Indian Vegan Dish Archives

Moong daal ki khichdi

Moong daal ki khichdi is a very simple meal and you can call it ‘one pot meal’ also. Usually, moong daal ki khichdi is cooked in the house if someone is having upset stomach or wants to have light meal.

In our house, khichdi is prepared if we will have lunch at a restaurant or have attended some marriage or similar kind of function. Then dinner will always be khichdi to keep stomach light or balanced.

But actually it is not the same in all communities. Bengalis prepare khichdi during special occasions also.

Khichdi basically is a mix of rice and lentil. Lentil can be of different kind as per different communities. In UP, green split moong daal lentil is used. In MP, people use urad daal for khichdi. In Rajasthan, bajra (pearl millet) khichdi is also prepared during winter season and is very tasty. In Gujarat, toor daal khichdi is also prepared. In Andhra Pradesh, masoor daal is used for khichdi.

Nowadays there are restaurants that serve only different varieties of khichdi. This shows the popularity of this simple meal. Or probably, those bachelors who can’t cook, and are completely depending on restaurants for their food, find these khichdi restaurants very useful for them.

Khichdi is very easy to cook. Ratio of daal and chawal is also not something which is fixed. Rice and lentil can be taken 50:50 or 60:40 or 70 :30, depending on how one likes. Spices also depend on how simple or spicy khichdi one wants to cook. One can completely omit adding any types of chilies. You can add a few vegetables like beans, potatoes, carrots, onions, bell peppers to add more nutrients and colours in khichdi.

Tadka can be added in khichdi in the beginning or in the end, when khichdi is boiled. Adding tadka later gives more flavour.

Khichdi is usually cooked with little loose consistency (or a bit diluted), but to attract kids you can cook it with thick consistency (similar to boiled rice), along with vegetables. It will give kids an illusion of vegetable pulav and probably they wouldn’t say no to khichdi.

Come, let’s cook this simple meal in a very easy manner.

Ingredients:

Split green moong daal 1/2 cup

Rice 1/2 cup

Asafotida 1/8 tsp

Salt, as per taste

Red chili powder 1/2 tsp (optional)

Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp

Dry red chilis 2 small pieces (optional)

Cumin seeds 1/2 tsp

Rai seeds 1/4 tsp

Curry patta 5-6

Oil 3 tbsp

Water as required

Process:

Take rice and moong daal in a big pan and wash them nicely, at least two times.

After washing, soak mong daal and rice for an hour.

Take pressure cooker and add mix of moong daal and rice along with the water. Switch on flame to medium heat. Water quantity should be four times more than mix of moong daal and rice. Add salt, turmeric powder and red chili powder. Mix it well and put the cover on cooker.

Let it cook for three whistles and open the cooker only when all steam settles down.

Now take a small frying pan. Heat oil on medium flame and crackle rai, cumin seeds, asafotida, curry leaves and dry chilies. Instantly add this tadka to khichdi.

Serve hot khichdi with a few spoons of desi ghee, pickle or curd along with roasted papad.

July 22, 2022

Deeksha Pathak28 Comments

Gaajar matar gobhi ki sabzi

Gaajar matar gobhi ki sabzi (carrots, peas and cauliflower) is a wonderful combo of three winter vegetables. All vegetable vendors bring fresh red carrots, peas and cauliflower in abundance during winter. Though these three vegetables can be cooked separately, ( Aaloo Gobhi ki sabzi ) as a combo, gaajar, matar aur gobhi creates a delicious vegetable dish. The sweet taste of carrots and peas is balanced by adding ginger, green chilies and garam masala. Kids also love this vegetable as they find their favourite peas here.

Sometimes the taste of gaajar matar gobhi ki sabzi is ruined if peas are not of good quality. They remain hard until carrots and cauliflower are completely cooked. To avoid this issue, I prefer buying very soft peas. But in case you have hard peas, then before cooking them, boil them in a pressure cooker for just one pressure. Now peas will be completely cooked along with carrots and cauliflower. Be careful, don’t boil peas for more than one whistle, otherwise, they will become mushy by the time all the vegetables are cooked.

You can check out more recipes in the blog for different vegetables:

Vegetables (Curries)

Ingredients:

Carrot 250 gms
Cauliflower 250 gms
Peas 100 gms
Grated ginger 1/4 tsp
Green chillies chopped 3-4
Oil 5 /6 tbsp
Salt as per your taste
Red chilli powder 1 tsp
Coriander powder 2 tsp
Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
Garam masala powder 1 tsp
Tomatoes 2 / lemon juice 1+1/2 tsp /amchur powder 1 tsp
Green coriander leaves for garnishing
Water 3-4 tbsp if required

Process:

Peel, wash and chop carrots. Cut cauliflower in small florets and shell out peas and wash them.

