Comfort food doesn’t get any better than a bowl of piping hot, creamy, spicy lentils topped with crispy onions, fried green chillies and crunchy fried spinach.

Urad, or black gram lentils are a staple in Indian homes and are used for making a variety of dishes from simple daals to elaborate Masala Dosa. They’re packed with protein and have a heartier texture than mung beans. Because of their tougher texture, they need to be cooked thoroughly to extract as much of their creamy starchiness as possible. I find the easiest way to do this is to soak the urad daal overnight and cook them using a pressure cooker – something you’ll find in every Indian home, rather than it being just an alien contraption collecting dust in the back of your Nan’s cupboard. After that, I slow cook for 6-8 hours for the creamiest, most off the hook daal you’ve ever tasted.

I love dinners like these. A shot from the other day. Spinach, sweet potato and peas in coconut milk, daal makhani, samosas, Indian churros, lime and coriander sour cream chutney and a mega stack of soft chapattis.

Growing up, I was reared on Gujarati Urad Daal rather than the richer Punjabi version of black gram lentils more popular on restaurant menus around the globe. We were taught that eating urad daal every Saturday (the holy day of Hanuman, the ever-powerful monkey god), we’d become so strong we’d be able to lift mountains. To no surprise, my wrestling-obsessed brother would wolf it down it with plenty of hope and hot, buttery chapattis.

The key difference between Gujarati and Punjabi urad daal is that the Gujarati version has no garam masala, kidney beans or cream. This isn’t to say it’s not delicious but more practical to eat often. However, if I’m honest, the ingredients my native Gujarati version lacked are the things I love so much about the classic Punjabi recipe here. Once you’ve made this version at home, Daal Makhani you get down your local Indian restaurant or takeaway won’t suffice, trust me.

My favourite way to eat Daal Makhani is with Garlic and Coriander Naan, Salted Lassi and nothing more. My recipe may not make you strong enough to uproot mountains like Hanuman dada, but it sure as hell will make you crave a weekly fix every Saturday… or Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.

Daal Makhani
Serves 4-6

Ingredients

220g urad (black gram lentils), washed and soaked in cold water overnight
200g kidney beans, washed (I use tinned)
1 tbsp oil
3 large cloves garlic, crushed
5 tbsp ginger, grated (loads, don’t be shy)
2 large, thin green chillies, chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds, ground
200g passata
900ml hot water
Pinch bicarbonate of soda
1 tbsp brown sugar or jaggery
1 tbsp garam masala
1 tsp dried fenugreek leaves (kasoori methi)
1 tsp coriander seeds, ground
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp salt
100ml double cream
50g butter

Method

1. Heat the butter in a pressure cooker, add the cumin seeds, garlic, ginger, chillies, tomato puree and passata. Cook for 3-4 minutes. Add the hot water and bring to the boil. Stir in the soaked urad and baking powder (this helps them cook quickly and evenly).

2. Put the lid on the pressure cooker and cook on a medium heat for 35 minutes or until the lentils are soft.

3. Stir in the ground coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds, cinnamon, sugar, salt and double cream and stir.

3. Blend very briefly with a stick blender, leaving the majority of the urad whole. This is just to make it thick and creamy. Add the kidney beans. Pour in to a slow cooker and cook on high for 6-8 hours, stirring often. At the very end, add the garam masala and a dollop of butter.

3. Serve with fried onions, fried spinach, fried green chillies and a splash of cream (optional).

Note: Urad daal has a tendency to thicken as it cools so you may need to loosen it up with some hot water before serving.

Love Sanjana

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Join me in a moment of nostalgia with my recipe for a classic Gujarati Mung Bean Soup. This is nothing like my playful recipe for Spinach and Mung Bean Soup – it’s an untweaked and deliciously traditional soup loved by the Gujarati peoples. Can you believe I didn’t stray from the recipe?
 

Did you know?

Many Indians consider the mung bean to bring luck and so it is used in rituals and offered to the Gods along with grains of raw rice.

Like most Gujarati recipes, every family has its own secret version of this mung bean soup, with probably the only similarity across all variations being that it’s always, always served with rice. The rice is boiled separately from the mung bean soup and usually mixed in just before serving.
Check out my tips on how to cook perfect basmati rice.

