Black Bean Curry with coconut milk gravy and a question :)

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Imagine this, you have lots and lots of rains, it's pouring and you have the time and luxury to decide what you want to do, no compulsions, pressures or schedules.  What are the first things that come to your mind when you think of such a weather. What are things that you would love to get a hold of and which would enhance the enjoyment of the weather? I am visiting my family right now and the monsoons here are pretty awesome. It really pours in this part of the world. And after a slow start that had everyone here worried, this is the sight that met my eyes when I woke up yesterday. Heavy rains :)



And since I am on a break I get to enjoy this weather with two of my most favorite things in any weather,  but most especially rainy weather........................




........ a cup of hot steaming tea and a good book. In this instance an interesting whodunit that has kept me engrossed every free minute I have gotten these last couple of days. Ah bliss!!! Can anything compare to some of the simple pleasures in life ?  Well all good things come to an end and I know this small break that I have will end in a few days too. In the meanwhile I am making the most of these few days :)

 

Moving on to the black bean curry. This is a curry that I came up when I was low on veggies and  discovered a couple of cans of black beans that I had purchased to make this black bean brownie. I used some coconut milk to give this gravy a little creaminess and a touch of exotic to it. There are no special spices or ingredients for this curry, yet the curry was just delicious. We loved it so much I have already made this a few times.  It is very versatile and works perfectly in any kind of flat bread, Indian rotis/ phulkas or breads or can even be served on a bed of plain steamed rice.




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Ingredients and Method to make Black Bean curry

1 large red onion cut fine
2 medium tomatoes cut fine
1 Thai or Indian variety green chilies slit lengthwise (or to taste) 
1 dry red chili broken into small pieces
2 tbsp oil
2 cups cooked black beans
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp red chili powder (optional) (or to taste) (see notes)
3/4 tsp cumin powder
salt to taste
1 tsp sugar
1 cup coconut milk
3 tbsp finely cut cilantro (coriander leaves) for garnish

Heat oil in a large heavy bottomed pan. Add onions and saute until onions turn transparent, then add green chilies and stir a couple of times. Add dry red chili, stir a couple of times, then add tomatoes and allow to cook until the tomatoes become soft and mushy. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Puree this mixture until smooth and return it to the pan and place on heat.

Add turmeric powder, red chili powder if using, cumin powder, cooked black beans, salt to taste and sugar and allow the mixture to simmer for a few minutes until the flavors mingle.

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Add coconut milk to this mixture, mix well and allow the curry to simmer for a few more minutes on low heat.

Finally remove from heat, garnish with cilantro and serve hot on a bed of plain steamed rice, or Indian flat bread/ phulkas/ rotis or even with some kind of crusty/ rustic style bread to mop up the curry.

Notes:
Between the green chilies and the dry red chili,  this curry had sufficient heat. In case you like your curries really hot and spicy then you could probably add the red chili powder too, otherwise it might not be required. 

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Slow cooker Carrot Cashew Payasam/ Kheer/ Indian pudding

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If you google the term "Indian desserts with carrots" the top couple of pages of results are all of gajar halwa (Indian style carrot pudding). It seems to be the most popular way to use carrots in Indian desserts. It is no wonder than, that in our family too, gajar halwa is very popular. So much so, that I cannot remember having any other kind of Indian dessert with carrots in them..... ever :) Whenever we reach for carrots with the idea of using them in desserts we only ever make gajar halwa with them.

So I was pleasantly surprised and a little curious when my mother in law mentioned she tried a new kind of payasam/ kheer with carrots, for my father in law's birthday this year. I thought it was such a cool idea and had been wanting to try it since she mentioned it.  For R's birthday last month, I decided to give the carrot payasam/ kheer a try. Only for my version, I decided to add some cashew to it, to make it  more interesting and to give the payasam a more creamy texture. And of course whenever payasam/ kheer is on the menu these days, out comes my slow cooker so that I do not have to pay much attention to it and can focus on making the other items on my menu:)

The verdict in one word.......delicious !! We loved the payasam, it was mild, creamy and very tempting :) Definitely something I am going to make again and again :) So if you are in the mood for desserts, give this one a try and tell me what you think :)




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Ingredients and Method to make Carrot Cashew Payasam
5 cups whole milk + 1/2 cup for soaking cashews
1/2 cup cashew nuts (kaju) (broken into small pieces)
4 large carrots
1/2 cup sugar (see notes)
7 cardamom pod seeds powdered fine

Soak cashew nuts in 1/2 cup milk for at least 30 minutes.

Place balance of the milk in the slow cooker and set on high for 4 hours.