In a wok heat oil and crackle rai, hing, jeera (small mustard seeds, asafoetida and cumin seeds).

Add carrots, cauliflower and peas followed by chopped green chilies and grated ginger.

Add coriander powder, red chili powder, turmeric powder, salt and mix it well with veggies.

(If all the water is drained out from the vegetables after washing and sieving them, add 3-4 tbsp of water after mixing spices. If still some water remains while adding veggies in the wok, then there is no need to add water unless spices start sticking to the bottom of the wok).

Cover the wok and let vegetables cook on sim heat. In between, stir them two or three times until they become soft.

Now add garam masala and chopped tomatoes/lemon juice/amchoor powder. Mix it properly and let the veggies cook for two-three more minutes. Gaajar matar gobhi ki sabzi taiyaar hai.

Transfer it to a serving bowl and sprinkle finely chopped green coriander leaves. Enjoy this winter special vegetables treat with roti, paratha, poori or rice.

January 14, 2021January 14, 2021

Deeksha Pathak78 Comments

Homemade Tomato Sauce/Ketchup

Homemade tomato sauce/ketchup is very easy to prepare in our kitchen with a little bit of patience. During the winter season, good quality tomatoes are easily available in abundance. So other than preparing tomato soup this winter season, try some homemade tomato sauce/ketchup also. And trust me, it is really tasty!!

You might be wondering why I am insisting to prepare tomato sauce when it is so easily available in almost all big and small shops. Well, the very first reason is that I grew up watching my mother prepare tomato sauce during each winter season for the whole year. Actually, my siblings and I grew up watching lots of things being prepared by mom rather than buying from the market. Tomato sauce or ketchup, whatever you name it, is one of them!

The second reason is that I always find market bought sauce too sweet, so I never really like it. The biggest advantage of preparing tomato sauce at home is that we can control the quantity of sugar, salt and can have very less preservative or probably preservative-free sauce. And of course, if we will be using the best quality of fresh tomatoes for sauce, we will be a little lenient with our kiddo if he or she is just licking sauce from the plate rather than finishing their sandwich along with it😉.

Usually, while preparing tomato sauce, white salt is added, but I love the taste of black and rock salt. So here I have added all three salts together and all three salts enhanced the taste of sauce! But you can as well use only white salt.

For garam masala and ginger I have used powdered ones, but whole garam masala and fresh ginger can also be used. If you are using whole garam masala and fresh ginger, tie them in a piece of white muslin cloth. In Hindi we call it ‘potli’. Add this potli in the pressure cooker while boiling tomatoes. The whole flavor of spices will seep out through this potli in tomatoes. After boiling tomatoes, squeeze out all the juice from potli and discard it.

I have not added water while boiling tomatoes. Later, while boiling the pulp that extra water takes a little bit longer to evaporate. To avoid that, after adding chopped tomatoes in the cooker, don’t cover the lid. Keep stirring tomatoes on medium flame and in 5-7 minutes juices of tomatoes will come out. Now close the lid and let the tomatoes boil.

Not adding water is very helpful in increasing the shelf life of sauce.

For preserving the sauce, I have added only vinegar – so the sauce has to be kept in the fridge. But for long time preservation, we need to add sodium benzoate. But my personal suggestion is that rather than adding an extra preservative, we can always prepare a fresh batch of sauce. The lesser the amount of preservative in our food, the better it is!

Depending on the sourness of tomatoes you have to decide how much sugar is enough in sauce. While preparing sauce, once sugar dissolves completely, take some quantity of sauce in a bowl to taste. Now you can check the taste of salt, sugar, spices and add some more if required.

Sometimes kids are very fussy and so obsessed with market bought products that they simply refuse to eat homemade stuff. If you think that your kids will refuse to eat homemade sauce, you can trick them easily. Don’t throw away empty bottles of market bought sauce. Sterilize these bottles nicely and dry them thoroughly. Fill homemade sauce in these bottles and job done! Very soon you will be preparing the next batch of sauce smilingly in your kitchen.

I have a few more sauce recipes in the blog, can take a look at them also…Salted Caramel Sauce, Strawberry sauce ,Pizza sauce

Ingredients:

Tomato 2 kg
Sugar 1+1/2 cups
White salt 1/2 tsp
Black salt 1/2tsp
Rock salt 3/4 tsp
Ginger powder 1/2 tsp
Garam masala 1 tbsp
Vinegar 2 tbsp

Process:

Wash tomatoes nicely and cut them into four pieces.

