Rajma

Difficulty: Easy | Prep Time: 1 Day | Cook Time: 30 mins| Yield: 4-5 servings

INGREDIENTS
1 cup Rajma (Red Kidney Beans)
1 medium Onion
1 medium Tomato
1 tsp Garlic Paste
¾” Ginger
½ tsp Red Chilli Powder*
4 tbsp Oil
Salt to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Pressure cook the rajma with some salt until its well done. The beans should crack a little once its well done. It normally takes about 10-15 mins. If you do not have a pressure cooker, you may cover and cook it in a pan but it'll take quite some time for the beans to cook properly.
2. Make fine julienne of the ginger piece, slice the onions and chop the tomatoes.
3. Now heat oil in a pan. Add the onions.
4. Fry till they turn light brown in colour.
5. Then add the ginger julienne and stir for about 10 secs.
   
6. Now add the garlic paste and again continue frying for another 10 secs.
7. Now add the tomatoes.
8. At this point add a little salt. This will help in softening the tomatoes quickly. But do keep in mind that the rajma has been already cooked with some salt in it.
   
9. Keep frying till the tomatoes are cooked. Now add the chilli powder and stir well.
10. Add the rajma to this mixture along with the water its been cooked in.**
11. Now simmer and cook for about 10-15 mins.
    
12. Once this is done, you'll find that the water has reduced to give you a nice thick and creamy consistency. If not, then uncover the lid and cook until you reach that consistency.
13. Check seasoning and adjust salt if required.
    
14. Rajma is synonymous with chawal (i.e. Rice) but you may also have it with roti or parathas.

NOTES
*Add according to taste.
**At this point you may also want to pressure cook the rajma again with the masala, if you feel its not well cooked yet. But this time you'll not need to pressure cook it for a long while.

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Vada

Difficulty: Medium | Prep Time: 30 mins | Cook Time: 15-20 mins| Yield: 12 Pieces

INGREDIENTS
1 cup Urad Daal
1” Ginger
2-3 Green Chillies*
Handful of Curry Leaves
½ tsp Baking powder
Salt to Taste
Oil for Deep Frying

DIRECTIONS

1. Wash and soak the daal for 15-20 mins. You may soak if for a longer duration, but min it would about 15 mins for it to get soaked properly.
2. While the daal is soaking, chop the ginger and the green chillies and wash and clean the curry leaves.
3. Now make a paste of the daal adding as little waster as possible.
   
4. Take the paste in a bowl and add the rest of the ingredients to it. Mix well.
   
5. Heat oil in a pan.
6. Take a handful of the daal mixture and then try to make a whole in it with your thumb while its still in your palm. Make a big whole as when you finally drop it into the oil, it'll tend to become small.**
7. Now turn over your palm and drop the daal mixture into the oil in that form. Make sure u don't burn your fingers here.
8. Now repeat for the rest and fry on medium to high heat till they are golden brown in colour.
   
9. Remove from heat and ideally serve with sambar and coconut chutney. But you can just simply have it with tea or coffee as it tastes good anyways!

NOTES
*Add according to taste.
**If making the wholes sounds difficult, then simply drop them into the oil without the whole. That's will give you round shaped vadas.

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Yellow Dal

Difficulty: Easy | Prep Time: 10 mins | Cook Time: 15 mins| Yield: 4-5 Servings

INGREDIENTS
½ cup Musoor Dal
½ small Onion
1 small Tomato
½ tsp Garlic Paste*
1 Green Chillie**
2 tsp Coriander Leave
¼ tsp Turmeric Powder
2 tbsp Oil
Salt to Taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Wash and cook the dal with 2 cups of water in a pressure cooker or in a pan. In a cooker it should take about 6-7 minutes, but in a pan it'll take longer.
2. In the meanwhile finely chop the onions, tomatoes, green chillie and coriander leaves.
3. Now heat the oil in a pan and the onions. Fry till golden brown.
4. Add the garlic paste and fry it for a few seconds with the onions.
5. Now add the turmeric powder. Stir
   Immediately add the tomatoes, green chillies and a little salt so that the tomatoes soften quickly.
6. Once the tomatoes are slightly cooked, add the dal stir and add salt again according to taste.
   
7. Let this come to a boil, add the coriander leaves and another cup of water.
8. Simmer and cook for another 5-10 mins till you get a nice consistency and the dal is not too watery.
9. Serve hot with steamed rice ot chapatis.

