Protein & Fiber Rich Upma

The idea to make this upma was triggered from this recipe from Tarla Dalal. Not know what Varagu was, i actually made the usual upma but substituted Varagu or the usual cream of rice with the following:

3/4 cup buckwheat, washed & soaked for 10-15 min
1/4 cup cream of spelt - i had bought mine at a tiny bakery in a little town on Vancouver Island but you can find it on Amazon, if you're interested
1/4 cup amaranth seeds

came out yumm, thus this post! don't think you need to be restricted to the grains above, feel free to do your own experiments & feel free to share with a comment back on this post :)

Tarla Dalal revival

though i started my cooking adventures at the ripe young age of 11 with the help of my mom's great cooking skills / education and Tarla Dalal's cookbooks plus one in-person class that she and her daughter taught at their home one summer holiday, i had long moved on from Tarla Dalal. a few years ago, after a food critic friend's friend, who was working on an Indian cook book at the time, had visited India and told me about her horror stories when visiting Tarla Dalal's 'factory' test kitchen' where folks test her recipes in an industrial location in Bombay in not, shall we say, the best of conditions, i had vowed to never use Tarla Dalal's cookbooks again.


in the past few months and i'm almost embarrased to say this, but there has been a resurrection of Tarla Dalal in my kitchen. it was midday here in Seattle when i get the craving, so an unearthly hour to ping my mom, so i search online for a recipe to make gujju handva from scratch (the version where you soak dals vs. use flours) & lo and behold, Tarla Dalal's site pops up with just what i was looking for! i made the recipe & so, have been addicted ever since...so here goes, below are some of the recipes i've tried & tested & liked:

Handvo (i substitute rice with more dals and also add more whole wheat while keeping the proportions the same)
Dhabey ki Dal
Pumpkin & Potatoes Rajasthani Style
Rajasthani Dal - simple & delicious udad & chana dal
Ragi Dosa (i substituted rice flour with ragi powder which accomplishes the same result - gives a crispness to the dosa but is a lot healthier)
Chola Methi Pudla
Mooli Moong Dal (the full recipe is blocked but if you search on Bing you will find the process from someplace else as its a very popular Rajasthani dal)
Jowar Khichu (which i have tried with several whole grain flours, we also add ajwain seeds)
Thalipeeth
Protein Rich Upma

Chola ni Dal na Puda

i started with this recipe from Tarla Dalal (it used to be a free one when i originally found it but consequently they've secured it) but made several tweaks to it so here we go:

soak 2 cups of chola dal (black eyed peas) overnight. grind in the blender with 2 inch piece of ginger, 7-8 garlic cloves and 5-6 green chillies. add 2-3T wheat bran, 2 T flax seeds ground and 1 cup ragi (nachni) powder - its a fine powder & adds a crispness to puda/dosa. add 2 cups grated radish (can be substituted with fenugreek leaves or grated dudhi), 2T chopped cilantro & 2T chopped spring garlic or garlic chives. add salt to taste & add water if necessary to make a batter of medium consistency.

heat 1.4t oil in a non stick pan & spread the puda batter as thin as possible. flip sides when 1st side is crisp & browned evenly. serve when both sides are done.

Accompaniments - cilantro chutney, yoghurt, pickle