Restaurant Style Dal Fry | How to make Dhal Fry

I simply love Dal... Especially the restaurant kind. You know, with that hint of ginger and fragrance of the garlic combined with the slight heat from the green chilli and tartness of the tomatoes?

Have you had a tiring day cleaning that cupboard or working on your taxes? Do you crave comfort food? How would you like a warm bowl of hearty, filling and guilt-free healthy Dal? That's my go-to comfort food when I'm short for time, hungry (cranky too...) and tired. Some warm dal with white rice and a side of mango pickle. Yummm... Getting the picture? 

As much as I love dal with rice, my love for Dal-Roti is even greater. Almost a must-order when we visit a restaurant. I almost always order Dal with roti in restaurants, mostly because they get it spot on and with all that spicy food on the table, sometimes you need something to tone it down. 

There are so many ways in which you can make dal, the simplest being with just a tempering of mustard seeds, curry leaves and green chilli or you can try this recipe for a more flavorful version.

If you remember the universal truths from my previous post - Avarekalu Uppit . This dal fry totally satisfies that truth. It is one of the basic Indian dishes your mom will expect you to know how to cook.

Dal is also probably the simplest Indian dish you can make and let me tell you the biggest plus point - You cannot mess it up!!! Well, as long as you are tasting for salt along the way, that is. And if you by chance did mess up, worry not, it is equally easy to fix it too.

Dal or Dhal can me made from any type of lentil, although there are a few popular ones based on the region. North Indians make dal from Chana Dal or Moong Dal while the South Indians swear by the Toor Dal. You can make this recipe with any other type of lentil or dal you have and it will taste just as good. Promise!!!

If you liked this Dal Fry recipe, you may also like:

• Pancharangi Dal - Curry made with 5 different types of lentils.
• Heerekai Tove - Dal with ridgegourd pieces.
• Dal Makhani - Creamy and rich dal made with black lentils.
• Spinach or Palak Dal - Dal flavored with spinach.

Restaurant Syle Dal Fry

Dal or Pigeon Pea Lentils cooked in restaurant style. 

Recipe Type:  Main
Cuisine:            Indian
Prep Time:     10 minutes
Cook time:     45 minutes
Yield:                Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Toor Dal or Arhar Dal or Pigeon Pea Lentils
1 Onion
1 Tomato
1-2 Green Chilli
1 tsp Garlic Paste
1 tsp Ginger Paste
1/2 tsp Mustard Seeds
1/2 tsp Cumin Seeds or Jeera
1 pinch Asafoetida or Hing
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
8-10 Curry leaves
2-3 tsp Oil
Water as required
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves for garnish

Method:

Wash the dal at least twice.
Pressure cook the dal in 1.5 cups of water until done.
Mash the dal and keep aside.
Chop the onion and tomato finely.
Chop or slit the green chilli.
Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds.
Once they start spluttering, add the cumin seeds.
Add the onion, ginger paste, garlic paste and green chilli and fry until the onions are slightly browned.
Add the curry leaves and fry for 1 minute.
Add the tomatoes and fry for 2-3 minutes until they become soft.
Add the turmeric powder and the asafoetida powder and mix well.
Add in the cooked dal, salt and water as required. Adjust the water according to the consistency you desire.
Simmer for 5-6 minutes.
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with rice or rotis.

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Avarekalu Uppit | How to make Hyacinth Beans Upma

Avarekalu Uppit or Upma is a basic South Indian breakfast made by cooking toasted semolina in a vegetable broth containing boiled Avarekalu or Hyacinth beans.

I had a nice chat with one of my friend's in the bus yesterday. We were chatting away about food, we are both obsessed foodies and were super hungry by the time we reached halfway, thanks to our little chitter chatter. During our extremely animated food talk, we realized some universal truths:

•  "What to cook?" is a more exhausting question than actually cooking that "What" on a daily basis
•  Every Indian mother thinks their children should stop cooking "Special" dishes and learn to make the basic mundane daily food.

Do you agree with me? Or have some more universal truths? Leave me a comment and we can discuss it in length.

"What to cook next week?" is a regular question I ask myself and the people around me every weekend so I can stock up on the raw material. And pretty much every woman I ask, asks me back the same question. Sigh. 

And the second point takes me back almost 15 years in time when I was still living with my parents and had recently discovered I love to cook. I'd flip through the magazines at the library and find some new recipe and rush home to try it. And my mom had just the same response my friend's mom had - Learn to cook basic everyday food and then learn the "Specials". 

