Travels for Taste

Tales of travel and food with a touch of spice

Tomato and Lentil Soup

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Sometimes the guilt of eating too many wrong things just gets to me and I need to balance the scales internally. This calls for a comforting and filling soupy treat with a pinch of something yum thrown in. Also, all those gorgeous cherry tomatoes and vine tomatoes sitting in my fridge were begging to used -asap or risk being dumped into my green food recycle bag. Thrifty that I am, I will not allow that to happen in my kitchen! And I always turn to my stored lentils for something comforting and homely.

This recipe is perfect for making ahead in a larger batch and freeze some for later.

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Tomato and Lentil Soup

Manjiri Chitnis
Wholesome and delicious, this vegetarian and vegan friendly recipe is as easy on the tummy as it is on the pocket
5 from 7 votes
Print Recipe
Prep Time 15 mins
Cook Time 25 mins
Course Main Course
Cuisine Fusion Indian
Servings 2 people

Equipment

  • Pressure Cooker / Heavy-bottomed pan
  • Knife and chopping board
  • Kadhai or any pan
  • Potato masher or a large ladle
  • Blender / Mixer

Ingredients
  

  • 3/4 cup Red Lentils/Masoor split without skin
  • 1/4 cup Yellow Lentil/Moong – split without skin
  • 4 – 5 medium-sized Tomatoes
  • 1 pinch Asafoetida
  • 2 Red Onions
  • 5 – 6 Garlic cloves
  • 2 tsp Coriander Powder
  • 2 tsp Cumin Powder
  • ½ Thum-sized Fresh Ginger – peeled
  • 2-3 Cloves
  • 1 tsp Pepper powder
  • Red chilli flakes – optional
  • 3 large tbsp Oil for frying
  • 1 tbsp oil for the tadka
  • Salt to taste

Instructions
 

  • Wash the lentil through a sieve and pressure cook – 3 whistles
  • Let the steam escape and then loosen cooker lid
  • Remove cooked lentils and allow to cool completely
  • If you are not a pressure cooker lover then cook the lentils in a big saucepan with exactly two times the water than the quantity of the lentils
  • Lentils cook quickly in a pan, cover and cook and keep an eye as water may boil over
  • Finely chop red onions chopped into long slivers
  • Chop the tomatoes into 4 pieces – just for ease of blending
  • In a kadhai or wok heat the 3 tbsp oil and deep fry the garlic chopped into fine strips
  • Add the red onions and sauté are absolutely crisp, the aroma is delicious
  • Puree the washed tomatoes with the deep-fried red onion and garlic (leave some for garnishing)
  • Use a potato masher ( or the back of a large ladle) and roughly squash the cooked and cooled lentils and mix them with the tomatoes puree
  • In the same kadhai/wok or pan used to fry the onions and garlic – heat about 1 to 1.5 tsp oil
  • Add asafoetida, whole cumin, coriander powder, cumin powder, red chilli powder, cloves
  • Sauté the spices in the oil for under a minute
  • Add the cooked lentils and tomato puree
  • Add water if the mixture is too thick
  • Cover and cook on a low flame for 5 -8 minutes
  • Season with salt as per taste
  • Garnished with the remaining crispy fried onion and garlic bits
  • Sprinkle some freshly cracked pepper
  • Serve hot
  • Best accompanied by hot buttered toast
Keyword Lentil soup

Wholemeal bread, a crusty baguette, or a soft cheesy loaf – all make for great accompaniments with this soup. Indulge yourself by adding a blob of butter on top of the soup before serving.

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Tomato and Lentil soupy broth

Tawa Chicken Frankie Roll

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Frankie – Popular Indian street food

Tawa Frankie Roll – How I decided to re-create this popular Indian street food at home. In 2014, global flavour leader McCormick, the parent company of leading herbs and spices brand Schwartz, is celebrating its 125th anniversary. The yearlong celebration kicks off with the launch of the 125th Anniversary Edition of the Flavour Forecast (a new, annual prediction of what ‘flavours’ will be most popular in the cooking world) and the Flavour of Together programme, with the goal of connecting people around the world as they share 1.25 million stories about the special role food and flavour plays in our lives through.

