Measure sesame seeds, olive oil and 1 Tbsp liquid into blender. Blend until pureed. Add chickpeas, about 1 Tbsp liquid, lemon juice, garlic cloves, salt, and chili powder or red pepper flakes. Puree again in blender until smooth. Add additional liquid if necessary to blend, but should be thick. Taste and adjust if necessary, adding extra garlic, lemon, chili powder, or salt. Garnish with a pinch of paprika powder and drizzle a tablespoon or so of olive oil over the top. Serve with pita bread or vegies.

Easy Puliogare (Tamarind Rice)

1 cup basmati rice
2 cups water

1 Tbsp oil (approx)
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1 Tbsp MTR Puliogare Powder (or substitute another brand of Tamarind Rice Powder – a masala or spice blend specifically for making this type of rice)
1 Tbsp dry coconut powder (opt)
1/3 cup (about a handful) raw Spanish peanuts (can substitute roasted, unsalted peanuts, but raw is best)
salt to taste (only if it needs it)

Cook basmati rice according to directions. Heat oil over medium heat, add mustard seeds, peanuts, puliogare and coconut powders. Heat a couple minutes and then mix nicely with the rice. Taste and add salt if necessary.

Cooked Chickpeas:
1 lb (about 2 cups) dry chickpeas
water to cover by 2 inches
1/2 tsp baking soda

Sort and wash chickpeas well, cover with about 2″ of water. You may either soak overnight and change water before cooking, as with beans. Or you can use the quick soak method of bringing to a boil for a couple minutes, then covering and allowing to sit for about an hour before cooking. Drain and rinse.

Add baking soda, re-cover with about 2″ of water (about 6 cups), put the lid on and cook until soft, about 1 1/2 – 2 hours.

Alternately, use 3 – 15oz cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed.

Sauce:
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp ginger, minced, or generous sprinkle of dry ginger
*1 green chili pepper (eg. jalapeno), finely chopped
2 – 3 tomatoes, chopped (you can skin and seed, but I don’t bother)
1 – 2 Tbsp chickpea flour (to thicken) (opt)
1/2 – 1 tsp cayenne or hot chili powder
seeds of 2 cardamom pods (crush to break open and remove seeds)
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp chana masala (or use 2 tsp chana masala, or 2 tsp garam masala)
1 – 2 tsp mango powder (if you have it)
3 – 4 Tbsp tamarind sauce (or substitute ketchup if you don’t have tamarind sauce)
2 – 3 Tbsp lime juice (or lemon) (reduce to about 1 Tbsp if you are using tamarind sauce)
1 tsp salt
1 – 2 Tbsp brown sugar (start with the lesser amount)
approx 1 cup water, and more as necessary to prevent sticking (if you are using drained canned chickpeas)

opt – fresh chopped cilantro, additional green chili pepper and sliced raw onion for topping

* I have found jalapeno and other chili peppers can vary widely in their hotness. Taste a little slice while cutting it up to see how hot it is and adjust measurements accordingly. Also, leave out seeds if you don’t want too much heat.

Heat oil and saute onion until translucent. Add ginger, garlic, chili peppers and tomatoes and saute another couple minutes. Stir in chickpea flour and add spices. Add cooked or canned chickpeas, remaining ingredients, and liquid. Stir well, reduce heat to low or medium low, cover and simmer about 20 – 30 minutes, checking frequently and stirring to prevent sticking. Add additional water as necessary. Taste and adjust seasoning as you like.

Serve with soft, buttered roti or chapati, or with potatoes. Tastes even better the next day, after flavors have developed.

Variation: For extra cooked-in flavor, you can cook the soaked chickpeas for the full 1 1/2 or 2 hours along with the sauteed onion, garlic, tomato, peppers, and masalas, (and water and baking soda, too, of course).

The recipe is a bit general, adjust quantities to amount of vegetables you are coating, and the amount of heat and spice you like. Regular teaspoons and serving spoons, ladles and tea cups are often used for measuring. A pinch of this, a handful of that…

There are different variations to the basic recipe, not everyone makes it the same. For instance, some use tomato paste, others use a bit of garlic and/or ginger for flavor. Water is used in place of buttermilk in some recipes. The most common vegetables used are onion, potato, cauliflower and spinach. Using a mixture of vegetables keeps it interesting!

