Dal with Beet Greens

Little Sis aka LS is a funny creature. She is the kind you would like to have at the other table at the fancy restaurant. The kind who will stick her tongue out at you, climb up and down the high chair, throw forks around, throw folks around and make you silently gloat on your own parenting skills. When she starts yelling you can pay your tip and leave.

I cannot leave however. I am the Mother. I have to grab her by the nape while I shovel Pad Thai down mine. I have to constantly remind her that throwing a plate(thankfully it was a copper or some metallic kind) around is not acceptable behavior, that she cannot pull tablecloths or poke ac vents.

People@Home think I am too soft with her. But trust me I am not. Ok, maybe I have lost the steam to discipline since Big Sis aka BS but even then I am not soft. It is just that LS is like that, naughty and funny and always on her toes.

Now BS is the quieter one, she doesn't scold her little sis when LS shouts "My Turn" ever so often, doesn't utter a word when LS takes away her crayons, lets her lick her ice cream and only sometimes complains that LS scratched her arms.

LS never complains. If needed she throws herself on the floor albeit carefully and expresses her anger. She plays mostly with BS's friends and uses her limited English editions of "Hello", "How are You Doing", "No, don't" and "My Turn". After that she just continues in Bengali. She figures her way around them, relying totally on BS for help and ignoring any grown up interference.

A couple months back when we were at Orlando, she shook hands with Mickey and told him a lot of stuff including "Hello", "How are you doing". Unfortunately Mickey did not understand a word. Since then she has a Mickey fixation. So she is the kid you can hear yelling "Mickey", "Mickey" at the library or the mall or anywhere the familiar mouse is visible.

She is the one with parents sporting an embarrassed look.

Next time when you hear a kid in the flight protesting to wear the sea belt, when you see a kid who is practicing target with forks and peas at the restaurant, when you hear a kid whose excited voice drowns the silence in the library please, please DO NOT blame the parents.

Think of LS. Some kids are "like that wonly".

Now to the Dal cooked with a bunch of beet greens. This again is my Ma's dish. Since we usually get a bunch of beet for LS, Ma uses the greens in this Dal and it has become a family favorite. You can work around with the spices and the type of Dal. I have always, always cooked this with only Masoor--Red Lentils but I have a hunch that this will go beautifully with Toor too.


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Dal with Beet Greens

Wash and cook Masoor Dal(Red Lentils) with enough water and little turmeric. I usually do it in the pressure cooker. I had about 4 cups of Cooked Dal. My dal was cooked rather thick, usually it should be more liquid.

Chop the Beet Greens. I had one bunch of it.

Heat 3-4 tsp of Oil in a heavy bottomed pan. Temper the oil with 1 small Bay Leaf, 4 cardamom, 4 clove and 1" thin stick of cinnamon

Add 2 cloves of garlic finely minced, followed soon by almost 1 &1/2 -- 2 cups of chopped onion. Fry the onion till it is soft and translucent.

Add the chopped Beet Greens. Fry the greens till there is no raw smell of the greens. If they tend to stick to the bottom of the pan, sprinkle water and scrape and fry.

Add about 1/4 tsp of Garam Masala powder if you wish and 1 more tsp of oil. Fry for couple more minutes

Now add the cooked dal. Do this gradually, sauteing the dal along with the greens so that they mix thoroughly

Now add water about 3-4 cups of it. Add salt and sugar to taste. Add chili powder to taste. Let the Dal simmer till it comes to a boil. Mix thoroughly. Switch off and squeeze a quarter lime juice into the Dal. Serve with rice or Roti or just by itself.

Dudh diye Lau -- one more Gourd Dish

It has been almost a month since the summer vacations started for BS and as far as I can see it, she is having a blast. For one, she is doing NOTHING on most days. Half of her day is spent at the neighbor's place, the second half of the day little neighbor friend spends at our place. I have no clue what they do other than eating a lot of ice lollies and blowing bubbles.

Then there is the numerous park visits with Dadai, about three parties that involved water slide, sprinklers, pool and such, a New York visit and stay at Times Square, couple of visits to the beach, lots of book reading and football watching, staying up late until 10:30 at night. The days are packed to the brim with nothingness.

To bring some semblance to her day I made up a routine involving some study and stuff for an hour each day. When I call up from work to ask whether she has done her day's quota of writing or math or piano, she says she couldn't as she has been "off schedule". Does that even make sense ?

