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

Beet greens are versatile like spinach, it can be used in so many different ways. Yesterday I tried it in the traditional “Mor Kootu” recipe. “Mor” is the Tamil word for Buttermilk and Kootu or Koottu refers to a dish with stew like consistency. Koottu can either be prepared with a combination of vegetables and lentils (like toor daal, channa daal or moong dasl) or without any lentils. This Mor Kootu falls in the latter category.

Beet greens are cooked well and mixed together with a spicy yogurt/curd sauce. It is served as an accompaniment for rice and is also a very good side dish for Adai. Mor Kootu is generally prepared using any greens, chow chow (chayote squash), green cabbage.

I’m submitting this to Sunshine Mom’s FIC – Green event.

My grandmother used to prepare a sambar using methi (fenugreek leaves) leaves called “Pulla Keera” meaning tangy greens. It requires little more tamarind than the regular sambar and a tempering of mustard seeds, fenugreek (methi seeds) and green chillies which gives this side dish an unique flavor. Toor daal rice mixed with ghee, spicy potato roast and this sambar is simply a heavenly combination.

I had a bunch of beets with the greens. So I decided to prepare the sambar using beet greens instead of methi. The beet leaves sambar tasted very good and comforting. Grandmothers’ recipes are always versatile and foolproof.

When Jayasree posted Cornmeal Kozhukattais, I had to try it out because I always like the idea of using American ingredients in our Indian cooking. (Example: Zucchini Daal, Grits Pongal, Grits Adai).  I had bought cornmeal to prepare bread, but somehow did not even get close to finding an eggless cornmeal bread recipe. 

I tried the recipe with 1 cup of yellow cornmeal, which is available in the baking aisle in the US.  I got 12 dumplings for this measurement.  Next time I’ll be sure to use another cup of cornmeal, because it was so tasty.  Thank you very much for the recipe Jayasree, your recipe rocks!

Dear JZ of Tasty Treats had passed me the Friendship Award a couple of days back.   Somehow I lost track of it.  I’m very sorry JZ.  Thank you for passing me the award.  I extend my frienship to all my food blogging buddies.

Usually I add little sugar to the cooked beet water and give it to my son as juice. This time my mother gave the idea of preparing Rasam (Chaaru) using it. Back in India, my grandmother and mother used to prepare Goddu Chaaru, which does not require toor daal, rasam powder. It’s prepared when you want rasam immediately, or when you are not cooking daal that day. As simple as it may look, it’s very tasty though. I had some toor daal water so I used it in the rasam, but it’s not at all necessary for this rasam.

Ingredients
Beets cooked water
Tamarind – 2 teaspoons or sour tomatoes (I used 2 tablespoons of crushed tomatoes)
Salt
Turmeric powder – 1/2 teaspoon
Ghee – 1/2 tablespoon
Red Chillies – 1 (or as per your taste)
Mustard Seeds
Cumin – 1 teaspoon
Garlic cloves – 2

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

Ever since I came to know that beet greens were edible and prepared Beet Greens Daal, I have wanted to use it more often. Recently I prepared usili using beet greens and beets. Initially I thought of using beet greens alone, but once I cooked it, the quantity was very less, so proceeded using the beets also. I increased the quantity of chillies while grinding the daals, to offset the sweetness of the beets. This was the first time I was preparing beet usili and we all totally loved it.

Ingredients
Oil – 1 tablespoon
Mustard seeds
Urad Daal – 1 teaspoon
Channa Daal – 1 teaspoon
Beet Greens – 1 Bunch
Beets, small – 5
Usili – as required (procedure to prepare usili in My Notes)

My Notes
Half a cup of daal is enough for a family of 3. But I soak 1 cup of daal and prepare the usal as always and use it 2 days. Prepare the usili as per the instructions. Use as much as required and freeze the rest in a ziploc bag. When you want to use it, empty the contents in a microwave safe vessel and either defrost it or cook for a minute and fresh usili is ready.

How to prepare Usili?

Ingredients:
Channa Daal – 1/2 cup
Toor Daal – 1/4 cup
Masoor Daal – 1/4 cup
Green Chillies – 1 (or as per your taste)
Red Chillies – 2 (or as per your taste)
Hing – 1 teaspoon

Procedure:
1. Soak the daals and chillies in water for atleast an hour. (I usually soak it the previous night itself before going to bed.)

2. Now grind the above, adding salt and hing.

3. Grease 2 idli plates and divide the mixture among the 8 moulds.

4. Steam it, as you would do for idlis, maybe couple more extra minutes. A knife/toothpick inserted should come out clean.

5. Once it is done, remove the daal idlis, cut them into small pieces, keep it in a plate, cover it with plastic wrap and keep it in freezer for 10 minutes. (Don’t forget that you have kept it in the freezer, then it will become rock hard)

6. After removing from the freezer, place the contents either in a blender or a food processor and powder it. The texture will be so good, if this method is followed. (Now you would understand why I have mentioned to keep it in the freezer. If it is ground as soon as it is steamed, it will have a lot of lumps)

7. This powder can either be used on the same day itself with vegetables of your choice (beans, carrots or a combo of both, in my case even beets) or it can be freezed for later use, so that you can have usili on a busy work day too.

