Rajma Chawal / Kidney Beans Curry and Rice

This is a North Indian classic dish made with rajma/kidney beans and rice. Steaming rajma curry served over plain white rice is rich in iron and protein from the kidney beans and carbohydrates from the rice and makes a wholesome satisfying meal.

Ingredients
Rajma/Kidney Beans - 1 cup (soaked overnight or atleast for 5 hours)
Onion - 1/2 medium sized
Tomato - 1
Green chillies - 3
Ginger - 1 inch finely chopped
Garam masala - 1 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Cumin powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Coriander powder - 1 teaspoon
Cumin seeds/Jeera - 1 teaspoon
Oil - 1 spoon
Salt to taste
Cilantro/Coriander for garnish

Instructions
Soak the rajma in water overnight or atleast for 5 hours.
Drain the water and pressure cook with water until 4 whistles until the rajma turns soft and completely cooked. Alternatively, instead of using a pressure cooker, the beans can also be cooked in a stockpot with a lid for 30 to 35 minutes until the beans turn soft and tender.
In a wide saucepan/kadai, heat the oil and add the cumin seeds. once they start spluttering, add the chopped ginger and garlic and saute until the onions turn translucent.
Add in the chopped tomatoes and saute for a minute until the tomatoes turn tender.
Add the turmeric powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, garam masala and salt and mix well. Cook for a minute.
Finally add the cooked rajma/kidney beans and a cup of water.
Cover and cook on low heat for about five minutes until all the flavors blend together.
Remove from heat and garnish with cilantro.
Serve over cooked rice.

Falafel-Pita Sandwich

Summer is ideal for picnics! Beaches, parks, riverbanks, trails, campsites are ideal for picnics. Picnics would never be complete without food and snacking! I have chosen the theme - Picnic Food for my blogging marathon this week. Yes, I will be continuously be posting recipes everyday for a week all revolving around the theme Picnic Food!

Food taken for picnics are dishes that taste great even when served cold, spill-proof and great eaten without the use of much cutlery. This falafel-pita sandwich is great for such situations. they can be made ahead and wrapped in plastic or foils and makes great picnic food. The falafels can also be prepared individually and then sandwiches can be assembled with the pita bread and the sauce just before eating.

Here is a simple and easy recipe for making great falafel-pita sandwiches. I have used hummus and greek yogurt as the sauce in this sandwich. Any kind of sauce can be used. I bought most ingredients from the grocery store except for the falafels which I made at home.

I used the kuzhipaniyaram pan to make the falafels more healthy with less oil. Falafels are traditionally deep fried. I have also tried baking the falafels. But we loved this version better.

Ingredients (makes 4 sandwiches)
For the falafel
Dried garbanzo beans - 1 cup/16 oz. can of chickpeas
Onion - 1 medium sized
Garlic cloves - 2
Fresh parsley/coriander leaves - 2 tablespoons chopped
Coriander powder - 1 teaspoon
Cumin powder - 1 teaspoon
Chilli powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Salt to taste

For the sandwich
Falafels - 8
Pita bread - 2
Cherry tomatoes - 12 (or) Regular tomatoes - 2
Onion - 1/2 cup chopped (optional)
Cucumber - 1
Greek yogurt - 4 tablespoons
Hummus - 4 tablespoons

Directions
To make the falafels
Soak the garbanzo beans overnight or atleast for 5 to 6 hours. Drain the chickpeas and pressure cook for about 10 minutes. If using canned garbanzo beans, you can skip the above step.
In a blender add the cooked and drained chickpeas along with all the ingredients listed under falafel and grind to a coarse mixture.
If using the kuzhipaniyaram pan, drizzle a little oil in each hole and place a lemon sized ball of the falafel mixture. Slightly press with the back of a spatula.

Cook on low heat for about two minutes on each side. Do not cook on high heat, because the outsides might brown too quickly and the inside might remain uncooked. Remove the falafels once cooked and allow it to cool. You can make these falafels ahead and refrigerate or freeze leftovers for future use. The falafels stay good in the freezer atleast for a month.

Alternatively, you can also make the falafels by deep-frying or baking them.

To assemble the sandwich
Take a pita bread and slice it into two equal pieces. You can toast the pita on a pan for a minute. this step is optional.

Open the pita pocket carefully, and smear one tablespoon each of the greek yogurt and hummus. Place two falafels in each sandwich. Top with your favorite toppings - cherry tomatoes, sliced onions, sliced cucumbers, coriander, parsley etc. You can also use tzatziki or tahini sauce as toppings.

Enjoy your falafel-pita sandwich!