Boil these tomatoes in an open pressure cooker without adding water. Keep stirring continuously until juices have completely seeped out of tomatoes. Now as there is enough liquid in the pressure cooker, add garam masala and dry ginger powder or the potli of whole garam masala and fresh ginger. Close the lid along with weight and let tomatoes cook until they get nicely boiled.

Once steam from the cooker cools down, open it and let the boiled tomatoes cool down. If potli of spices are added, squeeze out the juice and discard the potli.

Now grind these boiled tomatoes and sieve the puree to get rid of tomato peels and seeds.

Pour this puree in a thick, broad vessel and switch on the stove on high heat. Add all three salts and keep stirring the puree till it starts boiling. Now reduce the heat to medium and let the puree boil till it starts becoming thick. Don’t forget to stir in between – otherwise puree might stick to the bottom of vessel and that burnt smell will waste all our efforts done till now. While stirring, keep scraping the sides of pan.

Be careful – as puree starts becoming thick, it starts spluttering a lot. When puree begins to thicken, add sugar. Stir till sugar dissolves completely and you will notice that the colour of the sauce has changed and the consistency of the sauce is again thin.

Let it boil till it thickens more and reaches the consistency of thick tomato sauce. Switch off heat and let the sauce cool down completely. Add two tbsp vinegar and mix it very well in the sauce. With the help of a funnel or piping bag fill tomato sauce in sterilized and completely dry bottles.

Homemade tomato sauce or ketchup is ready to be served with sandwiches, fritters, pakode, fries, parathe wedges etc, etc…. anything you can think of !!

November 30, 2020April 20, 2022

Deeksha Pathak110 Comments

Baingan, saim ke beej aur mooli ki sabzi

Baingan, Saim ke beej aur Mooli ki sabji (mix vegetable of brinjal, seeds of flattened beans and radish) might sound a little different combo of veggies but trust me, this combo rocks! Baingan, Saim ke beej aur Mooli ki sabzi is completely my mother’s invention. Whenever we used to get bored during winters, she used to prepare this three mixed vegetables combo.

The best part was that all three vegetables used to be from our kitchen garden. Whenever we used to pluck beans from the vines, there were always some extra beans which had big ripened seeds. These beans couldn’t be used for normal Flattened beans with potatoes sabzi – so my mother used the bean seeds with radish and brinjal and an excellent mixed sabzi was invented!

Though this sabzi can be prepared without onions too, but If you are not against using onions then I would strongly suggest you to add them. Onions enhance the flavour significantly!

Ingredients:

Seeds of flattened beans 100 gms
Brinjal (small size) 4
Radish (medium size) 2
Green chilies, chopped 3-4
Onion (big size) 1
Oil 5 tbsp
Small mustard seeds (rai) 1/4 tsp
Cumin seeds (jeera) 1/4 tsp
Asafoetida (hing) , a pinch
Coriander powder 2 tbsp
Red chili powder 1 tsp
Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
Water 4 tbsp

Process:

Take out the seeds from ripened flattened beans. Peel and cut radish into small pieces and wash both of them.

Chop onion and roast it in a wok with 1 tbsp oil till they are brown in colour. Keep them separate.

Heat 4 tbsp oil in the wok and crackle hing, rai and jeera. Add seeds of flattened beans, radish and chopped brinjals. Always cut brinjal just before adding in the wok. if we cut brinjal beforehand with other vegetables, they start turning black and their taste changes.

Add rest of the spices along with chopped green chilies followed by two tbsp water.

Mix everything well, cover the pan and let the sabzi cook on sim heat till all three veggies turn soft.

In between, keep turning them upside-down for even cooking and if you feel that sabzi is sticking to the bottom, add 2 tbsp more water and cover it.

When sabzi is cooked completely, add roasted onions and serve with roti, parathe or as a side dish to rice.

October 3, 2020

Deeksha Pathak86 Comments

Aaloo – Gobhi ki sabzi

Aaloo-Gobhi ki sabzi (potato and cauliflower) is loved by almost all my family members on all occasions. This sabzi is part of our regular food menu. If we have some guests at home, then aaloo-gobhi ki sabzi will be part of the spread. You will also find this in any elaborate wedding feast!

