Pepper Dal

Pepper Dal

Dal is not one of my favourite side dish for roti mainly because I find it a bit bland and boring. However, my husband likes a simple tadka dal with rotis. Depending on how much time I have in the morning, I may exclude lentil in our lunch and on such days I add it to our dinner menu. One such day, it was on the menu but I was also considering an extra dish to spice things up. How easily i forgot I had a baby at home! Long story short, I had no time and had to rush. Then, bingo, I thought it aubergines in mung dal worked quite well, why will capsicum/pepper in tuvar dal not work. So that’s how I created this dish and I must say that this is the best dal dish that I have ever had. We were literally scraping the dish as we could not get enough of it! How much flavour a cooking process like charring can add is really surprising. Now to the recipe...

½ cup tuvar dal, pressure cooked

1 large green pepper

1 large red pepper

1 onion, finely chopped

½ tomato, cubed

1 teapsoon cumin seeds

1 teaspoon coriander powder

½ teaspoon dhansak masala or garam masala

Handful of coriander leaves

Salt to taste

Turmeric powder

4 cloves garlic, chopped

Char the peppers in direct flame, cool and peel them. Chop roughly and keep aside (sorry, no pic of that)

Heat some oil, add cumin seeds and once brown add onions and garlic. Fry until it just starts to brown

Add the peppers and tomatoes and fry until tomato is just cooked

Add coriander powder, turmeric powder and dhansak masala powder, salt

Add cooked dal and some water and simmer for about five minutes. Make sure there is enough water and bear in mind that it will become thicker as it cools down

Add chopped coriander leaves and serve with fresh rotis/chapatti or rice

Soya Vegetable Biryani

Soya Vegetable Biryani

Biryani is a very popular rice dish, especially he non vegetarian ones are a favourite for many. I have tried vegetable biryani in many places but there are very few that I liked. In general, it takes a bit of time to do it the traditional way. Traditionally one will have to grind spices, partially cook rice and vegetables and layer them and cook them until done. However, these days, I barely get time to cook and often, I get time in bits and bobs so any dish that needs constant attention is out of question. Today was no exception, we had a long night and grabbed the opportunity to sleep in the morning leaving me very little time to cook. I had a packet of hyderabadi biryani masala powder by MDH in my shelf and like all spices, it is better to use them as soon as possible. For that reason, I thought I will make biryani. My previous attempts to make biryani were not particularly successful as I was not very happy with the results. This box of spices was for lamb biryani, hold on, it is only a spice blend and there is nothing non-vegetarian in the spices itself. I wanted to substitute the lamb with some other protein instead and soya chunks caught my eye. I am not sure I will buy soya chunks again as it is processed soya after all, but am undecided about it. I wanted to use what I had but have to sneak it as my husband does not quite like it. With all this together, came along a wonderful biryani and it tasted absolutely spot on. Certainly a keeper! I have observed that using spice blends meant for non vegetarian dishes is quite good in vegetarian versions. Now for the recipe...

Handful of soya chunks, boiled and cooked till done

2 cups mixed vegetables

1 large onion, chopped

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 teaspooon coriander powder

Turmeric powder

1 teaspoon chilly powder

4 cloves garlic

1 heaped teaspoon biryani masala

1 tomato, chopped

1 tablespoon yogurt

2 teaspoon ghee

Cooking oil

2 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves

1 cup rice, cook so grains are fluffy

Heat some oil and some of the ghee mentioned. Add cumin seeds and once it browns, add the onions and crushed garlic

After the onions begin to change colour, add tomato and turmeric powder

Once tomato starts turning mushy, add the vegetables and cook until almost done

Add the cooked soya chunks, coriander powder and chilly powder

Heat the remaining ghee and little bit more oil and fry the briyani masala, this will wake up all the spices in it and make it more flavourful

Add the masala and yogurt and cook until it is aromatic and all moisture has gone

Add rice, salt, mix and garnish with coriander leaves, serve!

Carrot Cake with Curd Cheese topping (eggless)

Carrot Cake (Eggless)

I have been seeing Rachel Allen’s cake diaries whenever I get time these days. I have become her fan as she makes cake making seem so simple and easy. The other reason I like her recipes is because I think it is easier to make it to my taste and preference i.e. reduce fat and eggless etc. I saw her making this carrot cake and knew straight away that I have to make it. Her recipe called for couple of eggs and loads of sugar. I thought this could be my opportunity to try other egg substitutes.

Although I am a food blogger, sometimes I am a bit wary of trying new ingredients for fear of allergic reactions. After some deliberation and postponing for a long time, I finally gave flax meal a try. Flax meal is nothing but ground flax seed. Flax seed has incredible health benefits ranging from high fibre content to providing some good fat. When some flax meal is mixed with water and allowed to sit for a short time, it forms a gelatinous fluid and this is what makes it a good egg substitute. However, it is said to impart a nutty flavour and said to make the baked dish dense. In this case, it was not a problem for me so went ahead using it. I replaced one egg with flax meal and other with milk.

Her original recipe called for cream cheese icing, however, I did not want to add that much fat and chose to make hung curd. Or those who do not know hung curd or curd cheese, take a colander and put a kitchen towel on it and pour the yogurt and sit on a deep dish so the liquid from yogurt drips. To prevent it from going sour, sit this in the fridge.

I chose almonds and mixed dry fruits instead of walnuts and loads of sugar. I cut down the sugar quite a bit this way. I also reduced the oil but I think it could be reduced further as this is an incredibly moist cake. Addition of wholemeal self rising flour was also my tweak. In the end, the cake was incredibly moist and you will not know it is eggless. The icing was irresistible and I was in love with the cake. This is my favourite cake I have ever created. A must try!

2 grated carrots

100g self rising flour

75g wholemeal self rising flour

1/3 cup milk

1 tablespoon flax meal

75g chopped almonds and mixed dry fruits

½ teaspoon baking powder

160ml oil (2/3 cups)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon or cardamom or mixed spice

Pinch of salt

120g soft brown sugar

2 tablespoon water

For icing

300g yogurt hung to make curd cheese

2 tablespoon icing sugar

Zest of 1 orange

Preheat oven to 150degC. Line and grease a loaf tin

Mix the flax meal with 3 tablespoon hot water and keep aside

Sift the flours and add salt, sugar, nuts and dry fruits, baking powder and spice powder

Add the milk, flax meal mixture, carrot, oil and water as required to make a batter to spooning consistency

Pour this into the loaf tin and bake for about 1 hr 10 minutes, the top will be nice and brown

Cool in the tin for about 10 minutes then on the rack

For the icing, mix together all ingredients mentioned and spread it on the cooled cake