It's been two months plus with the lockdown and I don't know to thank the lockdown or not, to a certain extent 'yes' cause nature has bloomed once again to get its original essence. Wonderful to see the rivers flowing clean, animals roaming free, sea creatures trying to explore the silent waters, birds flocking in thousands under the blue sky, and with air clean, all this makes one feel extremely good. Nature played its part to retain it's long lost beauty and say to the world handle me with care. Indeed a lesson to be learnt. The world has changed a lot around in a short span of time.
At home/kitchen front, for me, it's been a scenario, not experienced in the past. Cooking a major work of the day and preparing new dishes and dishes that I haven't done for quite some time for the family has become the new normal. As I always enjoy cooking and the family enjoys the preparations I feel sometimes this kind of time is necessary for a family just to be united.
As we are still in a stay at home mode and the present-day discussion on culinary is mostly about mindful eating to boost our immune system due to covid, we try to range over on healthy recipes. As there is plenty of nutritious preparation on the cards, here is an Indian lentil pancake recipe packed with nutrients that can be taken at any time of the day with vegetable stew, coconut/tomato chutney, powdered jaggery or white butter. It's filling & easy to prepare for you to enjoy with the family. The lentil pancake is called 'Adai' in our cooking and the recipe is given below along with vegetable stew( avial) and chutney recipes.
Serves 4- 6
For the Batter
White rice- 1 cup
Split yellow gram-1 cup
Split white gram - 1 cup
Split green gram ( yellow in color) - 1/2 cup
Split Bengal gram - 1/2 cup
Dried red chilies - 3-4
A pinch of asafoetida
Salt to taste
Oil or Ghee
Soak rice and the lentils together in water for 3 hours. Wash and remove the water. Add the red chilies and asafoetida soaked rice/lentils in a blender and grind it to a paste with water to obtain a pouring consistency. Add salt.
Heat the pan or griddle and pour the batter as flat discs with the help of a ladle. Add oil or ghee on all sides and turn it down for the other side to cook. Remove when it turns golden brown.
You can give your own twist by sprinkling fine cut onions mixed with cut coriander leaves, or coarsely pounded coriander seeds or scrapped coconut on the batter while you make the discs. Tastes delisious with ghee.
For the vegetable stew:
50 grams each of potatoes, pumpkin, carrot, french beans, shredded cabbage.
Coconut - 1/2
Green chilies - 5 minced
Sour curd - 1/2 cup
Roasted cumin seeds -1 tablespoon
Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Oil - 1 -2 teaspoon for seasoning
Few curry leaves
Peel and cut all the vegetables into 1-inch pieces. In a vessel pour little water and add in vegetables, minced chilies, turmeric powder, salt and cover tightly to cook over low fire. Grind the coconut and cumin seeds to a fine paste and blend with the sour curds. When the vegetables are done mix in the coconut paste and mix well. Bring slowly to a boil. Heat the oil, add the curry leaves and pour over the vegetable, mix thoroughly and remove from fire.
For tomato chutney:
In a pan add two-three spoons of oil. When it is hot add three red chilies and add two to three medium-sized tomatoes. Put in a pinch of asafoetida. When the tomato becomes soft remove from fire and keeps it to cool. Grind it in a blender to a fine paste adding little water.
For coconut chutney:
In a blender add half coconut, three green chilies, and a half-cut small onion. Make it to a paste by adding water. Season it with mustard seeds and curry leaves. Add salt to taste.
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