To inspire people to share their flavour stories and tell the blogger community about Flavour Forecast, McCormick challenged me and a few other bloggers  to come up with a new recipe that is based on the Flavour Forecast trends :

1. Chillies Obsession: Food lovers everywhere are seeking out their next big chilli thrill.

2. Modern Masala: Indian food is finally having its moment, breaking free of its traditional confines with modern interpretations.

3. Clever Compact Cooking: Proving that big flavours can come from small spaces, cooks in urban kitchens are making the most of what’s available.

4. Mexican World Tour: Mexican flavours are making their way around the globe, with people everywhere discovering new aspects of this bright, casual cuisine.

5. Charmed by Brazil: The world’s attraction to Brazilian cuisine is heating up, thanks to its seductive mix of global and native influences.

I decide to take up Modern Masala as a flavour trend. Coming from India, using a complex mix of spices as part of our daily diet has always been a part of my life. The beautiful large open fruit n vegetable markets even in major cities are a visual treat and there is a lot of passion involved in say getting the right type of chilli powder. So I think my recipe is an amalgamation of these two big flavour trends together – Chillies Obsession and Modern Masala and of course because I manage all my culinary experiments in my tiny urban kitchen which is the size of a postage stamp I am sure my recipe also covers the theme Clever Compact Cooking!

My most vivid memory of spices being sold loose is of this huge wholesale and retail market in an area called Parel, Mumbai in India. There are many tiny shops and vendors which hand carts with huge piles of spices, bright red chillies in jute sacks, and mini yellow mountains of turmeric and ever imaginable spice being sold in the open. Of course, with our modern industries being so well developed we always used masalas out of a packet but the sheer variety available locally in any small town in India is mind-boggling.

Pune, India - spice market
Pune, India – spice market

In London, whenever I trudge to my local Indian shop and purchase Indian spices, I secretly wish that I could get an unlimited supply of aai’s homemade masalas. Her garam masala and red chilli powder where she carefully selects 2 types of chillies with varying degrees of heat and roasts them in a kadhai after they have been dried in the blistering hot afternoon sun! Then she takes it to a local mill where it is ground and packed into a large ceramic jar and then stored at home.

I have made a simplified version of Tibbs Frankie using boneless mutton and a variety of Schwartz spices which were sent to me. You could safely say that this fella ”Frankie” is a distant cousin of the Fajita and the Kathi Roll.

How this Frankie came into being is also a very interesting story which I shall share in a few lines here. These lines are from the Tibbs Frankie website

”The year 1967 Mr. Amarjit Tibb on returning back from England had a stopover in Beirut. During his brief stop there he stumbled upon a very ingenious Lebanese preparation, which was a pita bread wrap, with a variety of stuffing’s, this fascinated him. Upon his return the idea still lingered on and he kept innovating it to suit the Indian palate, after a year of research along with his wife they hit upon the perfect concoction. This Indianised wrap was soon tried among friends and family and after testing brilliantly it hit the markets. That was a new era to the term fast food in Mumbai, it caught on like fire in the Jungle, people accepted it and kept asking for more.Now came the problem of naming the product, again a number of brainstorming became the order of the day till a unanimous decision on the name was taken i.e. Frankie”

This explosion of flavours in a handy easy to eat roll which was given a  modern food truck makeover is a gastronomic delight and is available in a large variety of stuffings both veg and non-veg.I have rather fond memories of my college days and spending my pocket money which was always in short supply on these spicy, tasty rolls with a bunch of friends giggling away and then gathering any loose change we had left amongst us to buy a bottle or two of some fizzy cola to quench our thirst. Alert : have been suddenly been hit by a huge wave of nostalgia 🙂

I have created what is my version of a tawa chicken roll (tawa meaning pan in Hindi), the original Tibbs frankie filling is a tangy spicy  taste which they attribute to a secret ”Frankie Masala” – humm , well I think I got pretty close 😉 – evil laugh follows 🙂  You can go crazy and creative with the fillings and use this recipe idea to use up meat from your sunday roast, try various different veg and non veg patties with meat and masalas rolled into boiled potato casing and shallow fried. Great way to use a lot of colorful veggies and create a stir fry filling too – the possibilities are endless.

