“मुगोरे” (Moong Daal/Split Bengal Gram Fritters)

Rains are here.Seems déjà-vu! In Bombay,rains were best enjoyed without umbrella (getting drenched) followed by hot masala (spicy) tea and lovely spicy pakodas (fritters)! No French Fries or Chips could ever beat them (no offense meant :P).

I flew an interesting recipe for tasty “Mugore” (Moong Daal/Split Bengal Gram Fritters) to the beautiful city of San Diego,CA at Anuja’s place.

Anuja Tajpuriya-Agrawal is my husband’s best friend’s (Yogi) wife.An architect by profession and a qualified cook too (Source:Thanks to Yogi’s  post marriage rapid development in weight gain :P).

 

 

Anuja’s Quote

“I would like to dedicate this blog in the memory of my father Dr. Ram Tajpuriya. Pakoras were his favorite snacks.Pakoras with chai (tea)  reminds me of damp monsoon evening. Although it doesn't rain in San Diego but the pleasant fall weather can always be a reason for munching on pakoras.Hope everyone enjoys them as much as I did”. 

Ingredients

• 1 muffin-full bowl of Moong daal /Split Bengal Gram(soaked in water overnight or for 2 hours,you may add a pinch of eating soda if desired).I kept it soaked in water only for few hours.

• ginger

• garlic-I skipped it!

• salt

• green chilies

• 1 muffin-full bowl of Freshly shredded coconut (I skipped it)

• 1-2 tsp coriander powder (Manasi’s suggestion)

• 1-2 tsp garam masala (Manasi’s suggestion)

• 1 tsp lime juice/amchur powder (Manasi’s suggestion)

• red chili powder (Manasi’s suggestion)

• 1 tsp cumin powder (Manasi’s suggestion)

• freshly chopped coriander (Manasi’s suggestion)

• Any other dal or veggies (Manasi’s suggestion-I skipped it)

• Chopped Onion (My addition)

Fry me Flat,Ball it Over!

I blended the daal in the mixer with all the ingredients. However,i took care that it does not become very thin or liquid so that it would be easy to fry them or bake them.Then,I beat this mixture thoroughly.

Book Vs Moi

The book suggests that one should flatten the beaten batter into small rounds and then fry them.However,one can make such rounds and bake them as well or just put them over a flat pan like pancakes.Its easier to bake them with flat circles.

But,overwhelmed with the Diwali Mood,I fried them! Served it with mint chutney and tomato ketchup! Relish the fritters with loved ones over a hot ginger tea!

 

 

Anuja’s Cornerstone

 “How I wish Papa was here to have his favourite pakodas in the midst of fall colours.But,he would always be there within my memories,intact & precious.To my wonderful father”.

Love,

Anuja,San Diego,CA :)

P.S:Anuja,Uncle would be a proud man today! May his soul rest in peace and find you in bloom of happiness …CookWithMoi et Beaucoup de merci…hope to have you more often on the blog circuit!

"मूग धिरडे" (Green Bengal Gram Pancake)

American Pancakes & Crepes are often eggy.Its a little difficult for those who are pure veggies to enjoy them whole heartedly.Personally,I love "I Hop's" pancakes but can understand the problems of vegetarians. "Ruchira" is truly a wonder book for all vegetarians.It has vegetarian pancakes , much nutritious and non-greasy. "मूग धिरडे" (Moon Dal Pancake) is a wonderful brunch snack (similar to dosa or uttapam) or hi-tea appetizer (when made into small pattie sized pancakes). I thought of making it on a lazy Sunday for brunch. Surprisingly , Rohan (my husband who works as a developer at SUN Microsystems ,Menlo Park,USA) gave up his lap-top and decided to dedicate his Sunday into artistic (not creative,since he says Coding & development are most creative) activities like making a meal .He took over the task of today’s blog post and accepted to become the Guest Chef for today while I became his SOUS-CHEF!

Ingredients

green moong-2 muffin-full bowls,soaked for 2 hours (or until they sprout) in lukewarm water with a pinch of soda or Eno-fruit salt (in case you don't have the eating soda)

• 1muffin-full bowl of finely chopped onion
• 1/2 muffin-full bowl of green peas
• 1/2 muffin-full bowl of cilantro or coriander
• 3-4 finely chopped green chilies
• salt to taste
• roasted coriander seed + cumin seed + mustard seed (my addition, crushed with tongs)
• 2-3 cloves of finely chopped garlic (my addition)
• 1 tsp of finely chopped ginger (my addition)
• 1 tsp amchur powder (my addition,dried mango powder)
• 1 tsp dried mint
• 1 tsp kasuri methi (my addition,dried fenugreek leaves)
• 2-3 curry leaves (my addition)
• 1 tsp garam masala powder
• 1 tsp kala masala /goda masala
• 1 tbsp of vegetable oil or cooking spray

The Making of Pancakes

After a wonderful tea in the late hours of morning,I soaked in 2 muffin-full bowls of green moong into lukewarm water , adding little soda to accelerate sprouting process.Rohan blended the moong and green chilies ,into one fine mixture.The mixture was just so thick that my Magic Bullet stopped exhibiting its magic until some water was poured into it.

