Kheema Masoor dal Pulao with Cucumber Raita

A decade or so ago I was visiting my brother in Dubai. Those were the carefree days. I was newly married and was on my way to the US to join my husband and to start a new journey together with him.

My sister in law,who is also an excellent cook, was treating me to all types of delicious food including introducing me to the Arab/Middle eastern food that I had never eaten before. I was having a blast trying the shawarma, falafels, hummus, arrayes etc. One evening her neighbor sent us this amazing dish called Kheema Masoor Dal Pulao. I loved the dish and had to have the recipe.

The Kheema(Mince meat) was cooked in tomatoes with masoor dal and potatoes. The rice also had masoor dal in it. I had never eaten rice with mince meat before, and the lovely combination took me by surprise. Rice, masoor dal, potatoes and the mince meat cooked with tomatoes was perfect along with cool cucumber raita. It is like lasagne, the rice is like the pasta and the mince meat is the filling and it is assembled and cooked in layers. Make this dish and your family will ask for more!

Ingredients:

For the Rice:

• 3/4 cup Whole Masoor Dal/Puy lentils(the ones that have a green brown skin - not the split red ones)
  
• 2 cups Rice
• 2 tbsp Vinegar
  
• 6 cups Water
• Salt to taste

For the Mince Meat:

• 2 tsp Oil
  
• 3-4 Cardamom
  
• 2 2" Cinnamon Sticks
• 1 Bay Leaf
  
• 4 Cloves
• 3/4 cup Masoor Dal
  
• 1 tsp Peppercorns
  
• 2 Onions chopped
  
• 3 Potatoes cut into quarters
  
• 4-5 Green chilies (+/-)
• 1/2 tsp Ginger garlic paste
• 4 Tomatoes chopped
  
• 450 gms Mince meat
  
• 2-3 tsp Roasted coriander powder
  
• 1/2 tsp Chili powder
  
• 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
  
• 1/4 cup Yogurt
• Salt to taste

Method:

For the Rice:

Wash and soak the masoor dal for half an hour to one hour before cooking. Wash and soak the rice for half an hour or so. In a vessel boil 6 cups of water for the rice. Season with salt. Put in the drained masoor dal and cook for 15 minutes or so. Add the vinegar and put the rice. Cook the rice till the rice plumps up and the grain has a b

ite to it. The rice should NOT be completely cooked. Drain the rice and keep aside.

For the Kheema (Mince Meat):

In a pot, pour the oil, when hot add the cardamom, cinnamon, bay leaf, peppercorns and cloves. When it pops add the chopped onions, saute the onions till translucent. Add the chilies, ginger garlic paste and potatoes and saute till the potatoes have cooked a bit and browned on all sides, around 10-15 minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes and saute till the oil separates from the tomatoes. Add the drained masoor dal and kheema (Mince Meat). Add the chili, turmeric and roasted coriander powder and salt to taste. Saute for a few seconds before adding the beaten yogurt and cook till the potatoes are cooked through and the kheema is cooked and the mixture is dry.

Note: Both the rice and kheema can be made a day ahead and assemble the day after. This is a good dish if you are having guest over.

Assembling the dish:

• 1 tbsp Oil
  
• Few pinches of Garam Masala powder
  
• Few Strands of Saffron
  
• Birrista(2 Medium size fried onions)
  

In a non stick pot, add the oil. Put a layer of the cooked masoor dal rice. Sprinkle the rice with few pinches of garam masala powder, saffron and birrista.

Cover the rice with some of the kheema to form a second layer. Continue with the rice and the garam masala, saffron and birrista. Continue layering till all the kheema and rice is used.

Cover the dish with aluminum foil and tightly close the lid. Cook the rice on a low flame for around 15 -20 minutes or till when you open the lid, the steam comes out of the rice and you can smell the fantastic aroma of the saffron, rice and mince meat. Serve hot with cucumber raita (recipe follows).

Cucumber Raita:

1 1/2 cup Yogurt beaten

1 Medium size cucumber grated or finely chopped

Few coriander leaves chopped

1/4 tsp Jeera(cumin) powder

Salt to taste.

To the beaten yogurt add rest of the ingredients. Mix well. Serve garnished with some fresh chopped coriander and a pinch of jeera powder.

Coconut dal okra curry

My husband is the kind who says that he likes simple food. The reality is that it's very hard to please him, as he is a real fusspot. He is more of a vegetarian than a non-vegetarian; he doesn’t like Indian non-vegetarian food, as we tend to boil the meat. But he loves a big piece of steak – medium rare (now, isn’t he weird for an Indian).

In his house, there was (rather still is) always a big pot of Sambar especially for him. If I serve my husband Sambar 365 days a year, he will be the happiest person in this world. After we got married, we continued this 'tradition' of having Sambar every day. Needless to say, it wasn't long - two days - before I was sick of having Sambar. It took a little work, but I've weened him off Sambar. Now, especially on weekends, I try to cook something different, although vegetarian. The base of the curries that I cook on weekends are usually experiments with different kinds of dal (lentils).

Today, I came across this Okra curry recipe from Flavours of the spice coast by Mrs K.M. Mattew. Okra is one of my favorite vegetables. I love it as a suki (dry) sabji with chapatti (an Indian bread). I also love it fried till it’s crispy. The original recipe by Mrs K.M. Mattew is Okra in coconut milk gravy; the only change I made to the recipe was I added Toor dal to it. The dal gives the curry some texture and thickness, which is great on a mountain of rice.


Ingredients.

• 1 tsp coriander powder
• ¼ tsp chili powder
• ¼ tsp turmeric powder
• ¼ tsp pepper powder
• ¼ tsp aniseed powder
• ¼ tsp garam masala
• 2 tbsp oil
• 2 cups okra (washed, dried with a paper towel, cut the top and bottom)
• ¼ cup onions sliced
• 1 tsp ginger
• 3-4 green chilies
• 1 ½ cups thin coconut milk
• ½ cup thick coconut milk
• 2 tbsp Lime juice
• ½ cup cooked Toor dal
• Few curry leaves
• Salt to taste

Method:
Heat oil in a vessel and sauté the okra, till you see small bits of brown color on
them. Keep aside.

In the same vessel sauté the onions, ginger, chilies and curry leaves. Add the spices and sauté till the spices are well incorporated. Pour in the thin coconut milk and bring to a boil.

Add the cooked dal, okra, salt, and lime juice. When the gravy thickens add the thick coconut milk. You might need to add a bit of water if the gravy thickens too much. Serve hot with rice.