My younger son happens to love food and travel shows on TV. He would watch all the shows that showcase Indian restaurants and famous Indian dishes. The good thing that I find in him watching these shows is when he always remembers famous dishes from different regions of India and of course, being an Indian parent living far away from my country, the pride of raising a kid who loves his roots and flavors is just beautiful.
So one of the shows that he was watching showed this old eatery that makes amazing Andhra Chicken and they showed the way they do the preparation and cook it. The good thing about shows like this is that they display a pretty detailed description of the dishes they make. Of course, there is always that secret ingredient and they would never give you a detail of how much of each ingredient to be added to the dish, but honestly trying out a dish with basic knowledge and then figuring out the measurements for each ingredient based on your taste and flavor is actually the real joy of cooking.
Cooking even a simple dish gives me immense pleasure and when it’s something like this where we are partly aware of the flavors since we have tasted the dish in restaurants but not too sure if the ingredients are being mixed in the right quantity. These experiments just make me happy, since they test my sense of flavor.
Bengaluru Muslim homes serve a wide variety of fried fishes. This recipe happens to be one of the recipes that I learnt from my mother in law.
The recipe is pretty simple and does not need too much time in marination. Its a perfect recipe for a side dish and goes great with Dal chawal. It’s an easy recipe and is great for beginners. The fish I have used is Golden Pompano, but the masala recipe goes great with King Fish, Pomfret and Tilapia. Just make sure the slices are thin. Thin slices absorb the spices better and are crunchy when pan fried.
Belonging to Northern west part of India, I grew up eating more of Moong, Masoor and chana daal. Toovar daal was either used to accasionally make sambhar or my mom’s Saturday Night khichdi. Believe it or not, my mom made khichdi every Saturday night and I always tried hard to get an answer to this question. The standard reply to my question was that my Dad enjoyed “Bhuni khichdi” or “pan fried khichdi” for breakfast every Sunday morning, therefore Khichdi had to made for Saturday dinner. Though I loved Sunday pan fried Khichdi, I still could never fall in love with the original Khichdi.
Coming back to Toovar daal. So, after I got married, I found so many different ways of cooking Toovar daal since down south, they cook a lot of Toovar daal. Isn’t it a blessing getting married to someone from a completely different state or region because you both are accustomed to eating similar flavors yet so many varieties add to your table in zoom. Its just amazing. All you need if you get married to someone different from you is keep an open heart, open mind and a pallet that is open to new foods and experiments. At least, thats what Mr. Parveez and I did.
Once when I revisited my hometown, I went to a restaurant and tried “Hari daal”… Now, with the flavor I did realize that its Toovar daal but what amazed me the most was to see my younger son, who was 4 that time, loved the daal and didn’t fuss. Of course, the restaurant owner didn’t share the recipe except confirming that it was Toovar daal. After I returned home, to USA, I still had the daal in mind and decided to trying to make it.
This daal is pretty easy to make and the best part is that because everything is blended, its easier for your kids to eat and enjoy the flavors. I always notice my boys taking coriander leaves, onions or tomatoes out of their daal but with this they enjoy the flavor and eat everything too.
“Har Khana kuchh kehta hai…Kuchh meethi yaadein…kuchh kisse…har bachpan ke unchuhe hisse…”
Every dish has a story…some beautiful memories…some childhood stories that you remember with every flavor….This dish belongs to my better half’s, Mr. Parveez’s hometown, Bengaluru. The name has been derived from Tamilian word “Chaaru” that stands for curry.
Living in USA, we Indians learn how to substitute few ingredients with what we have back home to what’s available in our grocery store. So, one day I found a new addition to our local grocer’s Veggie section. Like a little happy child in candy land, I called up my husband informing him about the drumstick leaves, asking him if they can be used.
You might find it extremely funny to read, but I normally text and call him when I am at grocery store. I actually became pretty popular among workers at the store since they always see me clicking pictures and texting someone [my husband] and then come back to the section to pick what I clicked. I really don’t know what kind of husbands take their wives calls in one time because it never happens with me. I usually get a call back after 5 minutes, with a patent dialogue “phone was on silent” or “Dekha nahi” [I didn’t pay attention] or a text back saying “meeting”. And as much as I feel that he should attend me before the rest of the world, I let it go…LOLzzz… Not really, the poor guy works very hard and I know if it isn’t work, he would make sure he talks to me first.
Ohh sorry, the story took a sweet romantic turn, lets get back to the main story. So, I call him all happy that I found drumstick leaves and he got super excited and asked me to buy them.
Once home, he asks me to make this dish which we normally make with spinach [equally flavorful, though]. This dish is healthy and its great for diets or low carb diets. The good thing about this dish is that this two dishes in one. This dish gives out a dry dish and a liquid daal type dish that makes it easy to eat with Rice and parantha/phulkas.
With each bite, he remembered his childhood of how his mother prepared this from the fresh leaves plucked from the neighbor’s tree….childhood flavors stay for life.
