Tomato baath

These days I find myself clicking pics and letting them stay in the drafts for a very long time. Work has been busy and even on days when it isn't, I find that I don't have the drive to sit down and type out a post. The blogging marathon seems thttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifo be just the thing that brings me out of this phase every other month.
This week, you will find me blogging about traditional dishes with a twist. I took this topic up, because I find it challenging.....and a challenge is just what I need to start blogging again.
Today's recipe is tomato baath.....a very simple, colourful and flavourful dish. Now, you may wonder, what's the twist in this dish? Well, there's no rice in it. Ever since I made Bisi Bele Baath with broken wheat, I have been amazed by how well this grain lends itself to flavours that are traditionally used with rice. I intend to try out different rice dishes, substituting the rice with wheat rava.

What you need:
Wheat rava/samba godambu rava - 1 cup
Tomato - 4 juicy ripe medium sized, chopped
Onion - 1 large, chopped into large pieces
Green chilli - 2 or 3 (adjust to taste)
Ginger - a small piece, julienned
Garlic - 3 or 4 cloves, minced
Cinnamon - a 1 inch piece
Cardamom - 4 cloves
Clove - 4 or 5
Black peppercorns - 3 or 4
Kashmiri chilli powder - 1/2 tsp (optional) - This chilli powder gives the dish a nice colour.
Salt - to taste
Oil/ghee - 2 tbsphttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Corriander - to garnish

Grind the cardamom, clove, cinnamon, pepper, chillies, ginger, garlic, onion and tomato to a smooth paste. Heat the oil/ghee in a pressure cooker. Add a tsp of mustard seeds and some urad dal to the oil. When the seeds pop, add the ground paste and saute it in the oil for a few minutes until the raw smell is gone. Add the turmeric powder and chilli powder. Mix well. Now stir in the wheat rava. Add salt and four cups of water. Close the pressure cooker and cook until one whistle. Then reduce the heat to low and cook for another five minutes. When the steam settles down, open the lid, stir well and garnish with finely chopped corriander.
Serve hot with raita/pickle.
Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#14

Bisi bele baath with broken wheat

The last day of Blogging Marathon #6, Week 1, sees me paired with Srivalli, and cooking a Karnataka dish from her blog. I have chosen to make Bisi Bele Baath, a signature dish of Karnataka. I have made some major changes, though, by doing away with the main ingredient - rice. I have wanted to make this dish with Broken wheat ever since I ate it that way at a restaurant.

What you need:
Broken wheat - 1 cup
Tuar dal - 1/2 cup
Tamarind - extract from a lemon sized ball
Water - 6 cups (Water +tamarind extract should total six cups)
Salt - to taste
Vegetables - 1 cup (I used potatoes,carrots,beans and green peas)
Onion - 1, chopped fine
Tomato - 1, chopped fine
Oil - 2 tsp
For masala powder:
Chana dal - 2 tsp
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Cinnamon - 4 one inch sticks
Clove - 4 or 5
Cardamom - 4
Methi seeds - 1/4 tsp
Corriander seeds - 1/4 cup
Dry red chillies - 4 or 5(adjust to taste)
Curry leaves - a few
Heat a tsp of oil. Fry the dals first and when they turn reddish brown, add in the other ingredients and fry till aromatic. Cool and then powder.
For tempering:
Oil(gingely) - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Groundnuts - a handful
Heat together until the mustard seeds pop and the groundnuts start to brown.

Heat 2 tsp of oil in a pressure cooker. Saute the onions till they turn pink. Now add tomatoes and fry till mushy. Stir in the diced vegetables and turmeric powder. Mix well and heat for about 2-3 minutes. Add the broken wheat and mix again. After a minute, stir in the tuar dal,tamarind extract, water,salt, and powdered masala. Cook until two whistles and then reduce the heat to minimum and cook for a further ten minutes. Once the steam has settled down, pour the tempering over the cooked bisi bele and mix well.
The bisi bele will be very watery when you open the cooker, but you will find that it thickens as it cools down.
Serve with raita and papad.
Do take a look at what my fellow marathoners are up to.
This goes to Kalyani who is hosting MMK-One Pot Meals.

Easy breezy wheat halwa

When you hear the words wheat/godambu halwa, what do you think of???
Quite likely, you are reminded of your grandma or mother stirring the mixture for hours together in a heavy iron kadai while the aroma swirled around the household tantalisingly. While they sweated and toiled, you stood around waiting for them to finish so you lick the spoon clean once they were done.
Now, what if I were to tell you that you could recreate the same taste and smell without really breaking your back? No, don't look sceptical....I really do mean it.
In my kitchen, I always look for ways and means to make cooking less of a chore and more of a fun thing....I try and make things simpler without compromising on the taste. Here's how you can make wheat halwa with minimum stirring and maximum taste....

What you need:
Samba wheat rava(the kind with fine grains) - 1 cup
Sugar
Water
Ghee - 3 tbsp
Food colour - a pinch(I used red)
Fried cashew (optional)

Soak wheat rava in plenty of water for 30 minutes. Drain the water. Take the rava in a juicer or blender. Add a glass of water and blend to extract milk. Strain and keep this milk aside. Repeat this process three times. Let the milk stand undisturbed for 30 minutes. Gently pour away the water that would have collected on top by then and measure the thick milk that would have settled at the bottom. For every cup of milk that you have, add 3 cups of sugar and 3 cups of water.
Stir well and cook in a pressure cooker until one whistle. Then mix well and transfer the contents to a large microwaveable bowl. Microwave on high heat for 30 minutes.....making sure that you stop and mix the halwa gently every five minutes. Be careful when you do this 'coz the mixture does tend to bubble and release a lot of steam. The time taken could vary depending on your microwave....so keep a close watch to see when it is done.
Garnish with fried cashews.
At this point, you can cut this into dainty little squares or triangles or whatever shape you fancy.....I choose to leave it as is and just scoop it up with a spoon everytime I pass by.This halwa is made for the lovely duo who came up with Open Sesame 2.