Cut carrots in small pieces, add just enough water as needed and cook either on stove top or in the microwave until soft. Let the carrots cool to room temperature.

Puree the soaked cashews along with the milk until smooth. Puree the cooked carrots until mostly smooth, I like a little texture so I puree the carrots until it gets a slightly grainy texture like semolina. Keep both the pureed cashews and carrots aside.

About an hour into cooking, add sugar to the milk in the slow cooker. 

After about 2 1/2 hours when there is an hour and a half to go, add the pureed cashews and carrots to the simmer milk and mix well.
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Allow to simmer for the balance of the time. In the last 30 minutes add the powdered cardamom seeds and mix well.

Remove from power and serve hot. Or cool and chill in refrigerator and serve chilled.

Notes:
With this quantity of sugar this payasam/ kheer is mildly sweet. If you prefer your desserts a little more obviously sweet, you may want to increase the quantity of sugar in this recipe to 3/4 cup or even a little more.

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Palak Mung Dhal- Spinach with mung bean dhal version 2.0 and a tip:)

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Some days all I want for dinner is some kind of comfort food that I can rustle up in under thirty to forty minutes. Usually these are the days that I turn to items like phulkas with some kind of gravy curry or some kind of dhal. Preferably the latter,  because in my book nothing says comfort food like a simple bowl of dhal. Anytime I can combine dhal with some kind of green veggie, that's another plus in my book :)   Earlier I had posted another version of spinach with mung bean dhal, this time I made dhal with a combination of mung bean lentil, split red lentils and spinach. As I normally do for dhals, I kept the seasoning and flavoring very simple, nothing too overwhelming.  This nutritious and low fat dhal is perfect for a simple meal, and tastes very good whether it is paired with phulkas/ rotis or plain steamed rice.

 

Before moving on to the recipe, the tip :) I am not big on using canned food in my cooking, but sometimes when I need stuff like coconut milk in my cooking I end up using the canned variety. The issue for me often is how to store the rest of the coconut milk so that it does not spoil until I use it again. I rarely use coconut milk and once opened, the contents of the can need to be used in a few days or it spoils. I came across a tip sometime back ( not sure where since I did not book mark the tip) that suggested that coconut milk can be frozen in an ice cube tray and used as required. I decided to give it a try and sure enough this is a very convenient way to freeze balance of coconut milk or even canned tomato paste or anything that can freeze well. The fringe benefit is that you can use just as many as you want when you cook and the balance remains frozen until the next use.

Here is my packet ready to be refrozen.......I usually write down on the bag itself how many tbsp are in each cube, it makes it easier to remove just as many cubes as I need when I use it a few weeks later :)

 

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Ingredients and Method to make Spinach dhal
3/4 cup split mung bean lentil (mung dhal) soaked in sufficient water for at least 30 minutes
1/2 cup split red lentils (masoor dhal)
2 packed cups baby spinach (Palak) cut fine
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp red chili powder
salt to taste
1/4 tsp dry mango powder (amchur )

1 tbsp of lemon juice (or to taste) (see notes)
Generous handful cilantro( coriander leaves)  cut fine for garnish

Seasoning
1 tsp oil
3/4 tsp cumin seeds
3 to 4 green chilies slit lengthwise
1/2 tsp garam masala (or to taste) (can be substituted with any other curry powder)
To make your own garam masala, check out this post

Soak the mung bean lentil in sufficient water for at least 30 minutes. Add split red lentils to the same container and swirl with hand and drain water. Fill with fresh water and repeat process. Place both the lentils in a medium/ large heavy bottomed pan along with sufficient water and place on heat.

Stir frequently and allow to cook until both the lentils are soft. You can use the pressure cooker for this if you want, just make sure it does not over cook, so that the lentils retain a little bit of their shape.

When the lentils are almost cooked, add finely chopped spinach, salt to taste, red chili powder, turmeric powder and dry mango powder, water as needed and allow to simmer for a couple more minutes until the spinach is cooked.
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In a small pan, add oil and place on heat. Add cumin seeds to it, when the seeds sizzle add green chilies and when the chilies splutter a little (watch out..... some times the chilies can splatter so do keep a lid/ splatter screen handy) , add garam masala and stir a couple of time. Pour the entire seasoning on the dhal and mix well. Allow the dhal to simmer another minute or two for the flavors to mingle.

Remove from heat. Garnish with lemon juice and cilantro leaves and serve hot as a side dish to phulkas/ rotis or on a bed of plain steamed rice with some curry on the side.

Notes:
If  you use store bought lemon juice...you know the type that comes in that cute yellow container, you may need to use a little more of it. I juiced my lemon at home and find that fresh lemon juice tends to be a little more tart so a little goes a long way.

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