I topped mine with sweet, golden onions and fresh coriander. You can also stir in a spoonful of creamy natural yogurt for a mild tang.

If you’re feeling lazy and are craving a satisfying, filling, ‘all-I-need-is-a-bowl-and-spoon-dinner’, this recipe is your new best friend.

Get the pressure cooker out and make this during the week.

Gujarati Mung Bhaat- Mung Bean and Rice Soup
(Serves 4)

Ingredients

2 tbsp ghee (or oil)
240g raw mung beans, washed
½ tsp mustard seeds
½ tsp cumin seeds
1 clove
-inch piece cassia bark
¼ tsp asafoetida
2-4 curry leaves
1 tbsp concentrated tomato puree
750ml hot water
½ tsp turmeric
Pinch of bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp garlic, minced
1 tsp ginger, minced
2 tsp green chillies, minced
2 tsp salt, or to taste
1 tsp sugar
Juice of half a lemon

Around 500ml hot water to bring to a soup consistency
Chopped coriander to garnish
1 onion, sliced into strips
2 tbsp oil or ghee to fry the onions

Method

1. Heat the ghee or oil in your pressure cooker. Add the mustard seeds and wait for them to pop. Add the cumin seeds, asafoetida, curry leaves, clove and cassia. Saute for a couple of seconds.

2. Stir in the tomato puree and cook for a few minutes. Pour in 750ml water, and then add the bicarbonate of soda, garlic, ginger, chillies and turmeric. Bring to the boil.

3. Stir in the raw mung beans, put the lid on the pressure cooker and allow to cook on a medium heat for around 10-12 minutes (mine took 6-7 whistles but this may vary depending on your cooker).

4. Once the pressure cooker has cooled and the steam has escaped, open the lid. Your mung beans should be fairly dry and completely cooked. If not, add some more water and continue to cook until tender.

5. Add around 500ml hot water to bring it back up to soup consistency, salt, sugar and lemon juice. Taste and adjust the seasoning according to your taste. Boil for a further 5 minutes, adding more water depending on the consistency you desire.

6. Mix the soup into some cooked basmati rice. For details on how to cook basmati rice, visit my Perfect, fluffy Basmati rice post.

7. Heat 2 tbsp ghee or oil in a pan and sauté your onions on a medium heat until golden brown. Whilst it’s still very hot, spoon it over the top of your rice and mung bean soup.

8. Garnish with fresh coriander and serve.

Mung bean mad? Check out my recipes for Dry Gujarati Mung Bean Curry and Decadent Spinach and Mung Bean Soup.

The post Gujarati Mung Bhaat- Mung Bean and Rice Soup appeared first on Sanjana.Feasts.

Great news. No, not great news. Amazing news.

KO Rasoi’s recipe for Melt in the Mouth Paneer Kofta has been selected as one of the top 100 entries for the Foodista Best of Food Blogs competition. The recipe will feature in a full colour cookbook which will be published by Andrews McMeel Publishing this October. I’ll give you more details as and when I find out information.

How exciting is this for us?! The little veggie blog is taking baby footsteps and I like where it seems to be heading.

Cooking, eating, writing; these are the things that I can use to escape in to a world where my passion for food roams freely and relentlessly. Rather like a starving gerbil on Shandy.

What I would like to do most is thank you all for such wonderful feedback and supportive comments. You are the people that make KO Rasoi shine, not other things like scrummy cheesecakes (although, those are yummy and almost as attractive than you are). Stop blushing.

Moving swiftly on…

In order to celebrate this exciting newsflash we have daal. Don’t make those sighing noises I used to make when I was little and had to eat daal, because this isn’t just any daal. It’s three lentil daal.

And I don’t have to justify that because it tastes marvellous and it’s good for you!

Celebrate the colours of India and happy times with this delicious three lentil daal (triveti daal). These lentils are widely available in all good supermarkets and Indian grocers.

