Dalma Recipe | How to make Dalma | Oriya Dalma Recipe [Video]

Dalma is a popular mix vegetable dal based curry from the region of Odisha in India. A variety of vegetables are simmered along with dal to give a delicious curry that is usually served with steamed white rice.

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Caution, this is not a Summer Recipe. But I still love it and can eat it anytime. 

The curiosity all started with a restaurant in Bangalore named Dalma. I would cross it and wonder what the name means. I had no clue it actually referred to this very popular classic Odia or Oriya dish. And then we met, me and Dalma, the curry, not the restaurant. The restaurant is still a mystery, never stepped in there.

Dalma was introduced to me by my neighbor who had an Oriya cook. He was fond of cooking his traditional cuisine once in a while and I loved it the first time I ate it. Unfortunately, I never took the recipe from him, but my neighbor who watched over him at times, gave this recipe to me. I have read online that there are different recipes of Dalma, some use coconut, some use onions, some use neither. I believe each region has adapted the dish to what is available locally. The coastal belt uses coconut while the interior regions do not. 

The Odia folks love Dalma so much that it is also served as a part of Chappan Bhog in Puri's Jagannath Temple.

Dalma is a very simple mix vegetable curry that is also very healthy. The dal is full of veggies and barely has any oil. The only oil used is that in tempering. Dalma is a hearty and wholesome curry that is usually served with Rice or Roti. If you plan to serve it with roti, add less water to keep the curry thick. Each variation of the recipe may use different vegetables, use what you can get your hands on. Vegetables that need time to cook are added in the beginning and once they are partially cooked, the faster cooking vegetables are added. The Oriya cook used to cook the dal in the same pan and while the dal was still cooking, he added in the veggies. I just sped up the process by using already cooked dal. Some folks may also use Chana Dal instead of Toor Dal or a mix of both. 

Wishing you a warm and comforting weekend with Dalma!

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook,  tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo @oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com I'd love to see what you are upto.

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

You can follow One Teaspoon Of Life on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and or you can subscribe to One Teaspoon Of Life and receive all the latest updated via Email

Video Recipe

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Dalma Recipe | How to make Dalma | Oriya Dalma Recipe

Dalma is a popular mix vegetable dal based curry from the region of Odisha in India. A variety of vegetables are simmered along with dal to give a delicious curry that is usually served with steamed white rice.

Recipe Type:  Curry
Cuisine:            Indian
Prep Time:     15 minutes
Cook time:     45 minutes
Total time:     60 minutes
Yield:                Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

3 cups cooked Toor Dal (Pigeon Pea Lentils)
1 Drumstick, peeled and chopped
1 Raw Banana, peeled and diced
1 big Potato, peeled and diced
10-12 Beans, diced
0.5 cup diced Pumpkin
2 Brinjals, diced
1 Tomato, roughly chopped
1 Onion, sliced
2 Tbsp Mustard Oil
1 Tbsp Panch Phoran (whole spice mix)
1 Bayleaf
1 tsp Turmeric Powder
1 tsp Red Chilli Powder
1 tsp Cumin Powder
1 Tbsp chopped Coriander Leaves
Salt to taste
2-3 cups Water
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Add cooked toor dal (lentils) to a deep pan or kadhai. Add water as required and 1 tsp turmeric powder. Mix well.
2. Add in the drumsticks, raw banana, pumpkin, potato and beans.
3. Add salt to taste. Cover and cook until the vegetables are half cooked.
4. Add in the brinjal and cover and cook until the vegetables are almost cooked.
5. Add in the chopped tomato and cook until all the vegetables are cooked.
6. Adjust seasoning if required. Remove from heat and keep aside.
7. To make the tempering, heat mustard oil in a pan and add the panch phoran spice mix.
8. Once the spices splutter, add in the bay leaf and sliced onions.
9. Fry until the onions are translucent.
10. Add in red chilli powder and the cumin powder and saute for 1 minute.
11. Add the Dalma to the tempering and simmer for 5-6 minutes.
12. Add water if required.
13. Garnish with the chopped coriander leaves.
14. Serve hot with rice or roti.

If you liked this, you may also like:

Pancharangi Dal

Ghugni Masala

Undhiyu

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Steamed Veg Momo Recipe | Vegan Dumplings Recipe [Video]

Veg Momos are vegan dumplings stuffed with a stir fried mix of finely chopped vegetables. The dumpling can either be steamed,  deep fried or pan fried. This is the recipe for steamed veg momos. Steamed veg momos are a specialty of North East India and these are now a popular street food all through India.