Tawa Chicken Frankie Roll
Tawa Chicken Frankie Roll

Tawa Frankie Roll

Manjiri Chitnis
Popular Indian street food, this was created in Mumbai and is a deliciously paratha stuffed with a variety of fillings and green chutney
5 from 7 votes
Print Recipe
Prep Time 5 mins
Cook Time 20 mins
Course Main Course
Cuisine Fusion Indian
Servings 2 People

Equipment

  • Tawa – Flat frying pan
  • Saptula

Ingredients
  

Tawa Chicken Filling

  • 50 Grams Chicken breast
  • 1 pinch Asafoetida
  • 2 tsp Garam Masala
  • Onion salt as per taste
  • 1/2 tsp Garlic Minced
  • 2 tsp Coriander Powder
  • 1 tsp Cumin Powder
  • Red Chilli powder as per taste
  • 1/2 thum-sized Fresh Ginger fresh peeled
  • 2 medium Red onions finely chopped
  • 1 tsp Turmeric
  • 2 lage Jjuicy tomatoes chopped very fine
  • 1 large Green chilli split lengthwise
  • 1 Red pepper slit lengthwise
  • 3 tbsp Cooking oil

Mint and Coriander Chutney

  • 1 large bunch Fresh Coriander
  • 1 small bunch Fresh Mint leaves
  • 2 Green chillies
  • 1/2 Lime – freshly squeezed
  • Salt to taste

For the Frankie filling

  • 1 large Red onion chopped lengthwise

For the Paratha coating

  • 2 small Eggs
  • Salt for seasoning

Instructions
 

To make the Chicken Filling

  • Heat a saucepan on medium heat and add the oil
  • Once the oil is hot, add the asafoetida
  • Then add split green chilli and crushed fresh ginger
  • Saute' and add the garlic granules
  • Saute' and add the garlic granules, when the garlic begins to give out a strong fried aroma its time to add the finely chopped red onion
  • Cook the onion till it reduces and turns a delicious brown, then add the coriander and cumin powder and garam masala and mix well
  • Then add the finely chopped tomato and add very little water and cook for 1 -2 minutes without lid
  • Stir frequently, so as to ensure the mixture does not stick to the saucepan
  • Now the spices have been thoroughly cooked along with the onion and tomato to make a thick gravy
  • Cut the chicken breasts and red peppers into lenghthwise strip and add to the gravy
  • Add onion salt to the mixture, red chilli powder and turmeric
  • Cover and cook until done

To make the Mint and Coriander Chutney

  • Wash the coriander and mint leaves, blend to a smoothpaste with a green chilli
  • To reduce the heat use 1 chilli de-seeded.Add the salt and lime juice and sblend once again
  • A smooth thick green paste is the consistency we are after – add some water to adjust the consistency
  • This chutney stores for upto 10 days in the freezer in a clean ,air tight jar – rarely lasts that much in my house though -I love making Bombay sandwich for dinner with this delightful chutney

To make the coating for the Paratha

  • Crack the eggs in a bowl and beat with a fork, add salt to taste
  • Using a plastic brush spread on the surface of a frozen ready to eat paratha
  • Place the eggy side down on a hot pan coated with some cooking oil
  • Ready to eat frozen parathas are readily available in most supermarkets and Indian grocery stores

How to put the Frankie Roll together

  • Once the paratha coated with egg has been cooked on both sides, slather it with the mint and coriander chutney and add some red onion chopped lengthwise
  • Add a generous helping of the chicken filling , roll and wrap one end with some kitchen foil or baking paper. Enjoy hot
  • Dip into the chutney or tomato ketchup as you munch along
Keyword Frankie
Tawa Chicken Frankie Roll
Tawa Chicken Frankie Roll

After I received the samples and wrote up my flavour story, my left hand was operated on (unexpected rescheduling) – a minor but rather errrmmm painful surgery and I walk around most of the time with a sling (promptly remove it as soon as OH leaves home for work hehe) So I had a bit of a panic attack about getting this post up on time,I know I missed the deadline by a few days  🙁

But am really grateful to the kind folks up at McCormick for bearing with me. Also I would like to thank OH for patiently chopping and cutting all the fresh ingredients for me and helping me to click these lovely photographs – what would I do without you? Sighh…

The company has pledged to donate $1 to United Way Worldwide and it’s UK partner Focus on Food, for every story shared on the Schwartz website, Facebook page or other social channels.

