Sago Pearl with Mug and Rice -- Raw Vegan Lunch

 

 We decided to have a no-cook meal today. 

And to prepare this meal we need a special type of all the ingredients. Simply any rice or any Mug (a type of yellow lentil) or any type of sago pearl won't do. Here are a few words about the main ingredients:

Gobindobhog rice or গোবিন্দভোগ চাল is a small grain, aromatic rice,a indigenous produce of certain districts of West Bengal. West Bengal has the geographical indication tag for it. 

Sona mug or সোনা মুগ is a very small and bright yellow type of the mung bean (Vigna radiata) or green gram. I had difficulty to find this in the cities of Western India where I lived for years and I used to pack some to take with me each time I visited my Mom in West Bengal. সোনা মুগ gets this name because of its bright golden yellow colour. It's also very tiny. 

The sago pearls or সাবুদানা we, Bengali people, traditionally consume has very tiny particles. It is usually a baby food or used in diets for elderly or sick people. Tapioca pearls are an alternative which produced in large scale industrially and is cheaper. 

দানা in Bengali means "grain" or "particle". 

We soaked Gobindobhog rice, sonamug Dal and the smallest type of tapioca pearl for about five hours. Then all these are very soft. I mashed two small ripe bananas with these ingredients and took one date with it. But I suggest you add sugar also. And you can add more bananas and jaggery. The quantity of rice was much less than the lentil. I guess I took about two tablespoons of mug and one tablespoon of rice. I always take according to my guess, experience and choice. My Mom took more rice. But I liked it this way. There's no hard and fast rule. But rice should be taken just a little since it is uncooked. 

Before soaking, please rinse thoroughly. Washing the ingredients with drinking water is important. Soak the three ingredients in separate containers.

This meal was totally without oil. 

This is not a diet for small children.

ঝাল সুজি -- Savory Semolina

 I often make a savory porridge of semolina for breakfast. Depending on the availability and the season, the vegetables change. Today I added peanuts, too. 

Savory Semolina

Now, below are the photos showing the different stages. Since I have posted the recipe earlier -- the link is at the end of this post -- I am just posting the photos today:

Ready

Mixing all ingredients before adding water

Adding semolina

The vegetables

Usually I add more vegetables. But today, along, with carrot, I added an unusual ingredient: cucumber. This pandemic and quarantine life is making me really adventurous with food! 

The recipe is here:

http://kayhavingfeasts.blogspot.com/2018/07/jhaal-suji-spicy-semolina.html?m=1

Sautéed Okra and Potato

 Sautéed Okra and Potato or আলু ঢেঁড়স ভাজা is a common side dish with rice and lentil soup. It's super easy and very quick. You don't need much oil.

Add long and thin slices of potato to heated oil. In one or two minutes add nigella seeds and sliced green chillies. Stir and add medium cut okras into it. (Okra cooks faster than potato. Therefore, we add the potato first.) Add turmeric powder and salt. Stir and mix well. The flame should not be two high or too low. Stir and cook for some time. Stir to make sure it doesn't burn. You will see the colour will start changing. Cover and let it cook for a few minutes. The reason I can't specify exactly how many minutes because I have been doing it since I don't remember when based on guess and feeling. I keep an eye and check from time to time. Cook it until the vegetables are done. 

I prefer preparing it in mustard oil. But that's not a must. 

We prepare the simple okra and potato curry the same way with the same seasoning. But in the curry the okra is tenderer and practically wet, a little viscous because we use even less oil, put the vegetables right after adding the seasoning in the hot oil, add salt and turmeric and cover and let it cook on a low flame. It is practically steamed. Therefore, while frying, don't cover in the beginning, but only at the end for a few minutes. Many people don't like the viscosity and for them this recipe is an option. 

মুসুর ডালের বড়া -- Red Lentil Fritters

 During this pandemic our consumption of rice and lentils has increased and that of fresh vegetables has decreased only to ensure maximum physical distancing and isolation. Therefore, we are having red lentil fritters more often than usual.

We had red lentil fritters tonight also. Two days ago I soaked some lentil and made fritters with some of it. The rest was in the fridge. We had to use it up, too. 

This fritter is super easy to make: soak >make the paste> add salt, a little shredded onion and green chillies, a little turmeric powder > stir, stir, stir to mix well > fry. And Voila! No need to deep fry! The only difficult task is to make the paste if you do it manually using the traditional শিল-নোড়া, the two pieces of stones with which Bengali women have been making pastes of almost everything under the sun since time immemorial!! 😅 But I suggest you use a mixer-grinder. Our mixer is kaputt and cannot take it to the shop for fixing unless the infection rate starts reducing. Almost every day we are at the top of the list in daily infections and death. For the same reason I can't get my spectacles replaced; so, Mom did the frying. Two days ago I did it without my glasses but we shouldn't take such a risk since the entire medical service is under tremendous pressure and treatments to other medical conditions are not happening regularly and so, this is not the most convenient time to have an accident in the kitchen. 

The Paste

Soaked Dal on the Flat Stone(শিল)

Instead of onion I prefer adding nigella seeds. I also don't add turmeric powder. 

Make the shapes flat; then the lentil will cook thoroughly though you don't deep fry. We never deep fry lentil fritters. 

