Pumpkin is so versatile that, even when pairing up within the legume family, it can take on entirely different avatars depending on which legume, what recipe. "Will you get together with the pliant yellow moong in a sambar-like curry?" Yes says the pumpkin, and becomes pumpkin moong dal. "Will you combine with the dense kidney bean in a Bengali-spiced curry?" Yes agan, says the pumpkin, and morphs into the dish I’m writing about today.

You Need:

• Pumpkin – 400 grams
• Red kidney beans – 1/2 cup (if using dried), 1 cup (if using canned)
• Tamarind – 1 lemon-sized ball
• Jaggery – 1 teaspoon
• Pepper powder – 1/4 teaspoon
• Salt – to taste
• Red chili powder – 1/2 teaspoon
• Turmeric powder – 1/2 teaspoon
• Coriander seeds – 1 teaspoon
• Dry red chilies – 3
• Garlic – 4 cloves (~1 teaspoon when crushed)
• Cinnamon – 1-inch stick
• Cloves – 4
• Cardamom – 4
• Panch phoron – 1 teaspoon
• Mustard oil – 1/2 tablespoon
• Coriander leaves – for garnishing

In the picture above (from top-right): cardamom, cinnamon, dry red chilies; pumpkin; garlic, tamarind.

How To Make Kaddu Rajma:

1. Boil the rajma

If using dried kidney beans, soak the kidney beans overnight in 3 cups of water. Drain. Place the kidney beans in a pressure cooker along with 2 cups of water. Cook on high heat till the pressure cooker whistles, then lower the heat and cook for another 15 minutes.

Let the pressure cooker release its steam naturally till the lid comes off.

2. Prepare the ingredients

Snip the dry red chilies into small pieces. Crush garlic coarsely.

Soak tamarind in half a cup of water for 30 minutes. Extract its pulp, discard seeds.

Cut pumpkin into 1-inch cubes.

3. Cook it all together

In a pan or kadhai, heat mustard oil. When the oil is hot, add these ingredients in quick succession: panch phoron, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon stick, garlic, coriander seeds, dry red chilies.

When the dry red chilies turn dark, add pumpkin cubes to the pan. Mix.

Cook covered on medium heat for 5 minutes.

Add the dry spices to the cooking pumpkin: turmeric powder, red chili powder, pepper powder.

Mix well and continue to cook.

When the pumpkin is 3/4th done, add tamarind pulp, salt, jaggery, boiled kidney beans along with half a cup of the water it was cooked in. Adjust the quantity of water depending on how runny you want the gravy.

Mix well and bring to a boil. Lower heat, add chopped coriander leaves.

Cover and cook till all the ingredients have come together and the pumpkin is fully done.

Kaddu rajma (pumpkin and kidney bean curry) is ready.

Serve kaddu rajma warm with chapatis.

Meal today: kaddu rajma, aloo sahjan potato and drumstick curry, chapatis (the green specks in the chapatis are fenugreek leaves).

Notes:

For a no-garlic version of kaddu rajma, replace garlic in the recipe with a pinch of asafoetida.

For more legume-tamarind combos, try chaulai dal, khatti-meethi masoor dal, palak toor dal.

Check out pumpkin basale leaves curry, kaddu borani, potato pumpkin masala for more pumpkin recipes.

The post Kaddu Rajma: Pumpkin with Red Kidney Beans appeared first on The Steaming Pot.

You Need:

To saute together:

• Chana dal – 1 tablespoon
• Dry red chilies – 3
• Cumin seeds – 1/2 teaspoon
• Asafoetida powder – 1/2 teaspoon
• Oil – 1 teaspoon

To saute separately:

• White radish – 200 grams (2 cups when chopped)
• Tamarind – 1 coin-sized ball
• Salt – to taste
• Oil – 1 teaspoon

How To Make Mooli Chutney:

1. Saute together:

Heat a teaspoon of oil. Add to the oil cumin seeds and when they splutter, add asafoetida powder, dry red chilies and chana dal.

Toast the ingredients on low flame, stirring regularly, till the dal turns brown.

Take the ingredients out into a chutney grinder, and let cool.

