Purple Beauties: Masala Badane Palya

Masala Badane Palya

What do you cook when you are alone at home and just have to cook for yourself? With my HD away on business trip for one full week, I spent first two days by eating all left over and took dry sandwich for lunch box. When there was nothing left in fridge, I went for frozen Parathas and canned curries and takeaways. It went on like this for next two days and the time came for me to move my a*&$% to kitchen when my tummy went on strike for torturing it and wouldn’t listen to any of my poor excuses for not in a mood to cook for myself. Ha, what was I thinking? I could enjoy one week of bachelor life without cooking, washing the dish and spending the evening with my favourite book and TV shows? Tough luck!!!

Thankfully there was someone who came to my rescue. My true knight in shining armour. The one only dark, handsome and pot bellied Baby Brinjals (what did you think? Tsk tsk… Dirty minds ;). I usually go for stuffing them with spice mix when ever I get these lovely purple beauties. This time around I neither had time nor energy (read to lazy to cook) to do it. So I went for next best thing, stir fried them. Now came the question of what spices to add, do I need to use onions and tomatoes, etc etc… Sometime you can become quite creative when you are too lazy to do anything and the best example is my own creation of this Masala Badane Palya. Just roasted few lentils and spices and ground them with small bunch of coriander and chillies and added them to stir fried Brinjal wedges. And voila!!! A winner recipe was ready in no time at all… It tasted simply amazing (to my own surprise ;) with steaming bowl of Rice with chilled Yogurt and this lovely Yellow Watermelon to complete the dish. I can highly recommend this recipe for all you Brinjal/eggplant lovers. If you don’t have baby purple brinjals use the regular eggplants and follow the recipe. Off it goes to Sangeeth’s Eat Healthy-Fibre Rich event after I read it here and here that Eggplant is indeed high in fibre and good for weight reduction (how cool is that, more reason to eat eggplant;). And not to forget all those channa and urad dal which too are rich in fibre.

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Masala Badane Palya (Baby Brinjals stri fried with ground spices and coriander)
Prep Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 15-20 mins
Serves: 3-4

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Ingredients:
8-10 Baby Purple Brinjals, halved and cut into wedges and placed in a bowl of cold water till needed
1-2 tbsp Coriander Leaves, very finely chopped
Salt to taste

To Roast and Grind into Powder:
Small bunch or ¼ cup Coriander Leaves (including stem)
3-4 Green Chillies (Adjust acc to taste)
½ inch Ginger
1 small marble sized Tamarind Pulp
To roast:
1 tbsp Channa Dal
½ tbsp Urad Dal/Split Black Lentils
¾ tbsp Coriander Seeds
1 tsp Jeera/Cumin Seeds

For Tempering:
1 tbsp Oil
½ tbsp Channa Dal
½ tbsp Urad Dal
1 Dry Red Chilli, broken
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
½ tsp Jeera/Cumin Seeds
¼ tsp Hing/Asafoetida
Few Curry Leaves

Masala Badane Palya

Method:
Dry roast channa dal in a pan till it turns light golden brown. Similarly dry roast urad dal, coriander seeds and jeera one by one and keep them aside to cool. Once cooled grind them coarsely with fresh coriander leaves, green chillies, ginger and tamarind pulp without adding any water.
Now heat a tbsp of oil in a pan and add mustard seeds to it. When it starts to pop and splutter add channa dal, urad dal, and dry red chilli. Sauté them on medium flame till dals turn golden brown in colour. Mix in cumin seeds, curry leaves and hing and sauté for just few seconds.
Add brinjal wedges and keep stirring at medium to high flame for about 5-8 minutes.
Add salt to taste and ground powder and mix well. Keep stirring for another 2-3 minutes till all pieces of brinjal is nicely quoted with ground mixture.
Sprinkle 1-2 tbsp of water and cover the lid. Let the brinjals cook on a low to medium flame for another 10-15 minutes. Sprinkle little water in between to making sure that the masala doesn’t stick to the pan.
Switch off the flame once the brinjals are well cooked and mix in finely chopped coriander leaves. Serve it with a bowl of steam cooked Rice with Ghee and Dal or with Chapatti and enjoy.

Masala Badane Palya

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Note:
Other Brinjal/Eggplant recipes posted so far

• Udupi Sambar
• Badane Ennegayi-1
• Badane Ennegayi-2
• Sweet & Sour Badane Palya
• Stuffed Brinjals

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Reminder:

MBP-Street Food ends on 24th of June, 2008. Start patrolling the blogs and cook your favourite Street Food that your tummy begs and heart desires and spread link love.

Deadline: 24th June, 2008

Please go through the guidelines and include all the required information in your post and mail when sending me your entry. Don't forget to add Your Name, Your Blog Name, Name of the Dish you cooked, Perm Link of the entry, Perm Link of original recipe along with the gorgeous Photo of final dish.

Click Here or on the logo to find out more information on this event.

