Urad sabat

Urad sabat or Punjabi kali dal is a staple lentil in the Punjabi kitchen. It's taste and depth of flavor is unmatched. There are no fancy overpowering flavors here but just the wholesome toothiness of the lentil against the mildly spiced, rich, lusciously cooked down and thickened lentil itself.



Urad sabat is whole un-husked black gram dal(urad/udad/udid dal). It is nutritious, packed with energy and rich in proteins. When allowed to simmer over a long period of time, it tends to achieve a slightly slimy and thick consistency. Characterized by it's beautiful earthy flavor and a rich brown color, this dal is the queen of slow cooking! And you know just how good slow cooked food tastes...... every little lentil in this dish is given enough time and love to ripen and dissolve into perfection.

I remember seeing huge cauldrons of kali dal gently simmering away on a log fire at a dhaba in Delhi. Perfect, bellywarming food on a nippy December afternoon. Left outside to cook over a log fire for over 12 hours, the dal has an unmistakable aroma and fragrance which you just cannot reproduce with your gas or electric stove. All that soot,smoke and the fruity wooden logs flavor the food in a unique way. Visits to the village where my grand parents made their home reminds me of the food - it had the same fantastic taste and smelled so good. It was partly because of the freshness of the ingredients and also because ajji (My dad's mother) used to cook over a vole or a small log fire. And of course a whole lotta love that she put into it. :)



Don't be overwhelmed by the long cooking hours for this dish. As the efforts are well rewarded even by using your pressure cooker and reducing the cooking time by a great deal. The dal is fragrant and hearty and tastes oh so good with phulkas or rotis.

This recipe is from a book on Punjabi Cooking by Premjit Gill that I found in our attic. It was first printed in 1986! So I'm guessing nothing has changed about the way this beautiful lentil is cooked as most recipes that Google brought back were roughly the same. Although I did modify the recipe a wee bit after I was influenced by other recipes that I read and also some secrets that my neighbor shared with me.

Be forewarned that you only venture into making this dish when you have lots of time on hand. Not active cooking time, but you know the "let it simmer till it cooks down to a beautiful lush consistency" time. This dish took waaaaay longer than what the recipe promised. But it wasn't like I was slaving over it or anything. I just had to check on it occasionally to make sure that there was enough water to keep it from burning and sticking to the bottom. That reminds me - you have to use a thick bottomed vessel for this one.



I'm sending this recipe across to the very talented author, Sia of the gorgeous food blog - Monsoon Spice for the 15th helping of the MLLA (My Legume Love Affair) event. This event was started by Susan who has a fantastic blog space dedicated to her beautifully thought out recipes and pictures.



On to the recipe. Please look at the notes section for additional tips.

Recipe

Ingredients

For the dal :

1 cup urad sabat/ udad saboot/ whole un-husked black gram dal
1 tsp salt
1 inch piece of ginger, chopped fine
8 cloves of garlic, chopped fine or crushed
1 large onion chopped fine
10 cups of water
1/2 tsp of red chilli powder
1/2 tsp of turmeric powder
1/2 tbsp ghee

For the tarka

3 tbsps of butter/ghee
1 medium sized onion, chopped fine
1 medium tomato grated
1/2 tsp of garam masala
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 inch piece of ginger grated
3 green chillies chopped

4 tbsps of cream for a final flourish! (It's optional but it won't taste the same without it)

Method

Clean, wash and boil the dal in 10 cups of water. When boiling add the salt, ginger, garlic, onion, red chilli and turmeric powder and ghee. Cover and pressure cook for 1/2 hour. Then let the pressure drop. Uncover and allow to simmer on a low fire while you prepare the tarka.

Tarka

Heat the ghee/butter, add the ginger,chopped onion, garam masala, cumin seeeds and fry till light brown. Add green chillies to the simmering dal. Cook another 1/2 hour or until a thick consistency is reached. Serve hot with yogurt, plain rice, parathas or phulkas.


