Aloo Methi and Methi in my Dal

I am having a choppy time, not physically but mentally. I always knew I was weird but then I thought everyone was in some way or other so that actually made me normal. Once I knew about hormones I was intelligent enough to assign my weirdness to them of course but the hubby thinks that is just taking advantage of the poor things. What does that have to do with blogging you might ask, nothing but it is just that there are days my interests take a dip and I don’t even want to open Blogger and so you don’t see me around. I still cook and eat though because that keeps me happy. Strange thing is I even take pics of all that food and not even download them. Real world friends (unaware of my blog persona) who happen to peek at them on my camera are convinced I am the weirdest.

Anyway, have you had days when you want go out and eat not because you want to eat something fancy or exotic but just because you are tired to whip up a simple homely meal and that is what you want to eat when you go out. You want to have a decent Indian every day meal and that does not mean a cream laden orange hued paneer butter masala paired with naan and a thick menacing Kali Dhaal. There is nothing wrong with these dishes and they have perfect right to be on the menu card but you go to an Indian restaurant (not a South Indian or Udupi restaurant) in one of USA’s 50 states and chances are you will only see variations of this on the menu.

Why can’t they serve phulkas I ask you, why should it always be Naan or Tandoori Roti ? And why can’t they have simple earthly dishes like alu-methi, bhindi bhaji, a simple toor dal flavored with garlic and red chillies along side the rich cousins? Am I the only one who wants to eat these stuff even if I am eating out or there is a market untapped? As it is there is no Bengali restaurant that I can hog at and there aren’t Indian ones that serve simple North Indian meals either, what is wrong with restaurateurs, I say.

Also the South Indian restaurants serve Thali with side dishes which I do not know the names of but taste like something you would have at a normal South Indian home too. Am I right? Are those dishes same as the ones you would cook for a weekly meal or are they typical special dishes too?

Disgusted with the restaurants and deciding to fend for myself I put the bunch of methi leaves from my Indian Grocery store to good use. I made a Aloo Methi ki Sabji and also added some of the methi leaves to my Dal. Served them with Brown rice cooked in water flavored with Cloves and Cardamom.

Aloo Methi

My Aloo Methi recipe is from here with some slight changes.

Finely pluck (a tedious job) and the wash about a bunch of methi or fenugreek leaves. Then chop them up. Peel and cut about 3 potatoes into small cubes. In a Kadhai/Frying Pan heat the ghee/oil. Temper with 1 tsp cumin seeds followed by half a clove of garlic finely chopped. Add the potatoes, salt, ¼ tsp turmeric powder, 3-4 green chilies and cook till the potatoes are cooked. Keep on stirring it so the potatoes do not get brown. After the potatoes are cooked add the methi (fenugreek) leaves and stir. The leaves will wilt in a couple of minutes. Add about ¼ tsp of Red Chilli Powder and ½ tsp of Kasuri Methi. Stir and cook for about 5-6 minutes. Serve hot.

Red Masoor Dal with Methi Leaves

I made a Red Masoor Dal exactly like my previous recipe here. After frying the onions and tomatoes I added the plucked and chopped methi leaves, sautéed for a couple of minutes and continued with the rest of the steps.

Plain Brown Rice

The Brown Rice, was hated by the husband unless it was a Fried rice he made or the Khichdi, but I am not the one to let go. So to make this rice I boil almost 3 times the water and flavor the water with a pinch of salt, Cardamom, Cloves and Bay Leaves. Cook the rice and drain the excess water. Now he likes the taste he says even if so at gun point.

Lastly Thanks Srivalli and Pooja for passing on such nice awards to me. I know, I know I am not doing tags either but I told you I am weird. For all you wonderful bloggers theres this wonderful music video from Shubha Mudgal featuring Nandita Das. And no I didn't make the video or music, I just loved both so sharing it with you guys.

Happy Mothers Day

with Maggi Noodles and a small picnic.