Ingredients
(serves 4-6)

100g moong daal (mung bean daal)
100g urad daal
100g toor daal (pigeon pea daal)
1 ¼ litres hot water
1 large onion, chopped
3 large cloves garlic, minced
1 inch piece ginger, minced
2 hot green chillies, minced, (or to taste)
1 tbsp ghee (or oil)
2 star anise
1 small cinnamon stick
5-6 curry leaves
1 tsp mustard seeds
¼ tsp asafoetida
200g tin of chopped tomatoes
½ tsp turmeric
½ cup coriander, chopped
Salt to taste

Method

1. Wash the three daals together and boil in the hot water until tender. Hot tip: Adding a pinch of bicarbonate of soda to your boiling water will make the daal cook quicker. If your daal mixture is too dry add a little more water but do not drain any water from them. Set the cooked daal aside.

2. Heat the ghee/oil in a large pan and add the mustard seeds. Wait for them to pop, then add the onion, garlic, ginger, chillies, asafoetida, curry leaves, star anise and cinnamon. Cook until aromatic.

3. Add the tomatoes, turmeric and cooked daal mixture. Simmer for 5 minutes and season with salt. Remove from the heat and add the coriander. Remember to remove the cinnamon stick and star anise before serving.

The post Three-Lentil Daal appeared first on Sanjana.Feasts.

This recipe was requested by Max- A reader with an inspiring passion for Gujarati food.

Prepare yourselves to be psychologically transported to Gujarat with this hearty daal dish. Urad daal (also known as black gram) are used all over India, in a huge variety of dishes. They make hearty lunch or dinner stews in Northern and Western India, whereas they grace the breakfast tables of South Indian homes in their skinned-split form. These lentils are so versatile; they can be used whole, split or ground to make curries, soups, steamed savoury cakes (idlis) and even those notoriously delicious lentil pancakes (dosa).

The earthy, iron-richness of the whole lentils make a traditional and popular meal for peasant workers on Indian farms, and can be served with a variety of breads like naan, chapattis and rotla, and also plain basmati rice. Add plenty of butter or ghee at your will (and mine), although this will not be necessary to add creaminess to the dish. When cooked, urad daal bleed a thick, glutinous liquid which will make your finished dish rich, creamy and thoroughly delicious. Butter or ghee will give your urad daal a beautiful flavour which marries delightfully with the spiciness of the dish.

Some Hindus believe that urad daal should be traditionally made into a stew like this on Saturday, for Saturday represents the day of the monkey god, Lord Hanuman. Lord Hanuman is worshipped each week on this day, and belief has it that he gathered his otherworldly strength from eating such lentils. Urad daal is packed with vitamins, protein and iron, so move over Popeye- Hanuman’s in town and he brings with him the strength of one thousand elephants, and karahi’s full of spicy urad daal!

Gujarati-Style Urad Daal
(Serves 4 people as a main dish or 6 as a starter or side)

Ingredients

1 ¼ cups whole urad daal, soaked in warm water for 2-4 hours
3 cups hot water (or more to cook the lentils if you don’t have a pressure cooker)
1 ½ tbsp garlic, minced
4-5 hot green chillies, minced (or to taste)
1 tbsp ginger, minced
½ cup tomatoes, pureed
2 tbsp ghee (plus more for serving- optional) or oil for a vegan option
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
8-10 curry leaves
¼ tsp asafoetida (optional)
½ tsp turmeric
1 ½ tsp salt (or to taste)
½ tsp dried, powdered sour mango (amchur) or 1 tbsp lemon juice
Extra 2-3 cups hot water
½ cup fresh coriander, chopped

Method

1. Boil the urad daal in plenty of water until just past the al dente stage (they need to be quite soft to ooze that glutinous liquid). If you have a pressure cooker, use 3 cups of water and wait for about 10 whistles. Set this aside.

2. In a large pan, heat the ghee (or oil for a vegan option) and add the mustard seeds. Wait for them to pop, and then add the cumin seeds, curry leaves and asafoetida.

3. Quickly add the tomatoes, garlic, ginger and chillies. Cook this mixture out on a medium heat for around 5 minutes. Add the turmeric and cook for a further minute.

4. Add the cooked urad daal and mix thoroughly. Add around 2-3 cups of hot water and stir constantly for -2 minutes to gain a glutionous, creamy consistency.

5. Add salt and amchur powder or lemon and taste for seasoning. Stir in the coriander and serve hot with lashings of butter or ghee.

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