Disclaimer: Schwartz Samples and voucher for ingredients purchase sent by McCormick I was not required to write a positive review and was not compensated monetarily for this post. As always, all opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

Egg Curry/Anda Curry/अण्डा कारी from my college days

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Egg curry and soft paav or square buns are the most common hostel food that one can make with a saucepan, some eggs and a few basic ingredients. It is hugely popular as a filling, tasty curry and there are as many variations as the imagination, one’s budget and availability of ingredients on a particular day will allow 🙂

This version is what I always make and is sort of derivative of what would be made in the North of India. I sometimes like to make it into a coastal flavoured one by adding freshly grated coconut but that’s only if I want to make it posh but that’s very, very rare. After all, this is a quick, save the evening sort of curry!

It’s National Curry Week and it’s wonderful to see how Britain has embraced an Indian food habit and made it, its own over the years, spinning off British Indian versions of popular Indian home-cooked curries.

I wanted to start off my posts for National Curry Week, with this one because of how easy it is to make and a great recipe for students everywhere 🙂

Serves:2

Total Preparation Time:20 Minutes

Ingredients:

  • 4 eggs and use the same proportion of 2 eggs per person to scale up (for very hungry fells the more the merrier 😉
  • 2 medium-sized red onion finely chopped
  • 2 medium-sized tomatoes
  • 2 tsp red chilli powder
  • 2 tsp turmeric
  • 1 heaped tsp garam masala
  • 1 heaped tsp cumin powder
  • 1 heaped tsp coriander powder
  • 2 green chillies
  • 1 tsp ginger paste
  • fresh coriander to garnish
  • 1 clove of garlic finely chopped
  • a pinch of asafoetida
  • salt to taste
  • 2 tbsp olive oil – it’s easier on my conscience , use any oil or butter or ghee in dire straits!

Method:

  1. Boil the eggs in an open saucepan and leave aside to cool
  2. Roast the chopped red onion on a saucepan and spritz it in the mixer with the chopped tomatoes and green chillies. (If you want a coastal touch add 2 tbsp of freshly grated coconut in this mixture and puree it together, ensure to use at least 3 finely chopped garlic in the pan as they set off the taste of fresh coconut beautifully)
  3. In a saucepan heat the oil and add a pinch of asafoetida, then add the chopped garlic and roast till it’s a light brown, then add the ginger paste, turmeric, red chilli powder,garam masala, coriander and cumin powders.
  4.  Stir in the onion and tomato puree.
  5. Cook on a low flame for 2 minutes.
  6. Then add some water to make a gravy-like consistency and ad the boiled, peeled eggs after cutting them in half, add salt and cook for a further 5 – 6 minutes.
  7. Serve with hot chapatis/naan bread,paav, soft fresh wholemeal bread or with steaming hot boiled white rice – to make the rice taste heavenly drop a blob of butter, the steam trapped in the grains of rice will melt the butter into a golden pool of gooey goodness – pour the egg curry into this and enjoy the best and simple pleasures of curry!

Anda Curry

Looking for a Curry Recipe? You might also like:

Upma/Uppit (उप्पीट)- a classic Indian breakfast recipe

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In Marathi, my mother tongue we call this dish ”Uppit” and in the south of India its called Upma.

It’s a fluffy cooked breakfast made of roasted semolina and spices and can be customized by adding green peas and small carrot bits. I love eating this steaming hot garnished with a generous sprinkling of freshly chopped coriander and some finely grated fresh coconut – umm perfection, can almost feel a strong waft of the aroma swirl around my nose as I sit here and type the recipe 😉

After Kande Pohe this has to be my number one favourite Indian breakfast option. Agreed there’s a lot of ingredients but there’s a lot of flavour too!

