RAJMA MASALA | KIDNEY BEAN GRAVY

I am a great lover of punjabi food. Love the rich taste and aroma of the punjabi food. Rajma/Kidney beans Masala/ Gravy is a nutritious food.

Ingredients :

Cooked Kidney beans/Rajma - 1 Cup
Bay Leaves - 2 Nos
Onions - 2 (Medium Sized ) Very Finely chopped.
Ginger - 1 Inch piece (Grated)
Garlic -  5 cloves (Grated)
Tomato - 3 (Medium Sized) Either Pureed or Very Finely chopped.
Red chili powder - 1 & half Teaspoon (Adjust according to your spice need)
*Cumin/Jeera  powder - 3/4 th Teaspoon
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 Teaspoon
*Coriander Powder - 3/4 Table Spoon
Garam Masala - 1 Teaspoon
Oil - 2 Table Spoon
Salt - As per needed.

Method :

Soak Rajma / Kidney beans for about 12 hours and pressure cook with enough water and salt until soft.
Heat oil in a pan, add bay leaves now add very finely chopped or you can grate also. Saute for a minute with little salt, now add grated ginger garlic to it and sauté until the mixture turns golden brown in color. Now add tomatoes, turmeric, red chili powder, coriander powder, cumin powder and sauté until oil separates from the mixture. Now add cooked rajma (add water to adjust the thickness of the gravy) add garam masala bring it to a boil. Garmish with a teaspoon of desi ghee/Clarified butter and chopped coriander leaves. Serve with rice or Roti. This gravy tastes even more good the next day ;-) as it would have absorbed all the spices well.

* When using Cumin/Jeera Powder and Coriander Powder in this recipe, try to dry roast separately and grind to a fine powder. It surely enhances the taste and aroma of the gravy/masala unlike the store bought ones.

Health Benefits :

Rajma / Kidney beans are a very good source of cholesterol-lowering fiber, as are most other beans. In addition to lowering cholesterol, kidney beans' high fiber content prevents blood sugar levels from rising too rapidly after a meal, making these beans an especially good choice for individuals with diabetes, insulin resistance or hypoglycemia. Kidney beans are an excellent source of the trace mineral, molybdenum, an integral component of the enzyme sulfite oxidase, which is responsible for detoxifying sulfites. Just one cup of cooked kidney beans supplies 177.0% of the daily value for molybdenum.Kidney beans, like other beans, are rich in soluble and insoluble fiber. A cup of cooked kidney beans provides 45.3% of the recommended daly intake for fiber. 

Paruppu Vadai | Dal Vada

My mom is an awesome cook. She used to make soft n crispy paruppu/dal vadai. Normally kadalai paruppu (Bengal gram) is only used for making paruppu vadai/aama vadai. But my mom use 4 different paruppu/dal, Which makes the vadai soft even after it cools down. Here is my mom's version of paruppu vadai.

Ingredients : Makes 6 Vadai's.

Urad Dal/Ulutham paruppu/Black gram - 2 Table Spoon
Moong Dal/Pasiparuppu/Green Gram - 2 Table Spoon
Channa Dal/Kadalai paruppu/Bengal Gram - 2 Table Spoon
Thuvar Dal/Thuvaram paruppu/Red Gram - 2 Table Spoon
Red Chilies - 4 Nos. (Adjust according to spice need)
Suji/Rava/Semolina - 1 Table Spoon
Hing/Perungayam(Asafoetida) - A Generous pinch.
Coriander Leaves - 2 Table Spoon
Ginger - 1 Table Spoon (Finely chopped)
Curry Leaves - Few.
Salt - As per needed
Cold Butter - 2 Table Spoon
Oil - To Deep fry

Method :

Soak Dal's / Paruppu together for 2 to 3 hours and drain it. Grind it coarsely along with ginger, red chilies, Salt. 

Mix Suji/Semolina, chopped coriander leaves, asafoetida, cold butter and curry leaves to the ground mixture. 

Heat oil in a deep pan, and take a small ball of mixture and flatten it in the palm and drop it in the hot oil (make sure oil is not fuming) and fry till both the sides turn golden brown, drop 3 or 4 vada's at a time, don't over crowd. Crispy and soft vadai's are ready to eat.

FRIED MODAK / PORICHA KOZHAKATTAI / RAVA KOZHUKATTAI / MODAGAM

Rava kozhukattai ( Rava modak ) is normally prepared ganapathi homam. This fried modakam is offered to fire while performing homam. Unlike the normal modak or kozhukattai this can kept outside and will stay good for 1 week. I prepared this during sankatahara chathurthi and offered to lord ganesha. Normally this is prepared using wheat flour, but i tried it with rava as wheat flour makes the outer layer very soft and chewey. Here we go for the fried modak recipe which is crispy and tasty.