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I never skip a chance to eat a Momo. But making them, I've had my excuses.

I'm glad I finally got around to making some, because I simply loved this recipe and I'm so happy I can share it with you. And unlike what I imagined earlier, it is not that elaborate and no, homemade is so much better than the street side one. 

So.... a Momo is a dumpling that is native to the Himalayan region, mainly North-East India, Tibet, Nepal and regions around them. In recent times, momos have taken the streets by storm and it is not unusual to see folks selling momos at street corners. They have become extremely popular as street food. 

My first experience with momo making was in 2009, when we visited Darjeeling. Darjeeling is very famous for momos and I had it in my bucket list to try some there. We used to frequent a small family run restaurant called Nimto that served us vegetarian food. It was here that we saw Auntie (the owner and chef) prepare momos. I was amazed at the speed and quality of the pleating of her momos. While I am nowhere close to her's in aesthetic appeal, I believe I've made up for it with taste.

Veg momos are usually stuffed with cabbage and a mix of other finely chopped veggies. A momo is very mild in flavor, it has a subtle hint of ginger, garlic and heat. It is usually served with either chilly vinegar or a spicy chilli garlic sauce or a spicy peanut sauce. There are some places that serve momos with mayo but I would never visit those places. 

In this post and video, I have included details on how to make the momo wrappers as well. In my next post, I will share a simple recipe to make the Chilli Garlic sauce that I served the momos with. While I did not do it this time, in the past I have frozen momos and steamed them when required. If you plan to freeze momos, place the momos in a large box in a single layer and freeze them. You can then directly steam them (no thawing required) when you want to eat the momos. But just serve them hot, momos tend to get chewy if allowed to cool.

This recipe shows one method of pleating the momos, this is usually how veg momos are pleated. But feel free to pleat or seal the momos as you please. Look up online, there are several easy ways to pleat. Hope you enjoy this recipe. If you do, please let me know!!

Happy Momo Making Weekend!

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook,  tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com I'd love to see what you are upto.

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

You can follow One Teaspoon Of Life on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest or you can subscribe to One Teaspoon Of Life and receive all the latest updated via Email

Video Recipe

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Steamed Veg Momo Recipe | Vegan Dumplings Recipe

Veg Momos are vegan dumplings stuffed with a stir fried mix of finely chopped carrots and cabbage. The dumpling can either be steamed, deep fried or pan fried. This is the recipe for steamed veg momos. Steamed veg momos are a specialty of North East India and these are now a popular street food all through India.

Recipe Type:  Snacks
Cuisine:            Indian
Prep Time:     60 minutes
Cook time:     45 minutes
Total time:     50 minutes
Yield:                Makes 20 momos

Ingredients:

For the Dumpling Wrappers:

1 cup All Purpose Flour (Maida)
0.5 tsp Salt
0.5 cup hot Water

For the Momo filling:

3 cups finely chopped Cabbage
0.5 cup finely chopped Carrot
1 Tbsp finely chopped Garlic
1 Tbsp finely chopped Ginger
1 Green Chilli, finely chopped
2 Tbsp Oil
Salt to taste

Method:

1. To make the dumpling wrappers, take the flour in a large bowl and add salt to it.
2. Now add water by the spoonfuls and knead until you have a smooth dough. Knead the dough for at least 10 minutes to allow the gluten to develop. You can also use cold water to knead the dough, but hot water yields a softer wrapper.
3. Cover and keep aside for 30 minutes to 1 hours.
4. While the wrapper dough is resting, make the filling for the momo.
5. To make the momo filling, heat oil in a pan and add in the chopped garlic, ginger and green chilli. Saute until fragrant.
6. Now add the chopped carrot and saute for 2-3 minutes on medium heat.
7. Add in the chopped cabbage and salt to taste and continue to saute on low heat until the cabbage is almost cooked.
8. Remove from heat and allow to cool down to room temperature.
9. Divide the wrapper dough into 20 equal portions.
10. Fill in 1-2 spoons of filling.
11. Wet the edge with water.
12. Carefully pleat the edges to seal the momos.
13. Steam the momos for 5-6 minutes.
14. Serve hot with chilli sauce.

