Chettinadu Thakali Pachadi | Tomato Dal

This is what I make when I am lazy or get tired of the usual sambar/rasam/kuzhambu/kootu to go along with rice. This is extremely simple, easy and quick to make, not to mention finger licking good. Just pair this Tomato Pachadi with Rice + ghee and some appalams and you have a delicious lunch ready in less than 30 min.

Ingredients

Serves - 4
Spice Level - Moderate
Prep Time - 10 min
Cook time - 20 min

Onion - 1 medium sized, chopped finely
Tomato - 3 large ripe, chopped into small pieces
Curry Leaves - 1 sprig
Green chilli - 3-4, slit lengthwise and cut in half
Salt - as per need
Hing - a generous pinch
Jeera seeds/Cumin - 1/2 Tsp
Mustard - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric - a pinch
Cooked Toor Dal/Tuvaram Paruppu - 1 cup
Tamarind paste - 2 Tsp
Oil - 2 Tbsp


How do you do it

1. Heat oil in a pan. Add hing, mustard, jeera seeds to pop and roast. Add onions and curry leaves, saute until onions start to turn a shade of brown.

2. Add the green chillies now and saute for a minute.

3. Add the chopped tomatoes, turmeric, salt and mix well. Cook covered until the tomatoes are mashed completely and ooze out juice. Should take about 10 min.

4. Now add the cooked toor dal, 1 cup water, more salt if needed and tamarind paste and mix well. Bring it to a boil and simmer on medium flame for about 5 minutes.

5. Add more water if you would like a more loose pachadi.

6. Once the right consistency has reached, remove from flame.

Serve with rice and pappads.

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Beetroot Leaves Dal

Beetroot is one of the veggies that I never forget to put in my shopping list every week but its the last one to be used from the fridge. Not my favorite vegetable at all and most of the time I consume it as soup - the recipe is here, because that's the only tasty way to get rid of the veggie :). I hardly venture into making beets poriyal/stir-fry which is the most common dish. If only deep-frying wasnt a sin I would probably make the yummy beetroot vadai all the time ;).

Beet leaves that came along with the veggie were new to me before moving to the US, back home they just sell the beetroot with no leaves on them. I normally discard the leaves, it never struck me to use them as another type of greens or that it could taste pretty good until recently. Now I save these up each time and make this absolutely lip-smacking dal with beet leaves and stems. The yummiest dal that I have made until now and pairs up great with soft home-made pulkas.

Ingredients

Serves - 3
Spice Level - Moderate
Prep Time - 15 min
Cook time - 30 min

Beet leaves and stems from 3-4 beets - washed and chopped finely [along with the stem]
Masoor Dal - 1/2 cup
Onion - 1 small, chopped finely
Garlic - 1 , chopped well
Ginger - 1 small piece, chopped finely
Green chilli - 2, slit into half
Tomato - 1 Large, chopped well
Red chilli powder - 1 Tsp
Garam Masala - 1 Tsp
Turmeric - a pinch
Salt - as per need
Jeera/Cumin seeds - 1 Tsp
Hing - a pinch
Oil - 1 Tbsp

How do you do it

1. Heat a pan with oil. Add hing and jeera seeds - let them crackle. Add onions, garlic, ginger and saute well.

2. Once the onions are cooked, add green chillies and saute for a minute. Add the tomatoes, little salt and turmeric and mix well. Once the tomatoes becomes soft and pulpy add all the spice powders - red chilli and garam masala and mix well.

3. Now add the masoor dal and wrap well, add the chopped beet leaves and mix again. Add 1-2 cups water, remaining salt - mix well. Cover and cook in medium flame until the dal gets cooked well and everything blends together . Add more water in between if necessary. Switch off flame when you have reached the desired consistency.

Masoor dal gets cooked pretty soon and you wouldn't need a pressure cooker for this recipe. Also the taste lies in the dal getting cooked slowly along with all the other ingredients. So keep it that way.

Serve this yummy dal with any favorite pulao of your of choice or with super soft pulkas.

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Lasooni Palak Dal \ Garlic flavored Lentils with Spinach

I make a very simple style dal which is the quickest dish that I can make to go along with chapathis/jeera rice etc and that is one of the main reason I make it so often too. Apart from that the taste of dal fry is so soothing and comforting. Sometimes when I want to make some really nice subji for rotis but do not have the mood to spend so much time in the the kitchen, I make more complicated varieties of Dal like palak dal, methi dal, panchratan dal etc. Palak Dal has been on my to-blog list for long and finally we are here. Though palak dal may not seem very different from the South India Keerai Kootu, taste-wise it is very different and the special tempering of garlic to this dal makes it absolutely delicious.

I would strongly recommend pairing this with either Jeera Rice or rotis :)

Ingredients

Serves - 4
Prep Time - 15 min
Cook time - 20 min
Spice Level - Moderate

Toor Dal - 3/4 cup
Spinach - 250 gm, 1 bunch, washed well, stems removed, and chopped well
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
Green chillies - 4
Onion - 1 small sized, chopped well
Tomato - 1 , chopped well
Ginger - 1 small piece, chopped well
Garlic - 2 cloves, chopped well
Jeera seeds - 1 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1 Tsp
Garam Masala - 1/2 Tsp
Oil - 2 Tsp

For seasoning

Oil - 2 Tsp
Hing - a pinch
Mustard seeds - 1 Tsp
Garlic cloves - 4 , finely chopped
Dry red chilli - 1

How do you do it

1. Pressure cook dal with turmeric and 2 green chillies well. Once done, mash the dal well and keep aside.

2. Heat oil in a pan. Add jeera seeds, ginger and garlic. Saute well until they are slightly browned. Add the onion and remaining two chopped green chillies and saute until the onions are cooked. Next, add the chopped tomatoes and cook well. Once they become soft and pulpy add the red chilli powder and garam masala and cook for a minute.

3. Add the spinach and salt now and saute well until the leaves wilt. About 5-7 minutes. Once the spinach is cooked well, add in the cooked dal and mix well. Bring to slow boil and let all the flavours blend.

4. In another pan, bring 2 tsp oil to heat. Add hing, mustard seeds to pop. Add the garlic cloves, dry red chilli and cook until the garlic pieces are browned. Dont let these over brown, that will result in a bitter taste in the dish. Burnt garlic is something that we dont want here :). Once done, pour this tempering into the dal and mix well. Let it sit like that for 10-15 minutes.

5. Serve hot with rotis or Jeera Rice.

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