Getting there!

 The adorable assistant!

    Phil is back to "normal" working hours again since the family arrived home.  They are admiring the new look in their home.   The bamboo floors are about complete in the family room, making the room look warm and classy.  The fireplace will receive a new facelift, the final details will be taken care of and Phil will move on to the next lucky client.  We love happy clients and we love becoming like family to so many.  Keep watching for the final pictures!

Healthy Lentil/Dal Vada with Collard Greens, Urad and Moong Dal

This is a deep fried recipe which usually I prefer to avoid as much as possible. When I decide to deep fry then I make sure that the focus is over the ingredients being more healthy, in that way I don't feel guilty about eating it once in a while. I know we should not feel guilty about eating deep fried food once in a while but keeping it healthy gives a lot more satisfaction and happiness. Another reason I added greens to the recipe is because Mom always used to make dal vada with drumstick greens and we used to love it. Well we used to eat with a odd combination, with mutton curry....but believe me or not it tasted so good.

Ingredients:

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1 cup Urad Dal

1 cup Yellow Moong Dal

2 cups Collard Greens (I used frozen and thawed)

2-3 Green Chilies chopped

1/4 inch Ginger chopped

1 Sprig Curry Leaves

1 Onion chopped

Salt to taste

Method:

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1. Soak Urad and moong dal in water for about 2 - 3 hours.

2. Drain the water and save it for later. 

3. In a kadai add oil for deep frying and bring it a medium-high heat.

4. Meanwhile in a mixer/blender add the dal, green chilies and ginger, give it 3-4 pulse until the dal is slightly coarse paste.

Note: We don't need to add water as the collard green are frozen and will have lot of water in it. If you are using fresh greens then you can add the water in which the dal was soaked.

5. Now add the greens and curry leaves and grind it to a coarse paste, I just pulsed few times, in between scraped the sides and got the desired consistency. 

6. Transfer this dla mixture into a large bowl.

7. Meanwhile sprinkle salt over the onions and mix a little bit and keep it for about 20 mins.

8. Now squeeze the water from the onions. 

Note: This will remove the excess water from onions, so that when we make the vada it stays crispy and does not get soggy.

9. Add the onions to the dal mixture and mix well and check for salt and add more if you need.

10. I reserve the water in which dal is soaked, for dipping/wetting my hands to make vada shapes.

Note: Make sure that the oil is ready by dropping a small drop of the thick vada batter. If it rises as soon as you put into the oil, it means the oil is ready, else if it stays at the bottom of the kadai and takes time to come up to the top, then you need to wait few more minutes.

11. Now add the vadas one by one slowly and make sure you don't over crowd the kadai. Cook each side for about 5 mins or until it turns golden brown.

12. Flip once to the other side and cook again for about 3-4 mins. 

Note: Make sure you don't flip too many times as the vada will absord more oil and will not cook properly.

13. Remove the vadas to a plate lined with paper towel, so that it will remove the excess oil.

14. Repeat the steps 11-13 until all the batter is used.

15. I served these vadas with Coconut Chutney and Spicy Tomato Pachadi.

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Sandesh / Cottage Cheese Fudge

Sandesh is for my last day of Blogging marathon. I thought, I already have 7 recipes for 7 days but today when I sat for blogging, I found that the recipe for last day was missing in my drafts. Immediately, I prepared this easy sweet dish. It is easy too if you have fresh paneer at home. It became around 6 PM in the evening by the time I finished this recipe and the natural light had vanished. So, I was forced to take pictures under the florescent light. Hope you like the pictures and enjoy the dish as well. Here you go...



Basic Information:
Preparation & Cooking time: 45 - 50 minutes
Makes: 8 nos

Ingredients:



Paneer - 1 cup, crumbled

Granulated sugar - 1/4 cup

Cardamom - 2 nos

Saffron streaks - a small pinch

Pistachio nuts - 1 tablespoon, roughly crushed

Method:



1) Mix sugar and cardamom together and make a powder of it using a coffee grinder or mixer. Keep it aside.

2) Knead the crumbled paneer for 5-10 minutes.

3) Towards the end of kneading, add sugar, cardamom mixture and saffron. Try to make a small ball now using a pinch of paneer. If you are able to make a smooth ball, then you can proceed with the next step. Otherwise, continue kneading.

4) Heat a pan in a medium heat. Add the kneaded paneer.

5) Cook it on low heat by constantly stirring it. Initially the paneer looks like thick dough and doesn't form a shape as shown in the picture.

6) After 15-20 minutes, you can see the paneer becomes thick, starts coming together and doesn't stick to the pan. At this time, remove from heat.

7) Allow it to cool for a while. After some time, knead it again for 5 minutes.

8) Divide them into equal balls and make desired shapes.

9) Garnish it with pistachio nuts. Keep in refrigerator for some time and serve chill.

10) When it is cooling down, it will become hard a bit.

Note:

1) Try to prepare sandesh using fresh paneer. If you don't have paneer, try replace it with ricotta cheese. It will also work out.

2) Do not heat after the paneer forms a thick dough. Otherwise, you will ended up with paneer crumbles which you can't use for making shapes.

3) At the same time, do not allow the sauteed/cooked paneer to sit for long time. Make shapes when it is slightly warm. This helps making perfect shapes.

4) You can also add milk powder/corn starch before cooking the paneer in pan. But I felt adding corn starch made the Sandesh litter harder than usual. So, I skipped adding it this time while preparing it.



I'm linking this recipe to Srivalli's Blogging Marathon #12 under the theme of paneer. Check out what others are cooking by clicking it here.