Showing posts with label channa dal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label channa dal. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Multi Legume Savory Pancake(Dosai) with Sesame Seeds

Multilegumedosai1
Know what you Eat - Breakfast is such an important part of the every day meal and  make sure it is high
in protein to give all the energy to get you going throughout the day. Legumes are so rich in fiber they
give you sense of fullness for a longer time.  Legumes are a valuable part of a healthy diet, because they
are low in fat, do not contain cholesterol, and have a significant amount  of fiber, and are low in sugar and
fat. This is such a wholesome and nutritious pancake, which is  packed with different legumes and the
calcium from sesame seeds. The darker the color of the sesame seed the better nutrition profile it is.
Very suitable for kids, adults and even for people with diabetes and gluten free diet.
If you have a picky child at home, surely the Mom has to be creative to whack the brain and come up
with nutritious dishes. Each and every child is different, some like all colorful dishes some might not
eat slight brown or green ones, that’s why i had to peel the peanuts, had to go for white sesame seeds
instead of black and not include the curry leaves  and cilantro, even though i love them and they give
such a flavor and taste to any dish. You can also add chopped veggies, greens etc to make it even
more nutritious.
Preparation Time – 30 Minutes
Cooking Time – 30 Minutes
Serves - 6
Ingredients
Peanuts – 1/2 cup
Split Moong Dal/Mung Bean – 1/2 cup
Split Channa Dal(Split Chick Pea) – 1/2 cup
Whole Urad Dal( white lentil) – 1/2 cup
Green Chili – 2 or to taste
Ginger – 1 inch piece
Salt – 1 1/2 tsp or to taste
Asafoetida – 1 small piece or 1/4 tsp powder
Curry leaves – handful (optional)
Onion – 2 medium sized
Cilantro – chopped 2 tbsp(optional)
Sesame seeds – 4 Tbsp
Oil – 2-3 Tbsp

Method

1) Except the peanuts, rinse and soak the other three legumes together and  soak the
peanut separately overnight.
2) Take handful of peanuts in your hand and roll between your palms so the peanut peel will come out
or if you don’t mind the color of the peel go to step 3 without peeling.
3) Drain all the water from the legumes, add salt, ginger, green chili, asafoetida, curry leaves(add this
only if there are no issue of food color) and grind to fine paste(batter) adding water as needed
at time.
4) Chop the onion into small pieces and mix with batter and add water as needed to get the
consistency little thinner than pancake.
5) Refrigerate and use this batter as needed.
6) When preparing add the chopped cilantro to the batter, heat a griddle(iron and not nonstick
for additional health benefits).  Take a ladle full of batter and spread into a thin circle shape
and take a 1 to 2 tsp of white sesame seeds and  spread on top of the batter and pour a tsp
of oil around the batter.
7) Once one side of the dosai/pancake is well cooked and the batter color has changed on the top
flip it and let the other side get cooked.
8) Remove from the griddle and serve hot with chutney or sambar of your choice. I served
it with Tomato Thokku(Tangy & Spicy Tomato Pickle) and i will post the recipe later.

Notes – If you have the batter ready, it will take a maximum of 30 minutes to make a full breakfast
for 6 people. So even on a time crunchy day, you don’t have to compromise on the your health, but
just prepare this in a jiffy and enjoy.
Multilegumedosai2
Event Participation

1) This goes to Cooking with Sesame seeds event hosted by Priya.
2) This goes to Kids Delight – Wholesome Breakfast event hosted by Srivalli.
3) Sending this to Creative Food for Picky Eaters hosted by Sara's corner an event started by Sharmi.
4) This goes to MLLA 19th Helping hosted by EC an event started by Susan.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Masal Vadai/Vada (Bengal Gram Fritter)



Know what you Eat: Channa Dal(Bengal gram) is very high in protein and very low in glycemic index. This bean looks just like yellow split peas, but is quite different because it doesn't readily boil down to mush. It's more closely related to garbanzo beans, or chickpeas. The differences are that chana dal is younger, smaller, split, sweeter, and has a much lower glycemic index. You can substitute chana dal for garbanzo beans in just about any recipe.

Normally all of us look for foods low in fat level, our family doctor comes from the school of thought that sugar and high carbohyhydrate foods are the culprit for lot of problems and not fat. We were little surprised when he told us the first time(Of course it depends on your blood work too) that when the cholestrol level becomes too low it can lead to different problems like depression, and found an interesting article supporting his idea in mercola.com a very useful web site on health related issues. But that doesn't mean we eat fried food everyday, ocassionally yes and now guilt free. Now let us get on to recipe.

This is a very popular South Indian deep fried snack made with Split Chick Peas with addition of spices and vegetables.

Cooking Time - 15 - 20 mins
Preparation Time - 15 mins
Serves - Makes around 10-12 vadas

Ingredients

Channa dal(Bengal gram) - 6 oz
Chopped onion - 1/2 cup
Chopped cilantro - 2 tbsp
Chopped Mint - 1 tbsp
Green Chilli - 1 or to taste
Cinnamon stick - 1
Fennel seeds - 1/2 tsp
Ginger garlic paste - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 3/4 tsp or to taste
Oil to deep fry

Method

1) Soak Dal in warm water for 3-4 hours till it becomes little soft.
2) Drain the water and set aside a handful of soaked dal and grind the rest of it with green chilli,cinnamon stick,fennel seeds, turmeric powder and salt with very little water into a coarse paste.
3) Now add the set aside dal, ginger garlic paste, cilantro, onion and mint pieces and mix thoroughly.
4) Heat oil and take a small ball of the vada batter and flatten it in your palm and fry till golden on one side. Depending on the oil you have taken you can fry more than 1 vada at the same time. I don't take lot of oil and take as much oil needed for frying around 3 vadas as i don't reuse this oil(Yes because of high level of free radicals in them when reheating).
5) Now flip the other side and fry till golden on the other side and remove the vada and keep it in a paper towel to drain the excess oil.
6) Serve it with side dish of your choice like tomato ketchup or chutney.

l This is our entry to:Sunday Snacks - Chaats/Indian Street Foods hosted by Pallavi.