Browse Tag by Okra
Dinner, Lunch

Dhudi Dal and Pillau Quinoa

Dhodi Dal and Pillau Quinoa

I have always loved dal and pillau rice! It is a staple food in the Indian state of Gujarat and our staple Saturday lunchtime dish! I remember as a kid (and even now as a big kid!), being intoxicated by the mix of spices emanating from mum cooking the rice, the aroma filling the house, and reaching my bedroom or my office now where I work! This always made my stomach growl and I would end up eating at least half a plate of the rice before adding in the dal!

Nowadays, it’s a different type of smell due to my health and fitness issues and goals with my no-refined-carbs policy! So, quinoa is how I roll!

My mum’s dal is something I have grown up loving, however, since de-carbing my diet, I know I have to increase the nutritional value of all of my foods, and that means increasing the greens! So I thought about adding European vegetables to the dal but decided to stay true with okra and then mum suggested dhudi, or the calabash/lauki/Asian melon, which is high in vitamin C, perfect for the immune system as well as the joints!

Again, I have included all of my favourite ingredients which are onions, red onions, spring onions, garlic, ginger and of course chilli! This mix, any meal can be Spiced Up By Bilal’s methods 🙂

 

 

Dal and Qjuinoa
Dal and Qjuinoa

 

INGREDIENTS

Dhudi Dal

100 g toor dal/pigeon pea

6 lamb chops

½ onion

½ red onion

2 spring onions

4 cloves garlic (I love garlic in my food)

1 cm haldi

1 cm of ginger

1 red chilli

1 green chilli

6 okra aka lady’s fingers

½ dhud/calabash/lauki

1 spoon dried coriander

Olive oil

Salt

Pepper

½ tin of chopped tomatoes (you can use fresh if you wish but it’s quicker and easier to use a can!)

2 litres of filtered water, boiled.

 

Pillau Quinoa

100 g quinoa

25 g chana dal/split chick peas

1 onion

4 cardamom seeds

8 cloves

8 black pepper seeds

200 mL of filtered water, boiled.

Salt

Olive oil

 

INSTRUCTIONS

Dhudi Dal

  1. In a large saucepan, add 500mL filtered boiling water and add in the 100 g toor dal. Stir, cover with lid and allow to boil on ¾ heat for at least 30 minutes until all the toor dal have split;
  2. Continue to check on the large saucepan every 10 minutes or so for water and stir (add more water if you need, and trust me, you will need to! With the rest of the boiled water in the kettle, prepare a cup of tea!);
  3. In a small saucepan slice and dice in the onions (hold back the green leaves of the spring onions until the end), add the garlic (I cut the garlic knobs up, press them in a garlic crusher and add them directly into the saucepan), chopped ginger and haldi, and allow the onions to brown whilst continuing to stir;
  4. Add in the spice mix of cardamom, black pepper, cloves and cinnamon sticks;
  5. Once the onions brown, and the half tin tomatoes and continue to stir gently until the tomato cooks through, evaporating off the water;
  6. Check on the toor dal (should be done around the 30-minute mark), and if the toor dal have popped, add in the contents of the small saucepan, chop in the red and green chillies (add them later at point 8 if you want your mung less spicy) add ½ teaspoon of salt and stir;
  7. Add in the okra and slice in the dhudi (be sure to remove the skin!), stir and cover with the lid and to cook for about 15 minutes;
  8. Turn the heat down to a quarter, taste the toor dal and add salt and black pepper to taste;
  9. Add the chopped spring onion leaves and cover for 5 minutes;
  10. Feel free to add fresh coriander to finish and you are ready to eat!

 

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 45 minutes

Eating time: 15 minutes

Serves up to 4 people

I made enough for mum and I to eat again!

 

Pillau Quiona

  1. Begin making your quinoa preparations at point 1 of cooking the dal by soaking the chana dal in boiling water and covering it so it is partially cooked by the time you cook the quinoa;
  2. In a saucepan on ¾ heat, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil (put the water on to boil);
  3. Slice and dice in the onion and stir, sauté until the onions caramelise;
  4. Add in the spice mix of cardamom, black pepper, cloves and cinnamon sticks;
  5. Add in the boiling water and a ½ teaspoon of salt;
  6. Add the quinoa and chana dal and stir gently. I gently rinse the quinoa several times in lukewarm water until all the dust disappears, and then drain it before adding it to the saucepan;
  7. Allow the quinoa to simmer, turn the heat down to a quarter, and cover with the lid;
  8. Check on it 3 to 5 minutes later and gently turn the quinoa over with a plastic or wooden spoon to ensure you keep your quinoa seeds in tact;
  9. Repeat step 8 until the quinoa is cooked and all the water evaporates;
  10. You are now ready to eat!

 

Preparation time: 2 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Serves up to 2 people –I made enough dal to last us another day and my mother and I like to eat our quinoa fresh!

