Comfort Food

This post is dedicated to my husband and it is about his favorite food ever. Nothing brings a smile to his face than good old dhal chawal. If there is beans bhaji to go with it he is the happiest man ever. For me it would be rasam saadam and some potato bhaji with some yogurt. But more about that later. This is all about my husband and his dhal chawal. Dhal is perhaps the most ubiquitous of all indian food and every indian would have their own special way of enjoying it. I am presenting to you here what we enjoy making in our kitchen all the time. So here goes.
For the dhal:
Pressure cook 1/2 cup pf toor dhal and 1/2 cup of moong dhal with a teaspoon of turmeric powder and 3-4 slit green chillies. Saute half a large onion with 4 cloves of garlic chopped fine with a tablespoon of cumin seeds and mustard seeds and add to the cooked dhal. Dilute the dhal with water to attain the required consistency and salt to taste. Chop a whole bunch of cilantro leaves and add along with the juice of half a lime. It is best enjoyed with some hot and steaming basmati rice.

For the beans bhaji:
This is the recipe I got from my mother in law and it is a very typical kerala (south indian) recipe for making any kind of vegetable stir fry. It is unique in its use of coconut and garlic. The recipe does not call for onions. So here goes.
Start by heating a couple of spoons of vegetable oil and popping a teaspoon of mustard seeds. Add a sprig of curry leaves to it along with a teaspoon of urad dhal and 3-4 slit green chillies. After a couple of minutes I add a 12 ounce bag of frozen chopped green beans which is about 2 cups. Saute for a few minutes and add some salt and about half a cup of grated coconut ( I use frozen coconut fresh from the refrigerator :)) and about 2 cloves of garlic chopped fine. I let it cook for about 5-10 minutes and Voila !!! presenting to you smiles and love from my kitchen to yours :))