Notes : Here are my modifications to the recipe. The recipe didn't call for it but my neighbor was horrified that it didn't. "You have to soak it or it won't cook!" - the urad was soaked overnight for 10 hours. I then pressure cooked the dal for nearly an hour instead of the recommended half hour. And the simmering to reach the right consistency took another hour. A medium sized tomato was grated and added to the tarka to cut through the dal. This recipe makes a LOT of dal. Serves eight people, so you can easily halve the recipe if you need to.

Dan Dan Noodles

Remember that ad "Don't be a noodle.......be a smoodle....".What on earth am I talking about? Well I ran out of good introduction ideas for the noodle recipe that I'm posting about .......so this is my very lame introduction to a popular Chinese street food. This recipe had been bookmarked to try out for a lazy afternoon lunch a couple of weeks ago. So when a really bad craving for Chinese food hit me, but I didn't want to make something elaborate for just my toddler and me it was a perfect recipe to experiment with. Quick to put together, with a countable number of ingredients, bursting with flavors and hitting all your senses like good street food should, I present thee - Dan Dan Noodles.



This recipe is from Helen Chen's book titled "Chinese Home Cooking". I'm not sure why I picked this recipe out of 300 odd authentic Chinese home style recipes. But I'm glad I did. You'll love this recipe if you like the ideas of noodles doused with a peppery hot, salty and sweet peanut sauce.

In her book Helen has a small introduction or an interesting note about every recipe. Whether it was a family favourite, something that takes her back to her childhood dinner parties, stories from China or a historical note on the origin of the recipe. Gives the book a personal touch that I love. The following are her words on this recipe.



"Dan Dan Noodles are Szechuan street food at it's most traditional. Dan dan refers to the thumping sound made by the pails of noodles and sauce at the ends of bamboo panniers as they are carried through the streets in a sort of travelling fast food restaurant.The noodles are served cold or tepid.Once assembled,the dish holds well, although the noodles absorb the sauce after an hour. If you like saucier noodles, dress them just before serving. I sometimes add blanched and shredded snow peas or blanched bean sprouts along with the scallions for texture"

This recipe was modified to suit what I had on hand, please take a look at the note below for modifications. Also I honestly felt the noodles tasted better after I allowed them to soak in the peanut dressing for about 6 hours.(Evening snack for me yum yum) The next time I make this I would definitely make and dress the noodles in advance so they soak up all of that lovely piquant peanut sauce.



Recipe

Source : Helen Chen's "Chinese Home Cooking"

Ingredients

1 pound thin spaghetti
2 tbsps sesame oil
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
3/4 cup Vegetable broth or water
2 tbsps light soy sauce
2 tsp chili oil, or to taste
1/4 tsp cayenne,or to taste
1 heaping tsp of Szechuan peppercorns, toasted and ground - Didn't have any so I substituted with a big pinch of white pepper and 1 tsp of red chilli flakes
3 scallions, white and green parts, thinly sliced

Method

Bring 4 to 5 quarts of water to a boil. Add the noodles and cook uncovered until a little more tender than al dente. Avoid overcooking or the noodles will be mushy. Stir occasionally to keep the noodles from sticking together. when done, drain and rinse with cold water until thoroughly cool.Drain well, transfer to a large serving bowl and gently toss with 1 tbsp of sesame oil(hands work best).Set aside.

While the noodles are cooking,blend together the peanut butter and broth in a bowl until smooth and creamy.Add the soy sauce, chilli oil, the remaining 1 tbsp of sesame oil,the cayenne and Szechuan peppercorns. Mix thoroughly.If you have time let the sauce sit for 30 mins or more to allow the spices to develop.

Pour the peanut paste over the cooked noodles and add the scallions.I use my hands to toss the noodles because they mix the ingredients more evenly and the noodles don't break.Serve cool.

Variation - For a vegetable garnish, add blanched snow peas and bean sprouts to the noodles with the scallions.