2. Cook the radish:

Peel and chop radish to 1-cm cubes. Add half a teaspoon of salt to the radish cubes, toss and set aside for 15 minutes. When salted, radish cubes will ooze out water. Squeeze out the water from the radish [Tip: Don’t discard the water – use it to knead chapatis].

In the same pan that you used for step 1, heat a teaspoon of oil. Add the cubed radish along with tamarind and salt.

Cook covered on medium heat for 6-7 minutes, or till the radish has softened.

Let the cooked radish cool to room temperature.

3. Grind:

Grind the ingredients from step 1 first.

Then add the cooked radish to the grinder.

Grind everything together.

Mooli chutney is ready.

Serve mooli chutney on the side with any Indian meal.

In the pic above: mooli chutney with chaulai saag, methi dahi, toor dal with ghee, and chapatis.

Notes:

For variation, add a fistful of chopped fresh coriander leaves while grinding the chutney.

Looking for more radish recipes? Try mooli lachha sabzi (grated radish stir fry) and aloo mooli kadhi.

The post Mooli Chutney: White Radish Chutney appeared first on The Steaming Pot.

In this Indian-style homemade peanut butter, we make the most of this advantage. With spices and tamarind, and the flavor of sesame, the classic peanut butter gets an unusual styling.

Till a month back, my chutney grinder had churned peanut powder often enough for curries, but peanut butter was unknown terrain. And then I read this post on Pinch Of Yum. Incredibly, all it takes to go from peanut powder to peanut butter is prolonged churning. It’s so ridiculously easy that there is no good reason to buy peanut butter from stores.

The last few weeks for me have been a time of peanut butter experimentation. From plain, honey-flavored, sesame-spiked to chili-spiced – I tried them all. Sharing this one peanut butter recipe with you that goes well with a variety of dishes. Spread it on toast, dip parathas into it, or have it on the side with rice and dal. Indian-style peanut butter is super-good.

You Need:

[for 1 cup of peanut butter]

• Plain unsalted peanuts – 1.25 cups
• Sesame seeds – 1 tablespoon
• Dry red chilies – 5 (adjust to taste)
• Dry tamarind – penny-sized piece
• Jaggery powder – 1 tablespoon [buy on Amazon]
• Cumin seeds – 1 teaspoon
• Salt – a pinch
• Peanut or sesame oil – for thinning (optional)

How To Make Peanut Butter:

Dry roast a cup of peanuts in a thick-bottomed kadhai or skillet, on low heat, till the peanuts turn dark and give off a roasted aroma. Keep moving the peanuts around while they roast, to make sure there’s no blackening. This should take about 8-10 minutes.

Set the roasted peanuts aside when done.

Separately, dry roast the red chilies and cumin seeds on low heat. When the chilies turn a shade darker, add a tablespoon of sesame seeds to the same pan. Continue to roast till the sesame seeds turn golden.

Set the roasted ingredients aside to cool to room temperature.

In a food processor or chutney grinder, place the roasted peanuts, tamarind, sesame seeds, dry red chilies and cumin seeds.

Grind the ingredients for a minute.

This is what it looks like after a minute in my grinder:

Add jaggery and salt to taste. If you want thinner butter, add peanut or sesame oil at this stage [I haven’t added any]. Grind again.

You may have to open the lid every half minute to pry out the ground peanut sticking to the sides of the grinder. And then grind again.

Continue till you get creamy smooth peanut butter. This will take about 4 minutes.

Transfer peanut butter to a jam/chutney jar and store in a cool dry place. Stays good at room temperate for a couple of days (possibly more, but I usually finish this much in 4-5 days.) Refrigerate if you want it to stay good longer.

Serve homemade peanut butter with any meal. Some ideas: on toast for breakfast, as nacho dip at teatime, or on the side with lunch and dinner.

Notes:

I don’t skin the peanuts after roasting. You could skin them if you want – this will give you a slightly different taste and a lighter-colored peanut butter.

The color of the jaggery also affects the color of the peanut butter. I use 24 Mantra Organic jaggery powder, which is a dark brown.

Do more with peanuts! Throw in a handful raw while cooking Gujarati dal, stir fry them with vegetables and millets, roast and make chutney out of them, or give them starring role in peanut chaat.

