Red Lentil Sprouts Salad with Spicy Vinaigrette

Red Lentils ~ Masoor Dal (Hindi) is much popular in Northern India than in the southern parts is not much used in everyday cooking. They are sometimes combined with toor dal (yellow dal) in cooking to avoid the muddy taste in the red lentil. A variety of lentils exist with colors that range from yellow to red-orange to green, brown and black. Red, white and yellow lentils are decorticated, i.e. they have their skins removed.

A large percentage of Indians are vegetarian and lentils have long been part of the indigenous diet as a common source of protein. Usually, lentils are boiled to a stew-like consistency with vegetables and then seasoned with a mixture of spices to make many side dishes such as sambhar, rasam and dal, which are usually served over rice and sometimes roti/flat bread. I am using red lentil sprouts in my salad to add more nutritional benefits to it. A half cup of raw lentils yields about 2 cups of lentil sprouts and double the nutritional value too.

sprouted red lentils~masoor dal

Nutritional value and benefits of lentil sprouts: Lentils are a legume, and as such are high in protein and can be hard for some people to digest. The sprouting process should make digestion easier, but they may cause a lot of gas in certain people, who should probably avoid them.

The process of photosynthesis and germination changes the chemical composition of the lentil, increasing the amounts of the following substances: Vitamin A, C, E, Thiamin, Niacin, Carotene, Iron, Phosphorous, Potassium, most B vitamins. Sprouts are rich in digestible energy, bioavailable vitamins, minerals, amino acids, proteins, beneficial enzymes and phytochemicals.

Exact information on the chemical changes in sprouted lentils is hard to find, but most sources agree that almost every substance naturally present in the lentil increases during germination, and that existing substances, such as starch and protein, are broken down and effectively predigested by the activated enzymes, making them easier to assimilate. If you want to learn more about Lentils and their benefits click here here and here.
Source: Wikipedia

More on how to sprout lentils read Nupur's~A Primer on Sprouting Lentils or else check this video on Sprouting Beans ~ SBT team's blog.


Red Lentil Sprouts Salad with Spicy Vinaigrette



Source: My Own
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 10 mins
Serves: 4 people
Ingredients:
1C sprouted red lentils/masoor dal
1 carrot, peeled and slices
1 plum tomato, cubes
1C/bunch of Watercress (avoid the hard stems)
handful of dried cranberries/cherries
2T toasted pine nuts
for spicy vinaigrette:
3T extra virgin olive oil
1T distilled vinegar or 1/2 lemon juice
1 clove of garlic, grated
1 shallot, finely chopped
1T fresh parsley, finely chopped
pinch of red pepper flakes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method:

1. Wash and rinse watercress and dry it in a salad spinner or over the kitchen towel and place it in a large bowl. Add carrot, tomato, sprouted red lentils, cranberries and toss well.
   
2. In a small mixing bowl add all the ingredients of vinaigrette and mix thoroughly as the oil emulsifies with the acid.
   
3. Pour the prepared vinaigrette over the salad and toss well. Top it with toasted pine nuts or any nuts of your choice.
   

Sending this entry to My Legume Love Affair event hosted by Susan of Well-Seasoned Cook.

Baby Bok Choy Pappu ~ Lentil

Baby bok choy

Bok choy, also known as Pak choi or Peking cabbage, forms a small but elongated head (not round like European cabbage) with plump white stalks and deep green leaves. A member of the brassica family, bok choy offers nutritional assets similar to those of other cabbages: It is rich in Vitamin C and contains significant amounts of nitrogen compounds known as indoles, as well as fiber--both of which appear to lower the risk of various forms of cancer.

Bok choy is also a good source of folate (folic acid) and potassium. And with its deep green leaves, bok choy has more beta-carotene than other cabbages, and it also supplies considerably more calcium. The stalks and leaves have quite different textures, so in culinary terms, it's like getting two vegetables for the price of one.Baby bok choy has a sweeter flavor than adult varieties. For more information on varieties, availability, storage and nutritional information click here, here, and here.

Did you know...?
1 cup of cooked bok choi contains 15% of your recommended daily allowance of calcium ~ equivalent to 1/4 pint of full fat milk.

Source: Whole health MD

Baby Bok Choy Pappu ~ Dal

Baby bok choy pappu ~ dal with phulkas and fresh cucumber

I like adding baby bok choy in salads, stir fry's, soups, stir-fry noodles and fried rice and recently thought why not make some dal ~ pappu out of it. That way we can have our fiber intake as well as some folate too. Its a nice cross-over for leafy vegetable dal.

