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Chana Dal and Bulgur Sundal

Madhuram — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 11:04:55 +0000

I had some leftover bulgur after preparing this upma. I don’t know how or why I got this idea, but decided to make chana dal (split yellow gram or kadalai paruppu, not garbanzo beans) sundal and mix the bulgur with it. Sundal is a very famous South Indian dish and is especially prepared everyday for 9 days during Navarathiri. Dried legumes or lentils are used to prepare it. I was so excited about this idea and started preparing it. I was pleasantly surprised and (proud, I think it’s ok once in a while. Right?) of my creation, because it was absolutely delicious. Even though the bulgur gave a nice chewy texture, it was not at all apparent. So this is another way of sneaking extra fiber and whole grains to the usual sundal recipe.

Ingredients

Bulgur, cooked 3/4 cup

Channa daal, dry 1/2 cup

Water 1 cup

Ginger, grated 1/2 tablespoon

Turmeric powder a pinch

Oil 1 teaspoon

Mustard seeds 1/2 teaspoon

Hing a pinch

Green chillies, split into half as required

Coconut, grated 1/4 cup

Salt as required

Procedure 1 I used leftover bulgur which I had prepared already. If you want to start with dry bulgur, soak bulgur with equal amount of boiling water (1:1) and a pinch of salt. It will take about 30-45 minutes to absorb the water and then it’s ready.

2 Add washed/rinsed chana dal (kadalai paruppu), 1 cup of water, turmeric and little salt in a pressure cooker. Also add the ginger, if using. I always use ginger while cooking lentils and legumes to aid easy digestion. Leave it for only one whistle and remove the cooker from the stove to stop the cooking process. If you cook it for more than 1 whistle the daal will become mushy. After the opening the cooker drain the daal in a colander. No need to reserve the water.

3 Once you have the bulgur and channa daal ready, in a frying pan heat the oil.

4 Once the oil is hot add the mustard seeds and hing. After it splutters add the green chillies. I used one chili, split in half.

5 Now add the drained channa daal, little salt and fry for a minute. After that also include the prepared bulgur and combine it thoroughly. Leave it in the stove for another minute.

6 Switch off the stove and add the grated coconut and mix it well. Garnish it with chopped coriander.

My Notes 1 If you don’t have a pressure cooker you can cook the chana daal on stove top but it will take more time. Also you may have to increase the quantity of water.

2 I have a very small size pressure cooker, so I cooked the chana dal directly. Instead you can also add the daal and water in a vessel, place it in the cooker and leave it for a whistle.

This also goes to Roma’s JFI-Wheat. JFI originally started by Indira.

Bulgur Upma ~ An Indo-American Fusion

Madhuram — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 08:33:45 +0000

I love trying Indian recipes using American ingredients. Zucchini Kootu, Zucchini Pappu, Grits Adai, Grits Idli were few successful ones. To this list I can now add bulgur upma too. Many people confuse bulgur with cracked wheat. The terms are used interchangeably in many places, but they both are not the same. Broken wheat and cracked wheat are the same but not bulgur and cracked wheat. I’ve discussed it in detail in the vegetarian chili recipe. Check it out.

I had some bulgur lying in the freezer and wanted to finish it. Tabouli is “the” recipe when it comes to bulgur. I was not in the mood for a salad and also I wanted to use the bits and pieces of vegetables lying in the fridge before refilling it. So I decided to make an Indianized version of tabouli, which is nothing but upma. Just like making cracked wheat upma, I thought I would prepare bulgur upma. Let me tell you this is so much easier and tastier than cracked wheat upma. We liked the chewy texture of bulgur and it was filling too. I also see that bulgur has more fiber than brown rice. Another bonus, bulgur can feed a crowd. Also it tastes even better the day after it is cooked. It soaks up the flavor of the vegetables and tastes very good.

Ingredients

Bulgur, dry 1 cup

Boiling Water 1 cup

Oil 2 teaspoons

Mustard seeds 1/4 teaspoon

Urad daal 1 teaspoon

Channa daal 1 teaspoon

Peanuts (optional) 1/4 cup

Onion, medium, chopped finely 1

Green Chili 1 big

Potato, medium, diced 1

Beans, chopped 1 cup

Peas 1 cup

Carrots, diced 1 cup

Salt as needed

Cilantro, finely chopped 1/4 cup

Yield: Serves at least 3-4 adults.

Procedure 1 In a bowl add the bulgur wheat, boiling water and little salt. Stir it thoroughly and leave it until all the water is absorbed. It may take about 45 minutes.

2 Meanwhile in a big frying pan add the oil and heat it. Once it is hot enough add the mustard seeds. After it splutters add the peanuts (if using) and roast it. Then add the urad daal and channa daal and fry it until golden brown.

