Masoor was not very commonly used in Konkani dishes before. But it has become a regular at my home these days. The most popular masoor dish at home is this masoor bhaji which I my family loves. This is another very simple gravy with Konkani flavors. If you are not too fond of coconut, just leave it out and follow the remaining steps – just make a powder of fried coriander seeds and add. The gravy still tastes very good.
Spinach/Palak was also not frequently available at our hometown. These days we have sante (farmer’s markets) once a week and we can find spinach there.
Ingredients: 1 cup whole masoor 2 tbl spn coconut 1 cup spinach leaves 1 tea spn coriander seeds 3-4 red chillies 1/4 tea spn tamarind A pinch turmeric 2 tea spns chopped garlic or 1/2 cup chopped onion Oil Salt
Method: Wash masoor, spinach. Take them in a cooker insert (or directly in cooker) add turmeric and water. Cook in pressure cooker till done – about 3 whistles. Heat oil and add coriander seeds. When they are fried, grind them with coconut, tamarind and red chillies. Add the ground masala to cooked masoor-spinach mixture and bring it to boil. Add salt, cook for couple of minutes. Switch off heat. In another pan, heat a little oil, add garlic or onion – whichever you are using – and fry till they are brownish. Pour this over masoor mixture. Serve hot with rice.
Serves : 3-4 Preparation time : 30 mins
Breakfast in my house is usually a typical Indian spread – either uppittu/upma/dosas/idlis. I cook both lunch and breakfast in the mornings. V tells me to take a break once in a while when we can just eat cereals. But breakfast for me has to be something hot and savory!. Since he loves waffles, I bought a waffle iron last year. I made waffles a couple of times, then it sat in one corner (Thank god for lot of cabinets in my kitchen – but they are all overflowing now!). Yesterday I thought Ishaan would love these and I wanted to bring out the waffle iron. Anything that looks interesting is a hit with the kid. He looked at it and he was super excited. (He hates all kinds of sweets, so he didn’t eat much! I am planning to make a savory version soon for him). These came out super delicious. I follow easy way out and just mix everything in one go. It took less than 10mins to prepare the batter. You can increase the amount of flax seed powder, I was worried that the smell of it would be too strong for us.
Ingredients: 1 and 1/2 cups wheat flour 1 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour 1/2 tea spn baking powder 1/2 tea spn baking soda 1/4 cup grated zucchini 2 tbl spn butter 2 tbl spn sugar A pinch salt 1 egg 1 and 1/2 cups buttermilk 1 tbl spn flax seed powder
Method:
Mix everything well. Spray a waffle iron with some baking spray. Then pour the batter on it. (Follow the instructions on the waffle iron to make them). Serve with maple syrup.
Serves : 3 Preparation time : 20
