Black masoor daal

Here's black/kali/chilke waali masoor daal, a variant I cook on weekdays for dinner, along with a sabji and roti.

Ingredients
Half cup chilke waali/kali/black masoor
1 medium sized onion - chopped
1 medium sized tomato -chopepd
1 tspn each - jeera, rai, heeng, haldi
2 green chillis, half inch ginger, 3 cloves of garlic - chopped to small pieces or crushed
1 tsp oil
salt - as per taste
garam masala (optional), chopped fresh green dhania (optional), half a lemon (optional)

Method
1. In a pressure cooker pan, Wash the masoor daal, add 1 cup water. Pressure cook for 30 minutes
r 5 to 6 whistles. This one takes nearly twice the time yellow/toor daal takes to cook.
2. Heat oil in a kadhai.
3. When hot, add jeera, rai, heeng, green chilli, ginger, garlic and let all of this sizzle for
2 minutes.
3. Add onions and let them cook till they turn pink.
3. Add the tomatoes and let them cook, for 5 minutes. Keep stirring, lest they stick to the
bottom of the pan.
4. Once the tomatoes have turned mushy and soft, add the pressure cooked daal, water, salt, garam masala and mix.
5. Let this boil till you get the desired consistency.
6. Sprinkle green dhania and squeeze in the lemon.
Enjoy with hot rotis.

Pav Bhaji

Here is another weekend brunch, simple, quick and a delight. This used to be on the menu every time we had a birthday party at our home, it's easy to make and serve for a big gathering. One thing - this recipe is courtesy Everest Pav Bhaji masala, I follow the instructions exactly as mentioned on its pack, only vary the quantities.

Ingredients -
1 midsized cauliflower
2 potatoes - boiled and mashed
1 green capsicums
half cup shelled fresh green peas
2 onions - chopped to small pieces
3 tomatoes - chopped to small pieces
4 cloves of garlic - chopped or crushed
a bunch of fresh green coriander leaves - washed and chopped
1 tbsp butter/oil
butter - as much as you like :)
salt - as per taste, 3 tspn - Everest pav bhaji masala. 2 tspn - red chilli powder

Method
1. Heat butter/oil in a kadhai.
2. Add the crushed garlic and after a minute, add the chopped onions.
3. While the onions are getting cooked, add chopped and roughly cut cauliflower, capsicum and
green peas with some water in a pressure cooker and boil till 2 whistles.
4. When the onions turn soft and pinkish, add tomatoes, salt, pav bhaji masala and red chilli
powder. Let this mixture cook for 5 to 7 minutes - till tomatoes turn soft and mushy.
5. Add the boiled, mashed potatoes and boiled, mashed other veggies.
6. Add another dollop of butter, simmer for 5 more minutes. Add water if you want to, but we do not want a runny consistency.
7. Taste and add more salt, red chilli powder if you want to.
The bhaji is ready. Heat pav with buttered sides on tawa, serve with hot bhaaji. The bhaaji can
be garnished with chopped onions, coriander leaves and a dash of nimbu.
Note - The bhaaji is a very versatile , you can skip the potatoes if you want to and boil and
add carrots instead.

Chiwda - all time favorite

This is a snack present in my home all days, all seasons. It serves as a filler everytime you think "kuch khana hai". This is the most loved dish by friends and family, and mom does not even remember to how many people she has taught this one!

Ingredients -
Half Kg chooda/poha/ rice flakes (the large sized lighter ones, not the thick ones we use for
poha)
4 or 5 green chilies slit length wise
Meetha neem / kari patta leaves - cleaned, in plenty
Handful moongfali dana/peanuts - raw, not roasted one
Cashews, Raisins - optional, as much as you like
Salt as per taste, a pinch of sugar
half tsp haldi
1 tsp each of jeera,rai
2 tbsp oil

Method -
1. Take a kadhai/wok and dry roast the poha/rice flakes in it on a sim flame. They will start to turn crunchy and give a typical roasted smell. If you over do it, u will notice it starts to get brown, STOP!!
2. Spread the roasted flakes on a newspaper (in India) or a kitchenpaper (in US :). This is for easy mixing later on.
3. In the same kadha/wok, heat oil. When hot, put in peanuts, cashews, raisins and shallow fry them. After 5 mins, take these out and put on the roasted flakes spread on the paper.
4. In the remaining oil, put haldi, jeera, rai, green chillis , kadi patta, cook till the green chilies look cooked, this should take 5 mins.
5. Now switch off the gas, pour this oil mixture on the spread flakes. Spread salt, sugar too.
6. Now with both your hands, mix all of it softly, lest the flakes break and becomes powdery. It all should get mixed evenly, some of the flakes remaining white, some of it getting too yellow is a bad sign. Another good thing is that excess oil will be absorbed by the paper.
7. Taste and add additional salt if you want.
8. If u think the kadi patta is too much, remove it at this step. It has already lent its flavor.
My mom removes most of it, but crushes a few and lets it remain.
9. The chiwda is ready. However, if you want, go ahead and add some plain, salted (haldirams) bhujiya to this. In typical Marathi homes, they would fry aaloo ka kees (the drie done that is prepared in homes along with aaloo ke chips) and add to this, but it increases the oil content of the whole thing.
10. A quick fix - if u think some of the poha remained white and there is too less oil in the mixture, reheat some oil in the same kadhai, add haldi and pour on the mixture, mix again.
11.Once completely cool, store in an air tight container.