Friday, January 6, 2012

Bean-Ginger Dal

 Is there any way to freeze time?  Freeze moments in time actually.  People all too often talk about time travel – travelling back or forth in time.  I would rather want to be able to freeze moments – moments when my children first smiled, when they took their first steps, when they slept so peacefully that you thought they were angels or to moments we spent together playing or sitting together as a family at the dinner table.

My son will be 14 years this summer and my daughter will be 10 years in spring.  I see them as little adults at home – very much developing their own opinion, making their mistakes, talking about new things and discoveries they make every day.  Almost all moments spent with them are joyful.  I say almost because not all moments are joyful – especially when they argue or refuse to do as told.  Getting out the old albums and watching them grow always brings tears to my eyes.  I did freeze the moment in time on my camera lens, but oh!  How I wish I could go through the picture and cuddle them at that instant, hold them in my arms, kiss them.  I guess in a few years when they are adults, the present that I have with them now would be moments I would have wanted to re-live again.  So why spend time prodding over what I cannot have and let me grasp with open arms what I do now.  Babies – you are going to get huge hugs today when I get home and you would not know why!

Preparation Time: 40 minutes
Serves: 6

Ingredients:

2 cups French beans or green beans
1 cup Tuvar dal or Pigeon Pea  
2 tablespoons Green gram dal
2 tablespoons Gram dal

Grind to a paste:
2 tablespoons coconut gratings
2" piece ginger
1 green chili
5 curry leaves

For seasoning:
1 tablespoon corn oil
A pinch asafetida
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 dried red chilies
For garnishing:
Coriander leaves
Lime juice
 
Method:

  1. Pressure cook dals and beans till soft.  
  2. Add the ground paste and simmer for 5 minutes. Keep aside.   
  3. Separately, heat oil in a pan and when hot, add the seasoning and pour over the dal mixture. 
  4. Add salt and bring to a boil. 
  5. Add lime juice and garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

 

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Mutton Korma with fried Potatoes


Happy New Year everyone!  I am particularly intrigued about what 2012 has in store for us.  I have seen some documentaries and read some articles that the Mayan calendar ends in 2012 and so many people have come to the conclusion this would mean that the world would come to an end this year.  I am not particularly fond of this theory nor really believe it.

God cannot be so wicked and want us all to die and perish.  We are His creation – why would He want to eliminate his creation?  It is like I prepare the best cake that could be and then dump it in the bin instead of eating it.  However I do think that after 2012, we would not know the same world as we know today.  I think there would be some natural calamities and some manmade calamities that would make us re-think how we want to live.  These calamities would make us more conscious of the nature around us and we would need to think of how we could conserve our natural resources.  These are all of course my theories.  I am no fool like Harold Camping who predicted the world would end in May 2011.  No, I am not predicting anything.  These are just one of my theories. 

Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Makes: 12 cutlets

Ingredients:

1 kilo mutton
250 grams red onions
1 cup yoghurt
250 grams tomatoes
1 cup coriander leaves
3 green chilies
6 cloves garlic
2" piece ginger
2 teaspoons garam masala powder
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
Salt to taste
1/2 cup cream
4 medium potatoes
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
Pinch asafetida

Method:
  1. Clean the mutton and keep aside. 
  2. Grind ginger and garlic to a paste and keep aside. 
  3. Take 2 tablespoons yoghurt, add half the ginger garlic paste and marinate mutton in this for four hours in the refrigerator. 
  4. Grind the onions, tomatoes, coriander leaves, chilies and add to the remaining ginger garlic paste and keep aside. 
  5. Cut potatoes into cubes and keep aside. Heat oil and fry the potatoes till crisp and keep aside. 
  6. In the same hot oil, add the asafetida, garam masala, turmeric and chili powder. Fry for two minutes. 
  7. Now add the ground pastes and stir and fry till the oil separates, approximately 10 minutes. Now add the cream. Add the mutton mixture and cook till the mutton is ready. 
  8. Before serving, add the potatoes and garnish with coriander leaves.