The wisdom in those words dawned on me much later in life when I moved to Bangalore for a job and had to eat out everyday. I craved for simple home cooked meals like my mom made. So now I balance my simple meals with my special meals. And sometimes, I mix the two.

This Avarekalu Uppit is my version of special and simple, all combined together. Avarekalu or Hyacinth beans are extremely seasonal and make their appearance for a short time in the winter. Imagine my surprise when I found street vendors selling it at this time of the year. I had to pick them up. Addition of avarekalu made my simple uppit, special for me. 

Avarekalu is a local name for Hyacinth beans. They have a very subtle delicate flavor. In winter, there is a fest dedicated just for Avarekalu in Bangalore where the creativity of the chefs is displayed as they make anything and everything using avarekalu. Ah! Simple special moments in life!!!

Uppit or Upma is a dish usually had for breakfast in South India. It is made my cooking toasted semolina or rava in a vegetable broth. You can make uppit with just onions and tomatoes or load it up with veggies like carrots, peas, green beans, cabbage, capsicum or like in this recipe - Avarekalu. To make a simple Avarekalu Uppit, you can skip all the other vegetables except the avarekalu, onion and the tomato.

You may also like to check out the recipes for Uppit/Upma or Avarekalu Saaru.

Avarekalu Uppit or Hyacinth Beans Upma

Avarekalu Uppit or Upma is a basic South Indian breakfast made by cooking toasted semolina in a vegetable broth containing boiled Avarekalu or Hyacinth beans.

Recipe Type:  Breakfast
Cuisine:            South Indian
Prep Time:     20 minutes
Cook time:     30 minutes
Yield:                Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 cup Semolina or Rava or Sooji
1/2 cup Avarekalu
1 small Carrot
6-8 Green Beans
1 small Potato
1 Onion
1 small Tomato
1 sprig Curry leaves
1-2 Green Chilli
1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
2.5 cups Water
4-5 tsp Oil
Salt to taste
1 tsp Lemon juice
2 Tbsp finely chopped Coriander leaves for garnish
1 Tbsp grated fresh Coconut for garnish

Method:

In a kadhai or pan, toast the rava for 4-5 minutes on low heat until fragrant.
Chop the onion, beans, carrot, potato, tomato and the chillies.
Heat oil in a kadhai and add the mustard seeds. Once they splutter, add the curry leaves.
Immediately add the onions and green chillies and fry until the onions are translucent.
Add the other vegetables along with the avarekalu to the kadhai and stir for 1-2 minutes.
Add the water and cover and cook until the avarekalu and the beans are cooked.
Add salt.
Add the rava while stirring continuously to avoid forming lumps.
Cover and cook on low heat for 3-4 minutes.
Turn off the heat and allow the uppit to rest for another 5 minutes.
Now add the lemon juice and garnish with coriander and coconut and mix well.
Serve hot.

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Cucumber Pakoda or Khire ka Pakoda

Cucumber Pakoda or Khira Pakoda is my latest offering in the junk-food-meets-healthy-food recipes.

I've grown up on cooked cucumbers more than uncooked ones. I know, not a lot of you have heard of cooking cucumbers. But if you are from around Mangalore, you know your cucumbers well. My mom used cucumbers in sambar, palya, kadabu and my favorite -Akki Rotti.

I've recently started experimenting with cucumbers. I've made Cucumber Dhokla recently. But never in my wildest thoughts had I imagined I would be making Cucumber Pakodas and ENJOYING it too !!!

I was introduced to them recently at a temple that refrains from using root vegetables. I was unaware of this fact and very unsuspectingly ate it assuming they were potato pakodas. I was pleasantly surprised that they were cucumber. I have been waiting to make them since then. Saturday was the perfect day. It was raining. Well, it'd been raining the whole last week, and heavily, I must add. Eating pakodas and sipping hot tea is my favorite thing to do when it rains.

So on Saturday, I dragged my bean bag as close to the balcony, that little spray of rain on my face gets me all excited. Took my plate of cucumber pakodas and my steaming hot cup of tea and plonked on it. I also had this really exciting English Regency romance novel by Sophia Nash that made a perfect read considering the stormy weather outside. Ah! Simple pleasures of life. 

Let's get back to the Cucumber Pakoda. This pakoda is made just like all the other pakodas, only this time instead of an onion or a potato, we dip sliced cucumber into the batter and fry it. I used regular cucumbers that we use in salads. Not the Mangalore Cucumber. Preferably, use something that has a lower water content to get an even tastier pakoda.

The batter is very simple. Take some gram flour or besan and add salt, red chilli powder, salt and water to get a smooth batter. The consistency of the batter should be thick enough to coat the cucumbers. I added ajwain or carom seeds as I love the flavor in pakodas. You can skip this or replace it with coriander powder or cumin seeds. I also added a pinch of baking soda, this can be avoided too. 