Note - I have slightly altered the recipe as I couldn't find some of the ingredients. Instead of the Szechuan peppercorns I added chilli flakes and white pepper. The recipe originally called for chicken broth but water worked just fine. Also to give it a bit of a kick and zing I added about 1 1/2 tbsps of hot sauce.You can use Sriracha if you have it on hand. Or good old Maggi Hot and Sweet sauce will work in a pinch. 1 tbsp of vinegar was added to cut through the creaminess of the peanut butter. The toasted sesame seed garnish was mainly to make the picture pretty but 'twas a good addition as they added crunch and nuttiness to the dish.

Bharli Vaangi

Are you tired of serving your vegetarian guests paneer, paneer and more paneer? Do I sound like those really loud and obnoxious TV commercials trying to sell you stuff that you never ever thought you would need? I guess I do. At least when I read this out loud to myself I do. Well here's a "new" recipe which is different from the usual garam masala and cream laced tomato gravy deals. Bharli vaangi is a traditional Maharashtrian dish and it translates to stuffed brinjals or eggplants.



Ever since I've moved to Pune I've been wanting to try out the local fare and learn how to cook authentic Maharashtrian food. This recipe caught my eye on TV. It was presented by the head chef of the Taj Hotel, Mumbai. I scrambled to find my recipe note book and didn't find a pen but I managed to scribble it all down with an old worn out orange crayon. Pens are always kept safely away from my toddler (and me too I guess) who is just discovering the joy of doodling on everything. When I say everything I really mean that. His belly button, the TV screen, my driver's license the TV remote, the back of his ears, the apple symbol on his dad's computer - you name it.

Back to the recipe - this simple recipe has few ingredients and a short and straightforward cooking method. The eggplants are tender and bursting with their own juices. They are slightly hot from the goda masala, tangy from the tamarind and sweet from the jaggery. What is Goda masala? It is an authentic Maharshtrian garam masala widely used in Maharashtrain cooking. If you can't find it you can substitute with regular garam masala. Here is a excellent post from Shilpa of Aayi's Recipes where you can learn to make your own goda masala.
I loved how different this dish tasted from everything that I've made or usually eaten at buffets or parties. It's definitely going to be the surprise dish on my menu when I have guests over.



Make sure that you use fresh brinjals for this dish. Older ones tend to be bitter. I've made this with the green Thai eggplants as well as the purple ones. I preferred the purple ones.

Here's the recipe, follow it to the T and you won't go wrong. That is exactly what I did and it was super delicious. You can serve this with roti or bhakri. Bhakri is a flat bread made with jowar flour. Look out for a future post on how to make bhakri.



I was requested by one my readers to indicate the level of difficulty on the recipes that are posted on this blog. Henceforth all recipes will be categorised as easy, moderately easy and tough cookie. Have fun!

Recipe

Difficulty level - easy
Cooking time - 25 mins

Ingredients

8 small brinjals
4 tsp of oil
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
a/2 tsp mustard seeds
2 tsp tamarind water
2 tsp jaggery syrup
1 cup water
salt to taste

For the masala stuffing

6 tsp of dessicated coconut/kopra
4 tsp of roasted and crushed peanut powder
1 tsp of red chilli powder
1 1/2 tsp of goda masala( you can use regular garam masala if you don't have any)
salt

Method

1)Make + shaped incisions on the brinjals deep enough to get the stuffing in but don't break them open.
2)Make the stuffing by mixing together all the ingredients listed under stuffing.
3)Stuff the brinjals with the stuffing and keep aside.
4)Heat oil in a pan and add the cumin and mustard seeds. When they begin to splutter gently slide in the brinjals and saute for 2 - 3 mins. Add a cup of water and lower the flame. Cover and cook for 10 -12 mins.
5)After the brinjals are fork tender add the tamarind water,jaggery syrup and salt to taste. Keep in mind that the stuffing has salt added in as well.Stir well and evenly distribute the seasoning. Remove from the flame.
6)Garnish with coconut shavings and fresh coriander. Serve hot.

Yay! you've cooked your first authentic Maharshtrian dish!