Pakora (Sabji Pakora / Sabzi Pakora – Vegetable Fritters)

1 large onion, cut up or sliced in rings
1 1/2 to 2 potatoes, sliced thin
2 – 3 hot green chilli peppers, diced

Optional:
- cauliflower, cut up
- spinach
- green onion
- other vegetable

dhaniya (coriander seeds) – a little bit for flavor
1 heaping teaspoonful garam masala, or to taste
1 1/2 teaspoonfuls salt, or to taste
cayenne or pure chilli powder, to taste (optional)
tomato paste – 1 big spoonful
buttermilk – pour in 1/2 – 2/3 cup
chana (chickpea) flour – 2 big ladles full (about 1 cup)
water to moisten, if needed
oil for deep frying

1. Mix all ingredients together with hands to make a medium-thick batter. Add more chana flour or water if needed to make batter the right consistency. Batter should coat vegetables, but not too thickly. Should taste salty and spicy hot. Taste and adjust if necessary.
2. Heat oil in pan. Oil is ready when a small bit of batter dropped in comes right back to the top.
3. Drop in small handfuls of batter and fry until brown. Dip out with slotted spoon (round metal style is good) and pile onto plate.
5. Eat hot – with ketchup is best, or chutney.

Tuscan Style Garbanzo Bean Soup with Cabbage

2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 – 3/4 cup onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 large carrots, peeled and sliced
1 can petite diced tomatoes
1 tsp dried basil (approx, or a bit more)
1/2 tsp dried oregano
2 sprinklings red pepper flakes
sprinkling bay leaf pieces (or 1 to 2 bay leaves)
salt and pepper to taste (2 good sprinklings)
2 cans garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained and rinsed
2 – 3 cups water
2 potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 cups cabbage, roughly chopped
1 cup pasta, eg. small shells, cooked separately and drained

Heat olive oil in large pot. Saute onion and garlic and carrots until onions are beginning to carmelize. Add can of tomatoes, herbs and seasonings (oregano, basil, pepper flakes, salt, pepper and bay leaf) and stir. Add garbanzo beans, reserving about 1 cup to add to soup later, and approximately 2 cups or cans water. Cook until carrots are nearly soft. Add potato and cabbage and additional salt, pepper and red pepper flakes to taste, as well as additional water as necessary, then simmer until tender. When tender (and this step is optional), puree all, or part (I did about half) of soup in blender. Add back to remaining soup, along with reserved garbanzo beans and cooked pasta. Heat a few minutes and serve. Good with crusty bread.

Pink Beans
1 lb pink beans, sorted and rinsed
water to cover and cook

approx. 1 cup french style green beans (or 1 can)
approx. 1 cup leftover cooked sliced carrots (if adding raw carrots, slice ‘em up and put ‘em on in with the beans early in the game so they’ll get tender in time! )
Or you can use vegies of your choice – leftover, canned or fresh.

2 tsp salt (or a little less)
1/2 tsp hot chili powder (or a little more if you like it hot)
2 tsp ground cumin (or a little less)
2 tsp oregano

1 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeno, finely chopped
1 – 2 Tbsp. olive oil or other vegetable oil

1. Cover beans with water and boil about 3 hours or until tender. If adding raw vegetables rather than precooked, gauge cooking time required for them to become really tender and meld with the beans. Add partway through the bean cooking time – before the halfway point is about right. It doesn’t hurt for them to simmer a little extra time. You don’t want them to still be ‘crunchy’ when the beans are done!
2. Add salt, chili powder, cumin, and oregano.
3. In separate pot, heat olive oil and carmelize onion (cook until it turns light brown). Add garlic and jalapeno and saute until tender.
4. Stir into beans and let simmer for about 15 or 20 more minutes.
5. Serve over plain, or (even better!) Cumin Rice.

Black Eyed Peas and Okra (West Africa)

1 lb dry black eyed peas
water to cover and cook

2 Tbsp oil (use a little more, if you like, or toss a little butter in too)
1 good size onion, finely chopped
1 – 2 cloves garlic, minced (or a sprinkling of garlic powder)
1 tsp cayenne or hot chili pepper powder (reduce if you don’t like overly spicy food)
1 tsp thyme (or 1 Tbsp fresh thyme) (can substitute Italian seasoning)
20oz pkg frozen sliced okra
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can green beans (I used french cut)
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper or to taste

Sort and rinse black eyed peas. Cover with plenty of water – at least a couple inches – and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook until tender, about 1 hour. Allow extra time, in case they cook slowly. Check now and then to make sure there’s still enough water and add more if necessary.