Brown Rice Adai

After reading about all the benefits of brown rice lately, I picked a pack of brown rice during one of our weekly grocery shopping. As usual it was ignored in my kitchen. I have hoarded a lots of stuff similar to this - oat bran, wheat bran, steel cut oats, flax seed, flax seed meal, almond butter, chia seeds are some of them. I get all these healthy ingredients when I read all the health benefits, try them in any one recipe and then just hoard them. I was trying to clean my kitchen, fridge and freezer and I was just amazed to look at the huge list of ingredients I have stashed in there. In an attempt to finish up all those ingredients, I started with this brown rice adai. Any suggestions for dishes made with the above ingredients are welcome!!

The brown rice adai sure turned out delicious and it made a great weeknight meal. I soaked the pulses and rice in the afternoon and the adais were whipped up in a matter of minutes. I used sprouted moong dal which I had on hand. This can be replaced with regular moong dal or any other beans. There is no need to ferment the batter. The adai can be made immediately after grinding. I served them along with some onion chutney.

Ingredients
Brown rice - 1 cup
Toor dal - 1/2 cup
Sprouted moong - 1/2 cup
Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon
Coriander leaves
Asafoetida/Hing - 1/2 teaspoon
Ginger - 1/2 inch
Dried red chillies - 2
Few curry leaves
Salt to taste

Directions
Soak the pulses and the brown rice together for atleast 2-3 hours.

Drain the water. Combine together all the ingredients in a blender and grind to a smooth batter. Add little water if required. the batter should be of pourable consistency.

To make the adai, heat a dosa pan, and add a ladle of batter in the center and then spread in circles with the help of the back of the ladle as you would make dosas.

Drizzle a teaspoon of oil. After a minute, flip the adai and allow the other side to cook. Remove from the pan and serve the crispy adais with a chutney of your choice.

Sending this to WWC Brown rice for Dinner hosted by Siri.

MLLA#28 Roundup and the winner!

It was a pleasure hosting October's edition of My Legume Love Affair# 28! Thank you Susan for giving me the opportunity to host it. It was raining legumes in my inbox! I received a lot of amazing entries and I have tried my best to put them all together in the following roundup..

We also have a winner here!! Susan has offered to reward the winner with a cookbook from Amazon US and a Hurst Bean Box.. Scroll down to the end of the roundup to view the winner!

This month's MLLA# 29 is being hosted by Lisa of Lisa's Vegetarian Kitchen..

Susan - Indian Spiced Tamarind Cooler
Divya Vikram - Rajma Paratha/ Kidney Bean stuffed Indian Flatbread

Lisa - Chickpea and tomato salad with chat masala
Divya Anil - Cherupayar Puzhukku

Janet - Japanese Tomato Tofu Caprese Salad
Anu Menon - Palak Kadhi

Divya Anil - Cherupayar Papaya Thoran
Akheela - Fried lentil dumplings (vada) in yogurt sauce

Sunitha Bala - Balti Fish Curry
Amritha Kalyani - Horsegram soup

Sunitha Bala - Carrot Kofta Curry
Sunitha Bala - Chickpea Curry

Megha - Punjabi Chole
Simona - Fagiolata Con Salamelle

Nisha - Lauki wali toor dal
Padhu - Peanut Sundal

Matt Huntley - Pumpkin White Bean Stew
Shobana - Boiled Masala Peanuts

Sowmya - Chickpea Fry
Megha - Black eyed beans curry

Shruthi - Thappadbillalu
Simona - Macco di fave / Fava bean purée
Harini - Jaya - Valor Lilva Kurma

Sharmilee - Channa Masala
Christine - Spicy Bean Sprouts Salad
Soma - Aloo Mattar

Janet - Yam, Zucchini and Chickpea Salad
Megha - Japanese Tofu Salad

Vanessa - Calcutta's Ghugni Chickpeas curry
Valerie - Bean 'n Kale Salad

Janet - Roasted Tomato and Lentil Salad with a Caramelized Sherry Vinaigrette
Janet - Brazilian Black Bean Stew with Portobello Mushrooms (Portobello Feijoada)
Santosh Bangar - Khandvi
Santosh Bangar - Dry Peas Tikki
Nithya - Channa Pulao

PJ - Falafel and Wrap
Supriya - Fifteen bean chilli

Claire - Veggie Loaf
Janet - Brazilian Black Bean Stew with Portobello Mushrooms (Portobello Feijoada)

Rachel - Poblano White Chilli
Sanghi - Pakoda Potato Kuruma

Christine - Soya nuggets and green peas pulao
Christine - Soya nuggets with green peas

Priyanka - Soya Nuggets Curry
Santosh Bangar - Spinach Chickpeas curry

Denise - Punjabi Kadhi Pakoda
Denise - Pasta in roasted redpepper hummus sauce

Nithu Bala - Peas Masala
Denise - Acaraje


And the winner I chose using a random number generator is Simona! Congrats! Simona, I shall forward your email address to Susan and she will contact you regarding the prize..

Thanks for participating friends. I have included all the entries I received to the best of my ability. If I have missed any, please let me know and I shall include it ASAP.