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Idli-Vada-Sambar

At last…. It’s a time for the Queen of South Indian breakfast dish: Idli-Vada with Sambar. I call idli as a queen because for some reason the title of king belongs to Dosas:) This Sunday we had Idli-Vada with delicous bowl of Sambar for breakfast. My hubby and my dad are big fans I have ever seen when it comes to Idli-Vada. The steaming fluffy and soft Idlis with little spicy and tasty Vadas dipped in delicious Sambar… Awww…. Nothing is better than that. I won’t talk a lot about it because I have got to post 3 recipes in one post:). So talk less and work more is today's theme ;) Here we go…

Idli-Vada-Sambar

Recipe for Idli:
Ingredients:
2 cups of Rice
1 cup Urad Dal
Salt to taste

Soft and Fluffy Idlis

Method:
Soak rice and urad dal separately in water for 2-3 hours.
First grind the urad dal to smooth paste. Remember that smoother the better.
Then grind rice to a coarse paste. Make sure that you don’t grind rice to smooth paste.
Mix them together adding required salt to slightly thick paste. The batter should be thicker than the dosa batter you prepare.
Keep it covered to ferment for overnight.
Next day pour a ladle of batter into idli maker and steam cook in medium flame for 15-20 minutes till they are done.
Let them cool for few minutes (3-4 minutes) before you take them out. This way the idli will be fluffy and soft.
Serve hot with Coconut Chutney and steaming bowl of Sambar.

Recipe for Vada:
Ingredients:
1 cup of Urad Dal
2-3 Green Chillies, chopped finely
¾ inch Ginger, chopped finely
2 tbsp Coriander Leaves, finely chopped
Salt to taste

Delicious Vadas

Method:
Soak urad dal in water for 1-2 hours.
Grind them coarsely adding very little water. (Little means very little)
Add chopped coriander leaves, ginger, green chillies and salt as required.
Mix them well together with hands. Add little water if required.
Make small lime sized balls and press them slightly using your palm.
With your finger make a small hole in the center.
Deep fry them in hot oil till they turn into lovely golden brown colour.
Serve hot with Coconut Chutney and Sambar. Delicious….

Recipe for Onion Sambar:
Ingredients:
1 cup Small Onions
1/2 cup Thuar Dal/Red gram Dal
1 medium lime sized Tamarind
2 Tomatoes, sliced
2 Green Chillies, slit
Small bunch of Coriander leaves, Chopped finely
2 tsp Oil
Salt to taste
For Seasoning:
1 tsp Oil
1 tsp Mustard
2 Red chillies
1/4 tsp Hing/Asafetida
Few curry leaves
To Roast & Grind:
2 tsp Dhania/Coriander Seeds
11/2 tsp Urad Dal/Black gram Dal
1 tsp Jeera/Cumin Seeds
2 tsp Channa/Bengal gram Dal
4-5 Red Chillies
1/2 tsp Fenugreek Seeds
1 Medium Onion, roughly chopped
1 Tomato, roughly chopped
1/4 cup of Grated Coconut
3 tsp Oil

Onion Sambar

Method:
Heat 1tsp of Oil and roast the above ingredients until golden.
Fry 1 onion and 1 tomato separately with little oil.
Grind everything with grated coconut to a smooth paste.
Heat Oil in a shallow pan and fry the small onion for 1 to 2 minutes.
Add enough water and boil it till soft.
Cook red gram dal in pressure cooker and mash well.
Mix cooked onion, mashed dal, tamarind extract, tomatoes, green chillies and ground paste with salt and enough water and bring it to boil.
When the sambar is thick enough remove from fire.
Heat oil and add mustard seeds, red chillies, curry leaves and hing.
When mustard starts spluttering add this seasoning to sambar.
Serve hot Sambar garnished with chopped coriander leaves with Rice, Idlis or Dosas.

Idli-Vada-Sambar

Final Verdict:
You may be thousands of miles away from your country, but your roots are still deep down in your hometown. You may try different foods from different continents but the one which will always make you smile is the one from your mom’s kitchen. What better example can I give than the simple yet unbeatable taste of Idli-Vada with Sambar!!! Their simplicity takes your breath away and their taste wipes you off your feet, other than your loved one’s charm;) The pleasure you get from this type of dishes is only known when you try it out. It will surely bring back lot of good old memories.
Well… As expected you can never go wrong with Idli-Vadas. If you follow the instructions from your mom, step by step, then you will surely make a soft and fluffy idlis with yummy vadas. And not to forget the million dollar smile from my dear hubby:)