Sprinkle chat masala while serving or serve it with some delicious mint coriander chutney.

Send me an email or leave me a comment on this Post or Facebook or Tweet to me if you tried these awesome pakodas. I love hearing from my readers, so write to me.

Cucumber Pakodas or Khire ka Pakoda

Cucumber slices dipped in a batter made of besan or gram flour and spices and deep fried until golden brown.

Recipe Type:  Appetizer
Cuisine:            Indian
Prep Time:     10 minutes
Cook time:     20 minutes
Yield:                Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

1 Cucumber
4-5 Tbsp Besan or Gram Flour
1 tsp Red Chilli Powder
1/4 tsp Ajwain seeds or Carom seeds
1/2 cup Water
Salt to taste
Pinch of Baking soda
Oil to fry
1/2 tsp Chat Masala(Optional)

Method:

Slice the cucumber into thin slices.
Mix together the besan, red chilli powder, ajwain seeds, baking soda and salt.
Add water by the spoonfuls until you get a batter of desired consistency. The batter should be thick enough to coat the cucumbers.
Heat oil in a deep pan or kadhai. To test if the oil is hot enough, drop a small spoonful of batter in the oil. If it immediately rises to the top, then the oil is ready for frying the pakodas.
Dip the cucumbers in the batter and carefully drop them into the oil.
Cook them on medium heat until one side is golden brown. Flip the pakodas and cook until the other side is done.
It takes around 3-5 minutes per pakoda. Cook them in batches and do not crowd the pan.
Sprinkle some chat masala over them and serve hot with mint coriander chutney or ketchup.

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Instant Ragi Dosa

Continuing with my Instant recipes with this Instant Ragi Dosa. It is an instant dosa or crepe  made with rava or semolina and ragi flour (finger millet flour).

As much as I love Bangalore, I also love getting out of Bangalore once in a while. There are but only a few roads that lead out. One of them is the Mysore road. I'm not too fond of the Bangalore-Mysore highway. Too many speed breakers and way too many vehicles. Barely feels like you have left Bangalore. But it has some silver lining, in the form of the various eating joints all along the way. There is this Kamat restaurant on the way where I first ate the Ragi Dosa. And it was love at first bite. Crispy dosa served with some coconut chutney. I'd never imagined Ragi could taste sooo good.

I'd had ragi in the form of Ragi Rotti or the Ragi Mudde, but never the Ragi Dosa. I simply loved it and when we came back, I was off to buy Ragi Flour to make it. Ragi Dosa is made exactly like the Rava Dosa, only the rice flour is replaced with ragi flour.

Ragi Dosa is perfect for those mornings when you haven't planned ahead for breakfast. All you do is mix stuff together and throw them on a hot griddle or tava. Yup no spreading it with love like the regular Dosa or pancake, you have to throw it on and let it take the shape it likes. No obsessing over the round shape. 

It is also perfect for that 5pm hunger of mine. A great alternative to all that fried stuff around. 

Making awesomely crispy Ragi Dosa requires patience, something I lack, so sometimes I'm just okay with soft ones. But I have the following tips to making a great Ragi Dosa. The same work for Rava Dosa as well.

• Mix and make the dosa immediately. Do not leave it to soak. Soaking allows the rava or semolina to soak up all the water and it won't get crisp.
• The batter needs to be thin. Make a few and try, you will know if you need to add more water. The consistency should be similar to that of buttermilk.
• Pour the batter when the tava or the griddle is really hot and then lower the heat and leave it to crisp up.
• Don't skimp on the oil. The dosa needs oil to crisp up, at least 1-2 tsp per Dosa. Oil-less Ragi Dosa is just not as tasty. 
• I add onions, curry leaves, cumin seeds, coriander leaves and chilli. A well seasoned Ragi Dosa does not even need any accompaniments, it tastes delicious on its own. All these are optional and you can leave them out to make a plain Ragi Dosa

Buttermilk consistency Batter

Spoon the mixture on a hot tava. Flip when browned.