NOTES
*You may use julliens or chopped garlics as well.
** Use 2 green chillies if you like the dal to be a little more hot.

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Dosa

Difficulty: Medium | Prep Time: 1 Day | Cook Time: 1 Hour | Yield: 8 pieces

For the Filling

INGREDIENTS
2 large Potatoes
1 medium Onion
2 Green Chillies
½ tsp Mustard Seeds
8-10 Curry Leaves
2 tbsp Oil
Salt to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Clean and boil the potatoes.
2. Peal them and slightly mash them into uneven pieces.
3. Dice the onions and chop the chillies.
4. In a pan heat the oil and add the mustard seeds and the curry leaves.
5. Once the mustard seeds starts to splutter, add the onions.
6. Saute' till the onions are translucent.
7. Add the chillies and then the potatoes.
   
8. Add salt according to taste.
9. Stir for about a minute.
10. Remove from flame and leave it aside.

For the Dosa

INGREDIENTS
1 cup Rice
½ cup Urad Dal
2 tbsp Ghee
2 tbsp Oil
1 tsp Salt

DIRECTIONS

1. Soak the rice and the dal for about 12 hours.
2. Make a smooth paste adding little water.
3. Leave it overnight for it to ferment.
   
4. In a bowl mix the ghee and the oil.
5. Mix water (say about a cup) to make the batter a little thin. The cosistency should be such that it is not too liquidy and not too thick.
6. Add the salt to the batter and mix it as well.
   
7. Now heat a non-stick pan.
   
8. Pour about ½ a cup of batter and spread it around into a shape of a 10” disc immediately. It should be a very thin disc once spread. In case it's difficult to make it too thin, then u might need to add a little more water to the batter.
9. Let it cook a little on medium heat.
10. Add about 1½ tsp of ghee mixture over the dosa.
11. Cook till it's light brown and crisp.
12. Add 1/8th portion of the filling on half the dosa.*
13. Fold the dosa into half.
    
14. Cool the pan a little by wiping it with a wet cloth and repeat for the rest of the batter and the filling.
15. Serve hot with sambar and coconut chutney.

NOTES
*You may serve the dosa plain without the filling as well.

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Sambar

Difficulty: Easy | Prep Time: 20 mins | Cook Time: 25 mins| Yield: 5-6 servings

INGREDIENTS
½ cup Toor Dal
3 small Potatoes
1 large Onion
2 small Tomatoes
7-8 Ladies Finger* (Okra)
2 Drum Sticks*
2 tbsp Tamarind**
½ tsp Mustard Seeds
2 Dry Red Chillie**
10-12 Curry Leaves
2 tbsp Coriander Leaves
4 tbsp Sambar Powder**
2 tbsp Oil
Salt to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Clean Clean the vegetables. Cut the potatoes into halves. Slice the onions and the tomatoes into 8 pieces each. Cut the ladies fingers and the drumsticks into 3” long pieces.
2. Boil the dal and the potatoes and leave them aside.
3. In a pan heat the oil and add the mustard seeds, red chillies and the curry leaves.
   
4. Once the mustard seeds starts to splutter, add the ladies finger and the drum sticks.
   
5. Saute' them for a minute or so and then add the onions.
6. Once the onions are translucent add the boiled potatoes, tomatoes and the dal.
7. Add 2 cups of water and salt according to taste and simmer and cook for 10-15 mins.
8. Mix the tamarind in ¼ cup of water (If dry tamarind is used soak it in advance). Strain and add it to the sambar.
9. Now add the coriander leaves and sambar masala powder.
10. Cook on high flame for another 3-4 minutes.
11. Serve hot with Dosa/Idli/Uttapam or simply with plain rice.

NOTES
*You may add other vegetables also like brinjal, tapioca, ridge gourd etc.
**Depending on your taste you may vary the quantities of these.

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Dahi Vada

[also known as Dahi Bade]

Difficulty: Easy | Prep Time: 1½ hrs | Cook Time: 30 mins | Yield: 12 pieces

INGREDIENTS
1½ cup Dahi (Curd)
½ tsp Bhuna Jeera Masala*
¼ tsp Chillie Powder
1 Green Chilli
1 tsp Coriander Leaves
Salt to taste

For the Vada
100 gms Urad Dal (While Lentils)
½ baking powder
2 tsp Salt
Oil for Deep Frying

For the Chutney
2 tbsp Imli (Tamarind)**
2 tbsp Sugar
A pinch of Salt
½ tsp Bhuna Jeera Masala*

DIRECTIONS

1. Wash and soak the urad dal for about an hour.
2. Now make a fine thick paste of the dal in a blender adding as little water as possible.
   
