Sanket's kitchen

Spinach dal (Dal palak)

Ingredients: 

Oil - 2 tbsp
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Spinach leaves - 3 cups
Moong dal - 1/2 cup (soak in water for 2 hours)
Onions - 2 finely chopped
Ginger-garlic-green chili paste - 2 tbsp (about 5 garlic pods, 1" ginger piece and 1 green chili)
Garlic pods - 2 and green chili - 1 (finely chopped - to cook with spinach)
Tomatoes - 2 finely chopped
Salt - 2 tbsp
Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
Red chili powder - 1 tsp
Cumin-coriander powder - 2 1/2 tsp
Curry powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Chaat masala - 1 pinch

For tempering - cumin seeds - 1 tbsp, cinnamon stick - 1" piece, bay leaves - 2 to 3, asafetida - 1/4 tsp

Preparation: 

1. Cooking spinach: Finely chop spinach leaves. Wash and rinse in water. Now heat 1 tbsp oil in a pressure cooker. Add chopped garlic and green chili to it and saute for about 2 minutes. Now add spinach leaves to it. Saute for about a minute and close the lid. Cook for 1 whistle in pressure cooker. Once it is cooked, mash it with a food masher.

2. Cook moong dal for about 20 minutes in a cooking pot with closed lid.

Recipe: 

1. Heat remaining oil and ghee in a pan on a high heat. Once heated, add cumin seeds to it. Let it splutter, then add asafetida powder, cinnamon stick and bay leaves. After about 30 seconds, lower the heat to medium and add chopped onions. Saute till it becomes golden brown in color (about 10 to 15 minutes).

2. Now add Ginger-garlic-green chili paste and saute for another 2 to 3 minutes.

3. Now add chopped tomatoes and cook for another 5 minutes. By that time, tomatoes becomes mushy and oil starts to ooze from curry.

4. Now add salt, turmeric powder, red chili powder, cumin-coriander powder, curry powder, garam masala and chaat masala. Mix well and saute for about 2 minutes.

5. Now add spinach and cooked moong dal (with remaining water) to it and mix well. If there is not enough water, add about 1/2 cup water to the spinach dal curry and cook on a medium heat for about 15 minutes.

Serve with plain white rice or chapati.

Enjoy! 

Soft & hard taco

Ingredients: 

Taco shells - hard or soft (I used ready made taco shells from Taco-Bell)
Black beans - 1 cup
Guacamole - 1 cup (store bought or freshly made from 2 avocados)
Sour cream - 1/2 cup
Lettuce - 1/2 chopped
Salsa - 1/2 cup
Shredded cheese - 1/2 cup (preferably mexican four cheese blend)
Tomato - 1 chopped
Taco seasoning - 2 tbsp
Salt - 1 tbsp

Preparation: 

1. Wash and rinse a cup of black beans. Soak in 1 cup water for about an hour. Pressure cook for 3 whistles. After black beans are cooked, open the cooker and add salt and taco seasoning. Mash black beans with masher. If there's too much water in the end, heat black beans in same cooker with open lid till desired consistency is achieved.

2. Heat taco shells as per direction on the box.

3. Finely chop lettuce and tomatoes.

Recipe:

1. Stuff black beans inside a taco shell.

2. Put some guacamole over it.

3. Add a thin layer of sour cream over it.

4. Add some lettuce and tomatoes.

5. Add salsa to it.

6. Finally sprinkle some shredded cheese on to it and your taco is ready.

Enjoy! 

Kolhapuri lamb curry

Ingredients: 

For marinade -
Lamb pieces - 1.5 lbs - cut it to about 2" pieces
Garlic-ginger paste - 1 tbsp
Green chili - 1 finely chopped
Salt - 1.5 tbsp
Red chili powder - 1 tsp
Cumin-coriander powder - 2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Lemon Juice - from 1/2 lemon (about 2 tsp)
Chopped Coriander leaves - 1 tbsp

For kolhapuri masala -
Cumin seeds - 1 tbsp
Dry red chili - 6 crushed
Black pepper corns - 1 tbsp
Cinnamon stick - 1" piece
Green cardamom seeds - 1/2 tbsp
Cloves - 1/2 tbsp
Javantri - 1/2 tbsp
Poppy seeds - 1/2 tbsp
Fennel seeds - 1/2 tbsp
Coriander seeds - 1/2 tbsp
Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tbsp
Sesame seeds - 1/2 tbsp
Bay leaves - 2 to 3
Nutmeg powder - 1/2 tsp
Dry coconut powder - 2 tbsp
Salt - 1/2 tbsp

For curry - 
Oil - 1 tbsp
Ghee - 2 tbsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tbsp
Black cardamom - 2
Green cardamom - 2
Bay leaves - 2 to 3
Onions - 3 finely sliced
Garlic-ginger paste - 1 tbsp
Tomatoes - 1 finely chopped
Salt - 1 tbsp
Cumin-coriander powder - 1 tsp
Red chili powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Chopped coriander - 1 tbsp for garnishing

Recipe:

Step 1 - Marinade: Cut lamb pieces to appropriate size and wash thoroughly under lukewarm water. Make marinade by mixing ingredients from 'Garlic-ginger paste to Chopped coriander leaves' under section 'for marinade'. Add lamb pieces to marinade mixture and leave it for about 2 hours.

Step 2 - Making kolhapuri masala: Heat pan on a medium heat. Once heated, add ingredients from 'cumin seeds to bay leaves' under section 'for kolhapuri masala'. Lower the heat and stir the ingredients continuously for about 2 to 3 minutes till all the ingredients are roasted well and starts to give nice aroma. Now add dry coconut and roast for another 2 to 3 minutes (till coconut becomes golden-brown colored). Now turn off the heat, and add salt and nutmeg powder. Let it cool down and grind it with food processor to make a fine powder.

Step 3 - Cook lamb under pressure cooker: Heat 1 tbsp ghee in a pressure cooker. Once heated, add the marinated lamb pieces to it and fry for about 5 minutes. Now add 2 cups of water and close the lid. Turn heat to medium low and let it cook for about 5 whistles (about 20 minutes). See notes for alternative if pressure cooker is unavailable.

Step 4 - Making kolhapuri curry: Heat 1 tbsp oil and remaining 1 tbsp ghee in a pan on a high flame. Once heated, add cumin seeds. Once they start to splutter, lower the heat to medium and add black cardamom, green cardamom and bay leaves. Saute for about 30 seconds, then add sliced onions. Saute onions till they turn brown (about 30 minutes on medium heat). Now add garlic-ginger paste and saute for about 2 to 3 minutes. Now add tomatoes and saute for about 5 minutes till they turn mushy and oil starts to ooze from curry. Now add kolhapuri masala (step 2), salt, cumin-coriander powder, red chili powder and turmeric powder. Saute dry spices for about 2 to 3 minutes. Now add cooked lamb with residual water (step 3) to the curry. Close the lid and let it simmer on a medium heat for about 20 to 25 minutes. If there is too much water in the end, open the lid and simmer the curry till desired consistency is achieved. Turn off the heat, and let it stand for about 10 minutes. Garnish with chopped coriander.

Serve hot with white rice or chapati.

Enjoy!

Notes: 
1. Under step 2 - do not let the ingredients burn under any circumstances; otherwise they will yeild unappetizing bitter taste.
2. You can cook lamb directly in a pan used to make curry. In that case, cook marinated lamb in curry for about 1 hour on medium heat. Lamb is well done when meat starts to seperate from bone easily.