Subru Uncles Doodhi Chane Ki Dal Yellow Lentils With Pumpkin Food

SUBRU UNCLE'S DOODHI CHANE KI DAL ( YELLOW LENTILS WITH PUMPKIN

Steps:

• Heat oil in a pressure cooker or pot on medium flame.
• Once the oil is hot, lower flame and add cumin seeds to it.
• Allow to crackle.
• Once it stops crackling, add ginger, garlic, onion and green chillies.
• Mix well and stir-fry until the raw smell of ginger and garlic is gone, and the onions are softened.
• Drain the chana dal (lentils) and add it to the ginger-garlic mixture. Then, add the turmeric powder, kasoori methi, red chilli powder, salt, white pumpkin and the tomatoes.
• Mix well and add water to allow the lentils to cook.
• Cover and cook on medium flame for 20 minutes or till the lentils are soft {upto 3-4 whistles in your pressure cooker should be heard before you remove the cooker from heat}.
• Serve with rotis or bread or Dad's Half-way Sindhi and half-way yellow rice recipe.
• Enjoy!

SUBRU UNCLE'S TOOR KI DAL(SINDHI STYLE) DAD, MOM AND I LOVE AND

Steps:

• Pressure cook the lentils (toor dal) in a pressure cooker alongwith 6 cups of water until the lentils are tender.
• Heat oil in a pot on medium-high flame.
• Once its hot, add mustard seeds, methi seeds and cumin seeds.
• Allow to splutter and crackle.
• Once they stop doing so, add in the curry leaves and ginger.
• Stir-fry for 5 minutes until the raw smell of ginger is gone.
• Add asafoetida powder and continue to stir-fry for another 5-7 minutes.
• Toss in the green chillies, mix well and continue to stir-fry for another 2-3 minutes.
• Then add in the tomatoes and 1/4 cup of water to cook the tomatoes.
• Mix well and cook on high flame until the tomatoes are softened.
• Add salt, red chilli powder and turmeric powder.
• Mix well.
• Extract tamarind pulp from tamarind to use as tamarind water.
• To do this, soak about 3 inches piece of tamarind in 1 cup of hot water.
• Squeeze to extract the tamarind pulp and let it mix with the water to form'tamarind water' (that's what I call it).
• There is no need to pass this through a strainer- use it directly!
• Measure out 2/3 cup of tamarind water in a cup and add this tamarind water to the tomato mixture.
• Mix well and allow it to cook on medium-high flame for 5 minutes.
• In the meantime, open the pressure cooker (by this time the lentils will be tender and the whistle would have blown) and with the help of a beater/mashing tool (we use what we call a'mandira' in Hindi. This is a long wooden spoon with a round base that we use for mashing lentils, bananas, etc), in round circular motions, mash the lentils completely, until they mix with the water in which they were being cooked.
• Now add 5 cups of water alongwith the lentil and water mixture that was used to cook the lentils. Add the tamarind-tomato mixture, mixing gracefully, as you sing your favourite kitchen song side-by-side!
• Allow this to come to a boil.
• Lower flame and cook for 10 more minutes on a simmer.
• Remove from flame and serve immediately with cooked long-grain white Basmati rice.
• Serve hot (we serve it immediately because it doesn't taste very good once it gets cold) alongwith low-fat plain yogurt on the side for a complete wonderful Asian-Indian meal in rice and lentil curry heaven!
• My brother, Manav, says that my wud-be hubby is a lucky man cos I'll cook this for him and oh my, my bro adores this curry!
• Please note: If you have a sore throat, a running nose, fever, cough and cold, then PLEASE omit the tamarind altogether because using tamarind juice in this recipe when you have a bad throat, will only make your throat worse. This curry cooks awesome even without the tamarind juice. Enjoy!

SUBRU UNCLE'S DELICIOUS SPICY S.INDIAN RASAM CURRY WE LOVE

Steps:

• With the help of a pestle, pound ginger, garlic and whole black peppercorns in a mortar as nicely as you can until the peppercorns are completely crushed and the ginger and garlic are completely softened.
• Keep aside.
• Extract tamarind pulp out of tamarind by soaking 4-5 one-inch sized pieces in 1 1/2 cups of hot water.
• Press these tamarind pieces to squeeze out the juice/pulp out of the tamarind.
• Transfer the tamarind pulp in a clean bowl.
• Keep aside.
• Heat oil in a pot on medium-high flame.
• When its hot, add mustard seeds, methi seeds and cumin seeds.
• Allow to splutter and crackle.
• Once it stops spluttering and crackling, add curry leaves and green chillies.
• Stir-fry for a minute or two.
• Then add the whole red chillies and stir-fry for another minute.
• Add the above prepared ginger-garlic-black peppercorns mixture to the pot.
• Mix well.
• Then add turmeric powder, red chilli powder and corriander powder.
• Mix well and continue to stir-fry for 2-3 minutes.
• Put the chopped tomatoes in a bowl and crush them as tightly as you can between the palms of your hands.
• Squeeze them as well as you can to extract the juice/pulp out of them.
• Now add the crushed tomatoes alongwith the juice squeezed out.
• Mix well, add 1/4 cup of water and cook on high flame so as to allow the tomatoes to soften quickly.
• Add salt and mix well.
• Then add the boiled toor dal water (or 3 cups of plain water if you are using that).
• Stir well and bring to a boil.
• Lower flame, then add about 7 cups more of water.
• You can add upto 3-4 cups more also, if required.
• Mix well and allow it to boil for 15 minutes.
• Then add tamarind pulp and stir well.
• Boil for 10-15 more minutes.
• Garnish with corriander leaves and serve hot as a soup on its own or as a lentil curry to serve over rice with/without plain low-fat yogurt on the side.