Source : My own
Cuisine: Fusion
Prep time: 7 mins
Cooking time: 20 mins
Serves: 4 people
Ingredients:
1 cup toor dal/red gram lentil
5-6 stalks baby bok choy, trim the tough ends
1/2 red onion, sliced
3-4 green chillies, sliced
1/2 tsp turmeric powder/haldi/pasupu
1 tsp red chilli powder/cayenne pepper
1 tsp cumin seeds/jeera
2 tsp tamarind pulp
for tempering/tadka/poppu:
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp urad dal/black gram lentil
2-3 dried whole red chillies
2-3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
few curry leaves
a pinch of hing/asafeotida
Salt as per taste
1tbsp oil
Method:

1. Chop coarsely bok choy and pressure cook them with toor dal/lentils along with turmeric powder, onions, green chillies, cumin seeds and chilli powder. Cook upto 3-4 whistles. Add tamarind pulp, salt to it and mash the contents.
2. In a deep pan heat oil, add mustard seeds, let it splutter then add urad dal/black gram lentil, curry leaves, torn red chillies, garlic and fry for a min. Add hing/asafeotida and pour the entire mashed bok choy dal and mix well. Let it simmer for 2 more mins.
3. Serve hot with plain rice or rotis /Indian flat bread.

Note: Use of salt should be limited while cooking this dal as bok choy already is little salty in nature. Thats what I found out while cooking with it.

Peddamma's Pappu Charu (kinda lentil/dal soup)

Pappu charu is a daily staple in every Andhrite home, but many are not aware of this incredible *Charu*, or else you can say it is a diluted version of sambhar except that there is no sambhar powder used in this. In the west to be more specific it resembles the taste of a lentil soup but little sour to taste as we use tamarind pulp juice/water. There are many variations to it, you can add many different vegetables to it like okra/bendakaya/bhendi, eggplant/vankaya/ baingan or raddish/mulangi/muli etc etc and are respectively called as bendakaya pappucharu, vankaya pappucharu, mullangi pappucharu.

Toor dal/red gram lentil

I learned the art of making pappu charu from my Peddama aka mother's elder sister when I went to Vizag on my 12th std vacation. She is a great cook and has magic in her hands in cooking traditional andhra recipes and non-vegetarian recipes. Today I made the simpler version on the request of Bee from Jugalbandi with just tomatoes, onions and green chillies. You can find on pappu charu recipe at Vindu's, Mom's Kitchen, Sailu's Food, Mahanandi, and Srivalli's sorry if I miss anyone, these are random listings for the recipe, Enjoy!

Source: My Peddamma
Cuisine: South Indian, Andhra
Prep time: 7 mins
Cooking time: 20 mins
Makes: 6 people
Ingredients:
1 ½ cup red gram lentil/dal/toor dal
1 small red onion, sliced thinly
1 big tomato, cut and squeezed
3 green chillies, cut length wise
1 small ball size tamarind, soaked in 1 cup water
1 tsp red chilli powder (cayenne pepper)
½ tsp turmeric powder/haldi
1 tbsp chopped cilantro
2 cups of water
salt as per taste
for tempering/tadka:
1 tsp urad dal/black gram dal
1 tsp cumin seeds/jeera
1 tsp mustard seeds/rai
2-3 torn dried red chillies
1 garlic clove, crushed and chopped
few curry leaves
a pinch of asafeotida/hing
1 tsp of oil

Method:

1. Wash and soak the dal for about 20 mins or so. Boil it in a pressure cooker for 3-4 whistles.
2. Meanwhile soak medium marble-size tamarind ball in 1 cup of hot water. Once the tamarind is soft, pulp it with hands and filter it. Keep the tamarind water aside and if there is more pulp in the remaining tamarind repeat the same with 1/2 cup water this time and continue so on till you have squeezed all the pulp out of the tamarind just like you do for sambhar preparation.
3. In a deep sauce pan add the red onions, chillies and squeeze in the tomato pieces. To this add the tamarind water, cooked dal, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt, mix well and if required add water if the mix is too thick. Bring it to a boil or till the onions are cooked.
4. Lastly temper it with seasoning by heating oil in a kadai/round bottom pan add the mustard, cumin seeds, urad dal/black gram dal then add the torn dried red chillies, curry leaves, and garlic. Once they are golden brown turn off the heat and add asafeotida/hing. Immediately pour this seasoning into the dal soup, Pappu charu is ready!
5. Serve hot/cold with rice and curries or pachadi's as a side dish
   

Here is step by step photo explanation of the procedure, I know which would be confusing with out this.

ingredients

cooked dal mixed with tamarind water, onions, tomatoes, chillies, turmeric, salt and chilli powder

Pappu charu boiling on medium high

tempered pappu charu

Our meal today: Rice, pappu charu, cabbage pachadi and aloo methi fry

The recipe for cabbage pachadi and aloo methi fry will follow soon...