Gatte ka Saag

I have spoken endlessly about my love for Rajasthani food. In my post on Mooli Moong Dal, I shared with my plate of Dal Bati Churma that S brought back from Jaipur. While a Rajasthani thali usually has Gatte Ki Kadhi, the one that he brought had Gatte Ka Saag.


I knew, at first bite, that I just had to make this dish at home. After all, once you’ve gotten past the Gattas, there’s precious little that you need to do in order to get this dish ready.


(And I have some news to share: I found Dal Bati Churma in Dilli Haat when I took my parents shopping. So now I know where to go.)


Here is the recipe I used to make Gatte ka Saag at home.


For the Gattas:

3/4 cup Bengal gram flour
1/2 tsp Chilli Powder

1 tsp Fennel seeds

1/8 tsp Ajwain

1 tbsp Curds

2 tbsp Oil

Salt to taste

For the gravy:

2 Onions, ground to a paste
1 tsp Ginger Paste
2 Tomatoes, blanched and pureed
1 tsp Oil

1/4 tsp Cumin Seeds

1 tsp Chilli Powder

½ tsp Turmeric Powder

1 tsp Coriander Powder
¼ tsp Garam Masala

Salt to taste
Coriander Leaves for garnish

For the Gattas:

Place all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and knead into a firm dough using as little water as necessary. Divide the mixture into eight 3 inch long cylinders.


Heat plenty of water in a vessel and cook the gattas for 8-10 minutes in boiling water. Drain and cut the gattas into half inch pieces.


For the gravy:


Heat oil in a pan. Add the cumin seeds. When they crackle, add the onion paste and ginger and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the salt, coriander powder, chilli and turmeric powders and fry for a minute. Add the tomato puree and fry until the oil separates from the mixture. Add ¼ cup of water and bring the mixture to a boil. Add the cut gattas. Add the garam masala and take off the flame. Garnish with the chopped coriander.


This dish tastes great with rice and dal. I haven’t eaten it with chapattis, but I’m sure it would be lovely. Since this keeper recipe has the wonderful taste of fennel, I'm sending it to Ivy of Kopiaste as she hosts Think Spice... Think Twice this month.

Coriander Cauliflower Peas Curry

In winter, our vegetable vendor always sends us back home with loads of coriander. While I made Coriander Saar with these leaves, I decided to try this in a curry. I loved it and I'm sure you all will too. It is interesting to take a green curry to work and have everyone ask:

• Is that saag?
• Is it palak?
• You ground the methi?
• Bathua?

Quite an "Is it a bird? Is it a plane?" kind of situation.

1 cup Cauliflower

1/2 cup Peas

1 cup Coriander Leaves

2 pods Garlic

1" piece Ginger

2 Green Chillies

Salt to taste

1 tsp Oil

1 tsp Cumin Seeds

¼ tsp Asafoetida

Steam the cauliflower and the peas.

Prepare the chutney by grinding the coriander leaves with the garlic, ginger, green chillies and salt together.


Heat the teaspoon of oil and add the cumin seeds and the asafoetida. When the cumin crackles, add the chutney and fry for 3-4 minutes. Add the cauliflower and peas and mix well. Cover and cook for 2-3 minutes.

This goes to Mythreyee of Paajaka as she hosts this month's edition of JFI: Cauliflower.

Vegetable Dalia Upma

Tired? Don't feel like making rice/rotis and an entire meal? Here's a quick dish that is light, both physically as well as physiologically. Yes, you guessed it. I am back with another variant of my darling: upma. If you have mixed vegetables in the freezer like I usually do, this meal can be whipped up very quickly.

1 cup Broken Wheat (Dalia)

1 Onion, chopped

1 cup Mixed vegetables, chopped and cooked (I used carrots, peas, potatoes and beans)

1 tbsp Oil

1/2 tsp Urad Dal

1/2 tsp Chana Dal

1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

7-8 Curry Leaves

1 Red Chilli

¼ tsp Turmeric Powder

1 tsp Green Chilli paste

1 tsp Ginger Paste

Salt to taste

Coriander Leaves for garnish

Heat the oil in a kadhai. Add the urad and chana dals. When the urad dal begins to brown a little, add the mustard and asafoetida. When the mustard splutters, add the curry leaves, onions, red chilli, ginger and chilli pastes and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the turmeric powder and fry for a minute more. Add the mixed vegetables and the broken wheat and fry the entire mixture for 1-2 minutes. Add 2 cups of boiling hot water and salt to this.

Mix well, cover and cook for 5-7 minutes on a low flame.Mix well, garnish with coriander leaves and enjoy it as a snack or a light meal.

Carrot Dal Soup

In an attempt to make different soups, I keep looking for new combinations. I came across this recipe in the book I've made famous on this blog: Favorite Vegetarian Dishes. I adapted the recipe based on what I had available that night. This is one soup that I am certain I will make again.

2 cups Carrots, sliced

1/2 cup Toor Dal

2 Onions, chopped

2 Tomatoes, chopped

1 tsp Garlic, chopped

2 tsp Oil

1 tsp Cumin-Coriander Powder

1 tsp Green Chilli Paste

1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder

Juice of 1 Lime

1 cup Milk

Salt to taste

Chopped Coriander for garnish

Pressure cook the toor dal, carrots, onions, tomatoes and garlic with 4 cups of water for 3-4 whistles. Blend in a liquidizer when cool.

