Daal-Baati: A Comforting Lentil Dish from Rajasthan

One of the hits at our Diwali dinner was this lentil dish from Rajasthan, the "land of kings". It is a simple, healthy and comforting dish comprised of a combination of spiced lentils served with unleavened bread. This is best served with clarified butter available through most Indian stores.


Ingredients:

For the Panchmel Daal (5 types of lentils)
1/3 cup split Bengal gram (chana daal)
1/3 cup toovar (arhar) daal
1/3 cup green moong daal (split green gram)
2 tbsp urad daal (split black lentils)
2 tbsp whole moong (whole green gram)
1 big onions paste
1 medium tomatoes puree
1 tbsp ginger finely chopped
1 tbsp 3 teaspoons chilli powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1 tsp cumin seeds
3 cloves
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 green chillies, slit
2 pinch asafoetida
2 tsp amchur (dry mango powder)
3 tablespoons ghee
salt to taste

Daal Preparation:
Clean the daals and Pressure cook for 2 to 3 whistles in medium flame or till the daals are cooked.

Combine the chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, garam masala with 3 tablespoons of water and keep aside.

Heat the ghee in a pan and add the cloves, bay leaves, cumin seeds, green chillies and hing. When the cumin seeds crackle, add onions paste ans saute till golden brown. Now add the prepared masala paste and saute for another minute or 2. Now add the tomato puree and let it cook till the mixture starts leaving oil from the corners.

Add the cooked daals, amchur, and salt and simmer for 5 to 7 minutes. Adjust the consistency of the daal before serving and if required, add some water. You should have a consistency similar to lentil soup for this.

For the Baati:
4 cups whole wheat flour (or roti flour)
2 tbsp oil
3/4-1 tsp salt
ajwaien (carom seeds) to taste
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
Whole milk

Baati Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350F

Form a stiff dough with all the above ingredients, let it sit for at least 30 mins. Add milk gradually to make sure you dont end up with too soft a dough.

Make little disks out of the dough -  to form these disks pull the edges outward and then push it down to the center. This will make them a little more fluffy.

Put the baati in the oven for 20mins at 350, and then broil just before serving to brown them a little.

Enjoy!

Planning a Menu

As anyone that ever has people over for a meal knows, planning a “get together” is easy. That is until you get to the “what are we going to serve” part of the discussion, something the QT team does every month.

A fair amount of research goes into our planning, from frequent trips to the farmers market to make sure the things we are considering are in season, and to whole foods to order locally raised meat etc. It is a fun experience since the team brings a diverse perspective to the discussion.

For the first time in almost 2 years since we started QT, we planned a completely Indian meal to celebrate Diwali.

For those who are curious about what Diwali is, Diwali or Deepavali is also known as the “festival of lights” celebrates the triumph of good over evil. People light diyas (small oil lamps) to welcome the goddess Lakshmi (the goddess of wealth) into their homes. For the business people Diwali represents the start of the new financial year.

Regional traditions vary immensely when it comes to celebrating Diwali, however the one thing that is common is the celebratory feast prepared across the country. We had the tough task of planning a menu that represented the diverse cuisine of India withiin a finite number of courses.

We of course had a million things we wanted to make. Shortlisting dishes to make it both a menu we could pull off, and something our guests could finish within what would be acceptable as “dinner time” was tough. We were all really happy with what we finally came up with, and from the feedback, it looks like our guests really enjoyed it too.

Voila! The Menu!

Recipes to follow...

Camping Withdrawal

One of the things we look forward to every summer is making the most of the lovely outdoors CA has to offer. Great weather, spectacular locations, and fantastic food. Its true, everything does taste better outdoors!

This is one recipe I tried on one of our trips this year, and I know I am going to be making it again. This may sound like dessert, and honestly what could be better than eating dessert, for breakfast, outdoors! Whats better is that is is super easy!

Carrot Cake Pancakes (Whole Foods Recipe)
Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups pancake mix
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup plus 2 TB low-fat (1%) milk or unsweetened non-dairy beverage (I used vanilla almond milk)
3 tablespoons canola oil, divided
1 (1.5-ounce) box seedless raisins
1/4 cup canned crushed pineapple, drained well
3/4 cup shredded carrots
1/4 cup toasted chopped pecans

Method

In a large bowl, whisk together pancake mix and cinnamon. Add milk and 1 tablespoon oil and whisk until combined. Stir in raisins, pineapple, carrots and pecans until well combined.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Brush lightly with some of the remaining oil. Working in batches, form each pancake by dropping ¼ cup batter onto the skillet.

Cook until golden on bottom, 3 to 4 minutes. Flip and cook 2 to 3 minutes longer.