Generally, all age groups like this. I remember that whenever during winter season we used to have sudden guests at my parents’ house, my mother used to prepare this sabzi with little extra oil and spices. We were instructed that this sabzi is only for the guests as quantity used to be less due to their unexpected arrival. The taste of the dish prepared by her used to be so out-of-the-world that my siblings and I always wished that guests shouldn’t be very hungry so that we will get to enjoy in sufficient quantity once they have eaten😀.

Children can think of anything, isn’t it!!!😇

Sometimes, if cauliflower is sufficient in quantity, I don’t add potatoes. It tastes equally good. But kids are fond of potatoes so you can add them…

There are a few more vegetables dishes in the blog. If interested, can take a look…Vegetables (Curries)

Ingredients :

Cauliflower 500 gms
Potatoes 2 medium size
Oil 5 tbsp
Cumin seeds (jeera) 1/2 tsp
Small mustard seeds(rai) 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida powder (hing) 1/8 tsp
Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
Red chilli powder 1 tsp
Coriander powder 1 tbsp
Salt as per your taste
Green chillies chopped 2 – 3
Grated ginger 1/4 tsp
Dry mango powder (amchur) 1tsp
Garam masala 1 tsp

Water 1/8 cup, if later sabzi is not cooked and yet sticking to the bottom add 1/8 cup more.
Chopped green coriander leaves for garnishing

Process :

Cut cauliflower florets in small to medium size along with potatoes and wash them nicely.

Heat oil in a wok and add rai, hing and jeera.

Add cut cauliflower and potatoes along with chopped green chilies and grated ginger.

Add red chilly powder, coriander powder, salt and turmeric powder.

Mix everything and add 1/8th or 1/4th cup of water and cover the wok. Reduce the heat to sim and let it cook till cauliflower and potatoes turn soft. In between, stir 2-3 times.

When it is nearly cooked, add garam masala and dry mango powder, mix it well and again cover and cook it for 2-3 minutes. If you don’t want to use dry mango powder, add chopped tomatoes.

Sabzi is ready.

Add chopped green coriander leaves just before serving.

September 5, 2020September 5, 2020

Deeksha Pathak47 Comments

Stir Fry Cabbage

Stir Fry Cabbage is the best way to feed this nutritious vegetable to all those fussy kids and husband who make faces seeing cabbage on the dinning table. This recipe was a big success in my house. Though I didn’t follow the authentic ingredients commonly used in stir fry dishes, I retained the healthy elements and still this stir fry cabbage came out really tasty!

Colourful vegetables are considered very good for health. So, here I have used both green and purple cabbage. I used tomato to get red colour which also gave tangy taste. Purple cabbage is more pungent in taste compared to green cabbage. Also added onions for white colour. So, overall the taste of four vegetables along with spices gave this dish a very nice flavour.

I avoided using soy sauce here as it’s high in sodium. Usually, I never use garam masala and onions in cabbage. But for this stir fry, I added a pinch of garam masala in the end and the overall result with the pungent cabbages, sweet onions, acidity of tomatoes and spicy green-chilies along with Indian spices created fantastic Stir Fry Cabbage dish!!

Try this recipe, and trust me that this Indian style Stir Fry Cabbage will bring smile at the dinning table🙂.

For a few more vegetables and curries posts, you can take a look at this link too Vegetables (Curries)

Ingredients:

Chopped cabbage 250 gms
Medium size onion 2
Tomato 1 or 1 tsp lemon juice
Green chilies 2-3
Oil 3 tbsp
Rai (tiny mustard seeds) 1/4 tsp
Jeera (cumin seeds) 1/4 tsp
Hing (Asafoetida) 1/8 tsp
Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
Salt as per your taste
Coriander powder 1+1/2 tsp
Red chilly powder 1/4 tsp
Garam masala 1/8 tsp

Process:

Chop cabbages length-wise. Wash and keep them in the strainer till the water drains out.

Similarly, chop onions and green chilies too.

In a wok or a pan heat 1 tbsp oil and stir fry onions till they are brown. Keep onions in a separate bowl.

Once again heat 2 tbsp oil and crackle rai, hing and jeera. Keep the heat on medium flame and immediately add chopped cabbages and green chilies. Add salt and turmeric powder, mix it well and keep stirring.

Remember, cabbage should not turn completely soft. In stir fry dishes, vegetables remain crisp – that’s why they are cooked on slightly high flame. When you feel that cabbage is about to get cooked in the next 5 minutes, add coriander powder and chilly powder. Mix it well and keep stirring for 2-3 minutes. Add chopped tomato pieces, garam masala and onions. Stir for a minute and your Stir Fry Cabbage is ready to go with hot parathe or naan!!

August 30, 2020August 30, 2020

Deeksha Pathak66 Comments