HALASANDE KAALU and SOPPU `MUDHPALYA'

Protein packed dish which goes well both with rice and chapatis. Very easy to make. Got bored of usual stuff and tried this and came out well.

You need:

Halsande kaaLu(bharbhati/lobia)                1/2 cup
Togari beLe (Tuvar)                                    1/4 cup (mainly to get thick palya)
DanTu/Chakota/Palak                                  3 cups (finely chopped)
Salt                                                              1 teaspoon
Tamarind extract                                          1/2 spoon if thick
HuLi puDi(sambar powder)                        1 teaspoon
Grated coconut                                             1/2 cup
Oil                                                                1 teaspoon
Ingu (hing)                                                     1 pinch
Turmeric                                                        1 pinch
Curry leaves                                                  about 10
Jaggery                                                          1 teaspoon (optional)

How to make:

Soak halsande kaaLu and togari beLe for 2-3 hours.  Pressure cook till soft.
Cook greens.
Take oil in a kaDai, heat it. When hot add mustard. When it sputters, add ingu, curry leaves, turmeric and then add the cooked kaaLu and beLe, cooked greens, salt, tamarind juice, huLi puDi, jaggery and grated coconut.  Mix well and bring to boil. Boil for 2-3 minutes and turn off the stove.  Mudpalya is ready to serve or to eat :)

I enjoyed this with hot rice. Why don`t you try soon and let me know it came out?

PS: You can use other pulses like hesaru kaLu (whole green moong)

SAAGU (MIXED VEGETABLE)

Actually this is not only the favourite of mine, but everybody's. As a young girl I used to consume three chapatis in place of usual two, if there was saagu as a dish. Ajji makes wonderful saagu and you know that.


 Nutrition-wise also this is very good since it contains different varieties of  vegetables.


The vegetables that are suitable to prepare saagu are;

Cabbage
String beans
Chow Chow (seeme badane kai)
Peas
Corn
Beetroot
Carrot
Potato
Cauliflower

Cut the vegetable to about 1cm square pieces. There is no rule for the quantity of each vegetable to be taken, but suppose you have cut vegetables to fill a 1 litre container, let there be just one small potato and about 2" square piece of beetroot. This small piece will just give a good colour to the saagu.

Other Ingredients for masala (to be ground into a paste) :

Grated coconut 1 cup
Onion 1 midium, sliced
Roasted gram dal 2 level table spoons
Cinnamon 1" piece
Cumin 1 teaspoon
Ginger 1 inch
Green chilly 1

For seasoning:

Oil 2 teaspoons
Mustard seeds 1 teaspoon
Curry leaves 5-6
Haldi 1 pinch
Garlic 2-3 pods finely cut (if you like garlic)
Onion 1 big (finely cut)

You also need salt, one or two cups of water and a teaspoon of sugar

Method:

Cook all the vegetables in a microwave or in a pressure cooker. Take take care that it is not over cooked. In fact except potato, you can just half cook the vegetables such that one should be able to recognise each vegetable in the ready dish. Moreover, I feel it gives a better taste and the vitamins are also well retained thus.

Now keep a kadai on the flame and add oil. When hot, add mustard. When it sputters add curry leaves, cut garlic and onions and fry for one or two minutes. Add haldi, mix well and add the cooked vegetables. Add salt to taste. Mix well and add the ground masala. Add about a cup of water and mix well and bring it to boil. Let it boil for two minutes. It becomes very thick, add half or one cup of water more and bring to boil. Finally add a teaspoon of sugar.

This is a sabji which is a bit liquidy, but there will be no gravy separately. You can make out in the picture. It is a wonderful accompaniment for plain parathas and pooris.

ALU BHAJI

I learnt this dish from the cook who cooked for us and our guests for about a week, just before Shruthi's wedding. It tasted very good and everyone liked it. It is very easy too. Another good thing about this is, the ingredients needed to make this, is almost always there in everyone's kitchen. Want to try? Here is the recipe. Make the bhaji and give me the feedback.

Ingredients:

4 medium sized potatoes- cooked and mashed
2 medium sized onions- finely cut
1 big tomato- finely cut
1" piece ginger- grated
1/2 teaspoon mustard
1 pinch turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon red chilly powder
about 1 cup of water
1/2 teaspoon garam masala powder.
1 tablespoon cut coriander leaves
1 teaspoon oil
salt to taste
juice of half lemon


Procedure:

Keep kadai on the stove and put oil. Add mustard seeds. When it sputters, add ginger and cut onions. Fry for a minute and add turmeric and chilly powder. Mix well and add cut tomatoes. Fry till tomato is soft. Add mashed potatoes and add about a cup of water, salt and mix well. Let it boil for two minutes. Add garam masala and mix well. Turn off the stove. Add lemon juice and coriander leaves and mix well.

This is actually a gravy like sabji and so if it becomes hard on keeping, add some more water to get the proper consistency and boil for a minute. (There is a notion that after adding lemon juice you should not boil the dishes since the taste turns bitter. Actually it is not so)

Serves three or four.