Methi dal with Chilli Chicken

Dinner time...as usual I was searching for something different to make for dinner. I have made chilli chicken before but it was the wet variety. Today I made it dry and I made methi dal...and it was sooo delicious. My kids ate it without complaining. but I took crappy pictures (one of them, you can see here) so I am not posting it today

Methi Dal (Split peas with Fenugreek leaves)
Ingredients:

1. 1 cup yellow or green split peas/pigeon peas
2. 2 cups fresh fenugreek leaves stripped from the stems
3. 1 big or 2 small cloves of garlic
4. 1/2 tablespoon oil
5. 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin, mustard seeds, asafoetida, salt, chilli powder and turmeric
6. 1 small lemon sized tamarind (optional)
7. few dried red chillies
8. few curry leaves

In a pressure cooker, cook the split peas and methi leaves for 4-5 whistles with 2 cups of water and turmeric. Let the steam escape. Soak the tamarind in 3 cups of water and add that water to the dal. If not using tamarind, just add water, salt, chilli powder and boil for 10 minutes. In a pan heat the oil and add the cumin, mustard seeds, red chillies and curry leaves till they splutter. Add asafoetida and stir and add the tempering to the dal and boil for couple of more minutes. garnish with chopped cilantro if desired and serve with white rice.

Note: If serving with roti , just add 1 cup instead of 3 cups of water after the dal is cooked

Chilli chicken (Indo chinese spicy sour chicken)

Chilli Chicken

Ingredients:

1. 2 chicken breast cut into 1 inch cubes
2. Oil for shallow frying
3. 1 medium onion cubed
4. 1 bell pepper (any color you like) cubed
5. 1 tablespoon oil
6. 1/2 tablespoon each of soy sauce, white vinegar, sambal chilli paste
7. 2 garlic pods chopped
8. 4-6 green chillies sliced
9. 
   

For marinate:

1. 3/4 teaspoon salt, paprika, cayenne pepper, ginger garlic paste, onion powder, garlic powder
2. 1 egg beaten
3. 1 heaped teaspoon corn starch, all purpose flour

marinate the chicken with ingredients in "1" for 2-4 hours. Add corn starch and all purpose and mix well. Add egg and mix well and set aside for 30 more minutes.

Heat oil in a pan for shallow frying (or if you like...deep frying) and fry the chicken till they turn golden brown. Drain and set aside. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a pan and fry the onions for 3-4 minutes. Add slit chillies, bell pepper and garlic and fry for 2 minutes. Add chicken stir well. Reduce the heat add soy sauce, vinegar and chilli paste and mix well. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes. garnish with cilantro and green onions and serve

Dal Tadka and Patta Gobi Phugina

Cabbage is one of those vegetables which becomes delicious when paired with any other vegetable or meat. Today it was scrambled eggs with Cabbage. And with it I also made my new favorite lentil recipe-the Tadka Dal and yummy hot dinner was ready

Dal Tadka (Split peas and lentil soup)

Tadka Dal

Ingredients:

1. 1/2 cup Chana dal or yellow split peas
2. 1/2 cup Masoor dal
3. 1/2 cup roughly chopped onions
4. 1/2 cup chopped tomato
5. 1/2 cup plain yogurt beaten
6. 1 tablespoon finely chopped onions
7. 1 tablespoon oil
8. 2 garlic pods chopped fine
9. 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin, urad dal, mustard seeds, asafoetida
10. 3 dried red chillies broken
11. few curry leaves
12. 1/2 teaspoon each of coriander powder, garam masala, salt or to taste

In a pressure cooker cook the chana dal and masoor dal along with tomatoes and onions for 4-5 whistles with 2 cups water. Mash then after the steam from the cooker escapes.

In a pan heat the oil and fry the cumin, mustard seeds and urad dal, red chillies and curry leaves till they splutter. Add finely chopped onions and fry till they become brown. Add garlic and fry till they become a little brown. Add this to the dal along with all the spices and yogurt and 2 cups of water Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. garnish with cilantro and enjoy

Cabbage Fry 

Cabbage Fry

Ingredients:

1. 1/2 medium sized cabbage chopped fine about 4 cups
2. 2 medium tomatoes chopped fine, about 1/2 cup
3. 1/2 cup chopped onions
4. 1 serrano chilli chopped
5. 1/2 teaspoon each of ginger garlic paste, salt, chilli powder, turmeric, coriander powder
6. 2 tablespoons oil

In a pan heat the oil and fry the onions till they become translucent. Add green chillies and ginger garlic paste and fry for a minute. Add tomatoes and cook covered for 5 minutes. Add all the powdered ingredients mix well and add the cabbage. Stir well and cover and cook for 15 minutes. Garnish with Cilantro and enjoy

Patta Gobi Phugina (Scrambled eggs with Cabbage)

Scrambled eggs with Cabbage

Ingredients:

1. 3-4 cups cabbage fry 
2. 2 large eggs well beaten

In the pan you cooked cabbage fry for 15 minutes, add the beaten eggs and stir well to combine in the process scrambling the eggs. Cover and cook for 3 minutes. garnish with cilantro and enjoy

Vegetable masoor dal with Qageena

I wanted to make scrambled eggs but was kind of bored with the way I always make it and so started to search for the recipes. And I came across this recipe which is my old favourite but I totally forgot about it. So after being reminded of its existence, I just had to make it. And this dish is very famous in Hyderabad. Its called Hyderabadi Qageena, khagina, etc etc
            To go with it, I made the most amazingly yummy masoor dal. For some reason my mom didn't make masoor dal often when I was a kid. But anyway, I make it. So here are the recipes. Hope you will make them and leave me a note

Qhageena (Scrambled eggs with a twist)

Khagina

Ingredients:

1. 6 eggs
2. 1 large onion chopped
3. 1/3 cup milk
4. 1/2-3/4 teaspoon salt, chilly powder
5. 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
6. 3 tablespoons oil

In a pan heat the oil and fry the onions till they become tranlucent. Add salt, turmeric and chilly powder and stir to combine. Add milk and stir to combine. Reduce heat to medium and spread the onions on the pan into a layer. Bread the eggs one by one and drop them onto the eggs and cover the dish (Don't mix or scramble yet). Let it cook for five minutes. Stir in such a way as not to break the eggs into too little pieces. Cover again and cook for 5 more minutes. Garnish generous with cilantro and stir once again and serve with Roti or white rice.
                       Also you may want to take a look at the way i generally used to make Scrambled eggs


Vegetable Masoor dal (Red lentils with Eggplant)

Masoor dal with Eggplant

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup masoor dal
2. 2-3 indian egg plant (I used half of Japanese purple eggplant) cubed
3. 1/2 cup onion chopped
4. 1 garlic pod chopped fine
5. 1/4 cup chopped green beans (optional)
6. cilantro for garnishing
7. 1/2 teaspoon each of turmeric, cumin, mustard seeds, hing(asafoetida)
8. 3 red chillies broken
9. few curry leaves

Soak the masoor dal in 2 cups of water for 15 minutes. In a pan heat the oil and fry the cumin and mustard seeds for a couple of minutes. Add hing, red chillies and curry leaves and fry for a couple of minutes. Add turmeric and garlic and fry again for a couple of minutes. Now add onions and egg plant and fry for 5 minutes. Add green beans if using and reduce the heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes. Add dal and water and bring to a boil. Simmer for 20 minutes or until dal getting cooked and the stew becomes creamy. If it gets too thick add 1/2-1 cup water. Add cilantro stir to combine and add salt and serve with rice or roti
You might also want to check my  Other Masoor Dal Recipe