3. Add the baking powder and mix well.
4. Take a large bowl and fill it water (about a litre) and mix the salt into the water.
   
5. Now heat enough oil in a pan for deep frying the vadas. The vadas must be deep fried as it'll only make it softer and thicker.
6. Once the oil is hot take about 1 tbsp of the dal paste and put it into the oil. As the vada puffs up and turns golden brown on one side, flip and fry the other side as well till golden brown.
7. Take the vada out of the oil and immerse it into the salt water prepared in advance.
8. Repeat the same for the rest of the dal paste. You may fry 3-4 or more vadas at a time, as per your convenience.
9. Let all the vadas soak well in the water. This will make the vadas soft.
   
10. To make the chutney, in a pan, set about ½ cup water to boil.
11. Soak the imli in 2-3 tbsp of water, mix well and strain it into the boiling water. If you are using dry imli, then you'll need to soak it in a little more water for some time before use.**
12. Now add the sugar and a pinch of salt. Let this simmer on medium flame, stirring occasionally.
    
13. Once this sauce has thickened quite a bit, add the bhuna jeera masala, remove from heat and leave this aside.
14. The last thing to do before setting the dahi vadas is to prepare the dahi.
    
15. To prepare the dahi, in a bowl take the curd and about ½ cup water. Add salt according to your taste and beat this well. The curd should be smooth, not too thick or not too light.
    
16. To set the dahi vadas, take a flat serving dish, minimum 2” in height.
17. Take out the soaked vadas one at a time, squeeze the water out gently, and place them side by side on the serving dish.
18. Pour the dahi over the vadas, covering them fully.
19. Now pour the imli chutney over the vadas, ensuring that each vada has a little cutney over it.
20. Sprinkle the bhuna jeera masala and then the chillie powder all over.
    
21. Finally, finely chop the green chillies and the coriander leaves and garnish the dahi vadas with them.
22. Serve chilled.
    

NOTES
*For a tsp of bhuna jeera masala, take ¾ tsp of jeera powder and ¼ tsp of red chilli powder and dry roast them in a pan untill it turns dark brown in colour. Remove from heat as soon as it tends to become dark brown in colour or else it'll get burnt.
** You may use either wet or dry imli

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Dal Makhani

Difficulty: Easy | Prep Time: 10-12 hrs | Cook Time: 45 mins | Yield: 8-9 servings

INGREDIENTS
1 cup Whole Urad Dal (Black Lentils)
¼ cup Rajma (Red Kidney Beans)
1 Large Onion
2 Medium Tomotoes
2 tsp Garlic Paste
2 tsp Ginger Paste
1 tsp Chilli Powder
2 tbsp tomatoe sauce
¼ cup Milk
½ tsp Chopped Garlic
3 tbsp Butter
3 tbsp Oil
Salt to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Wash and soak the urad dal and raajma overnight.
2. Finely chop the onion and the tomatoes.
3. In a presssure cooker* heat the oil and add the chopped onion.
4. Fry the onions till golden brown.
5. Now add the ginger and garlic paste. Fry them along with the onions for about 2-3 mins.
6. Add the tomatoes and a little salt. The salt will help to soften the tomatoes quickly.
7. Cook this until the tomatoes are really soft and oil starts to separate from this mixture.
   
8. Add the tomato sauce and mix well.
9. Now add the soaked dal and about 3 cups of water. Cook the dal on high flame for about 10 mins and then on low flame for another 10-15 mins till it's soft and cooked well.
10. Once the cooker is cool, add the milk and stir well.
11. Now in a separate pan, melt the butter and add the chopped garlic. Cook the garlic till slightly brown and then add the dal mixture from the cooker.
12. Add about a cup of water and salt to taste. The amount of water you add will depend on how much water the dal had after it got cooked in the pressure cooker.
    
13. Now cover the lid and let the dal simmer on low heat for about 5-10 mins until you get a thick creamy preparation. Remember to stir occasionally as the dal tends to settle at the bottom.
14. Remove from heat and serve hot. Ideally it goes very well with soft nans or jeera rice or peas pulao. But you may serve with other kinds of rotis or plain rice as well.

NOTES
*If you do not have a pressure cooker, cook in a large pan. While cooking the dal, cover the lid of the pan and cook it for more than a hour on medium heat till the dal is well cooked.

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