In large pot, heat oil (and butter if you like). Saute onion until it begins to brown. Add garlic. Add chili powder or cayenne, and thyme or Italian seasoning. Dump in the can of diced tomatoes and stir. Add okra and bring to a simmer. Add green beans and cook until okra is thawed and beginning to get tender. Add cooked black eyed peas and enough water to prevent scorching. Add salt and pepper to taste, any garlic powder and maybe a sprinkle of ginger. Bring to a simmer and cook over low heat 15 or 20 minutes, stirring or adding water as necessary. Serve over rice, below.

Rice

1 Tbsp oil
1 Tbsp butter
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2 – 1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
1/2 – 1 tsp salt
2 cups rice
4 1/4 cups water

Heat oil and butter in pan. Fry onion, bell pepper and rice until beginning to turn light brown. Add tomato and cook til soft. Add salt, and water. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer about 15 minutes, until water is absorbed. Turn off heat, fluff the rice, recover for a few minutes to steam. Serve.

Freshly made soup of split urad dal, potatoes and carrots – cooked to the fall-apart stage.

Lentil Soup or Sabji Wali Dal (Vegetable and Lentil Soup)

1 cup lentils or split peas
1 – 2 cups chopped or sliced vegetables – your choice, eg. potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, green beans, spinach, etc. (I usually make it with about 1 1/2 cups of carrots and potatoes)
3 – 4 cups hot or boiling water (approx)

Turka (Sauce)
2 Tbsp. butter, or combination of butter and oil (or ghee – clarified butter)
1/2 tsp. mustard seeds
1 small onion, finely chopped, or about 1/2 to 3/4 cup
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. turmeric
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper or pure hot chili powder
1 tsp. garam masala
1 tsp. salt
1 tomato, chopped (though you can make dal without tomato)
1 Tbsp. fresh cilantro or coriander, finely chopped (optional)

Different kinds of lentils and peas take different amounts of time to cook. Check the package to see. Gauge your time accordingly. In general, but especially for longer cooking lentils, wait until they are tender before adding the vegetables. When making soup, lentils (dals) are best cooked to the fall-apart stage, when they become very soft and ‘creamy’, so expect to cook at least an extra 20 – 30 minutes, or more, past the normal cook-til-tender time.

Sort lentils and remove any debris or bad ones. Rinse until clean. Cover lentils with very hot water, or bring water to a boil and then add the lentils. Simmer, covered, until tender, or very nearly so. Add vegetables.  Cover again and simmer until vegetables are well done and lentils are very soft, checking and stirring occasionally. Check more frequently as you near the end of the cook time and the lentils begin to break apart. Make sure to stir and scrape the bottom of the pot to loosen anything beginning to stick, and add more water as needed.

Meanwhile, heat butter or oil in a small pan over quite low heat (butter will brown and begin to burn quickly over anything higher than a medium heat, and even at that you’ll have to watch it) and fry mustard seeds until they start to pop and crackle.  Add chopped onion and garlic.  Saute for a few minutes, until they begin to brown, or ‘carmelize’. Then add spices, salt and chopped tomato, and cook until soft – about 5 minutes. Set aside if you’re still waiting for the lentils to finish.

When the lentils are done, stir the onion mixture into the soup and simmer 5 more minutes or so.  Garnish with cilantro, if desired. Serve with rice (basmati if you have it) or chapatti/roti.

Lentil soup/dal will thicken as it cools, and tastes even better the next day. Unless the soup is still quite runny, you will want to add a little water to leftovers if re-heating over the stove so it doesn’t scorch on the bottom.

Next day….split urad dal with potatoes and carrots, and a scoop of rice on top. Yum! (It smells and tastes better than it looks, believe me!!)

Examples of some lentils/peas/beans to use, and approximate cook times:

Please note: Cook times, even when using the same kind of lentil as before, can vary, depending on factors such as the age or dryness of the bean, as well as other obvious ones such as pre-soaking, and cooking temperature. So give yourself some leeway as far as time.

In general, expect quicker cooking small or split lentils and split peas to take 30 minutes to an hour to reach a very soft consistency (twice or more than what it takes to cook to an ‘al dente’ or just tender stage). Longer cooking lentils can take the better part of an afternoon.

Brown or Green Lentils – the “khaki” colored lentils most easily found in a regular grocery store: cook to tender in about 20 – 30 minutes. Expect to cook longer – 45 minutes or more – for them to reach the fall-apart stage.