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

When I first came to know about the Jhiva for Love event, I couldn’t think of anybody other than my mother and grandmother.  Amma I love you very much, but I’m going to write about avva (grandmother) here.  She is my father’s mother.  She passed away last June at the age of 79.  Last year this time, I was happily describing to her about the spring blossoms here, my son’s mischiefs and she was also eagerly listening to me as always.  I still can’t believe that she is no more. It aches to write about her in past tense.

She was not orthodox and she was definitely broad minded and courageous, surprisingly for a person who was born in 1928.  The only difference we had, she was very protective of me and wouldn’t allow me to go out with my friends and do the regular cool stuff.  Her rule was I shouldn’t go out anywhere but all my friends, both girls and boys were welcome to our house anytime.  During the early years of my adoloscence this was really frustrating.  You know how it’s like right?  All your friends would go out for a movie, except you.  The next day they would discuss the previous day’s happenings in detail and you will be left alone without nothing to talk.  But I did have company, one of my friend’s grandparents also wouldn’t allow her anywhere, so we formed a mini group within our big group and we became very close.

When I mention about my grandmother, I should definitely mention about her contemporary fashion sense.  Nobody can imagine how many dresses she used to get me, both sarees and churidhars.  She used to buy 2-4 sets at a time.  95% of the sarees I have now were bought by her.  She had such an excellent taste.  She used to select sarees for my mother too and nobody would believe that it was selected by her.  Recently she had also started giving hair cuts for my mother,  to her colleagues disbelief.  They would ask her which beauty parlor?

How can I forget to mention how skilled she was in handicrafts?  She used to do a lot of embroidery.  That’s how I managed to pass the needle work subject in my school.  I was too lazy to do it and she would do it for me.  She loved working with different kinds of beads and has created masterpieces.  She used to get all worked up one month before Navarathiri (Dassera) and would start planning and creating things to keep a grand golu.  She was so creative. I definitely owe her for the little bit of creativity I have.  Did I mention that she was a very good packer?  It’s no joke, she can pack so efficiently,  whether it was a small suitcase for a two days journey or any other big stuff for that matter.

Although I wish she could have lived for some more time to see my son speak fluently and converse with him, I’m happy that she had a peaceful death.  I’m really fortunate to have had a grandmother like her.  Not only that I’m also proud of my mother for being with my grandmother (her mother-in-law) all these years.  My grandmother was really fortunate to have had a daughter-in-law like her.

When I write about my relationship with my grandmother, I can’t deny the fact that we (my husband and myself), are not giving that chance to my son and his grandmothers (my mother and mother-in-law).  My husband has also had his share of living with his grandparents and he cherishes those memories.  I really feel very bad about not being able to give my son that experience.   

My grandmother was also an excellent cook.  I think I have her cooking DNA in me, to some extent.  I last tasted her cooking back in 2006, when she was 78. It had not changed at all.  Her kootu (dal), sambar and koora (vegetable curry) tasted exactly the same as they tasted 20 years back.  She was especially a master in preparing sweets like lavanga latha, padhir peni and other elaborate Diwali snacks.

Out of all her recipes, 3 of them stand out, because they are simple yet tasty and unique.  It’s the fire roasted tomato chutney, spring onion (scallion) and mung dal side dish for chapathis and spring onion pakoras.  I would like to share the tomato chutney recipe here because it has become my husband’s favorite too.  This chutney is a very good accompaniment for dosas and idlis.

Ingredients:
Tomatoes medium size 2-3 nos./half a can of fire roasted tomatoes.
Urad dal 2 tablespoons
Channa dal 2 tablespoons
Red chilly 1 big
Salt 1/4 teaspoon
Tamarind very little (optional)
Oil 2 teaspoons to roast the dals (preferably sesame oil)

For Tempering:
Oil 1 teaspoon (preferably sesame oil)
Mustard seeds 1 teaspoon

Procedure:
1. If you have a gas stove, roast the tomatoes over the flame directly until the skin turns black and it starts to peel. It is going to be a little messy only. Then peel off the skin and cut the tomatoes and let it cool down.  If you have an electric range like me or not interested in roasting the tomatoes over flame, you can use the canned fire roasted tomatoes instead.  I got Hunter’s brand Fire roasted tomatoes diced with garlic (14.5 oz/411 gms).  In this case empty the contents of the can in a colander and drain the liquid and reserve the liquid for later use, for making rasam etc. Half a can of tomatoes is enough for the above measurement of dals.  Try to remove as much liquid as possible.

2. Meanwhile in a small saucepan add oil and after it heats add the dals and red chilly and fry until golden brown.  Transfer it to a plate and let it cool. If you use raw tamarind you can fry it with the dals.  I do not use tamarind while preparing the chutney.

3. After the dals cool, put the contents in a small mixer and pulse it a few times to get a coarse powder.  It should not be ground fine.  It should be like Idli Milagai Podi.

4. Now add the tomatoes and blend it 2-3 times until the dals and tomatoes mix together to form a chutney consistency. You can add little water at this stage if required.

5. Add another teaspoon of oil, after it heats add the mustard seeds and pour it over the chutney and mix it well.

6. Serve it with hot idlis or dosas and enjoy!

This is my entry to Pratibha and Pritya’s Jhiva for Love Event.