3 Add the chopped onions and slit green chili. Add little salt, so that the onion would cook faster.

4 Once the onions are cooked add the other vegetables, 1/2 cup (or more) water as required, salt and close the pan with a lid. Increase the heat and in about 10-15 minutes the vegetables would have cooked enough.

5 To the cooked vegetables mixture add the prepared bulgur and combine it well. Garnish it with cilantro and it’s ready to dig in.

My Notes 1 If adding peanuts, it’s preferable to add it first after the mustard seeds splutter. Since it takes some time to roast, if it’s added after the urad daal and channa daal, by the time it turns brown the other daals would get burnt.

2 This bulgur upma is good both hot or cold. I had some leftover which I kept it in the fridge. It tasted so good (or even better) the next day, even straight from the fridge.

3 Bulgur before soaking may look very less but after it absorbs the water and especially with so much vegetables it makes huge quantity. You can really feed an army. Try it when you are having a potluck or friends over. When I first measured 1 cup of bulgur, I thought it would not be enough for the 2 of us. Usually I use 1 and 3/4th cups of vermicilli or cracked wheat for preparing upma. So I measured another 3/4th cup of bulgur to prepare this upma. Gosh! that was so much for us. So I did not add the entire bulgur to the cooked vegetables. I reserved some for later. Luckily I got another idea to make use of the excess bulgur. That dish turned out very good too. Will post it later.

4 Next I want to cook pulav using bulgur. I’m sure it would taste equally good.

This bulgur upma goes to Roma’s JFI-Wheat. JFI originally started by Indira.

Veggie Chili using Bulgur Wheat

Madhuram — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 10:33:41 +0000

I saw this recipe in Woman’s Day magazine under Heart Healthy Recipes category. I wanted to try this recipe because it had bulgur wheat as the main ingredient, which I have not tasted before. I use cracked wheat regurlarly, so I always have it in home. I thought that both were same. So before using it in the recipe, I wanted to be sure and check if there was any difference between bulgur wheat and cracked wheat and found out the following; (Source: www.epicureantable.com)

Bulgur Wheat:
Partially hulled whole wheat kernels that are soaked, then steamed (hence pre-cooked if you will), dried and then crushed are called bulghur. It requires no or little cooking. Though modern processes involve oven drying or roasting some villages still sun dry bulghur on their rooftops.

Cracked Wheat:
Raw whole wheat berries that are crushed to varying qualities of texture are called cracked wheat and require cooking. These are also found in 3 grades of coarseness: fine, medium and coarse, the choice of which depends on use and preference.

To simplify it even more bulgur is wheat cracked after cooking and drying, whereas the wheat is cracked in raw stage for cracked wheat.

Are they interchangeable?
This depends on whether the recipe requires cooking or not and your own degree of purism. A salad recipe such as tabooli is uncooked, and so requires true bulghur as do recipes where bulghur is brought to the boil, cooked for a moment then left to rest off heat to swell as in a pilaf. Recipes requiring longer cooking times or coarse grain bulghur can be replaced with cracked wheat, but will need more cooking time.

But both bulghur and cracked wheat are excellent sources of fibre, minerals and vitamins for your diet.

Moving on to the recipe, I have scaled down the measurements given in the original recipe; still we had a lot of chili. I made it for dinner and it was very filling.

Ingredients:
Water – 3 cups
Bulgur Wheat – ½ cup
Olive Oil – 2 teaspoon
Onion, chopped – ½ cup
Red Pepper, chopped – ½ cup
Chili Powder – 1 tablespoon or as per taste
Garlic, minced – 1 tspn
Ground Cumin – 1 tspn
Water – 2 cups
Crushed Tomatoes – 1 cup
Pumpkin Puree (canned) – 1 cup
Zucchini, medium, diced – 1
Frozen Corn, ½ cup
Black Beans (canned), drained and rinsed – 1 cup
Cilantro, chopped – ¼ cup

Accompaniments/Optional:
Reduced-fat Cheddar
Reduced-fat sour cream

Procedure:
1. Put 3 cups of the waer and bulgur in a medium microwave-safe bowl. Cover and microwave on high until bulgur is tender, about 13 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large nonstick skillet. Add onion and pepper; saute 5 minutes.

3. Add chili powder, garlic and cumin; saute until fragrant.

4. Add remaining 2 cups water, the tomatoes, pumpkin, zucchini and corn; bring to a boil over medium-high heat.

5. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender.

6. Stir in beans and bulgur; heat through.

7. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro.

My Notes:
My husband loved the chili. The only thing I didn’t like was the flavor of the red pepper. I will be trying it without the red pepper next time.