Hesaru kaalu/Moong Daal Pulav

I love pulav and this idea striked me while moong daal was soaked to make curry. Bored of curries, I thought of trying anything else and ended up with this pulav. Rich in protein and fibers, it did not taste bad either. So here it goes

The below serves 2-3 people.

You will need :

Minimum 8hrs Soaked moong daal - 1/2 -1 cup
Basmati rice - 1 cup
Oil - 3 spns
Onion - 1 med chopped
Bay leaf - 4 med
Pudina (mint) - 7 to 9 leaves (optional)
Green chillies - 3 or acc to taste
Ginger - 1/2 inch
Garlic cloves - 1 big or 2 med chopped/paste
Cashews - few (optional)
Fennel seeds ( soampu) - 1 spn
Cumin seeds (jeera) - 1/2 spn
Cinnamon sticks - 1- inch sticks (2 nos)
Cloves - 5
Coriander powder - 1 spn
Salt to taste


~ Steam cook the soaked moong daal - keep aside to cool
~Cook basmati rice and keep it aside to cool.
~Grind well ginger/mint/green chillies/cloves/cinnamon sticks/fennel seeds with no water.


Method :

- Heat oil in a large shallow pan and add cumin seeds, bay leaves, cashews, onion and garlic and fry till onion turns translucent or golden.
- To this add grinded spices including coriander powder and stir well for 3-4 mints to remove the raw flavour of spices.
- Now to this add the steam cooked moong dal, salt and stir fry gently for about 5 mints on med flame.
- Lastly add cooked and cooled basmati rice, mix well & its now ready to be served hot.

Any yogurt raita (sauce) works as a good side dish to this.


NOTE :
~Cooked rice should be cool and dry before mixing to avoid lumps.
~Steam cook can make moong daal soft (not soggy) if soaked for min of 8 hrs.

Vegetable Puff

Well, this time its vegetable puff, one of my hubby's favorite so I do it so often I find it to be easiest of all appetizers/snacks.
You can make puff pastry at home but felt it was a mess and also a little longer process if you want that perfect shell. So I use the frozen puff pastry sheet available at local grocery like Walmart. 1 box can make 18 medium sized puffs!!



Filling for 9 puffs

Oil - 2 spn
Carrots chopped - 2 spn
Beans chopped - 2 spn
Potato chopped or mashed - 2 spn
Peas - 1 spn
Green bell pepper (capsicum) roasted- 2 spn
Whole cumin - 1/2 spn
Fennel seeds - 1/4 spn (optional)
Onion - 1/2 cup
Garlic - 1 spn ( 2 spns optional)
Ginger - 1/2 spn
Hot Tomato Sauce/Ketchup - 1 spn
Coriander powder - 1 spn
Cumin powder - 3/4th spn
Garam masala, mango (Amchur) powder, chat masala and red chilli powder - 1/2 spn each
Cilantro - 1/4 spn
Salt to taste.

Method :

Its time to thaw pastry sheets and pre-heat oven to 400 deg.

- Boil all vegetables except bell pepper, strain water and keep aside
- Heat oil in a pan ; add cumin, fennel, garlic, ginger and onion and fry till golden brown.
- Now add all spices, hot sauce, salt and stir for a minute.
- To this add boiled vegetables, roasted bell pepper, cilantro mix well.
Filling is ready now. Cool it before stuffing.


How to stuff :
Each pack has 2 sheets and each sheet can make 9 puffs.

~Take a sheet and cut them vertically first into 3 long strips (use folding as proliferation/mark)
~ Now cut each of these horizontally into 3 equal parts ( square)
~ Now keep the cooled stuffing in center of each and you can either fold them over or across and seal the edges tightly. ( I have folded across)



Keep them apart and bake for 15 minutes or till the shell turns golden brown.

Serve with hot sauce!