Silly Dal

Ok, here comes another recipe from the master chef.
A quick and a simple way to make something, which tastes good as well, and I name it "Silly Dal".

Take a cup of lentils(dal) and pour water in it, soak it in water for sometime.
Cut an onion [I hate this the most] and a tomato if you want.
Fry the minced onions in oil till it becomes light brown colored [I guess I dont have to tell every silly thing like turn on the gas, light a match etc.. it is a silly recipe agreed, but not a recipe for dummies]
Now while frying the onions, you may add mustard seeds and cummins (this burns very fast..so keep the flame low or better turn it off). Then add half spoon turmeric and chilly powder[your wish]..mix the whole thing well.
Now add the soaked lentils to this. (If you have enough time you could have boiled the lentils also. I generally do it along with rice..in a separate bowl, to save time)
Since the lentils were soaked for sometime they become softer. Keep stirring well so that the whole ingredients mix well. You may add your tomatoes now [I did it then..you could have added it earlier also]

Add some water..I dint measure how much I poured..add depending on how lighter you want the dal to be...You may add salt accordingly..[My suggestion to readers who have high BP careful on this part]...
Let this whole thing boil for some time..in mean time you can take a shower....I did so:)..so thats like some 10-15mins.
Add a few curry  leaves..just to get some feel that you are having some good stuff. Check the image above, thats how it should look like else it means you didnt follow my recipe well.

Thats all..yummy dal ready.. Eureka! was my expression after this.
In my last post, Silly Pulav, I said.. "I am not an expert in cooking, but as they say necessity is the mother of invention"..now I say
"desperation is grandmother of invention"


Now this is what I call a happy meal.

Yes! I can cook

Silly Pulav
It's my recipe so I believe I have all right to name whatever I like.
I am not an expert in cooking, but as they say necessity is the mother of invention.
You get so many recipes on net, but many a time all of those required things wldnt be available with us. I am talking about people who are located far away from India; These days you still get something. While I was at Nice,France it was very difficult for me to get Indian spices, so managed with whatever I had. I dint have a pressure cooker also then.

I am going to write how I managed to cook chicken/veg pulav. The method is same for both. Infact for me all curries are same. One template method just the specimen changes

You need minced onions(2), cut tomatoes(1-2) and cut green chillies (2-3).
Fry the onions and green chillies together. Add turmeric powder(1/2 spoon).
If you have ginger garlic paste add that (1 spoon). Add garam masala powder (1/2-1 spoon).
Fry for sometime, not till it becomes charcoal ..till you think it is fine..i keep for 5mins on medium flame.. then add the tomatoes pieces..and let it all boil for some 5mins.. you may add chilly powder (if u like it spicy).
I am assuming you have an idea on the quantities of chicken and rice.
Now add the Chicken/vegetables. Mix it all well properly..and let it cook for 10mins.
You may add the rice to this and let all the things cook for 2-3 mins..add water to it.
Unlike generally for boiling rice we take water double the volume of rice, here we'll take equal volume. So if you have taken a glass of rice, pour a glass of water to it.
Now to the mixture add sufficient enough salt. 2-3 spoons. Now all this depends on each one's heuristics.
Now transfer this whole mix to a big glass bowl and keep it in microwave for 30mins(again depends on how much time it generally takes for rice to cook generally on it). Some of them come with the preset options for cooking rice.

If you prefer to cook in pressure cooker, you can do that as well..just transfer it into the cooker and stop it after 2 whistles..that should be fine..

This is my own recipe..not read from any website...just an improvisation, Wonder if it is actually cooked like that but I never cared to check cos, I liked the way it tasted.