In a pan, heat the oil. Add the chilli paste, cumin-coriander powder and turmeric powder. Fry for a minute on a low flame. Take off the flame and add the lime juice and salt.

In a vessel, add the blended carrot-dal mixture and the milk. Add a cup of water and the spice mixture. Simmer over low heat for 5-7 minutes. Garnish with the chopped coriander.

Don't get completely lost in the colour of the soup. Remember to enjoy it while hot. Off this goes to dear Aparna as she hosts this month's edition of FIC-Orange.

Mooli Moong Dal

I discovered Rajasthani cooking in a big way last year. It was really thanks to RCI Rajasthan. The real Rajasthani food that I love, I can’t even think of making it at home. I’ve reconciled to the fact that I am better off eating my beloved Daal Baati Churma(in picture below) at a restaurant, most likely the LMB in Jaipur.

I will never understand why Bikanerwala doesn’t think of serving any Rajasthani food. You get the same rotis, paneer, chaat and tandoori food. Not to forget Pizza, Noodles and ChopSuey. Even idli, dosa and uttapam. But nothing remotely Rajsthani.


I discovered that some dishes are perfect for me. They are ready in no time, have very few ingredients, are very tasty and pair equally well with rice and rotis. Here is one such. It is very similar to a kootu.


1 cup White Radish, peeled and diced
½ cup Moong Dal
2 Cloves
1 Bay Leaf
½ tsp Turmeric Powder
¼ tsp Cumin Seeds
1 tsp Green Chilli paste
1 tsp Ginger Paste
¼ tsp Asafoetida
1 tsp Oil
½ tsp Chilli Powder
2-3 tbsp Coriander Leaves, chopped
Salt to taste


Heat the oil in a pressure pan. Add the cumin seeds, cloves and bay leaf. When the cumin crackles, add the asafoetida along with the chilli and ginger pastes. Add the chilli powder, moong dal and the radish. Add 2 cups of water with the requisite salt and cook for 2 whistles.


When the pressure is released, open and add the coriander leaves. Mix well.


I am glad to have found one more way to use radish. We had this with some rotis, but I am very sure it would pair well with rice as well.

Vazhaikkai Podimas (Version 2)

There was a time when I had to travel a great deal to lay my hands on plantains/raw bananas. And I think that it was probably easier for me to go to Madras and have Amma make me some vazhaikkai karumadhu or kaela phodiyo than it was to travel from Gurgaon to CR Park to buy certain vegetables. This time around, I find that vegetables are far easier to come by in Gurgaon. And when the local Mother Dairy/Safal outlet inside my apartment complex sells vegetables that I like, I am certain that this city has come a long way.

I made a version of vazhaikkai podimas sometime back. Once I'd finished making it, I realized that this wasn't close to what I'd eaten growing up. My Mami in Bombay used to make a lot of Tamil dishes. And she didn't stop with sambar and rasam. She'd make things like paruppu usli and podimas. Amma didn't make podimas, but my Mami did. I decided to get her recipe and try it. It turned out to be very tasty. I have made it a couple of times since and it never fails to impress.

2 Raw Bananas/Plantains, steamed, peeled and grated

1 tsp Oil

1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

1/4 tsp Urad Dal

1.4 tsp Chana Dal

2 Green Chillies, chopped

1 tbsp Coconut, scraped

a Pinch of Turmeric Powder (optional)

Juice of 1 Lime

Salt to taste

Heat the oil in a kadhai. Add the urad and chana dals. When the urad dal turns light brown, add the mustard seeds and the asafoetida. When the mustard splutters, add the green chillies, the turmeric, if using, and the grated bananas. Add the salt and take off the heat. Stir in the lime juice and add the coconut. Mix well.

This makes for a great side with a traditional Tamil lunch. Or you could even eat it as a salad like I do. Either way, it is a keeper recipe.

Gobhi Matar

Do you get excited when you see the price of peas go down? You check one day and it is Rs. 20 a kilo, you check the next day and it is Rs. 10 a kilo. Has that put you in some sort of frenzy? I used to be like that. Today, I get excited when I see the prices come crashing down, but I also figure that I am too lazy to shell peas. An entire kilo of peas yields just about enough for one dish. And I must have mindless senseless TV running in order for me to process this stuff. So, given all this, isn’t frozen better? It appeals so nicely to lazy old me.


But the Safal guys in our complex seem to think otherwise. So, in order to give me the middle path, they sit all day and shell peas. By the time I get home, I can pick a nice bag of fresh green peas. No hassle, no mess, no wastage of time. Given that cauliflower is also a zero fuss vegetable (and that I love the combination of peas and cauliflower), I paired these two one morning in this dish. It tasted great with chapattis.



1 cup Cauliflower florets
1 cup Green Peas
1 Onion
1 Green Chilli
1” piece Ginger
2 pods Garlic
2-3 tbsp Tomato Puree
¼ tsp Turmeric Powder
½ tsp Chilli Powder
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
2 tsp Oil
Salt to taste


Steam the cauliflower and the peas. Grind the onion, chilli, ginger and garlic to a fine paste.


Heat oil in a kadhai. Add the cumin seeds. When they crackle, add the ground paste and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the salt, chilli and turmeric powders and fry for a minute. Add the tomato puree and fry until the oil separates from the mixture. Add ¾ cup of water along with the cauliflower and peas. Bring the mixture to a boil. Garnish with some chopped coriander if you like.

This goes to Mythreyee of Paajaka as she hosts this month's edition of JFI: Cauliflower and to Aparna as she hosts this month's FIC: Orange.