In the Matunga area, there are many good Udipi restaurants who do upma on their breakfast menu and it’s so good gobbling fresh hot upma and dowing a cuppa or tow of hot filter coffee before getting to work on a busy weekday morning in Mumbai city. It’s very filling and budget-friendly too:) All you need is some time before rushing for the daily commute to ensure you can squeeze yourself into the restaurant and sit on one of the long wooden benches with complete strangers and hope to God you don’t have coriander stuck in between your front teeth if they smile at you  😉

Upma/Uppit (उप्पीट)- a classic Indian breakfast recipe

Manjiri Chitnis
Aclassic Indian savoury breakfast or tea time dish. There are many versionsnamely the one made in South India and the one made in Maharashtra
5 from 2 votes
Print Recipe
Prep Time 15 mins
Cook Time 5 mins
Total Time 20 mins
Course Breakfast
Cuisine Indian
Servings 2 people

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup rava approx 100 grams
  • 1/2 tsp urid dal
  • 2 tbsp sunflower oil
  • A pinch of asafoetida
  • 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
  • 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 heaped tsp turmeric powder
  • 1 tsp red chilli powder actually 1/2 a tsp for the ones who do not like their Indian food too spicy
  • 1 tsp coriander powder
  • 1 tsp cumin powder
  • 2 green chillies chopped fine
  • 5-6 fresh curry leaves
  • 2 pods of garlic chopped fine or simply smash them and drop in the saucepan with skin on!
  • 1/2 red onion finely chopped
  • 1/4 th of a juicy red tomato
  • Salt as per taste
  • Juice of a quarter lime
  • A pinch of sugar
  • Fresh coriander to garnish
  • Fine grated fresh coconut

Instructions
 

  • I usually roast the whole packet of 1 kilo of semolina I buy on a flat pan on a very low flame stirring constantly and then allow it to cool down completely.
  • Then store the roasted semolina in tins ready to use when I need to make this dish or the sweet version called Gooda Sheera/ Sooji Halwa which is a popular Maharashtrian sweet dish and especially important during festivals as we serve it as Prasad to Lord Ganesh or during Satyanarayan Pooja
  • In a saucepan add the oil and as it starts to heat, add the asafoetida, mustard cumin seeds and urid dal. The urid dal brown very quickly so stir this around a bit
  • When the mustard seeds begin to pop add the curry leaves, green chillies and garlic and chopped red onion.
  • When the garlic begins to turn a toasty brown and the onion reduces add the tomato and give this mixture a proper stir
  • Now add the turmeric, red chilli powder, cumin powder, coriander powder and salt and mix well
  • Then add double the amount of water as compared to the quantity of rava/semolina, cover the saucepan with a lid and let the water come to a boil
  • If you wish to add green peas and carrots finely chopped for an extra burst of taste do it just when the water begins to boil and let it cook in the hot water
  • Now slowly stir in the semolina ensuring that it does not form lumps
  • Add the juice of a quarter of a lime, sprinkle a pinch of sugar
  • Cover the saucepan with a lid and cook on a low flame for 2-3 minutes stirring occasionally to prevent lumps forming or the mixture becoming too dry, if it is very lumpy sprinkle water and mix well
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  • Serve hot garnished with chopped coriander and freshly grated coconut.
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I am just beginning to experiment with photos taken using my new 50mm f1.8 Canon lens – A’s gift to me for my birthday this year, I quite like the steady pattern of gifts coming in, starting with my first DSLR for my birthday last year. Just need to figure ways to wiggle out other gifts *evil laugh follows* 😉

Cauliflower ani vatanyachi bhaji, Gobi Vatana Sabzi, Cauliflower side dish with green peas

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Cauliflower green peas Sabzi

I love cauliflower as a vegetable for its taste and sheer possibilities in the kitchen, my fav everyday vegetable to be eaten with chapatis is a mix of cauliflower and green peas in a spicy, semi-dry sabzi form. I used biryani masala to add a twang to my usual taste and the result was worth sharing:)

फ्लॉवर वाटाणा मसाला भाजी

Skill level beginner, basic

Serves :2 with rotis and curd to make a light meal

Cauliflower and Green peas Masala Sabzi

Manjiri Chitnis
Easy, delicious vegetarian sabzi, an everday dish in a Maharashtrian home
5 from 2 votes
Print Recipe
Prep Time 5 mins
Cook Time 10 mins
Course Main Course
Cuisine Indian
Servings 2 people