If you liked this, you may also like:

Vegan Laksa Soup

Steamed Rice Cups

Steamed Lentil Dumplings

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Dahi Sandwich Recipe | Yogurt Sandwich Recipe [Video]

Dahi Sandwich or Yogurt Sandwich. An easy and healthy vegetarian sandwich that is made by stuffing bread with a delicious mix of hung curd (yogurt), finely chopped vegetables, and spices and toasting it off in a frying pan until golden and crispy. Perfect for breakfast or snacks.

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Hola! to all you fun people out there. Weekend's near and I'm already in my lazy mood. And this sandwich is perfect for the mood. Today, I bring to you a fun and Summery sandwich - The Dahi Sandwich or the Yogurt Sandwich.

Say what you may, Summer is here, at least in Bangalore. And might I say I'm not loving it. It's gotten a tad too hot for my liking. I've been sending messages up in the sky for some rain and I hope I get a reply. Until then, all I can do is enjoy some Summery food in the shade with the fan on full speed.

So, Dahi Sandwich, when I first heard of it, I was so excited. I love Dahi (yogurt). It is the only thing that prevents me from becoming a vegan. Vegan yogurt is just not for me. If you love creamy sandwiches wrapped in crispy golden bread, then this one is the ONE for you.

Dahi Sandwich is super easy to make once you have the "hung curd". I will interchangeably use the words dahi, curd and yogurt, because they all are the same. And when I say yogurt, it is always the plain one and not flavored ones. Back to the "hung curd", hung curd is just curd from which the liquid has been drained out. There are several ways you can make hung curd. The traditional method is wrapping the curd in a muslin or thin cotton cloth and tying the cloth and then hanging it somewhere (preferably over the sink) and letting the liquid drain out. I choose the easy method, which is using a huge tea strainer. I add the curd to the strainer and keep it over a deep bowl in the fridge overnight. Come morning and all you curd is strained and you have the thick creamy solids. More about this in notes.

Once you have mastered making the hung curd, you can also try to make these delicious "Dahi Kebabs" that are perfect for dinner parties where you want to show your culinary skills. I only use homemade Dahi or Yogurt, you can learn how to make your own yogurt, here. It is super easy and the results are so much better than packaged yogurt.

After you have the hung curd, add in finely chopped vegetables, very little spice and then spread it on the bread and then toast the sandwich on a pan until crisp and golden. I kept the spices light, because I wanted the sandwich to be cooling. I added Chaat Masala, you can just add Garam Masala or any spice mix you like, or just stick to plain pepper. 

These Dahi Sandwiches are kid friendly and adult friendly (very). Also, between us, these are somewhat healthy, if you overlook the white bread and the butter. But I think on weekends, we can always cheat a little. So b-bye for now.

Happy Weekend folks, see you next week.

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook,  tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com I'd love to see what you are upto.

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

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Video Recipe

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Dahi Sandwich Recipe

Instant Mix Vegetable Uttappa is a quick savory South Indian pancake that is made from semolina and topped with finely chopped vegetables. It is popularly served as breakfast along with some fresh coconut chutney.

Recipe Type:  Snacks, Breakfast
Cuisine:            Indian
Prep Time:     10 minutes
Cook time:     15 minutes
Total time:     25 minutes
Yield:                5

Ingredients:

10 Bread Slices
0.75 cup hung Curd
2 Tbsp Tomato, finely chopped
2 Tbsp Capsicum, finely chopped
1 Green Chilli, finely chopped
2 Tbsp Coriander leaves, finely chopped
1 tsp Chaat Masala
Salt to taste
Butter as required

Method:

1. Mix together the hung curd (see Notes), tomato, capsicum, coriander leaves, green chilli, chaat masala and salt until combined.
2. Spread the curd mixture on a slice of bread and place another bread on top to make a sandwich.
3. Slice off the edges of the sandwich.
4. Grease a pan with butter and place the sandwich on the pan.
5. Cook on low to medium heat until the sandwich turns golden brown on one side.
6. Flip the sandwich and cook until the second side browns.
7. Cut diagonally and serve.

Notes:

1. Hung curd is made by straining thick dahi or curd or yogurt in a muslin cloth for a 4-5 hours. The same quantity of yogurt may give different people different quantities of hung curd as it depends on how much liquid the yogurt contains. Different brands may give different results too. Hence, for the sake of uniformity, this recipe uses the quantity of hung curd instead of quantity of curd or yogurt.

2. To make hung curd, take a muslin cloth and tie yogurt in it. Then suspend the cloth from a tap or rod for a few hours. Alternately, you can also use a fine strainer and leave the yogurt in it in the fridge overnight.

