“This is the ultimate comfort food, the Indian version of cottage pie, loved by everyone young and old, easily digestible highly nutritious, easy and economical to prepare, who could ask for more. My late father used to prepare this for me and I found this recipe in his handwritten cookbook, I hope you feel the love when you prepare it too.”

Ingredients

• 1 Cup split moong beans
• 1 cup of white basmati rice
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp of cumin seeds/ toasted in a dry frying pan for 3-4 mins
• 5 black peppercorns
• Sea salt to taste
• 2 tbs ghee (clarified butter)

Kadhi (sauce)

• 1.5 cups low fat yoghurt
• 3 tbs gram flour
• 15g jaggery
• 2 tsp ghee
• 1 de seeded finely chopped green pepper
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 5 curry leaves

Method

1. Cover the moong beans and the rice with water and soak for 45 mins.
2. Rinse the beans and the rice and add the spices and salt cover with water so that there is 2cm of water above the grains.
3. Bring to boil then turn the heat down to a simmer and cover. Cook on a low heat for approximately 10 mins, when holes appear in the rice and water is evaporated the rice is cooked.
4. Add the ghee stir through and serve.

To prepare the Kadhi

1. Combine the yoghurt and the gram flour with 3.5 cups of water and blend in the blender or use a hand whisk until completely smooth, add the crushed ginger and de- seeded chilli pepper, sugar and 1tsp sea salt, mix well.
2. Place in a saucepan and heat stirring continuously until the mixture boils. Remove from the heat and keep aside.
3. Heat the ghee in a pan add the crushed ginger and seeds when they start to crackle add the curry leaves and green chilli and mix well, remove from the heat and immediately pour over the pre-made kadhi.

Portion out the khichdi and and pour over the kadhi and enjoy super yum yum yum! Serve with papad.

Ingredients

• 1 cup toor dal (soaked for 2-3 hours or overnight in water)
• Small handful curry leaves (optional)
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp chopped green chillies
• 1/2 tsp ajwain seeds
• 1/4 tsp asafoetida
• 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
• 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• Small handful fresh coriander, chopped

Method

1. Drain the soaked toor dal and place in a blender with the curry leaves, salt and chopped green chillies, then grind into a smooth paste.
2. Place into a bowl and add the rest of the ingredients. Heat enough oil in a pan for deep frying and keep on a low to medium heat.
3. Add a drop of the mix into the oil to check that it sizzles, remove this and add balls of the mixture into the oil. Fry for a good few minutes till golden brown.
4. Use a slotted spoon to take out the bhajiyas and place on a dish with kitchen towel to soak up the oil. Serve hot with fresh coriander on top and ketchup / coriander chutney.

Note: These bhajiyas go nice and crispy on the outside but you can also add chopped onions into the mixture for more texture. They also well in a flat bread with salad and chutneys – oh the joys of bhajiya!

This recipe was shared by Arushi Patel as part of her childhood memory of dal.

Photo courtesy Arushi Patel

Cook, teacher, writer and food producer Bini Ludlow first learnt traditional Gujarati cooking from her mother at home in Bradford at the age of eight. We’re delighted that she’s shared her mum’s recipe for ondhwa, a vegetable cake of dal, as well as her first memories of eating dal.

Ingredients

• 200g Ondhwa flour (a blend of lentil and rice flour)
• 500ml Natural Yoghurt (sour is best)
• 380g Carrots (peeled weight)
• 360g Potatoes (peeled weight)
• 130g Frozen Peas (optional)
• 225g Onions
• 170g Spinach
• 30g Ginger peeled
• 20g Garlic – unpeeled
• 60g Coriander chopped
• 50g Fresh Fenugreek Leaves (Methi)
• 1 fresh green finger chilli

Dry ingredients to be put onto a small plate:

• 4tsp Sugar
• 3tsp Salt
• ¼ tsp Turmeric
• 8g Chilli powder
• ¾ – 1 tsp Bicarbonate Soda

Vagar ( tempering the oil)

• 3 tbsp vegetable oil
• 3 tsp Mustard seeds
• 3 tsp Sesame Seeds

Method

1. Place the Ondhwa flour and yoghurt into a large glass bowl and mix well. Cover and set aside for four hours.
2. Slice the onion – leave aside.
3. Roughly chop the carrots.
4. Rinse the peas using warm water to help defrost them (optional).
5. Wash and roughly chop the spinach, fenugreek leaves and coriander.
6. Remove stalk from the green chilli, wash in cold water and chop up finely. Avoid touching your eyes when handling chillies and wash your hands thoroughly afterwards. Peel and chop the ginger and garlic.
7. Blitz the vegetables, coriander, methi (not the onion), garlic and ginger until it is coarsely chopped.
8. Add to the Ondhwa mixture. Now add the sliced onion, sugar, salt, turmeric, chilli powder and bicarbonate of soda. Mix thoroughly.
9. Transfer into a 10cm x 10cm oiled baking tin.
10. In a saucepan add 1.5 tbsp oil and turn the heat on to a medium flame. When hot, add the mustard seeds and allow them to pop, then the sesame seeds. Cook for around 15 seconds, allowing them to turn light brown in the oil. Using a spoon, add the spiced oil onto the Ondhwa and stir well. Flatten the top. Finally, repeat tempering the oil with the mustard seeds and sesame seeds and pour the oil evenly over the surface.
11. Cook in the middle of the oven for 55 minutes on 160-180ºC on a fan assisted setting, until a golden crust is formed and the cake is cooked through.

This dish is best eaten hot but is also delicious cold with a cup of tea.

This recipe was contributed by Bini Ludlow. Find details of Bini’s cookery courses at http://www.sweetcumin.co.uk