Let me know how you get on and please feel free to provide feedback 🙂

 

Dhodi Dal and Pillau Quinoa!
Dhodi Dal and Pillau Quinoa!
Dinner

Lady’s Chicken Tikka Masala and Pillau Quinoa

Ladys' Chicken Tikka Masala with Pillau Quinoa

I love chicken curry! It is in my top 5 for meals I love to enjoy! However, I am not a big fan of having to prepare an entire chicken when the only part I enjoy is the breast! My mum noticed that I only enjoyed chicken breast when I was a teenager, so around the late 1990’s, my mum, my late father and I began experimenting in the kitchen with chicken tikka masala. My dad had friends who ran Indian restaurants and after some advice, we decided to have some fun in the kitchen!

Coming from a family and culture based on a daily staple of spicy and tasty Indian food, I knew I had to learn from the best, my parents, and so chicken tikka masala was the first dish I ever created with them!

For me, chicken tikka masala is probably the easiest dish to prepare. Having lived away from home in both the UK and Germany, I could rustle it up with pillau rice in about 45 minutes. Living on my own, I also developed my own way of cooking it with some tweaks here and there to help give it a sweeter base for taste through using a mix of onions to adding in vegetables to increase the nutritional value.

Since it was International Ladies Day on Sunday 8th March 2015 and today is Sunday 15th March 2015, i.e. Mother’s Day here in the UK, I decided to add some greens in the form of okra aka lady’s fingers, hence the name, Lady’s’ Chicken Tikka Masala!

Traditionally, all Indian dishes are served with rice or chappati. Since I am off both due to health reasons, I decided to spice up the quinoa just like we spice up our pillau rice!

You will be seeing my favourite ingredients today which are onions, red onions, spring onions, garlic, ginger and of course chilli! Give me those ingredients, and depend on the order they are used, I can cook you Indian, Italian and Turkish dish!

Here is my first ever cooking video! It’s very long at 23 minutes but my aim is to create videos of about 5 to 10 minutes in length to keep you informed and entertained!

Ingredients Board!
Ingredients Board!

INGREDIENTS

Chicken Tikka Masala

2 chicken breasts

1 onion

1 red onion

3 spring onions

4 cloves of garlic (I love garlic in my food)

1 cm of ginger

1 red chilli

1 green chilli (I didn’t have any to hand but do use one for colour and extra spice!)

1 long red pepper

1 long green pepper

6 okra aka lady’s fingers

1 tablespoon dried coriander

¼ teaspoon powdered tamarind

Olive oil

Salt

Pepper

1 litre of filtered and boiled water

1 tin of chopped tomatoes (you can use fresh if you wish but it’s quicker and easier to use a can!)

200ml of filtered water, boiled.

Pillau Quinoa

100g quinoa

1 onion

4 cardamom seeds

8 cloves

8 black pepper seeds

200ml of filtered water, boiled.

Salt

Olive oil

INSTRUCTIONS

Chicken Tikka Masala

  1. In a saucepan on ¾ heat, add 3 tablespoons of olive oil (put the water on to boil);
  2. Slice and dice the onions (hold back the green leaves of the spring onions until the end), garlic (I cut the garlic knobs up, press them in a garlic crusher and add them directly into the saucepan) and ginger to the saucepan to sauté. Stir regularly until the mix starts to bronze;
  3. To the onions, add in the tin of chopped tomatoes, dried coriander, tamarind and a half a teaspoon of salt and chop in the chillies (if you want your dish less spicy, add the chillies in with the other vegetables in point 7);
  4. Allow to simmer and continue to stir gently until the water evaporates;
  5. Cut the chicken breasts into cubes, add to the saucepan and cook until all raw bits disappear, keep stirring gently;
  6. Add the boiling water and then add in the okra and chopped peppers and stir gently for a couple of minutes;
  7. Turn the heat down to a quarter, taste the soup and add salt and pepper to taste;
  8. Cover with the lid and leave the mix to cook for about 10 minutes;
  9. Add the chopped spring onion leaves and cover for 5 minutes
  10. Feel free to add any coriander to finish and you are ready to eat!

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Serves up to 4 people

Pillau Quiona

  1. Begin making your quinoa preparations at point 6 of cooking the chicken tikka masala;
  2. In a saucepan on ¾ heat, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil (put the water on to boil);
  3. Slice and dice in the onion and stir, sauté until the onions caramelise;
  4. Add in the spice mix of cardamom, black pepper, cloves and cinnamon sticks;
  5. Add in the boiling water and a ½ teaspoon of salt;
  6. Add the quinoa and stir gently. I gently rinse the quinoa first in lukewarm water and then drain it before adding it to the saucepan;
  7. Allow the quinoa to simmer, turn the heat down to a quarter, and cover with the lid;
  8. Check on it 3 to 5 minutes later and gently turn the quinoa over with a plastic or wooden spoon to ensure you keep your quinoa seeds in tact;
  9. Repeat step 8 until the quinoa is cooked and all the water evaporates;
  10. You are now ready to eat!
 Ladys' Chicken Tikka Masala with Pillau Quinoa!
Ladys’ Chicken Tikka Masala with Pillau Quinoa!

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Serves up to 2 people –I made enough chicken to last us another day and my mother and I like to eat our quinoa fresh!

Let me know how you get on and please feel free to provide feedback 🙂

Happy Mothers Day!
Happy Mothers Day!