Red Lentils (actually more of a salmon color): cook to tender in about 15 – 20 minutes. Again, expect to cook longer – about 30 minutes for a more creamy consistency. Red lentils are also fairly easy to find.

Toor Dal (Split Pigeon Peas) – looks similar to yellow split peas: 35 – 45 minutes.

Split Urad/Urid Dal (also known as Split Matpe Bean or Black Gram) – this is Urad Dal, with the black skins removed, and split (leaving a creamy-white interior). This will either need to be presoaked for 3 hours and then cooked for about 50 – 60 minutes, or simmered for 2 hours plus. This is probably my favorite dal.
(Whole Urad Dal with the skin still on is black in color. It takes even longer to cook – 3 hours or more – has a stronger flavor, and is usually made into a curry on its own – just lentils and sauce.)

Split Peas (either yellow or green): 35 – 40 minutes

Split Mung Beans (Moong Dal): about 45 – 50 minutes (Whole Mung will take longer, or will need a pre-soak, similar to Urad Dal. Again, it is perhaps better to make on its own into a curry).

Beans
1 lb (2 cups) black beans
water to cover
3/4 large onion, chopped
3 – 5 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbsp or so veg or olive oil
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. cayenne or extra hot chilli powder (if using regular chilli powder, you’ll need more than 1/2 tsp. to give the beans a good spicy ‘kick’!)

Rice
1 1/2 cups long-grain rice
3 1/4 cups water
splash of oil

Fresh Salsa
1 big tomato, chopped
1/4 large onion, chopped
1/2 to 1 whole hot green (eg. jalapeno) pepper, diced

Other toppings:
sour cream
grated cheese
shredded lettuce
tortilla chips, to crumble on top

Put about 1 lb dry black beans (2 cups) in a good size pot, completely cover with water, put the lid on, and let soak overnight.

Allow 3 1/2 or 4 hours for preparation the next day. If you want beans and rice ready for a 5:30 supper, about 2pm or a little before, drain the water off the beans, rinse, and refill. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, and simmer, covered, over low to med-low heat, checking every so often, stirring, and adding water if necessary – you don’t want to burn the beans!

Around 4:30pm, or about an hour before supper, take the lid off the beans, check and stir again. Add more water if necessary, or leave lid off to reduce liquid, but continue to simmer. Chop about 3/4 of a large onion, and begin to carmelize in veg. or olive oil in a small pot over med to med-high heat. Mince 3 – 5 garlic cloves. Add to the carmelizing onions and saute til tender (no need to brown the garlic). Dump onions and garlic in with the beans, and continue to simmer, with the lid off to reduce liquid (or put lid on if already the right consistency. You want them saucy – not too thick to stick to the bottom and burn, and not too soupy).

Put about 1 1/2 to 2 cups rice on to boil in a separate pot.

While the beans are simmering and the rice is cooking, make the fresh salsa. Chop tomato and onion, and dice jalapeno. Stir together. (You can make the salsa ahead of time and refrigerate, as well). Grate cheese. Shred or chop lettuce. Give the beans a final stir, fluff the rice, set the table, it’s time to eat!

Pile rice in the bottom of your bowl, ladle on black beans, top with desired toppings, and dig in!

Black Beans and Rice with Toppings

Don’t have time to make black beans from scratch? Here’s a quick version using canned beans:

Quick Black Beans and Rice
3 cans black beans
dehydrated onions – to taste
garlic powder – to taste
salt – to taste (may not even need if beans are already salty enough out of the can)
1/2 tsp black pepper or to taste
1/2 tsp cayenne or extra hot chilli powder, or to taste

Put rice on to boil in another pot. Empty cans of beans into a pot, including liquid. Sprinkle on onion flakes and garlic powder. Add salt, pepper and cayenne or chilli powder. Stir. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer while rice cooks. Prepare toppings. (Can also substitute ready made salsa in a jar for the fresh). Quick eats!

Cover kidney beans in water and soak for 3 hours.  Then boil for about 30 minutes until tender (you may wish to drain and change water after soaking, boiling in fresh water).  Drain beans when done. 
Thinly slice a small onion and saute in oil until brown (carmelized).  Meanwhile, peel and chop the bananas or plantains.  When onions are browned, add drained kidney beans, chopped bananas, salt and hot pepper.  Sitr-fry for about 2 minutes, then add 4 cups of water and simmer until the bananas are cooked and soft, and there’s only a little water left.  Serve hot. 

Quick Variation:  If you’re in a hurry, you can use a couple cans of drained kidney beans instead.