It's heavy and oily. I wouldn't give it to very small children. But it tastes simply out of this world and a very common side dish with জল-ভাত /jawl bhaat/ in summer and a popular traditional part of the Iftaar menu as our poet শামসুর রহমান(Shamshur Rahman) reminds us in his poem 'বাংলাভাষা উচ্চারিত হলে': "নানী বিষাদসিন্ধুর স্পন্দে দুলে / দুলে রমজানী সাঁঝে ভাজেন ডালের বড়া"

Red Lentil Soup + Red Lentil Fritters with Rice

Khichuri with Very Little Vegetables

 

This is an example of my quarantine cooking.  Since lock-down started, we are consuming much less vegetables to make, in the beginning, my visit to fresh market, and now the visit of our domestic help to us, much less frequent.  

Today morning I made this khichuri -- the traditional Bengali rice and lentil dish -- with a few ground nuts and a small piece of carrot as you will see the ingredients in the pictures below. 

Usually we use at least the equal amount of rice and lentil and mostly more lentil than rice to prepare khichuri. But today I used relatively less mug lentil since we are having Dal with every meal nowadays. First I roasted the mug in hot wok and then washed it and kept it at one side.

In a separate pan I sauteed carrot, potato and the ground nuts in the seasoning of shredded onion and cumin seeds, adding turmeric powder, salt and coriander powder.

 I kept this at one side and started cooking the mug and rice together in water in a covered pot. I started on a high flame but reduced it as it started boiling. ( I had soaked the rice already for about half an hour ). After the rice and lentil are almost done, I added salt and stirred and mixed well and let it cook for a few more minutes. When both the ingredients are thoroughly done, I mixed the sauteed vegetables and mixed everything well and let it cook until the water dried up. That was it. I had a filling and satisfying meal. 

Cabbage Khichuri (Lentil Rice with Cabbage)

I prepared this in June and took photos but I have the time to post it now.
It is important for me to ensure that I don't spend long time in the kitchen and still have a balanced diet.
So, I often prepare an one-pot dish.

To make this cabbage Khichuri, I cut potato in small cubes and shred the cabbage manually.
I soaked rice, mug (yellow) Dal and musur Dal (red rentil) for about half an hour. You can soak it for a longer time. This yellow lentil is very special. We call it sona mug, a very tiny type of moong, of golden yellow colour. "Sona" in Bangla (Bengali) means "gold". It is not available outside Bengal, at least not easily available. I bring it from Kolkata.

I sautéed the potatoes and then added thinly sliced onions, cumin seeds, one or two dried chillies removing the seeds.

I added the cabbage and let it cook for a few minutes. I then added the spices: turmeric-, cumin- and coriander powder and mixed everything well. It's required to stir from time to time and let it cook without adding water. If you want it a little spicy, you can add a little chilly powder.
Now I added some peas. I get frozen peas from the supermarket near my house.

I have mentioned above that I soaked rice and lentils. Now I drained the water and added it all. Just like earlier, I stirred and mixe everything. And then I added salt and water. I cooked this in pressure cooker. I closed the lid and after six whistles I turned off the flame.
I was very hungry. So, I let the steam out by lifting the pressure. But usually I wait for quite some time and then open the cooker. In the meantime it completely stops sizzling and there is no air pressure inside. You should never try to open the lid of a pressure cooker immediately after removing it from the flame.  If you don't use pressure cooker, you can check progress from time to time and cook till everything is thoroughly cooked.

When I opened the cooker it looked like this from above. Under this upper most layer it wasas really soft.

Pointed Gourd with Coconut

Pointed gourd is not available in every part of India. In Bangalore  and in Pune I rarely found it. In Mumbai I get a smaller type of it and it is always very costly. So, I don't prepare this often. In Bengal we make a number of dishes withis vegetable: light fish curry with poipted gourd, patol posto (pointed gourd with poppy seed paste, pinted gourd with potato in light watery gravy etc. Most of the time we add a little potato also. I prepared this dish on the 12th of June. Finally I have the time to write about it.

I peeled the vegetables and cut them into pieces as they are in the pictures at the end of this post.
This is how we commonly cut them for many dishes but not for all preparations.
I heated mustard oil and added cumin seeds and dried red chillies for seasoning. I took the seeds of the chillies out so the curry didn't become too hot. UsuallyI add beat leaves, too, but I hadn't any. Also, my mother usually adds a little grated ginger which I didn't use either.
I added the vegetables into the oil with the seasoning and stirred well. I let the vegetables sautéed for a few minutes. Then I added turmeric-, cumin-, coriander-, and red chilli powder. Red chilli powder is optional and I added just a little. I mixed everything well and let it cook for a few more minutes. I added finely grated (and dried) coconut now. I buy this from the supermarket. Now I added salt. Mixing everything well, I added water and I let it boil until the vegetables were thoroughly cooked. Now I added garam masala. I let it cook a little longer to reduce the water. I wanted the curry near dry.
I had it with steamed rice.

Day before yesterday my Mom prepared a curry with coming and bay leaf seasoning. I made the vegetables ready for cooking and then I took these photos to show you how the fresh vegetable looks like.