Don't add too much water though since it has to be spread on the pan evenly like Uttappam or pancakes.

The book suggested sprinkling the chopped onions and cilantro over the pancake,but it was a little too tricky for naive cook like moi.Instead I asked Rohan to whip the onions ,green peas along with the moong batter and added salt, roasted CCM (cumin seed +coriander seed +mustard seed) powder to it.

Rohan added the salt and sugar after the batter was ready.

We used a non-stick flat pan (tawa) to lay the pancake.The consistency of the batter must be good enough to spread easily on the pan (add water accordingly). The non-stick is not quite true to its name and there is always a fear of getting the pancake stuck on to it badly,so better use some cooking oil spray on sides.Flip the sides to evenly cook the धिरडे.

As wisely suggested by Kamala Aji (authoress of the book) to retain the green colour of green moong,no time must be wasted after the moong is minced.

These pancakes could be served with Yogurt and Pecante Medium Sauce (Costco).

And,the beautiful,lush green coloured Pancakes made by Ranadez were all set to serve “a healthy gourmands (glutton/हावरा) appetite”!

Vous avez un bon dimanche!

डाळीचा चटका ( Split Bengal Gram side entrée )

All of us have extremely enjoyed or disliked the concept of “ भरीत” / “भरता” (Bharit/Bharta-whipped vegetables in sticky thick self-sourced curd based gravy). Some like our friend Yogesh from San Diego learn to gulp tasty “वांग्याचे भरीत”/“बैंगन भरता” (Egg plant/Brinjal side entrée  only after the marital bliss dawns upon them!

So,This is for Rohan’s best friend Yogi and his lovely wife Anuja.

But,here’s one Bharta (side entrée ) that would be a wonderful relief to those who either hate the usual ones or need a change of taste! It is called “डाळीचा चटका” (Split Bengal Gram side entrée) and is a refreshing change from the routine ingredients used to make other Bhartas.

Total Time=Cooking Time +Preparation Time= @ 1 hour.

Ingredients

• 1/8 th muffin-full bowl of Split Bengal gram
• 1/8 th muffin-full bowl of Split Green Gram(Moong daal).This is my addition too!
• 1/2 th muffin-full bowl of home made dahi/curd/low fat plain yogurt .You can actually skip this one.I liked it with and without the curd.
• 1/4 th muffin-full bowl of sweet corn (my addition)
• 1/4th muffin-full bowl of green peas (my addition)
• 3-5 fresh green chilies
• 2 red chilies (dry)
• 1/4th muffin-full bowl of coriander
• 1/2 tsp of mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp of asafoetida
• 1 tsp of turmeric powder
• 1-2 tsps of vegetable oil or cooking spray.I used vegetable oil since the cooking spray got exhausted yesterday!
• 1/2 tbsp of roasted cumin seeds and 1/2 tbsp of whole coriander seeds roasted,coarsely crushed manually.This is my addition to the original recipe.
• 2 cloves of finely minced garlic.The authoress has advised the usage ,but not used it in the recipe for this book.I chose to use it.
• 1/2 tsp of finely minced ginger juice.I love the combination taste of ginger and garlic , hence added it.
• 1/4 th muffin-full bowl of radish.This is completely optional and I dint use it really.However,I used finely chopped onion instead of radish in the same quantity.
• 1 tbsp of fresh lemon juice.This is my “touché” completely! There is not even the mention of it in the close corners of this book.So,all Copyrights reserved [:P]
• salt and sugar to taste

Here We Go..

I soaked the split Bengal Gram & Moong Daal in lukewarm water for 45 min or so(one may add soda to accelerate the process,but avoid it).I didn't use the warm water running from the faucets here since it contains Lead and other dissolved gases.I took the pains to warm some water to do so!!

Then I transferred the “daal mix” into the blender and whipped it.Take care that while crushing the gram,you don’t end up adding water in it.The Bharta would be very watery and spoil the taste.The texture needs to be rough,so the mixer’s witchy spell for all times could really be a Magic!

The book says that the green chilies should be blended with the daals, however I crushed them separately with “pestle & mortar”.

 

The next step was to mix the “daal”, chopped onion ,“green chili crush”,salt,sugar and low fat plain yogurt together.I added the roasted powders of cumin seeds and coriander seeds to it.Added the lemon juice to it and whipped it up with serving spoon.I added garlic ,ginger the red chilies too! 

Its The Time for TT (Time for Tadka),that’s the  influence of the background score from Kal Ho Na Ho!

Anyway,the tadka was the usual one with mustard seeds crackling in hot oil after the asafoetida moves in with Turmeric powder.

I poured hot tadka over the mixture just before serving and garnished it with fresh coriander.Serve a very traditional dish in style!

The spicy fragrance was all around and the exhaust fan had to switched on or the Fire alarms would have started yelling (when we were young people used to scare us saying “सोजा नाही तो गब्बर आजायेगा!” , while here we are scaring the fire fighters all the time with our spicy tadkas).

One Quick Tip

You may add other daals too.Try adding some udad daal and toor daal.

This tastes extremely wonderful with curd-rice or roti ,Choose your pick! I can have it JLT!

Relish the Yellowz!