Pumpkin Poriyal - Cubed Pumpkin Stir Fry

I never really thought about pumpkin poriyal that much really but it is one that is made in many a Kongu home during Pongal time. I remember eating them at my grandparent's place during ammavasai and they are tasty. Who does not enjoy a sweet vegetable made with coconut gratings?

When I came here to the US there were a lot of pumpkins alright during Halloween but none that tasted like the pumpkins back home. These were grown mostly for ornamental purpose and for carving. I still gave that a try but stringy and not so tasty to eat which is expected. They are for carving Jack O Lanterns!

I stopped buying pumpkins for cooking purposes instead used Butternut squash and Acorn squash as they taste very similar to the pumpkins that we have back in India.



This summer I grewpumpkins at the farm. Tasty and nostalgic at the same time. I was very proud. This year the plan is grow a few more and get better yield. These pumpkins taste great in whichever way you cook them as a a kootu, pulikulambu, sambhar or just a simple stir fry like this recipe which gives the unvarnished taste of the mildly sweet pumpkin and it is pure pleasure.

Cut the pumpkin, remove the inside seeds and stringy portion. Peel the skin if wanted.
In a wide mouthed pan heat oil, add the seasonings. Saute the onions and green chilies and add in the cubed pumpkin.
Add salt, cover and cook the pumpkins till they are soft.
Sprinkle grated coconut mix and turn off the heat.

This pumpkin stir fry, mildly sweet can be served as a side dish to any rice and curry combination. Some people I have heard sprinkle some sugar on the pumpkin but I don't since these are sweet by themselves.

Pumpkin Poriyal - Pumpkin Stir Fry
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients

1. 1/4 of the pumpkin peeled* seeds and strings removed and cut into 1" cubes (or any size you want)
2. 1/4 cup red onions or shallots chopped fine
3. 6-8 green chilies (more or less depending on the heat of the chili)
4. 1/4 cup grated fresh or frozen coconut
5. seasonings - split urad dal, cumin, mustard seeds, curry leaves
6. 1 tsp of oil
7. Note:You can wash the skin well and leave it on and then chop. I like to slightly remove the skin and then chop.

Method

1. Heat oil in a wide mouthed pan or kadai, add the seasonings, urad dal first and when it starts to slightly brown, cumin seeds followed by the mustard seeds and when the mustard seeds pop add the curry leaves.
2. Add the onion and green chilies, saute the onions till they become translucent.
3. Add in the pumpkin, saute for 2 minutes, add salt, cover and cook for 4-5 minutes. Do not overcook, when the pumpkin is soft to the touch, open the lid give a good mix for another 2 minutes or so.
4. Add the coconut, mix gently and turn off the heat.

Serve as a side with rice and sambhar.

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Pachai Payir Keerai Kootu - Green Moong and Chard (using Instant Pot)

Kootu is something you make when you are tired of eating just paruppu and sambhar. Using toor dal/pigeon peas or split yellow moong dal gets boring as I use them often. Bengal Gram or kadalai paruppu is the go to lentil for kootu. had the last of the chard leaves for the season and wanted to use whole green moong. The combination turned out to be just delicious. The recipe itself is quite simple.

I have become a big fan of Instant Pot. Don't get me wrong I have used pressure cooker like for ever but the problem is wondering if the sound is going to come, if it will splatter all over if I add a bit too much water. The ability to cook without any of those worries is what makes InstantPot attractive for me. I do not use it much for sauteing, I prefer to use it for steaming and pressure cooking without worries. The rice cooks without getting too dry which is another benefit of using the Instant Pot, yes even when compared with the trusty old pressure cooker.

Recipe in pictures,

Cook the moong dal and blend the spice paste and keep it ready.
In a pot heat oil and add the seasonings. Get the chard leaves cut and ready.
Add the onions and saute till they start to change color. Add in the chard leaves and cook for 3-4 minutes.
Add the coconut paste with a cup of water and cook for a few minutes and then add the cooked moong and salt and let cook for 3-4 minutes till done.

Serve with rice or even any kind of thin Indian breads.

Pachai Payir Keerai Kootu
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 25 minutes
Ingredients

1. 1 cup green moong (pachai payir)
2. 3-4 cups of cut chard leaves (drumstick leaves, amaranth leaves or any hardier leafy green)
3. 1/4 cup cut shallots or red onions
4. salt to taste
5. seasonings: mustard seeds, cumin seeds and curry leaves
6. 2 tsp oil
For the spice paste
7. 1/3 cup frozen or fresh grated coconut
8. 1 tsp cumin seeds
9. 5-6 green chilies
10. a few coriander seeds (less than a tsp)
11. a few pepper corns (less than a tsp)
12. a few coriander leaves (optional)

Method

1. Wash and cook the whole moong in a Instant Pot with 1 1/2 cups of water. Set the cooking time for 8 minutes.
2. Make a paste of the ingredients from the 'For the Paste' section and set aside. Add enough water to make it into a paste.
3. In a pot, add oil followed by the seasonings, when the mustard pops add the curry leaves followed by the onions.
4. Once the onions start taking color add the chard leaves and let it cook for about 3-4 minutes.
5. Add in the spice paste and 1 cup of water and let it come to a boil. Cook till raw smell disappears.
6. Let the pressure release naturally from the Instant Pot (see **Note) and add the cooked moong to the chard leaves. Add salt.
7. Cook for 3-4 minutes and turn off the heat.
Serve with rice.

