My favorite dinner recipes are one-pot curries - with a melange of vegetables, pulses and grains (with maybe rice/millets and salad on the side), which are healthy and good to eat too! And Agni also likes them much better than the more traditional separate dishes for daal and vegetables. I have seen that these are the dishes I end up making most often at dinner time, specially if I don't want to spend a lot of time cooking. An added bonus is that the recipes are very flexible, and I can finish up whatever there is in fridge.
I already have some recipes on this blog for:
- Sindhi Kadhi - A lot of veggies and besan for the daal-element
- Thai Curry
- Khichri
- One-pot soup meals (my go-to in winters)
- Kadhi (with Baati)
Some other curries which are a staple at our home are:
- Veg stew (Kerala style)
- Sambar
- Chickpeas
- Rajma
- Matar Paneer
- Paalak Paneer
- Tok Daal (with Aloo)
- Bhaaji (with Paav and even with Dosa!)
- Daal dhokli
I have tried a number of recipes, this is a really good one:
However, I am using a much simpler version now, which is really quick to whip up whenever I need to make a fast dinner.
Must-have in Pantry:
Rasam podi, or Sambar powder, or Sambar masala
I bought a small batch from my organic vegetables vendor last year, and I am really loving using it so far. Once I run out, I plan to try out a home-mix, and see how it compares.
Sambar Recipe
Ingredients:
- Arhar/tur daal - 1 cup
- Vegetables - Whatever you want to use - I usually use pumpkins, carrots, drumsticks and anything else that I can spot in the fridge.
- Some souring agent - Ideally, I like to soak tamarind for the more authentic taste, but in a rush, I have used a couple of tomatoes, or even a good squeeze of lemon at the end. Yesterday I had raw mangoes so I added a mango along with the vegetables, and it came out amazing!
- Tempering at the end - The usual ghee, rai, dry red chillies, heeng, curry leaves does the trick.
- Spices - turmeric, salt, and the sambar masala. Some jaggery and red chilli powder at the end if you feel like.
Take a pressure cooker, put well-soaked arhar daal in it, along with 3 cups of water, diced vegetables, and raw mango if you are using it. Also, salt and turmeric.
After the first whistle, let it cook on low flame for 8 minutes/2-3 whistles more.
Open the cooker, and softly crush the daal with back of a spoon.
Add 2-3 tsp of sambar masala and mix well. Let it simmer for a minute. Adjust salt/add jaggery if needed.
At the end, pour tempering on the top.
Also, an amazing recipe page for all types of sambars (yet to try them):
Daal Dhokli
This is a new dish that I made recently, it is Gujarati in origin, and so so good.
Traditionally, the dhokli is made of wheat flour, but I tried with Ragi as well, and it was amazing!
Basic steps:
- Soak/boil arhar daal.
- Make dough with wheat/ragi flour, besan, ajwain, salt, haldi and ghee.
- Let the daal simmer, and add chillies, imli water and jaggery - balance as per your palate. Add extra water since daal will reduce further.
- Make tadka with rai, methi daana and curry leaves, and add to daal.
- In simmering daal, add dough rolled into small pasta-like pieces, and let it stay on heat for 9-10 minutes.
Stew Recipe
Paav-Bhaji - One-pot Sprouts Bhaji Recipe by Aruna Vijay
16/Jul/2024
Made it today without onions, and came out so so good!
- Butter - 2 tbsp
- Water - 1/4 cup
- Finely chopped onion - 1 big
- Ginger garlic chilli paste - 1/2 tbsp
- Chopped Tomatoes - 2
- Chopped Beans - 1/4 cup
- Chopped carrot - 1/3 cup
- Chopped Beetroot - 1/4 cup
- Cubed potatoes - 2 medium
- Sprouts - 1/2 cup - Must addition!
- Red chilli powder - 1/2 tbsp
- Salt to taste
- Pav bhaji masala - 1.5 tbsp
- Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
- Water - 1/2 cup
Put everything in a pressure cooker and let cook for 10-12 minutes/4 whistles. Let it rest/cool down a bit. Blend with hand-blender.
Finish with some more butter and chopped coriander, and a bit of lemon juice :)
Another version of bhaji - uses spinach and radish:
Try this:
a spinach/daal curry
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