Friday was Mother’s Day Tea at S’s pre-school. It was a rainy and dull morning but that one hour in her school pepped me up. It has been a year since S has been going to this pre-school and she is comfortable there now, I too know most of her class mates and some Moms unlike last year. So it was a happy one hour accompanied with iced tea and munchkins, it was another thing that S devoured 2 of mine. They then gave us the surprises they had made for us.

I knew about the art, but the cute photo frame made of popsicle sticks and stick-ons with a picture of S in the playground was a real surprise.
A day before S had told me, she has a surprise for me at school and she was not supposed to tell me what it is. In the next 5 minutes she had whispered in my ears, that when her teacher asked, “Why she loves her Mommy”
she had said “’Coz Mommy makes good food for me” :-)
She had drawn me and herself going to the restaurant and eating noodles that apparently I had cooked. Huh ? This girl doesn't want to miss out on the restaurant inspite of Mom's cooking, maybe she likes to have a backup plan.

Today morning, I was expecting a Mothers Day breakfast but I woke up hungry at 6 in the morning and since everyone else was deep asleep I went downstairs, had a bowl of cereal and then came back and promptly went to sleep again.

D and little S let me sleep in late and by the time I freshened up and went downstairs I was expecting a la-di-da breakfast with flowers and what not. There was nothing in view. In fact there was no one in view. Father-daughter were in the basement, the kitchen was bare and no trace of breakfast having cooked could be seen. This soured me considerably and I grumpily sat down with my tea.

Later when D came up and wished me and asked me why I was grumpy, I pointedly asked him that wasn’t he supposed to make me breakfast
“But you already had cereal and we were going to go out for lunch, why do you need breakfast again?”, he asked
“Because it is Mothers Day”, I said, better to make it clear since men are thick in the head and I had no intention of sulking over this the whole day.
“Of course you don’t need that much food” he insisted.
Good that he made up for it by getting me Jhumpa Lahiri’s Unaccustomed Earth, else I might have bashed his head.

Little S then wanted to go to the park and I didn’t want to go to a crowded restaurant either so we decided on an impromptu picnic. Since there was hardly any time in hand, I made Maggi Noodles with eggs and some veggies, a favorite in our home like Nupur’s and D made some sandwiches with fish sticks, cucumber and mustard and off we went to the nearest state park where the day turned out to be apparently cold and chilly.

S had fun and I always like a green view better than anything, so it was not all that bad and a nice way to spend a lazy Sunday

How I Make Maggi Noodles

Boil the Noodles according to the package direction. Do not add the spices/seasoning in the packet. Drain the noodles and wash off the starch in cold water and toss with a little olive Oil
In a pan, heat Olive oil, add sliced onions and fry till pink. Add chopped tomatoes and sauté till soft. Add an egg and stir to scramble it. Add veggies (carrots, peas, beans or whatever you have, which have been steamed) to this.Add chopped green chillies if your kid is ok with it.
Sauté for a couple of minutes and add half of the Masala/seasoning that comes in the packet. Add salt and the Maggi Noodles.
Mix well and serve with Ketchup.
This serves as a good lunch to be packed for kids too

Soya Peas Pulao on a PlayDay

Little S’s friend was to come over after school to spend an evening with her. They are in the same pre-school and same class and I do not understand their need to spend still more time after school together. Both of them had been pestering me about visiting each other’s home for some time now and finally I called up her Mom and we decided to do it once a week.

The weather having turned a beautiful warm a week back, I had planned to take them to the park in the afternoon and let them run free. But come the day of the meet and it was chilly, so the poor kids & of course poor me, had to be stuck inside the house. They played on their own though and didn’t bother me except for occasional call for snacks. Four year olds can be angels if they want.

Now this little friend speaks Kannada(language spoken by natives of Karnataka a state in Sothern India) at home and last time she was visiting, she had asked for Rice & Tuppa for dinner. Of course I didn’t understand and had plied her with Rice, dal, vegetables and yogurt. Only later did her mom tell me that she loves rice & ghee and that is what she had wanted.