**Note If you are not using the Instant Pot, whole moong can be cooked in the pressure cooker or stove pot like we have doing for time immemorial :)

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Whole Kambu (pearl millet) Dosai

Millet offers a variation from the regular rice, wheat back to rice routine. I read that 90% of our time is spent indoors under artificial lights and mostly sitting doing sedentary jobs which means eating a lot of rice and wheat is not necessarily the best. So to mix it up a little bit I like to add some millet to our diet and hopefully to tackle the ever expanding mid section :(

While the recipe I have here is the way I know in which kambu dosai is made with the addition of spices. I wanted to change the recipe around a little bit so that it is similar to the regular dosai recipe. Since millet is also carbohydrate rich I add more lentils to get a crispy dosai.

Normally I use whole kambu for this but i have a couple of packets of broken kambu and I used that since i was not going to make porridge with the broken kambu.

Soak the pearl millet, rice, lentils and fenugreek seeds overnight.
Grind the fenugreek seeds and white lentils till it is smooth and fluffy. Remove it to a separate vessel.
Grind the pearl millet and when it is getting smooth add in the rice and grind till it is completed smooth.
Remove it to the vessel along with the lentil batter.
set the batter to ferment overnight. Once fermented mix it with a laddle so the batter looks smooth and is ready for use.
Heat a griddle and add a laddle of batter and spread it into circle. Flip on cook on the other side.

Kambu dosai batter made with whole kambu and plenty of lentils is much lighter and crispier.

Kambu Dosai
Soaking Time: 8 hours or overnight
Batter Grinding Time: 40 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

1. 2 1/2 cups of kambu (pearl millet)
2. 1 1/2 cups of idli rice
3. 1 1/2 cups of whole urad dal (white lentils)
4. 2 tbsp of fenugreek seeds
5. salt to taste
For the Dosai
6. Oil

Batter Preparing

1. Wash the kambu in several changes of water and let it soak overnight. Wash and soak the rice and lentils. Soak the fenugreek seeds.
2. Grind the soaked fenugreek seeds and when it is looks almost blended add the lentils to it and blend to a smooth batter, remove to a vessel. I let the grinder run for about 20 minutes.
3. Next add the soaked millet and let it grind till most of the millet has been blended, add the rice to this and continue to grind till it becomes a smooth batter.
4. Remove the millet rice batter to the lentil batter, add salt and mix it well and leave it overnight to ferment.
5. Note:Where it is cold and fermenting is a problem, put it in the oven or microwave with the light oven overnight and it should ferment nicely.

Method

1. Heat a dosai pan or griddle, wipe some oil on it with some cloth.
2. Add a laddle of batter and spread it in a circle.
3. Add oil along the edges of the dosai, let it cook on one side and then flip and cook on the other side.

Serve with chutney of choice.

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Quick Green Split Moong Dal with Pressure Cooker - Paasi Paruppu

Cooking dal/lentils or making paruppu is perhaps easiest business of all and you would think a recipe is not warranted. The reality is making dal in a pressure cooker and still maintaining taste and flavor is something that has to be done right. Not exactly rocket science but worthy of a blog post :)

While making paasi paruppu or moong dal on a stove top and even better in a clay pot might be the best of them all you can achieve close to perfection even with a pressure cooker. The secret is the combination of spices which make it take taste just like mom or grand mom made it.

I realize I hardly talk about stuff these day. It is not because I do not have stuff to talk about. It is just that I don't have time to put them in writing. Soon ...

I don't like the texture of cooked yellow moong when made into dal/paruppu anymore. I'd rather use the one with the skin on. The split green moong tastes a lot better. While I use yellow moong for making a quick sambhar for idli and idli podi/paruppu podi
I prefer using the split green moong for making paruppu.

Roast the split moong for about 5-6 minutes till it starts to change color a bit. In a pressure cooker take the moong dal, cut onion, garlic, green chilies, cumin and pepper powder,turmeric powder, salt without enough water.
Pressure cook the dal for 3 whistles, let cool, open and mash it with the wooden masher or the back of a ladle.
Prepare the seasonings and pour over the dal.

While this quick dal tastes best with some rice and ghee (skip for vegan), it can be perfect as a side for rotis or chapatis.

Paasi Paruppu - Quick Green Split Moong Dal
Preparation Time:10 minutes
Cooking Time:20 minutes
Ingredients

1. 1 1/2 cup of split green moong (requires 2 cups of water for a fairly thick cooked dal)
2. 4-5 slit green chilies
3. 1/4 cup of roughly chopped onions
4. 3 garlic cloves cut
5. 1 tsp of grated ginger (optional)
6. 1 tsp cumin seeds and 1/2 tsp pepper corn roughly pounded
7. 1 tsp turmeric code
8. salt to taste
9. few sprigs of coriander leaves, with stem or stems removed chopped
10. 1 tsp ghee or oil for vegan
11. seasonings: cumin seeds and mustard seeds

Method

1. Dry roast the split green moong for about 5-6 minutes till it starts to change color.
2. In a pressure cooker, add the roasted moong, water, cut onions, chilies, garlic, cumin and pepper powder, ginger if using, turmeric powder and 1/2 tsp of salt.
3. Pressure cook for 3 whistles and let cool, open the cooker and mash it using a wooden masher or back of a ladle.
4. In a small sauce pan or seasoning pan, add ghee or oil, add the cumin seeds, followed by the mustard seeds. Let it pop. Add the chopped coriander leaves and let it wilt.
5. Pour the seasonings over the cooked and mashed dal.

Serve with rice and for best taste with some ghee drizzled on top.

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