Subru Uncles Toor Ki Dal Sindhi Style Dad Mom And I Love And Recipes

SUBRU UNCLE'S TOOR KI DAL(SINDHI STYLE) DAD, MOM AND I LOVE AND

Steps:

• Pressure cook the lentils (toor dal) in a pressure cooker alongwith 6 cups of water until the lentils are tender.
• Heat oil in a pot on medium-high flame.
• Once its hot, add mustard seeds, methi seeds and cumin seeds.
• Allow to splutter and crackle.
• Once they stop doing so, add in the curry leaves and ginger.
• Stir-fry for 5 minutes until the raw smell of ginger is gone.
• Add asafoetida powder and continue to stir-fry for another 5-7 minutes.
• Toss in the green chillies, mix well and continue to stir-fry for another 2-3 minutes.
• Then add in the tomatoes and 1/4 cup of water to cook the tomatoes.
• Mix well and cook on high flame until the tomatoes are softened.
• Add salt, red chilli powder and turmeric powder.
• Mix well.
• Extract tamarind pulp from tamarind to use as tamarind water.
• To do this, soak about 3 inches piece of tamarind in 1 cup of hot water.
• Squeeze to extract the tamarind pulp and let it mix with the water to form'tamarind water' (that's what I call it).
• There is no need to pass this through a strainer- use it directly!
• Measure out 2/3 cup of tamarind water in a cup and add this tamarind water to the tomato mixture.
• Mix well and allow it to cook on medium-high flame for 5 minutes.
• In the meantime, open the pressure cooker (by this time the lentils will be tender and the whistle would have blown) and with the help of a beater/mashing tool (we use what we call a'mandira' in Hindi. This is a long wooden spoon with a round base that we use for mashing lentils, bananas, etc), in round circular motions, mash the lentils completely, until they mix with the water in which they were being cooked.
• Now add 5 cups of water alongwith the lentil and water mixture that was used to cook the lentils. Add the tamarind-tomato mixture, mixing gracefully, as you sing your favourite kitchen song side-by-side!
• Allow this to come to a boil.
• Lower flame and cook for 10 more minutes on a simmer.
• Remove from flame and serve immediately with cooked long-grain white Basmati rice.
• Serve hot (we serve it immediately because it doesn't taste very good once it gets cold) alongwith low-fat plain yogurt on the side for a complete wonderful Asian-Indian meal in rice and lentil curry heaven!
• My brother, Manav, says that my wud-be hubby is a lucky man cos I'll cook this for him and oh my, my bro adores this curry!
• Please note: If you have a sore throat, a running nose, fever, cough and cold, then PLEASE omit the tamarind altogether because using tamarind juice in this recipe when you have a bad throat, will only make your throat worse. This curry cooks awesome even without the tamarind juice. Enjoy!

SUBRU UNCLE'S DOODHI CHANE KI DAL ( YELLOW LENTILS WITH PUMPKIN

Steps:

• Heat oil in a pressure cooker or pot on medium flame.
• Once the oil is hot, lower flame and add cumin seeds to it.
• Allow to crackle.
• Once it stops crackling, add ginger, garlic, onion and green chillies.
• Mix well and stir-fry until the raw smell of ginger and garlic is gone, and the onions are softened.
• Drain the chana dal (lentils) and add it to the ginger-garlic mixture. Then, add the turmeric powder, kasoori methi, red chilli powder, salt, white pumpkin and the tomatoes.
• Mix well and add water to allow the lentils to cook.
• Cover and cook on medium flame for 20 minutes or till the lentils are soft {upto 3-4 whistles in your pressure cooker should be heard before you remove the cooker from heat}.
• Serve with rotis or bread or Dad's Half-way Sindhi and half-way yellow rice recipe.
• Enjoy!

PUNJABI DAL MAKHANI

Steps:

• Soak whole black urad and rajma overnight in 3-4 cups of water.
• Cook the soaked dal and rajma in the same water with salt, red chili powder and half the chopped ginger till dal and rajma are cooked and soft.
• Peel and chop the onion, ginger and garlic finely. Also chop the tomatoes.
• Heat oil and butter in a thick-bottomed pan. Add cumin seeds, when it crackles add chopped onions and fry till golden brown.
• Add chopped ginger, garlic and chopped tomatoes. Sauté till tomatoes are well mashed and fat starts to leave the masala. Add boiled dal and rajma to this.Do not add the liquid at first.Crush(mash) the dals with the back of the ladle while stirring continuously, this gives that creamy texture to the dal .
• Add the liquid and some water if required and simmer on very low heat for fifteen minutes.
• Add fresh cream and garam masala powder let it simmer for another five minutes. Finish off with a couple of pinch of Kasoori methi powdered.
• Serve hot with Naan or Paraatha.
• Tip: Replacing the tomatoes with 4 tablespoons of thick tomato paste will enhance the taste and colour of the dish manifold.

A RAMCHANDANI SPECIAL: SUBRU UNCLE'S TRADITIONAL SINDHI CURRY MO

Steps:

• Boil the potatoes in plenty of water until tender, drain and keep aside.
• In the meantime, heat oil in a pot.
• Add fenugreek (methi) seeds and allow it to crackle.
• Once it stops crackling and turns lightly golden brown, add cumin seeds and allow to crackle.
• Once it stops crackling, add 10-15 fresh curry leaves, green chillies and ginger.
• Mix well and stir-fry until the raw smell of ginger is gone.
• This takes about 5 minutes.
• Then add gramflour and stir-fry it for 20 minutes, mixing it continuously, on low flame, until it is no longer raw taste-wise.
• (Note: Use 5 tsps. heaped of gramflour).
• Add the remaining 10 fresh curry leaves alongwith asafoetida powder.
• Stir-fry for 3-4 minutes on high flame.
• Stir in water, turmeric powder and red chilli powder.
• Add tomatoes, yam and flat Indian beans (guavar).
• Bring to a boil.
• Lower flame, add 4 tsps.
• of salt and mix well.
• Allow the curry to come to a boil twice (two times) again.
• In the meantime, soak the ladyfinger with 1 tsp.
• of salt in 1 cup of tamarind water (see the following steps to know how to make it).
• Bring this to a boil.
• This step is done so as to ensure that the ladyfinger will not break while cooking in the curry.
• (This is a special tip passed on to me from Subru uncle!).
• Add all the chopped vegetables now alongwith the ladyfinger mixture (add the water as well in which you boiled the ladyfinger), mix well and boil for 30 minutes.
• In the meantime, soak about 3 inches of tamarind in 1 cup of hot water and squeeze out the pulp from the tamarind as nicely as you can.
• Measure out 1 cup of this pulp.
• This pulp is what I call'tamarind water'.
• Note that the consistency of this tamarind water should be such that it consists more of tamarind and less of water.
• Now add this tamarind water to the curry.
• Boil for 30 minutes.
• Remove from flame, garnish with corriander leaves and serve hot with cooked long-grain Basmati rice and/or low-fat plain yogurt for a complete meal in Asian-Indian curry and veggie food heaven!
• Please note: When we prepare this curry at home (every Friday for lunch this is a staple in my home!), we do not use carrots and white pumpkin, that's why I have mentioned these as optional ingredients.
• You can use them if you wish to.
• ENJOY!

SOOJI KA UPMA (SEMOLINA UPMA)

Steps:

• Put oil in a wok and heat for a minute.
• Add mustard seeds, channa dal, urad dal and onion.
• Add semolina and saute until light brown.
• Add remaining ingredients, except coconut, and mix well.
• Cook on medium heat for 15 minutes.