Masale Bhaath - Veggie Pulav

Spicy Maharashtrian Vegetable Rice known as Masaale Bhaath.

Ingredients:

Basmati Rice - 1 cup
Green Beans - 1/4 cup
Carrots - 1/4 cup
Green Peas - 1/4 cup
Corn Kernels - 1/4 cup
Onions - 1/2 cup
Cashews - 6
Coriander/Cilantro Leaves - few sprigs
Pudina/Mint Leaves - 10
Bay Leaf - 1
Oil or Butter
Salt

Green Chillies - 6
Coriander Seeds - 1 tbsp
Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Fennel Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Poppy Seeds - 1/4 tsp
Garlic - 4 cloves
Cinnamon - 1/4 inch
Cloves - 2

Method:
1. Wash rice well, about 4 - 5 times till water is clear. Keep it in a colander (or any vessel with holes) to drain water.
2. Chop onions, carrots, beans as you desire. Finely chop cilantro and mint.
3. Grind green chillies, garlic, coriander, cumin, fennel, poppy seeds, cinnamon and cloves with 1/2 cup water to a fine paste.
4. Heat 1 - 2 tbsp butter or oil in a cooker and add bay leaf. After few seconds, add onions, carrots, beans, peas and corn. Saute till veggies are half cooked. Now add washed rice and cashews. Saute for about 2 minutes at low flame.
5. Add the ground paste, 1 1/4 cup water, salt and stir. Add chopped cilantro, mint leaves and pressure cook till one whistle blows.

6. Let the pressure drop naturally, about 15 minutes. Open the cooker lid and gently mix. Serve Masaale Bhaath with raita or koshimbir.

Indian Dal / Lentils

Lentils, known as Dal are a staple in an Indian diet, especially vegetarian. For me, dal is comfort food. 5 different dal varieties - Toor, Moong, Chana, Masoor and Urad are commonly used in Indian sweet and savory delicacies. You can cook dal with just one kind or a mix of two or more. I generally cook dal with 1:1 Toor and Moong dals. But then, we like Panchmel or Panchratna Dal too, which is made of all five. Most dal recipes have Toor dal as the primary ingredient. It is also known as Toovar or Arhar dal or Split Pigeon Peas . Some of our family favorite dal recipes are Dalitoy (Konkani Dal) Tadka Dal Among all lentils, moong dal and masoor dal take lesser time to cook. Moong dal is also known as Split Green Gram or Split Mung Bean . Moong dal is also used in making sweet dishes like Mung Dal Kheer Mung Dal Puranpoli Chana dal is also known as Split Bengal Gram or Split Chickpeas . Chana Dal takes a little more time to cook as compared to toor dal....

Naval Kol Bhaji / Kohlrabi Stir-fry

Green Kohlrabi called as Navalkol in Marathi and Navilkosu in Kannada, belongs to the cabbage family. My Mom used to make this stir fry very often. Just like cabbage, this vegetable in available in two colors - green and purple. I was quite hesitant about the purple one, as I haven't seen that back in India. Anyway, I picked the green bulbs and Navalkohl Bhaji with Chana Dal was part of our healthy vegetarian meal today.

Surti Val Papdi Bhaji

My Mom used to make Val Papdi Bhaji in a simple way with few ingredients. This is the first time I gave it a try here in my US kitchen. This stir fry does require little more oil, as no water is added for cooking. Dal Rice tastes great with this sauteed Papdi. I tried this Bhaji once with frozen Surti Papdi and I was not happy with the result. I prefer fresh Papdi for this recipe, which I can only find in the local Indian store. I am not sure if Val Papdi is called as Navy Bean or Fava Bean in English.

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