Idli-Vada-Sambar

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Veg Uttappa

I remember the days of my childhood when my Amma tried to feed us veggies. I was very picky with vegetables. Hated one for its colour and another for its shape; disliked one for its texture and another for its taste; oh… so many reasons not to eat vegetables. But Amma was too smart to leave us just like that. She had so many secret weapons in her treasure chest which she used whenever required. She made us fruit juice and ice creams when we were not ready to eat fruits, made veggie cutlets and colourful dosas when were ran away from vegetables, made healthy rice dishes with wide array of vegetables chopped into so small pieces so that it will be difficult to pick them and pile in the corner of plates, mixed fresh fruits and raw vegetables in yogurt to mix with rice and roties, mixed vegetable purees with chappati atta to make them colourful and attractive… and not to forget different varieties of dosas with smiley faces cheering us…
Memories…lovely memories… Well, let me come back to present…. If anyone were to ask me which I dislike the most my answer would be none… Yes Amma, you heard it right:) Thanks to my hubby dear who made me fall in love with all the vegetables. I love using as many different varieties of vegetables as possible in any dish which I feel gives 'kick' to it. As my hubby prefers dosas for breakfast on weekdays than breakfast cereals, I’m always on a search for as many recipes as possible. The one which works perfect for us is Uttappa. I usually make Uttappa batter for 2-3 days and add different types of vegetables on different days. Here is a recipe for making Veg Uttappa.

Veg Uttappa

Ingredients:
1 cup Raw Rice
1 cup Par Boiled Rice
1/4 cup Dehusked Black gram
1 tbsp Red gram Dal
1/2 tbsp Fenugreek/Methi seeds
Salt to Taste.

Indian Healthy Pizza, Veg Uttappa

Vegetables used:
Grated Carrot
Finely chopped Capsicum
Finely chopped Onion
Grated Cauliflower
Finely chopped Green Chillies(Acc to taste)
Finely chopped Coriander Leaves

Indian Healthy version of Pizza

Method:
Soak all ingredients in water for 3-4 hours.
Grind then to smooth paste adding salt and enough water.
Allow to ferment till next day.
Heat a tawa/pan and spread a laddle full of batter into thick circle.
Sprinkle finely chopped vegetables on top evenly.
Cook both sides in medim flame till they turn golden brown.
Serve hot with sambhar/chutney/pickle.

Veg Uttappa served with Potato Sambar

Note:
Add as many or as little vegetables you want.
With the same batter you can make Onion, Cauliflower, Tomato, Carrot, Capsicum Uttappa.

Veg Uttappa served with Potato Sambar

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Masala Dosa

One thing which I missed the most during my hostel days was Big M...Yup, its my Mom's speciality dish...the crispy, tasty, wonderful Masala Dosa. My mom is the best cook(better than MTR:) when it comes to masala dosa. Everytime I went home on short leave from hostel, I was always embraced with big hug from mom and big plate of Masala dosas. For me its a King of all Dosas. I can never match the special taste of mom's cooking but I'm getting used to cooking well for my standards:) Here is my humble recipe for preparing quick and easy and also tasty masala dosa. Oh...I got the big thumbs-up from my Hubby too;)

Masala Dosa with Red Chutney

Ingredients:
For Dosa:
2 cups Rice
3/4 cup Urad Dal
1/4 cup Moong Dal(Green Gram)
2 tbsp Methi Seeds
1/2 cup Poha
Salt to taste

For Poato Curry/Bhaji:
1 big Onion, sliced thinly
3 medium Potatoes, peeled, cooked and mashed
1 inch chopped Ginger
1 tsp Termaric Powder
2 Green Chillies, slit
Fresh chopped Coriander leaves
Salt to taste
For Seasoning:
1 tbsp Mustard
1 tbsp Urad Dal
2-3 Dry Red Chillies
Few Curry leaves
Pinch of Hing

For Red Chutney:
1/2 cup Coconut
1/2 tsp Jeera/Cumin Seeds
2-3 Dry Red Chillies
1/2 inch Ginger
1/2 tsp Tarmarind Paste
Salt to taste

Masala Dosa

Method:
For Red Chutney:
Grind all the ingredients in a mixi/food processor to smooth paste adding enough water and keep it aside.

Dosa with Red Chutney

For Potato Bhaji/Curry:
Take little oil in a pan and add all seasoning ingredients and fry till it starts spluttering.
To this add sliced onions and chopped ginger and cook till onions turn translucent.
Add slit chillies, mashed potatoes, salt and little water and mix them well.
To this add termaric powder and chopped coriander leaves and cook for 2-3 minutes mixing well.
Remove the pan from gas and keep it aside.

Dosa with Potato Bhaji

For Dosa:
Soak rice, urad dal, moong dal and methi in water for 4-5 hours or over night.
Grind all the ingredients with Poha, salt and enough water to smooth paste.
Its recommended to keep this batter to stand overnight.
Next day heat the tava/pan and put little ghee/cooking oil.
Spread the batter on tava and spread the red chutney evenly.
Cook it till the dosa turns brown and crispy.
Add a tsp of Ghee on top of it and a 2 tbsp of Potato bhaji/curry.
Fold the dosa in middle and serve hot.

Crispy Masala Dosa ready to serve

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