Instant Ragi Dosa

Instant dosa made with Ragi flour and Semolina

Recipe Type:  Breakfast
Cuisine:            South Indian
Prep Time:     10 minutes
Cook time:     30 minutes
Yield:                5-6 Dosas

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Semolina (Rava)
1/4 cup Ragi flour
1 Tbsp All purpose flour (Maida)
1 Tbsp Yogurt (Curd)
1 small Onion (finely chopped)
5-6 Curry leaves
2 Tbsp Coriander leaves (chopped)
1 tsp Red chilli powder
1 tsp Cumin seeds
1.5 cups Water
Salt
Oil for frying

Method:

Mix together all the ingredients except oil and whisk until free of lumps
Heat a tava and grease it
Pour spoonfuls of the batter on the tava
Allow it to cook on low flame
Spoon oil on the dosa
Once the dosa is cooked, it will leave the sides of the tava, else use a spatula to loosen the dosa from the tava
Flip and cook for 1 minute
Serve hot with chutney

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Instant Paneer Tikka (Vegan Option Available)

I absolutely LOVE these Instant Paneer Tikkas. Just what I needed to brighten up a really boring week.

I've been bored to death this week. A continuing bus strike meant me not going to office. I had to work from home. Alone!! So boring. I miss talking to people. All alone at home means I talk to myself or my TV talks to me. Not so entertaining, really.

I love meeting up my friends at work in the morning over an extended tea break and chatting away. We talk about everything, from real serious technical stuff to light hearted sitcoms. I miss these "Tea Sessions", as we call it, the most. It's my best part of the day in office. There are times I go to office early just so as to reach in time for Tea.

So as I prepared myself for yet another ALONE Tea Session (Sigh), I decided to add some spice into it with something so tasty that I forget I am alone.

When I am dull or bored, I cook. Cooking wakes me up like nothing else can. And especially trying something new is always so much more exciting. I looked through my fridge and I had - Capsicum and Paneer and some Cherry Tomatoes. An idea formed. Voila - Instant Paneer Tikkas.

These Paneer Tikkas need no overnight marination or complicated setup. They took hardly 30 minutes from start to finish. Now that's INSTANT in my dictionary.

I used what I had in my fridge - Capsicum, Tomato and Paneer. You can use anything with the Paneer. The usual combinations are Capsicum, Onion or Tomato. But you can get creative and may be pop in a mushroom or a thick slice of Zucchini.

I liked the idea of individual sized portions, hence I used toothpicks. You can use real skewers to pile on all your favorite things on it. For it to be as Instant as mine, use quick cooking ingredients only, If you want to skewer on Potato or Corn, you may probably want to parboil them first. that makes it a little less instant-ty, but definitely not any less tasty.

For the marination, use thick yogurt or curd, I tend to always have at least a bowl of homemade yogurt in the fridge, so no worries there for me. If the curd or yogurt you have is thin, then place it in a tea strainer or a muslin cloth for around half hour to let the whey drain off and you will have nice thick curd. I've used a bunch of spice powders to made the marinade. If you want it to be even more instant, use store bought Tandoori Masala and it will taste just as good.

Paneer Tikka is always grilled. I grilled mine in the oven. But if you do not have any means of grilling it, then you can shallow fry them. Just don't cook it for very long, they will lose that silky smooth texture of the paneer.

If you are a Vegan, you can replace the Paneer with Tofu and the yogurt with some Lime juice.

Instant Paneer Tikkas

Paneer, Capsicum and Tomato coated in an instant marinade of spices and grilled. 

Recipe Type:  Snacks / Appetizer
Cuisine:            North Indian
Prep Time:     10 minutes
Cook time:     20 minutes
Yield:                9 Tikkas

Ingredients:

For the Tikka:

100 gms Paneer (use Tofu for a vegan option)
1 small Capsicum or Bell Pepper
1 Cherry Tomato per Tikka (Optional)
3/4-1 tsp Oil per Paneer Tikka

For the Marinade:

2 Tbsp thick Yogurt or Curd (use 1-2 tsp lime juice for a vegan option)
1.5 tsp Ginger Garlic Paste
1.5 Tbsp Besan or Gram Flour
1/4 tsp Cumin powder
1/2 tsp Coriander powder
1/2 tsp Red Chilli Powder
1/4 tsp Garam Masala
1/4 tsp Amchur or Dried Mango Powder (Skip if using lime juice or if the yogurt is very sour)
1/4 tsp Chaat Masala (Optional)
A pinch of Hing or Asafoetida
Salt to taste

Method:

Mix together all the ingredients for the marinade.
Cut the Paneer into individual bite sized cubes. Cut the Capsicum to the same size as the Paneer.
Add the paneer and capsicum to the marinade and mix well.
Skewer the capsicum, paneer and the cherry tomato onto the toothpick.
Place them in a greased grilling sheet or pan.
Spoon a little oil over each of the Paneer Tikkas.
Grill them for 10-15 minutes, turning them every 3-4 minutes.
They are ready when they char slightly.
Serve hot with some mint chutney.

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