Some links on this page are amazon.com affiliate links. The Steaming Pot will earn a small commission if you buy via these links, at no additional cost to you.

The post Homemade Peanut Butter, Indian Style appeared first on The Steaming Pot.

You Need:

• Ridge gourd – 1
• Onions – 2
• Black peppercorns – 20
• Tamarind – coin-sized piece
• Salt – to taste
• Cumin seeds – 1/2 teaspoon
• Oil – 2 teaspoons

In the picture above: Ridge gourd, onions, tamarind, cumin seeds, black peppercorns.

How To Make Ridge Gourd Onion Chutney:

Peel the ridge gourd. Slice horizontally into 1 cm disks, then cut each disk into 1-cm sized pieces.

Peel the onions. Halve the onions from head to root, discard the edges, and chop the onions into 1-cm cubes.

Soak a coin-sized piece of tamarind in a tablespoon of water for 15 minutes. Extract the pulp and discard the seeds.

Heat the oil in a kadhai or skillet. Add cumin seeds and let them splutter for a few seconds. Then add chopped onions and pepper.

Saute on high heat till the onions are golden.

It helps to use a metal kadhai (aluminium or cast iron, in place of a non-stick pan) for cooking this chutney, as the brown of the onions that sticks to the kadhai gives the chutney a great flavor. A little charring is good.

Add the chopped ridge gourd.

Continue to cook on high heat, stirring at regular intervals, till the ridge gourd is soft (about 10 minutes).

Take the pan off the heat and let it cool down for 15 minutes.

Transfer the cooked onion-ridge gourd to a blender, along with soaked tamarind and salt to taste.

Blend coarsely. [This is how I do it in my blender: pulse for 5 seconds, give the insides a stir and pulse again for 5 seconds.]

Transfer the ground ridge gourd and onion back to the pan in which it was cooked.  Stir around and cook for another 5 minutes on high heat, till evenly browned.

Serve ridge gourd onion chutney on the side with any Indian meal.

Notes:

Check out other vegetable chutney recipes…

…and more ways to use the ridge gourd in your meals:

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Peanut flaxseed chutney is a mélange of three things prepared independently:

• Tamarind jaggery chutney
• Roasted flaxseed powder
• Roasted peanut powder

You Need:

[makes approx. one cup of chutney]

• Tamarind jaggery chutney (imli chutney) – 2/3 cup
• Peanuts – 2/3 cup [buy here]
• Flaxseeds – 1/3 cup [buy here]
• Black salt (kala namak) – to taste [buy here]

The “buy here” links above are amazon.com affiliate links. The Steaming Pot will earn a small commission if you buy via the links, at no additional cost to you.

In the picture above (left to right): flaxseed, peanuts, tamarind.

How To Make Peanut Flaxseed Chutney:

1. Make tamarind jaggery chutney

Follow the steps for tamarind jaggery chutney to make the base of peanut flaxseed chutney.

2. Make roasted peanut powder

Dry roast peanuts in a thick-bottomed skillet on low heat, moving them about regularly, till they turn a darker shade and give off a nutty aroma.

When the peanuts have cooled, take a few at a time between your palms and rub them gently. Most of the skin will fall off. (It’s all right if some skin doesn’t fall off.)

Tip the skinned peanuts into a grinder and grind roasted peanuts to powder.

3 Make roasted flaxseed powder

As with peanuts, dry roast flaxseeds in a thick-bottomed skillet on low heat, stirring regularly, till the flaxseed start popping and give off a roasted aroma.

Note: For even roasting, do steps 2 and 3 separately. You can roast peanuts and flaxseeds in parallel to speed things up, but don’t put them together in the same skillet.

Let cool. Grind roasted flaxseed to powder.

4. Put it all together

Into the tamarind jaggery chutney, stir in roasted peanut powder and roasted flaxseed powder. Add black salt to taste, if needed. That’s it – peanut flaxseed chutney is ready.

Serve peanut flaxseed chutney with any Indian meal of dal, vegetables and rice/chapatis. Use it as a dip for pakodas or as sandwich spread.

Store refrigerated.

