Tonight's dinner:Rice,Dal

Dal recipe:

1 cup lentils(toor dal)
6 green chillies
1/4 tspoon turmeric
2 garlic cloves
1 inch strip from tamarind slab
2 small tomatoes
11/2 cups water
salt to taste

Seasoning:
1 table spoon oil
1/2 teaspoon ghee(optional)
1 tspoon cumin seeds
1 tspoon mustard seeds
4 garlic cloves
4 curry leaves
2 dry chillies(byadge menasu)(optional)

Cooking:
Take lentils in cooker, wash and drain the water. Add turmeric, green chillies, tamarind, garlic cloves, tomatoes, salt and water. Close the lid, put the whistle and keep it on high flame . After 4whistles, turn off the flame and wait till the pressure is down.Now open the lid and mash the dal. Add hot water depending on your preferred consistency.

Seasoning:
Heat oil with ghee in seasoning pan. Add garlic cloves in hot oil till they turn brown. Add mustard, cumin red chillies and curry leaves. Make sure the seasoning is not burnt, so quickly turn off the flame as soon as the curry leaves turn brown. Add this to cooked dal and serve with hot rice.

For your info:
1. You can add vegetables like brinjal or cucumber or ridge guord with dal and mash it with dal.
2. You can add leafy vegetable if needed like palak or methi leaves and cook with dal.
3. For safer side, while seasoning make sure the flame is low. The pan might catch fire sometimes because of the oil, need not worry just turn off the flame and blowoff the flame.
4. You can add coriander at the end to make the dal tastier.
5. If you donot have cooker, you need to first cook dal. once the dal is cooked, add other ingredients. Else the dal will not cook even if you keep it in high flame for 2hrs. (Personal experience in jakarta when we didnt have cooker for our Indian way of cooking. )
6 Cooking time 15mins if you have pressure cooker, otherwise 25mins max.

Palak curry

Tonight's dinner Rice with palak curry:

Ingredients

Palak                                                    2 bunches

Fenugreek leaves (methi) (optional)       1/4 bunch            

Tomatoes                                              2 Medium

Onion                                                    1 large size

Turmeric (optional)                                1 pinch

Red Chilly powder                                 2 tspoons

Coriander powder (optional)                  1 tspoon

Garam Masala (optional)                        1/4tspoon

Tamarind (optional)                                1/4inch/tspoon

Sugar     (optional)                                 1/2tspoon

Garlic (crushed)                                     4 cloves

Oil                                                         2 tablespoon

Heat oil in pan. Add onions, crushed garlic, tomatoes, palak, fenugreek leaves and allow it to cook for 5mins in medium flame. Add turmeric, chilly powder, coriander, garam masala, sugar, tamarind, salt and close the lid. Cook for 15mins in low flame. Switch off the flame. Palak curry is ready to have with rice.

Tips:

1. Do not add water while cooking. Palak will leave water on its own.
2. I have mentioned many ingredients as optional, because palak will taste good even if we donot add optional ingredients. Simple yet yummy.
3. Watch out when you add salt. Leafy vegetables don't need much salt.

Feels good when people recognise you

Yesterday it happened to stay late in office and left at 1030pm to drop a colleague to Bellandur,Bangalore. I had to refill the fuel tank and I regularly go to Shell Petrol Bunk, Hosur road. Since that bunk would close by 10pm, thought would get the fuel next day morning. On the way to bellandur, I saw there was shell in outer ring road and decided to get the fuel. I went there after dropping my colleague to her home. The guy who was filling tank asked me how are you madam, I was surprised . I just smiled and he said "you came to bannerghatta shell petrol bunk, I remember you madam. I have seen you  there once". Wow....I visited that petrol bunk only thrice and this guy remembers me. Felt good that someone remembers me:).

This always happens to me. Office boys, security personnel, chai walas, cafeteria guys give special attention to me. I am not a person who generally gets attention else where:)

Developing interest in Cooking:

Its been 8years I have been in IT Industry. First two years was awesome, office work, parties and outside food, no cooking. Sounds good is it! As time flew, I realised my X axis was growing(my waiste line) and health wise I was developing gastritis due to hotel food with soda in it.

Sometimes it happened like I didn't know what to eat and which restaurant to go, and finally ended up eating rice, ghee and chutney at home or have fruit juice :). One main reason for not cooking proper home food is laziness. Kitchen was small and we didnt have helper to clean our utensils. And managing cooking and cleaning is not easy if you ask me. So I never cooked, the excuse was "I will start cooking once we move to a bigger home with bigger kitchen.It would be easy to manage". Trust me this will never happen. Small or big kitchen what matters is lil interest and lil dedication.Make up your mind and go ahead. Dedicate 1hr in morning and 1hr in evening for cooking.

How did I learn cooking? I never entered kitchen at my moms place and after 12th I was in hostel and I had never seen cooking nor I knew how to cook. While in my engineering final year, I stayed for a month in My first Bhabhis house. She thought me how to use cooker for rice and she told me easy way to cook curry. A simple vegetable with salt and her masala which did the magic. I will tell you what the magic masala was, very simple ingredient but it did add yummy taste to the curry. A simple rice, curry and omlette(learnt from my dad) made my dinner.Thats how I started cooking.

When i moved to bangalore, i stayed in my 2nd Bhabhi home who is also awesome cook, more importantly I learn how to manage time in weekdays from her. Most of the kitchen stuff that i have I have got it seeing her kitchen and also fixed menu for each day .  Now I am able to manage my 2hrs cooking along with my 9-10hrs office work. So thought I would share my experience so that my neice and other people can learn something from this.

I am not a writer, so my posts will be as good as talking to home people. I will use simple vocabulary from my dictionary :)

Manual DoughMixer:

Anytime heard of DoughMixer. Its a simple dough mixer that can be used to mix dough in 2-3mins . Its a great kitchen help that anyone can get.

How to use:

1. Place the mixer blade, pour some oil, add flour and water in 2:1 ratio or as per your need.

2. Close the lid and place the manual handle.

3. Rotate the handle in clockwise and anticlockwise direction. Add water and oil based on how soft the dough should be.

4. The dough is ready to use. You can add dry flour or oil after removing the dough from the bowl while making rotis/chapathis.

Chapathis or phulkas made with this dough are very soft. Cleaning is also easy. Just soak in water for sometime and wash it off. Also your hands are free from sticky flour while you mix the dough:)

We get the same dough mixer with food processor, its good, but cleaning is a big mess. And the security features included are so much that you feel, you can mix dough with hand than fix all the lids on the processor.

You can add finely chopped dill leaves or pudina or other vegetables while mixing the dough in this mixer for a healthy breakfast or meal.

Its ideal for anyone who is running short of time to spend in kitchen.