Repeat with remaining batter and oil to make 8 to 9 pancakes total. Serve with your favorite breakfast accompaniments!

Already Missing Summer?

For most of us garden fresh tomatoes are the very definition of summer. One of my favorite ways to squirrel away tomatoes to enjoy in the colder months is tomato confit. Slow roasting the tomatoes at a low temperature really brings out the sweetness and the herbs add a wonderful layer of flavor.

Tomato Confit (adapted from Foodnetwork.com)

Ingredients:

20 ripe plum tomatoes, peeled (you can use any tomatoes you like)
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, finely sliced (more if you like)
Mixed herbs - basil, thyme, and bay leaves
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
Sugar

Directions:

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 200 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil and pour about 2 tablespoons olive oil evenly over the pan. Sprinkle the oil with salt and pepper. Strew a little of the garlic, basil, thyme, and bay leaves over the oil.

Cut each tomato lengthwise in half and carefully, with your fingers or a tiny spoon, remove the seeds. Lay the tomato halves cut side down in the pan, wiggling the tomatoes around to make sure the bottom is coated in oil.


Give the tops of the tomatoes a light coat of olive oil. Season the tops of the tomatoes with salt and pepper and a little sugar, and scatter over the rest of the garlic, basil, thyme, and bay leaves. Slide the pan into the oven and bake the tomatoes for 2 1/2 hours, or until they are very tender but still able to hold their shape.

Turn the tomatoes over at half-time and open the oven for just a second every 30 minutes or so to get rid of the moisture that will build up in the oven.

Cool the tomatoes to room temperature on their pan. When the tomatoes are cool, transfer them to a jar, stacking them neatly.





Pour whatever oil remains in the pan over the tomatoes and then, if you plan to keep the tomatoes longer than 1 or 2 days, pour in enough olive oil to cover and refrigerate, you can even can them and store them longer.






The last batch I made with cherry tomatoes (yellow and red), was served with creamy polenta and eggplant caponata. It took me all my restraint not to eat it all right out of the pan!



You can also enjoy it on crostini, add it to your favorite pasta, or just serve it on an antipasto platter!

Until next summer!

Is the stone fruit season really coming to an end?

This summer I spent so much time trying to make sure that I got my fill of tomato and mozzarella salad, I almost let summer pass me by without getting my fill of stone fruit. I said almost!  Luckily I have a good friend who occasionally does some canning with me, she picked up 20 lbs of pluots and white nectarines from the farmer's market one day before finding way to my place. 

After gorging on the ripe fruit, we peeled and sliced the nectarines and spiced them in a medium syrup for the winter.  I have yet to crack open a jar, but when I do they will be drizzled with a little chocolate or served over vanilla ice cream.  My mouth is watering just thinking of all the possibilities.

Spiced White Nectarines

But, really, it was what I did with the pluots the next day that has left my mouth watering...Citrus Walnut Pluot Conserve. Sweet fruit with just the right amount of sour and texture from the walnuts.  I plan to serve it with goat cheese as an appetizer at Thanksgiving.  Who's going to join me???

Citrus Walnut Pluot Conserve

What do you do with your zuchinni once you get tired of it?

I was struck earlier today by just how much I look forward to each change of season.  I think that has become even more so since I started gardening and paying more attention to what foods are in season and when.  We had our first fall rain earlier in the week and I just had to get out in it and go for a jog... Must be the Oregonian in me... As I jogged my few miles, breathing in the crispness of fall, I couldn't help but think about all the fall veggies that are just around the corner.  As I jogged, I realized that I still had summer veggies that have been calling to me to use in some way or the other...  So, before I can begin to dream about what yummy things the fall will bring, I need to have closure with my zucchini plant.  Out from the ground she will, and into the chicken coop to be processed into rich fertilizer.  As for the last few harvested zucchinis, the ones I didn't know what to do with, a while I ago I made...

Zuchinni Pickles!

These are actually wonderfully easy to make, for those inclined to making pickles or to canning.  Simply heat the pickling liquid and add the sliced zuchinni (I prefer cripy pickles, so I was careful not to cook them because they will anyways be cooked a bit during processing), hot pack the zucchini slices into hot jars.  Pour the liquid on top and process for 10 minutes.  I also put some in a large pickling jar, let the pickling liquid cool, mixed the slices and liquid together and stored in the fridge where I now have some awesome crisp zucchini pickles!  Below is the recipe for the pickling liquid.

Zuchinni Pickling Liquid (Recipe from Complete Book of Home Preserving)
14 Cups of sliced zuchinni
1/2 Cup canning salt
6 Cups white vinegar
4 Cups of granulated sugar
4 tsp mustard seeds
2 tsp celery seeds
2 tsp ground tumeric