Equipment

  • Kadhai or Work or saucepan
  • Chopping Board
  • Sharp Knife
  • Spatula

Ingredients
  

  • 1 medium-sized Cauliflower
  • 4 tbsp Green peas
  • 1 pinch Asafoetida/hing
  • 1-2 Red Onions very finely sliced
  • 3 – 4 Curry leaves
  • 2 Green chillies
  • 2 tbsp Biryani masala
  • 1/2 Red juicy tomato
  • 1 tsp Ginger paste
  • 2 cloves Garlic very finely sliced
  • 2 tsp Oil for tadka
  • 1/4 tsp Mustard seeds
  • 1/4 Cumin seeds
  • Salt to taste
  • 1/2 tsp each of Turmeric n Red Chilli powders
  • 1 tsp Coriander powder
  • 1 tsp Jeera Powder
  • Few Sprigs Fresh Coriander leaves finely chopped to garnish
  • 1 tsp Lime Juice

Instructions
 

  • Heat cooking oil in a Kadhai/wok/ saucepan
  • When the oil is hot, add the asafoetida and mustard seed, when the seeds start to pop add cumin seeds and the finely chopped garlic bits
  • Ensure the cumin seeds turn a toasty brown and then swiftly move on to the next ingredients
  • Next, go in with the fresh green curry leaves and green chillies followed by the finely chopped onion
  • Add the coriander powder, ginger and garlic pastes and stir well and allow it to become a sticky sort of paste
  • Then add the biryani masala and feel the explosion in the aroma as it marries well with the onion and spice paste
  • Then go in with the cauliflower florets and the green peas
  • Turn off the heat for a bit, sprinkle turmeric powder, red chilli powder, cumin powder
  • Season with salt as per taste
  • Turn the heat back on, ideally a low flame on the hob and a really low setting on the electric cooker
  • Sprinkle some water enough to wet the veggies and allow for some steam to form, this will allow the cauliflower to cook
  • Stirring occasionally, cook with a lid for about under 5 minutes
  • Check after first 3 minutes to ensure the cauliflower does not overcook
  • To serve, garnish with fresh coriander leaves, chopped fine and a tiny squeeze of lime juice to add an extra twang
  • Best enjoyed served with hot puffy Polya (Marathi for Chapatis or Rotis ) off the hob!
Keyword cauliflower

Gobi Vatana Sabzi

I am linking my recipe, which happens to be my favourite fusion-Maharashtrian vegetarian recipe for Cauliflower and Green Peas Sabzi with In My Veg Box for May 2014 hosted by me for Nayna who Blogs at Simply. Food and Citrus Spice.

In my veg box cauliflower

Masoorachi Aamti or Red Lentil Curry

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Masoorachi Aamti or Red Lentil Curry – Recipe adaptation from Mother, Mother in Law and a close CKP friend – Saai who loves to stir up some spicy CKP fare and generally succeeds at it 🙂

Ingredients:

  • 2 measures of Masoor Dal (Red Lentil) with their brown covers intact and whole
  • Mustard Seeds
  • 2-3 Garlic Cloves
  • Green chillies 2- 3
  • Curry leaves about 5-6
  • Jeera (Cumin Seeds) – tiny spoonful
  • Freshly grated soft white coconut
  • Goda Masala – mommy made is so much better than the one from the shops but well

(**This is a mix of various spices readily available in Asian Grocery stores it’s basically a mixture of dry coconut roasted with a mixture of at least 10 different spices, best of all it’s available to buy online at Red Rickshaw – previously called itadka.com

Refrigerate this pack to increase shelf life ,yayay so many tips from me, don’t YOU just LOVE me , if u better don’t just READ this make n slurp it all ALONE, drop me A LINE and thank meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee)

  • Coriander Powder
  • Ginger Garlic Paste

(Coriander and Chilli paste – 2 small sized bunches of coriander pureed with 2-3 green chillies – freeze and use on demand, handy and 1 of my 5 “save your face” purees for unwanted guests popping in at odd hours – the other 4 are listed at the end of this recipe)

  • 3 medium sized onion red – chopped fine
  • Asafoetida(Hing or Heeng)
  • Turmeric
  • Red Chilli Powder
  • Dhania Powder
  • Jaggery

Aamsul 2-3 soaked in lukewarm water to release it’s juices trapped inside the gorgeous maroon folds – Amsul – also called kokum or Garcinia indica, a plant in the mangosteen family (Clusiaceae)

  • Fresh leaves of Coriander chopped fine for dressing

 Process ( Once a Chemistry student and a retail employee stay that way forever , instead of “PREPARTION” I choose the word ”Process” which is drilled into a Retail Managers brain like young parents making their kids rote learn alphabets)

The masoor dal can be done 2 ways for stage 1 of this process, 1st is the short cut which I love as I suddenly get an urge mid evening to cook this typical CKP recipe to appease my urges to run to Heathrow n take the next flight to my parents home in Pune ,hummmmm, so we soak the masoor dal 2 measures feeds 2 adults with a ravenous appetite and leaves some to spare.