This time I tried to play safe and asked Little S what her friend liked to eat. The morning of the their play-day she declared “Friend S likes Pulao”

So be it I thought, easy for me and convenient for the kids to eat too. I decided on a Soya Peas Pulao with soya granules instead of the chunks. I loosely followed Tarla Dalal's recipe. Since Friend S was a eggatarian, I served it with boiled eggs which were lightly fried to a golden yellow. This was a complete meal delicious, protein rich and yet very easy. Served with a bowl of plain yogurt on the side, there was little more the kids will ask for. Ideal to be packed for a school lunch also.

Little S finished of her plate happily while I had to force friend S to eat, though she said she liked it. Friend S turned out to be unfamiliar with boiled eggs though and was pretty much taken by the egg white, hated yolk. She likes omlettes, more homework to be done next time.

When little friend S's Mom came to pick her up, she brought me some steaming Upma from her kitchen, now this kind of play days I like.

Soy Peas Pulao

What You Need

Uncooked Rice ~ 1 cup
Soya granules ~ ¼ cup of Nutrela Soya Granules(Note: Next time I am going to up this amount)
Green peas (fresh or frozen) ~ ¼ cup

For tempering

Cumin seeds (jeera) ~ ½ teaspoon
Cinnamon (dalchini) ~ 1/2" stick
Cloves (lavang) ~ 2
Bay leaf ~ 1
Cardamom (elaichi) ~ 2

For masala

Onions ~ ½ cup chopped
Tomatoes ~ ½ cup chopped
Ginger ~ ½ “ grated


Turmeric powder (haldi) ~ ¼ teaspoon

Garam masala ~ ¼ teaspoon
Coriander (dhania) powder ~ ½ tsp (You can use 1 tsp of this, but I kept it low)
Fennel (saunf) Powder ~ ¼ tsp

Oil ~ to cook
Ghee ~ ½ - 1 tsp to smear the rice (optional)
salt to taste

To be ground into a chilli-garlic paste – I did not use this since the pulao was intended for kids

3 cloves garlic
3 whole red chillies


How I Did It

Wash the rice and soak it for 10-30 minutes. Drain the rice after this and smear with ½ tsp of ghee.

Heat Oil in a Frying Pan

Flavor the oil with Bay leaves, whole cardamom, and cinnamon stick

Add ½ tsp of whole cumin seed

When the seeds crackle, add the onions and sauté till the onions turn golden brown.
If you are using chilli-garlic paste add it now

Add finely chopped tomatoes and sauté till they are soft

Add the green peas and soya granules and sauté for a minute

Add the turmeric powder, garam masala, coriander powder, fennel powder and salt and sauté for another couple of minutes

Add the Rice now and mix well with the masala. Sauté for 2 more minutes and add about 2 cups of water and cover and cook. If using a pressure cooker add 2 cups of hot water and pressure cook for 2 whistles


If not using a pressure cooker, check occasionally to see if rice is done. If not and water has dried up add a little more water (very little about ¼ cup might be needed) and cook till rice is done.

You can serve with boiled eggs, which I fried to a golden yellow because Little S likes the color. Also a bowl of yogurt on the side completed the meal.

Note: for younger kids you need to fish out the whole garam masala like cardamom, bay leaf, clove and cinnamon stick before serving

Other Recipes with Soya Granules:

Egg Paratha with Soya Stuffing

A recipe that could use soya granules or chunks:

Daliya Pulao


Reading List: Thanks for all of your inputs and enriching my reading list. I recently read Chitra Banerjee Divakurani's Palace Of Illusions, a feminist interpretation of the epic Mahabharata. I also read Cold sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns. Enjoyed both the books. I am currently reading Anne Tyler's Digging To America. I had read her Breathing Lessons earlier, but had totally forgotten about her, thanks to RLM for the suggestion. Sadly the library didn't carry "Tales from FirozSha Baag" by Mistry