Notes:

This recipe makes a dense-textured chutney. If you want it flowier, make a thinner tamarind jaggery chutney – add more water to the tamarind while it is cooking.

Try other chutney recipes with a sweet-sour flavor profile:

The post Peanut Flaxseed Chutney appeared first on The Steaming Pot.

I had been reading on the goodness of this power food (no wonder that the word "amaranth" comes from the Greek amárantos, meaning "unfading") often of late, and then learnt that amaranth in Hindi is chaulai, the leaves of which my grandmother used in chaulai saag. That got me curious, and I was soon trying ways to cook amaranth in my own kitchen.

Amaranth leaves with lentils has come to be a special favorite. I love to mix and match, and this recipe puts that idea to great use. You can prepare ahead a batch of boiled dal and assemble in different ways over multiple meals: use some for this recipe i.e. chaulai dal, and save the rest for tomato toor dal or spinach dal.

This recipe use toor dal; you can vary it with another dal such as moong dal or masoor dal.

You Need:

• Toor dal – 1/2 cup [buy here]
• Salt – to taste
• Tamarind – 1 lemon-sized ball
• Amaranth greens – 1 bunch
• Onion – 1
• Curry leaves – 10
• Garlic – 5 cloves (the small variety)
• Green chilies – 3 (reduce if you want it less hot)
• Dry red chili flakes – 1/2 teaspoon
• Turmeric powder – a pinch [buy here]
• Asafoetida powder – a pinch [buy here]
• Cumin seeds – 1/2 teaspoon [buy here]
• Mustard seeds – 1/2 teaspoon [buy here]
• Kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves) – 1 teaspoon [buy here]
• Oil – 2 teaspoons

The links above are amazon.com affiliate links. The Steaming Pot will earn a small commission if you buy via the links, at no additional cost to you.

Clockwise from the top: soaked toor dal, bowl of spices (red chili flakes, curry leaves, green chilies, cumin seeds), garlic, onion, amaranth leaves (chaulai), tamarind in water.

How To Make Chaulai Dal:

Three steps to this recipe: boil the dal, prep the amaranth greens, and put it all together. You can do the first two in parallel – while the dal boils, cook the amaranth greens alongside. By the time the amaranth greens are cooked, the dal is ready too and there’s no wait time before you can put it all together.

1. Boil the dal

Wash toor dal in several changes of water till the water runs clear. Soak the washed dal in plain water for 30 mins. Drain.

Pressure-cook the soaked dal with 1.5 cups of water and a pinch of turmeric powder – on high heat till one whistle, on low hear for another two whistles. Set aside to cool till the pressure-cooker lid can come off. Mash the dal lightly.

[If cooking without a pressure cooker, you’ll have to add more water and cook longer. I don’t have the precise values as I don’t cook dal without a pressure cooker, and I guess there would be variations based on the size and thickness of the vessel. I’d say the best way is to taste and check for done-ness. But if you want to cook lentils often, do get a pressure cooker!]

2. Prep the amaranth greens

Soak tamarind in half a cup of warm water for 20 minutes. Extract the juice and discard the seeds.

Slit the green chilies vertically into 4 strips each.

Chop garlic and onions finely.

Wash amaranth greens well. Pick the fresh leaves and tender stems for use. Shred the picked leaves, discard the rest.

In the pic above: amaranth leaves in shades of deep green and purple. Don’t these leaves look gorgeous! No hyperbole, they remind me of the ornamental syngonium erythrophyllum.

Heat oil in a pan or kadhai. Add mustard seeds and cumin seeds, let them crackle. Add asafoetida powder, dry red chili flakes, garlic and slit green chilies. When the garlic turns golden, add curry leaves and chopped onions. Cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally, till the onions are golden.

Add chopped amaranth leaves, and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes. The leaves would have wilted by this time. Pour tamarind extract into the pan.

Stir and let the amaranth leaves and tamarind simmer together till the leaves are cooked (5-10 minutes) .

3. Put it all together

To the cooked amaranth leaves, add boiled dal. Add water if you want to thin it down (I prefer it thick).

Continue to cook for another 2 minutes.

Chaulai dal (amaranth leaves with lentils) is ready to eat. Garnish with crushed kasoori methi (dry fenugreek leaves) and serve with plain rice or chapatis.