This whole NOTHINGNESS of summer is so addictive that I wish I had a long summer vacation, a real one where I would do nothing but lick ice lollies and read books and blow bubbles.

I wish...

When I think of summer vacation from those days of childhood long past, I can't remember any single one. My childhood summers have just merged into one another, blended into one colorful blob.

I remember....

...the swing that Baba had hung up on the guava tree, the swing fashioned from a wooden plank and hung on narkele dori(coconut choirs). The friend who got hurt when the wooden plank hit her nose when one of us had jumped off the swing midway. Two days later we continued swinging up high, the friend's nose healed.

...rummaging through the huge black storage trunk, digging up Anandamelas and Enid Blytons, to re read.

...the mustachioed ice cream man with his military hat and shorts shouting "Golden" on Sunday afternoon. We called him Bhagat Singh. The orange ice cream bar that I always bought while Ma insisted that I get a Milk bar.

...the couple of weeks at my Dida's place. The visits to Dakshineshwar Temple and the boat ride to Belur. The coolness at the Birla Planetarium and the happiness browsing books at College Street

...writing pages of Hindi in big letters, trying to fit not more than 3 words a line to finish the summer homework. Writing pages of English, cramming as much in a page to finish the same.

What do you remember from your summer vacation ?

Lauki/Lau or Bottle Gourd is a favorite summer vegetable with the Bengalis. It is supposed to have a cooling effect in the summer heat and so a light lauki sabzi or lau tarkari would pop up ever so often during the summer days. My Ma would cook the simple bottle gourd several ways, each lightly spiced, perfect as a summer side dish.

This particular one cooked with milk, the Dudh diye Lau is slightly on the sweet side and one I have never cooked before. I learned it from Ma while she is here and cooked it this Saturday. It is as I said, light, slightly sweet, perfect as a side dish with rice for a light Summer home lunch. Do not expect an explosion of taste when you eat it, it is humble and meek, perfect for your satwik senses.


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Dudh diye Lau

Peel and Chop a decent sized Bottle Gourd in small cubes

Cook about 4 cups of cubed Bottle Gourd or Lauki without water and a little salt till done. No need to add water as the Bottle Gourd will release a lot of water while cooking.

Mix 1/4 cup of Milk with 1 tbsp of All Purpose Flour/Maida to make a smooth paste. Once the Lauki/Gourd is cooked, add the milk paste and mix gently

Heat 2 tsp of Ghee in a Kadhai

Temper with 1 Bay Leaf, 2 Green Cardamom, 1" thin stick of cinnamon, 2 cracked dry Red chili and 1/2 tsp of whole cumin seeds

When the spices pop, add the cooked gourd and saute for a few minutes. Add salt to taste, add about 1/4-1/2 tsp of sugar. We Bengalis like this dish light and sweet.

Keep cooking till the water has almost dried up and there is almost no gravy except the liquid clinging to the veggie

Now there are three ways to garnish
(a) Garnish with fresh grated coconut
(b) Fry vadi and crumble them on top
(c)Fry a papad and crumble on top just before serving -- This is what I have done

Similar Recipes:

Lau Chingri

Lau Bori

Tetor Dal -- Dal with Bitter Gourd and Bottle Gourd

Your Favorite Kitchen Gadget

I need your help. Honest. Cross my heart.

The very generous people from CSN stores who had sponsored a giveaway at my blog some months back, asked me to review one of their products. Anyone who has been to their site knows what gorgeous products they have.They sell everything from Housewares, Home Decor, vanity to Furniture. Check out their site for their amazing collection.

Now I am a dummy when it comes to Kitchen gadgets. It is my plain ignorance about things that can be bought for the Kitchen, makes me not buy them. All I buy is pretty kitchen things from HomeGoods but they are not gadgets.

I want something that can be plugged, that will whir, make a mean noise and output some amazing result. Actually I don't even know what that sentence means.

To educate myself and maybe some more souls like me, I need your help.

Please tell me in your comment Or on Facebook

What is your favorite kitchen gadget ? It has to be something you own and have used. Also tell me why do you like it so much. If you can remember the brand etc., it is better.

It can be anything from the mortar-pestle, to your favorite wok, to the Kitchen Aid mixer, to the spoon that you lick all day. Ok maybe not the spoon.

Please, pretty please help me here.