Dahi Waley Tinday

Yes. It is yet another tinda recipe ( plz excuse me for doing those back to back). And a quite simple one at that. It reminds me of the 'Dahi-aloo' that I make quite often. Lazy, refreshing and quite good with a couple of rotis. Perfect for the hot summers .

Read on for the recipe -

Preparation Time - 10 mins

Ingredients -

• 1 cup apple gourd /Indian baby pumpkin /tinday (peeled and chopped into medium sized cubes)
• 1 cup yogurt
• 1/4 tsp mustard seeds
• 1/4 tsp grated ginger
• 1/4 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/4 tsp fennel seeds
• a pinch of asafoetida
• 1 green chili
• 1 tsp oil
• salt to taste
• cilantro for garnishing

Preparation - Take the cumin and fennel seeds. Pound them into a coarse mixture.

Take the yogurt in a mixing bowl and beat lightly to break any lumps. Add a little salt .Mix.

Cooking - Heat the oil in a pressure cooker. Add the asafoetida followed by the mustard seeds and the broken  green chili. Once the chili turns somewhat brown, add the pounded spices. Stir fry for 10 seconds.

Add the chopped apple gourd and mix with the spices. Add very little water (3-4 tbsp), salt and close the lid. Cook for 1 whistle on medium flame.

Remove from the flame and keep aside for 10 mins.

Open the lid and transfer the contents into the mixing bowl containing the curd. Sprinkle chopped cilantro.

Serve at room temperature with rotis or jeera rice. 

Boondi Raita

If I were asked to name a Raita that goes best with rotis (or any indian bread for that matter ), this one would win hands down. It was my dish of choice for breakfast/dinner along with rotis/parathas. While i was quite fussy when it came to vegetables in those days, nowadays I have it along with a simple roti-dry subzi.

Very easy to make if you have a packet of salted boondi (say Haldiram's ) lying at home. In fact this one is so simple that i felt silly posting the recipe. But i persisted thinking that if nobody else it might help some of my bachelor/single friends who find it quite a task to even whip up an omelette ( and its not always a case of lacking culinary skills but also the hectic schedule that we follow ).

Read on:

Preparation time : 30 mins ( 25 mins is the standby time when the boondi itself does all the work...yeah it has to soak up all that water)

Ingredients - 1 cup salted boondi, 1 cup yogurt, 1 cup water, 1-2 dry red chillis, 1 sprig of curry leaves, 1/4 tsp pancha phutana or only mustard/cumin seeds (as you wish), 1 pinch roasted cumin powder,  1 pinch powdered asafoetida,1/2 tsp oil, salt to taste.

Preparation -  Whisk the yogurt lightly to get a smooth texture. Take the boondi, beaten yogurt and water in a bowl. Allow to soak for 25-30 mins. (this may vary as some boondis become soft very soon)

Cooking - Heat oil in a tadka (tempering) pan. Add broken chilli and pancha-phutana/mustard/cumin. Once spluttering almost stops, add the curry leaves along with asafoetida.

Pour the mixture over the soaked boondis. Sprinkle salt and roasted cumin powder.

Mix well and serve (no need to chill).