Dal Makhni

Dal Makhni, though complex it may sound, in fact is one the easiest you can make. I've had many people exclaim to me "Oh you know to make Dal Makhni!" and many even go on to tease if I add coconut in it ;)

Make sure that you soak the dals atleast for 4 hours. If you don't have enough time boil water and soak the dal for 1 - 2 hrs.

The best thing about this makhni dal is it gets better with time. So if you can make it and leave it for some hours, it is going to taste better.

Ingredients

• Whole Urad dal (black lentil) - 1 cup
  
• Rajma - 1 fistful
• Fresh cream - 1/4 - 1/2 cup
• Onion - 3 medium chopped fine
  
• Ginger - 1 inch chopped fine or crushed
  
• Garlic - 3 large pods chopped fine or crushed
  
• Green chillies - 3-4 coarsely chopped
• Tomato - 2 medim chopped fine
• Coriander leaves - 3 tbsp
• Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
  
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Coriander powder - 1 tsp
• Cumin (Jeera) powder - 1 tsp
• Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
• Salt - as required
• Butter - one chunk (optional)
  

Method

• Pressure cook the urad dal and rajma together. Let the water stand 2 inches above the dals. Give one whistle in high heat. Lower the heat and cook for 30 minutes. Once the cooker cools down, add the cream to it and mix well. The liquid will have a sticky texture
  
• Meanwhile heat oil, splutter jeera, add chopped onions, ginger, garlic, green chillies and salt
• Saute in high heat till onion turns brown and transparent
• Add chopped tomatoes and saute till the oil separates
• Add all the powders and mix properly
• Add this to the cooked dal
  
• Add the coriander leaves
• Put the butter chunk if required

Tips

• If the dal is too thick or if you want to improve the consistency, you can add some milk to it
  

Aalu Palak (Spinach and Potato)

As a kid I detested eating leaves. My father would tell stories about how Popeye consumed it and grew stronger. And my mom would go technical, why I should be eating a lot of this leafy green. It took me 26 years to consider spinach as a part of my diet. If it sounded anything familiar, I must say spinach can taste great too.

This recipe is my discovery of spinach. The recipe is simple and I make it at least once in 3 weeks or so. But yeah cleaning the stuff might be a little time consuming. There are some handy hints on cleaning palak towards the end of this post.



Ingredients

• Spinach - Washed and chopped 3-4 cups
• Potato - 1 Large diced
• Tomato - 1 Large chopped coarsely
• Onion - 1 Large - 1/4 chopped fine and 3/4 chopped long
  
• Garlic - 8 - 10 pods
  
• Green chillies - 3-4
  
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
• Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
• Salt and oil as required

Method

• Crush garlic and green chillies together
• Heat oil and saute the crushed garlic, green chillies and the onions
• Add potatoes, turmeric and chilli powders, mix well
• Add tomatoes, saute for 2 minutes
• Add spinach, mix well and cook covered. Make sure that no water is added
• When cooked, heat oil, splutter jeera, saute onion and add to the cooked dish and mix well

Tips

• The easiest way to wash spinach is to put it into a sink filled with cold water. Swish leaves around, drain the water off. Repeat the process thrice.