Matki Usal

2 cups matki (moath beans or you can also use whole green moong dal)
1 medium onion, finely diced
½” piece of ginger, peeled & finely minced
½ tsp black mustard seeds
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp red chili powder
½ tsp kala masala (or you can use garam masala)
salt to taste
2 tbsp oil
juice of ½ a lemon
2 tbsp freshly grated coconut
freshly chopped cilantro leaves for garnish
finely diced red onion for garnish
lemon wedges for garnish

METHOD:

Soak the matki overnight in plenty of water. Rinse well, drain completely and discard the water. Boil the matki in plenty of water until just tender but not mushy. You could also do this using a pressure cooker. Set aside until needed.

In a large skillet on medium high heat, add the oil. When hot, carefully add the black mustard seeds. After the splattering subsides, add the onions & ginger. When the onions have just started turning brown in color, add the spices (turmeric, red chili powder, kala masala & salt). Stir & let the spices cook for a minute or so and then add the cooked matki. Stir well to combine, reduce the heat to low, cover & let simmer for 10-12 minutes. Lastly, add the lemon juice & freshly grated coconut. Mix well to combine all of the ingredients & garnish with cilantro leaves, red onion and lemon wedges. Serve hot with fresh chapatis and fragrant Basmati rice.

Tomato Soup

Heat 1-2 tbs Olive Oil

Add 2 chopped Garlic

2 tbs Celery

1 tbs Onion

2 Carrort

2 medum tomato chopped

1 tbs black pepper

4-5 Fresh basil

Salt

1 broken red chilli

Cook i medium flame covered till tomato is mushy

Blend all to a fine paste with water

Strain puree ; add 1 tbs corn starch, 1/4 tbs sugar

Bring to boil till soup thickens

Serve Hot.

Hotel Palak

Spinach(Paalak) – 2bunch
Canola//Olive Oil – 2 tbsp
Paneer – 2-4 piece (optional)
(cubed, fresh or fried in oil)
Onions(medium) - 1/2 nos
Tomatoes( large) - 1 nos (without skin chopped)
Ginger – 2.5” piece grated
Garlic pods - 5 nos chopped (ginger:garlic 3:2)
paneer– 2 tbsp grated
Green chillies - 1-2 or as reqd
Garam masala – 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds- 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander leave or stem - 2 tbsp
Kasoori methi(dry fenugreek leaves) - 1/4 tbsp
Amchur Powder - 1/8 tsp
KalaNamaak -1/8 tsp
Chat Masala - 2 pinch
Cashew - 3 whole piece soaked in hot water for 1/2- 1 hr
Salt – As red



1) Wash the spinach and discard stem.
2) Boil water with 1/4 tsp of soda.  Add spinach until they are wilted. Drain. Add 2 chilli,kasoori methi, soaked cashew and coriander stems; make it a puree.

2) Heat 1 tbsp of Olive oil in a pan or a kadai.Add cumin, ginger and garlic,  finely chopped onion, cook this it turns pink. Add dry masala. And add tomato and little water. Sauté the above prepared tomato mixture for a while; till oil seperate

3. Add spinach puree, little water, amchur, grated paneer. Mix well and Turn off gas.

4. Adjust taste with salt, kala namak, chat masala and green chilli-puree. And cook not more than 5 minutes.

Panchmel dal

Panchratna/Panchmel dal:

• 1 cup consisting equal amounts of
  • chana dal
  • moong dal
  • masoor dal
  • tuvar/arhar dal
  • urad dal
• 2 cloves
• 2 small cardamom
• 1 green chilli – crushed
• 2 red chillies – broken
• 1/2 inch ginger – crushed
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp garam masala powder
• pinch of asafoetida
• 1 tomato – finely chopped
• salt
• ghee/clarified butter

Soak all the dals in water for 30-45 mins.
Pressure cook the dals for 3-4 whistles or till they are cooked. In the original recipe, the dals are cooked in an pan. Cooking dals in a pan takes lot of time. I cooked the dals in a pressure cooker.
In another pan, heat ghee or clarified butter. You could also use a good vegetable oil, but I used ghee as it gives a rich taste to the dal.
Add cumin seeds. Let them splutter. Then add the cloves, cardamoms, broken red chillies. Fry them till they are browned. Add the crushed ginger and green chilly. Fry them for a minute. Add the chopped tomatoes, asafoetida, turmeric powder and garam masala powder.
Fry the masala well on a low flame till the tomatoes become soft and mushy.
Now add this fried masala to the dal. Mix well. Simmer the dal for 10 minutes so that the flavours of the spices infuse well with the lentils. Season with salt.
Garnish with coriander leaves. This part is optional.
While serving, top the dal with 1-2 tsp ghee in the serving bowl as shown in the pic below. You can see the shiny surface….. thats ghee and it got melted due to the hotness of the dal.