I have learnt a lot of cooking from many people, apart from my mother. One such lady is my friend’s grandmother. She is an amazing cook. I used to go to their home for my studies, while I was doing my bachelors. She used to serve very tasty lunch in the afternoon. I was not at all interested in cooking at that time, so I could not learn much from her. Her festival food was the best, a typical Belgaum Kannada brahmin spread. I miss her cooking a lot these days. May be next time when I go to Belgaum, I have to sit with her and get all the recipes. Until then, I did all I could to get her recipes, but was not at all successful. One particular recipe I miss a lot is a daal with methi leaves and peanuts in it.
Few days ago, Aruna sent me a methi daal recipe. I read the recipe, but could not guess it was almost the same recipe that I was looking from many days. Finally last week when I was thinking about cooking dinner, I saw this old mail from Aruna and thought of giving it a try. While cooking, I realized it had the same aroma and taste as the one I was looking for. I don’t know if it is the exact same recipe(I think my friend’s grandmother didn’t add garam masala and garlic), but this turned out to be just out of the world. It is so good that, you can’t stop eating it.
Aruna had mentioned it is liked by everyone at her home. I totally agree with her, this recipe is a huge hit. Thanks a lot for sending this to me Aruna.
Ingredients: 1/2 cup peanuts 1/2 cup toor daal 1/2 cup chana daal 1 cup chopped methi leaves 1 tea spn chili powder 1/2 tea spn garam masala A pinch turmeric 1/4 tea spn tamarind extract or thick juice from 1-2 pieces of tamarind 1/2 tbl spn jaggery 1/2 cup chopped tomato 1 tea spn finely chopped garlic(optional) 1/2 tea spn mustard seeds(optional) Oil Salt
I was not having fresh methi when I prepared this, so I used kasoori methi .
Method: Soak peanuts in water overnight. This step is very important because the peanuts should soak water well. Pressure cook daals , peanuts, tomato and methi leaves with turmeric. When they are cooked, take it out and cook with chili powder, jaggery, garam masala , tamarind and salt. Alternatively, mix all the ingredients(except oil, garlic and mustard) and pressure cook till the daals are done. Heat oil and fry mustard seeds, garlic and add this seasoning to cooked daal . Seasoning is optional.
Serves : 3-4 Preparation time : 20mins
There are some dishes which remind me of my childhood. I will post these here, so that every time I read these, they will remind me of my mother. She has a aluminium sandwich maker with long handles, which looked somewhat like this . She used to keep the bread slices in these, and then keep the sandwich maker on that gas stove. Believe me, this procedure was not at all as easy as it sounds. The sandwiches used to stick to the sandwich maker and make a mess. So it required a lot of patience to grease them well to avoid sticking. If I was in her place, I would never even attempted to make these sandwiches. But since these were my brother’s and my favorite snacks, she used to make them every now and then. I salute her for the kind of patience and energy she had/has to cook every possible thing that we ask for.
In those rainy days, when we got back from school, drenched to the bone, she would serve us with piping hot sandwiches and tea. Oh, how I miss those days. I always think of cooking some delicious dishes for her when she visits us, just as a thnak you for whatever she did for me, but I become a kid when she is with me.
Today I made these sandwiches for breakfast, because they are so filling and tasty. I remembered those childhood days. These sandwiches have become my husband’s favorites these days. So I make them very often. I hope you all try these at least once, they are too good to resist. The poha masala gives a very good aroma to the stuffing.
Ingredients: Bread slices 1 cup boiled, peeled, mashed potatoes 1/2 cup fresh/frozen green peas 1/2 tea spn mustard seeds 4-5 curry leaves A pinch asafoetida 1-2 tea spn poha masala powder A pinch turmeric 1-2 tbl spn fresh/frozen coconut Oil Butter Salt
Method: Heat oil and add mustard seeds. When they start popping, add asafoetida, curry leaves. Add peas and little water. Cook till the peas are almost done(do not mash them). Add potatoes, turmeric, poha masala , salt, coconut and mix well.
Butter a sandwich maker and keep a bread slice. Keep the potato mixture on top and cover with second bread slice. Take out from the sandwich maker when the slices have browned well. Serve hot with tomato ketchup.
Serves : 2-3 Preparation time : 20mins