If you liked this, you may also like:

Masala Bread Toast

Mumbai Masala Toast

Misal Pav

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Instant Mix Vegetable Uttappa Recipe | Rava Uttapam Recipe [Video]

Instant Mix Vegetable Uttappa is a quick savory South Indian pancake that is made from semolina and topped with finely chopped vegetables. It is popularly served as breakfast along with some fresh coconut chutney.

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I'm a complete breakfast lover! These days breakfast is served with a side of "Man with a Plan" playing on Amazon Prime. The show on the side changes, but the love for breakfast never does.

Right from childhood, I've always woken up hungry. It doesn't matter what time I wake up, it could even be a short afternoon nap, but I am hungry for the first 10 minutes after I wake up. It seems like I spend a lot of energy in sleeping and dreaming. But this also gives me the opportunity to actually enjoy my breakfast. I've heard of people forgetting to eat their breakfast (Gee!) and people not being hungry even an hour after waking up (Raj!), but not me, I was born to enjoy the first meal of the day.

Since this has always been my favorite meal, I keep searching for recipes and ideas to keep it interesting. And for me breakfast has to be instant, else it has to be made the previous night. I cannot wait for hours to prepare something. So instant recipes are always a hit with me, like this Instant Mix Veg Uttappa.

To tell you the truth, Uttappa is my favorite way to eat a dosa, even over a Masala Dosa. It's something about those charred onions on top that just makes me want it more than the others. I just went a little ahead with this Instant Uttappa, I topped it not just with onions but with a mixture of vegetables. You can keep it traditional and just use onions, or just use tomato. I love Tomato Uttappa too, with a little bit of spicy chutney pudi sprinkled on top of it.

This Instant Mix Veg Uttappa requires just a few ingredients. Rava or Semolina or Sooji forms the base along with some sour plain curd (yogurt). A pinch of baking soda or cooking soda is added to give it that slight fluffiness. You can also use fruit salt like Eno, but add just a pinch. These ingredients along with salt and water just form the dosa, the actual base of the Uttappa. As I mentioned earlier, you can now top this with vegetables of your choice - traditional choices are onions or tomatoes, I used a variety - onions, tomatoes, cabbage, capsicum and carrot along with some green chillies, curry leaves and coriander. 

Instant Mix Veg Uttappa can be served for breakfast or as an early evening snack. You can also serve it for dinner (I'm a big "breakfast-for-dinner" person). 

Serve the Uttappa with a fresh coconut chutney.

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook,  tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com I'd love to see what you are upto.

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

You can follow One Teaspoon Of Life on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+ or you can subscribe to One Teaspoon Of Life and receive all the latest updated via Email

Video Recipe

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Instant Mix Vegetable Uttappa Recipe

Instant Mix Vegetable Uttappa is a quick savory South Indian pancake that is made from semolina and topped with finely chopped vegetables. It is popularly served as breakfast along with some fresh coconut chutney.

Recipe Type:  Snacks, Breakfast
Cuisine:            Indian
Prep Time:     20 minutes
Cook time:     15 minutes
Total time:     35 minutes
Yield:                5 to 6

Ingredients:

1 cup Semolina (Rava)
0.75 cup Yogurt (Curd)
1 cup Water
0.25 tsp Baking Soda
1 Onion, finely chopped
0.5 Tomato, finely chopped
0.5 cup Cabbage, finely chopped
0.5 Carrot, grated
2 Tbsp Capsicum, finely chopped
1 Green Chilli, finely chopped
Curry leaves
Coriander leaves, finely chopped
Oil to make the dosa
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Mix together semolina, yogurt, 0.5 tsp salt and 0.25 cups of water until well combined and keep aside for 20 minutes.
2. After 20 minutes, add in the baking soda and mix.
3. Add a little water and mix until there are no lumps. Add more water as required, the batter has to be of the same consistency of a dosa or pancake batter.
4. If the batter is too thin, you can add in a little rice flour.
5. Mix together the onions, tomatoes, carrots, cabbage, capsicum, curry leaves, green chilli and coriander leaves in a separate bowl.
6. Add a little salt and mix well.
7. Grease a dosa tava or a flat frying pan.
8. Once the tava is hot, pour one spoonful of batter onto it.
9. Top it with the mix vegetables. Pour a teaspoon of oil on the top.
10. Allow the uttappa to cook for 1-2 minutes on one side or until slightly browned. Cook on low to medium heat.
11. Flip the uttappa and allow it to cook completely, approximately 2-3 minutes.
12. Remove from tava and serve hot along with some fresh coconut chutney.

