhani is a sumptuous dish full of nutrition from dals/lentils and the cream on top to finish just makes this a super-hit with everyone! :-)  It goes very well with both rice and roti varieties alike. I generally make a simple Garlic Rice or Jeera Rice and they make a good pair.

Dal Makhani

Let me take you through a pictorial first :-)

Rajma and Black whole Urad dal soaked in water overnight

Tadka with butter, zeera and red chillies

Onions fried

Tomatoes mushed up

Add spices, cooked dal and finish with cream :-)

What I Used -

Rajma / Red Bean- 1/2 cup

Whole Black Urad Dal - 3/4 cup

Onions - 1 medium

Tomatoes - 2 medium (Using additional Tomato puree greatly enhances the taste)

Fresh Cream - 4 tbsp + 1 tbsp

Spices To Temper - Tadka - Thalikka -

Butter - 1 tbsp

Jeera - 1 tsp

Red chillies - 4

Ginger-Garlic paste - 1 tsp

Turmeric / Haldi - 1/4 tsp

Red chilli powder - 1 1/2 tsp (I used Kashmiri variety for a rich color)  

Dhania powder / coriander powder - 3/4 tsp

Cinnamon, cloves, cardamom spice mix - 3/4 tsp (you can get them pre-made from your Indian store or powder them yourself using your dry spice grinder)

Kitchen King Masala - 3/4 tsp

Salt - taste

How To -

• Soak the lentils overnight with enough water. Drain the water and pressure-cook the dals with sufficient (fresh) water for 4-5 whistles (It's okay to over-cook than to under-cook the lentils) .You could add salt as well. Wait for the pressure to get released naturally.
• Take a kadai, melt butter and add jeera. When they crackle, add red chillies and then add ginger-garlic paste.
• Add finely sliced/chopped onions and let them turn brown.
• Add chopped tomatoes and let them turn mushy.
• Add the spice powders - turmeric, red chilli powder, coriander powder, kitchne king and the cardamom-cinnamom-cloves spice mix.
• Add the water/ stock from the cooked dal and then slowly add the lentils and lower the flame. Let the dals absorb the flavors form the masalas. Close with a lid for about 5-7 minutes.
• Tip : I like to mash up about 4 tbsp of cooked dal and then add to the gravy. This gives thickness to the gravy and also a good flavor to Dal Makhani as such :-)

• Check for salt.
• Add cream and mix well and you can see the gravy coming together as a thick, creamy mixture :-)
• Serve hot. You could add another tablespoon of cream just before serving! :-)

Isn't it inviting ??

Onion Sambar - Madras Style - with ghee-fried mini-onions ground with coconut

Onion Sambar and Potato Curry is the classic combination that any South-Indian (vegetarian) would love to eat on any given day! This is a very traditional recipe and I've tried my best to preserve its authenticity. Both my mom as well as mom-in-law make this wonderfully super-delicious! (Pardon my excessive use of adjectives, but I really wanted to emphasize that). Do try it once and you're sure to make it again and again! 

Vengaya Sambar - Onion Sambar

Yield - for 4 people (or 2 people * 2 meals)

Time - 45 minutes to an hour

Ingredients :

Toor dal - 2 handfuls (about 3/4 th of a cup)

Red Onion - 1 big (or 2 medium)

Mini onions/ Sambar onions - about 25

Set A - 

Bengal gram dal/Channa dal (கடலை பருப்பு ) - 1 1/2 tbsp

Dhania / Coriander seeds - 1 1/2 tbsp

Dry Red Chillies - 4 (remove stalks and break into 2)

Mini onions - about 6-8 ~ preferred (or) Half of a big onion

Grated Coconut (Fresh or frozen) - 1 handful 

Asafoetida / Hing (பெரும்காயம்) - 1/4 tsp

Oil - 1 tsp

Set B -

Tamarind - about the size of a lemon

Ghee / Clarified butter - 1 tsp

Black Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Curry leaves - a few

Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp (Use the solid block for better taste, as shown here)

Turmeric / हल्दी/ மஞ்சள் பொடி - 1/2 tsp
Sambar powder - 3 tsp (Any brand will do, as long as you like it. I use Ambika's )

Salt - to taste
Coriander leaves/ Cilantro - to garnish
Jaggery - 1 tsp (optional)

Procedure :

Preparatory steps - 

1. Pressure-cook toor dal (துவரம் பருப்பு) with 3 times water, for 3 to 4 whistles.
2. Peel the big onion as well as the minions. 

            Tip ~ Soak the small onions in water for about 15 minutes and then start peeling them. They would  soften a bit and would yield easily.

You could do these the previous night, if you want to save time in the morning rush hour :) Please remember to refrigerate the cooked dal and the peeled onions. 

Making of the Sambar -

 

• Soak tamarind in 200 ml of warm water (to save time) for about 10 minutes and extract tamarind juice. Discard the seeds and strands. 

• In the mean time, take a tsp of oil in a kadai, keep it on medium-high heat and roast Set A ingredients. Once they turn slightly reddish, switch off the flame, transfer to a heat-tolerant bowl and allow to cool. Grind into a fine paste after about 20 minutes.

Paste for onion-sambar, roasted in a little oil

Paste after grinding

• Take the same kadai, melt ghee (Clarified butter) and fry the mini onions as well as the medium-sized ones (cubed). You may sprinkle a little salt now. Enjoy the awesome aroma  :)

Onions fried in ghee

• Take your sambar vessel (usually flat bottomed and made of stainless-steel), pour the tamarind juice and add the fried onions.

• Add turmeric, asafoetida, salt and sambar powder. Let cook until the smell of tamarind disappears slowly. That's about 5-7 minutes.

• Now, add the ground paste from Set A ingredients. Let boil for 5 minutes.

• Add the water from the cooked toor dal first. Then, mash the dal and add to the sambar vessel. Mix well and allow it to boil for about 7-10 minutes.

• Check for salt. At this stage, I would like to add a little jaggery. That really enhances the taste of the sambar.

• Temper with mustard seeds and curry leaves. You could actually start with mustard and curry leaves in ghee before frying the onions :)

Onion Sambar -Madras Style

• Garnish with coriander leaves.

Enjoy Sambar rice with Potato Curry or Chepankizhangu roast This is indeed, a combo made in heaven

Reposting this for "Only South Indian" event at Foodelicious