My meal today: chaulai dal with chapatis, red capsicum curry and mint raita.

Notes:

Amaranth greens in India need a lot of picking and washing. Here’s the method I use for it:

Snip off the muddy ends, discard the wilting leaves, and dunk the bunch in a large bowl of water. The dirt settles to the bottom. Then take out the greens from the water, throw away the water and fill the bowl with fresh water. Repeat and rinse till the water is clear and a careful once-over shows no muddy bits stuck to the leaves.

Try more recipes with atypical greens:

The post Chaulai Dal: Amaranth Leaves with Lentils appeared first on The Steaming Pot.

Dal without salt? Did the ingredient list miss that by accident or is this dish really meant to have no salt?

Well, moong dal halwa is dal without salt, and that’s the finest dessert ever.

But there’s garlic-infused oil and tamarind in this recipe – no dessert worth its er…salt…has garlic.

Who said this is a dessert?

Guesswork much? Just follow the recipe and find out for sure.

So I did follow the recipe, with a couple of tiny adaptations. I ended up with an unusual, rich and tangy dal, the taste of which grew on me with each spoonful.

Khatti meethi masoor dal is probably not for the traditional Indian palate – if you plan to serve it to someone who picks from a restaurant menu only the dishes s/he recognizes, do so at your own risk. This dal is no turmeric-infused broth with ghee ka tadka – it is closer to a lentil-ized version of imli chutney. Khatti meethi masoor dal stands as a complete dish on its own. I had it with chapatis, but I could as well have done without the accompaniment.

You Need:

• Masoor dal (red lentils) – 3/4 cup
• Dates – 6
• Tamarind – lemon-sized ball*
• Ginger – 3/4-inch stick
• Garlic – 1 clove**
• Red chili flakes – 1/2 teaspoon***
• Bay leaf – 1
• Cumin seeds – 1 teaspoon
• Oil – 2 teaspoons
• Black salt (kala namak) – a pinch***
• Pomegranate seeds – 1 tablespoon
• Coriander leaves – a few sprigs

   * Substituted tamarind paste with dry tamarind.

** The original recipe called for garlic infused olive oil, which I did not have – so I used a clove of crushed garlic to flavor the oil before adding other ingredients.

*** There’s no chili or black salt in the original recipe, but I couldn’t resist adding a bit.

In the picture above (clockwise from top): Fresh coriander leaves, dates, tamarind, red chili flakes, cumin seeds, red lentils, pomegranate.

How To Make Khatti Meethi Masoor Dal:

1. Before you cook

Soak a lemon-sized ball of tamarind in 1/3 cup of water for 20 minutes. Mash to extract the pulp.

Wash red lentils in several changes of water, till the water runs clear. Soak the lentils for 30 minutes. Drain before use.

Pit the dates and chop them into small pieces.

Grate the ginger. Crush garlic.

Shell the pomegranates. Chop fresh coriander leaves.

2. On the fire

Heat two teaspoons of oil in a pan (use a pan with a close-fitting lid, we’ll come to the lid in some time). When hot, add crushed garlic and cumin seeds. As soon as the seeds crackle, add grated ginger and dry red chili flakes. Stir for a minute.

Add soaked red lentils next and give it a good stir. Follow with tamarind pulp and two and a half cups of hot water. Add the chopped dates. Bring to a boil, then set the heat to low.

Close the lid and let the pan simmer for 30 minutes undisturbed.

Take off the lid and check the consistency of the dal. Cook for a few more minutes, as long as the dal becomes as soft and thick as you’d like.

Take the dal off the heat and mix a pinch of black salt into it.

Pour khatti meethi masoor dal into serving bowls, sprinkle pomegranate seeds and fresh coriander leaves. Serve along with chapatis or on its own for a wholesome meal.

Epilogue

My internal conversation continues:

How did the dish in the source recipe turn out light-colored? With tamarind and dates in it, I get a rich brown!

Let me know how it turns out for you…and if you would rather have traditional Indian style red lentil, make masoor dal tadka.

The post Khatti Meethi Masoor Dal: Red Lentil with Tamarind and Dates appeared first on The Steaming Pot.