If you liked this, you may also like:

Instant Ragi Dosa

Instant Wheat Dosa

Rava Dosa

Read more ...

Eggless Almond Cookies Recipe | Badam Biscuit Recipe [Video]

Eggless Almond Cookies or Badam Biscuits. Crisp buttery cookies made with almonds. 

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These Almond Cookies guys.... are the best cookies EVER!!

I've baked several cookies over the years, but it is to these almond beauties that I keep going back. These were the first cookies I ever baked and posted. Today I'm just reposting the exact same recipe, nothing to fault there, with new photos and a video to make it easier for you to bake these almond cookies. Now you have absolute no reason not to. Right?

I would have never got around to baking anything if it weren't for a quarter packet of unsalted butter staring at me every time I opened the fridge. Frankly, I can't even remember why I bought that butter and when I used parts of it. I've been racking my brain but got nothing so far. So because I was actually bored of seeing that butter in the fridge, I decided I need to bake something. I had excess almonds available, so I got around to baking these oldies again.

Making these cookies is very very easy. All you need is 7-8 ingredients at room temperature. I use a mix of maida or all purpose flour and atta or whole wheat flour, just because I stay a little far from all purpose flour when I can. If you like you can use only all purpose flour or only whole wheat flour. The whole wheat flour here adds to the nuttiness of the cookie and is pretty much unnoticeable. I coarsely ground the almonds, you can also chop the almonds or add extra chopped almonds to give it a more almond-y taste. I plan to add the chopped almonds next time.

The important thing while baking cookies is to not over-mix the mixture. Over-mixing will give you harder cookies, so mix everything until just combined. Also, don't overdo the creaming of the butter, it is a cookie not a cake, so don't incorporate a lot of air in there. I made one batch with the full 100 gms of sugar and found it a tad too sweet. Hence, here in this recipe, I added only 3/4th of the sugar first and then added more as required.

It is recommended to chill the cookie dough before baking as it prevents the cookie from spreading too much. If you are short for time, freeze it for 15 minutes. This cookie dough did not slice well for me as it had almond pieces, so I rolled them instead of just slicing the dough. Once all that is done, just bake the cookie until it is slightly browned on the sides. When you remove the cookies out, they will feel soft, allow them to cool and they will firm up.

These Almond Cookies are crisp and not chewy. They taste great when dunked into a hot cup of chai. Don't you just love dunking your biscuits or cookies in chai? So I'm off to eat my cookies with chai.

Happy Weekend!

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook,  tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com I'd love to see what you are upto.

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

You can follow One Teaspoon Of Life on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest or you can subscribe to One Teaspoon Of Life and receive all the latest updated via Email

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Eggless Almond Cookies Recipe | Badam Biscuit Recipe

Eggless Almond Cookies or Badam Biscuits. Crisp buttery cookies made with almonds.

Recipe Type:  Dessert
Cuisine:            International
Prep Time:     40 minutes
Cook time:     20 minutes
Total time:     60 minutes
Yield:                35 cookies

Ingredients:

0.75 cup or 125 gms Unsalted Butter
0.5 cup or 50 gms Flour (Maida)
1 cup or 100 gms Whole Wheat Flour (Atta)
0.5 cup or 100 gms Sugar
0.75 cup or 100 gms Almonds
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
2 Tbsp Milk

Method:

1. Powder the sugar until fine.
2. Coarsely powder the almonds.
3. Take unsalted butter that is at room temperature into a large bowl.
4. Add in 3/4th of the powdered sugar and whisk until the sugar has mixed well and the butter is creamy.
5. Sift in the flour, whole wheat flour and baking powder.
6. Add the powdered almonds and vanilla essence and knead until combined. If it is too dry, add a little milk.
7. Taste the dough and add in more powdered sugar if required and knead again until combined.
8. Wrap in a plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
9. After 30 minutes, divide the cookie dough into 35 equal parts.
10. Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius.
11. Shape the cookies and place on a greased baking sheet.
12. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes until the edges are slightly browned.
13. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.
14. Store in an air tight box once completely cooled.

If you liked this, you may also like:

Masala Bread Toast

Eggless Almond Chocolate Brownie

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