Then soak it in water for about 20 minutes , the traditional route is to soak the masoor for about 10 minutes and pressure cook with 1 or 2 whistles so that it doesn’t go too soft as it will not absorb the marvellous flavours of all the spices we are to add in the kadhai.

Heat 2 large generous tablespoons of oil in a wok, no weight watchers tip this huh? Indeed!

Add mustard seeds and wait for them to pop but please be carefull not to burn them, one classic error here is that there are 2 types of mustard seeds, one variety is slightly big and the other one is smaller n more packed with flavour according to my mother , I dare not disagree , the only reason I use the smaller variety is that it gives me an ego boost each time I do a phodni and don’t burn them.

Then add Asafoetida, crushed garlic cloves in their skin as the skin turns a tasty caramelised brown adding to the visual delight of the process of tempering a curry or dal! then when the garlic is starting to brown add the curry leaves , green chillies , jeera and then  a generous spoonful of the fresh grated coconut (fresh from froizen is fine by me too) then , stir in the goda masala – 2 generous teaspoons, coriander powder ,turmeric , a big blob of ginger garlic paste and coriander chilli paste and stir this wonderfully aromatic mixture till it starts to brown , then add the chopped onion  and stir it now n then , let the oil work its magic in the onion allowing it to brown so that it secrets it juices and adds the typical flavour that a powerfull pungent red onion has pack3ed inside each leaf ,umm , mouth salivating isn’t it by now reading this , it should that’s the whole point my friend .

Now when this mixture is nice and ready, drain the water from the soaked or boiled par-masoor dal and toss it into the kadhai, stir in enough water to cover the lentil n then some and cook it till it almost done, when your almost done pour in the water of the soaked amsool and the dunk the amsool in along with salt to taste and bring to boil.

Season with finely chopped fresh as ever coriander and serve piping hot with phulkas dripping with ghee (clarified butter) or the plain old boiled white rice.

As you lick your fingers n the plate don’t forget to thank your daddy for giving you an internet connection which allowed you to see my divine blog n stir up this delightfull dish !aww come on now did u really buy your laptop and your internet connection on your own ! Atta girl!

Key (reminds me of my Chemistry textbook in school years)

*C.K.P stands for Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu a sub section of the Maharashtrian community in India and they generally hail from the coastal regions and hence are rather partial to freshly grated coconut and amsool in their food, not to mention their love for fresh fish and mutton, oh yeah!

*Dal used loosely to refer to the uncooked Lentil and AMTI a Marathi word meaning cooked curry.

*Coriander = Cilantro

*Jeera – Cumin (what were you thinking?)

*Aamsul / Garcinia Indica – this is typical to the Konkan region in Maharashtra

*Phodni – Marathi for tempering

*Kadhai – Hindi and Marathi for Wok, easy or what?!

*Phulkas – Also called chapattis or the delightful Indian Bread soft and fluffy and fresh off the pan has ghee smeared on it to pack some punch a many many calories 🙂

The other 4 SAVE ME NOW pastes are:

* a garlic ginger coarse paste,

* Finely grated fresh white coconut paste,

* Tomato red onion puree -1:3,

*And the best one for last aye? – few onion chopped lengthwise n lightly roasted in a kadhai (wok) with fresh white coconut finely grated till they turn slightly brown , then churned into a paste in the mixer )

Pic 1 :The saucepan contains oil heated and then the asafoetida, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, then the garlic , chopped green chillies and curry leaves and last but the best one GODA masala

Pic 2 :Chopped red onion added to the mix

Pic 3: That’s the dal cooking

Pic 4 & 5: All done , the AROMA is filling my senses and transporting me into my MIL’s kitchen , I want to HUG her nowwwwwwwwwww

P.S: Will post pictures to compare the 2 sizes of Mustard seeds at a later date , I am now going to be too busy slurping my amti (dal) off the plate 🙂

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