Dahi Moong, MW cooked Lemon pickle!

Siri of "Siri's corner" is hosting a new event with a ever popular and well loved ingredient "YOGURT" this month. We,as Indians, LOVE yogurt and use it almost everyday in India or wherever we are in the World and however we can use in the dishes. Here is my Dahi Moong, a simple and delicious side dish. Enjoy Siri!:))

Yogurt:
Yogurt is nutritious which is available year-round and researchers have evidence that milk and yogurt may actually add years to your life as is found in some countries where yogurt and other fermented dairy products are consumed everyday. Yogurt is a fermented dairy product made by adding bacterial cultures to milk, which causes the transformation of the milk's sugar, lactose, into lactic acid. This process gives yogurt its refreshingly tart flavor and unique pudding-like texture, a quality that is reflected in its original Turkish name, Yoghurmak, which means "to thicken." (Info from WHFoods)

Dahi Moong:
Dahi is Yogurt/Mosaru in Kannada and Moong is Green gram. Green gram cooked in mildly spiced Yogurt gravy, that's what "Dahi Moong" means in Hindi, just in case you didn't know already! :)
This dish very tasty, subtly flavored with ginger, green chillies, mildly spiced with garlic, Cumin, coriander pd, garam masala and added with up to a cup of thick Yogurt or Sour Cream for that tang, it's a great side dish with chapatis or cloves and ghee seasoned rice. Enjoy! :)

Step by step photos:
Click on the collage to see the lager photo.

You need these:
1 cup green whole green Moong, soaked overnight, 1/2 cup strained thick Yogurt or Sour Cream, salt, 1/4 tsp Turmeric, 3 tbsp Cilantro, 2 slices of Jalepeno.
Grind to paste: 1" fresh ginger, 2 Jalapeños or green chillies.
Spices: 1 tsp Cumin seeds pd, 1 tsp Coriander seeds, 1/2 tsp Garam Masala.
To season: 1 tbsp oil, 1 tsp ghee, 1/2 tsp Mustard seeds, 1-2 garlic chopped, 1-2 dry red chillies, pinch of hing/asafoetida.
To make it:
1. Heat oil and ghee in a pan, add mustard seeds, red chillies, garlic, hing. Add ginger-green chilly paste,stir for a minute.
2. Add soaked and drained Moong to the pan, 1 1/2 cup water, sliced Jalapeño pieces, Turmeric, cover and cook for 10 mins or until Moong is almost cooked.
3. Take the pan off of the heat and leave it on the counter for a minute for the dish to cool down. Add all the dry spices, salt, Cilantro and 1/2 cup thick Yogurt or sour cream to the pan and mix well.
4. On a low heat, simmer the Dahi Moong for 5-7mins until thickish. Adjust the salt and spices. Serve with Chapatis or with seasoned rice.

Note: You must take off the pan off the heat before adding the yogurt to the moong dish. If the gravy is too hot, yogurt will split resulting in very thin grainy gravy. Once you add the yogurt and mix it, you should simmer the gravy on low heat. That's it!:)

*************************************************************************************************************************

Microwaved Lemon pickle is my entry to "Easy cooking with Microwave" which is hosted by Srivalli of "Cooking 4 all seasons" with a theme of "bottled" this month. Thanks for hosting Sri, enjoy!:)



Indian Pickles:
Indian pickles, which are very different from Western pickles, are a variety of usually spicy and sometimes hot and sweet condiments popular in India, often made with different vegetables, green Mangoes, limes, Pearl Onion, green leaves,Garlic, ginger and Lemons etc.
Usually, I buy most of the pickles from the Indian store as they are easier to buy than making them. When Limes, Lemons or even Florida Key Limes are in season, I make these pickles in huge quantities to store in the fridge which lasts a year in the fridge if made correctly.
I found this cooked (or microwaved) Lemon pickle in one of the Premila Lal's Indian cookbooks long time ago.I liked this method so much that it has become a tradition now! Cooked Lemon pickle is like a instant pickle, ready to eat as soon as they are cooled. Since they become soft and absorb the masala quickly, there is no need to wait to eat the pickle. Try it!:)

Lemon pickle with two flavors:
Red colored Lemon pickle, like this Bamboo shoot pickle, is flavored with the traditional Methi seeds, red chillies,Mustard seeds powder, which I already had in the fridge made few months ago and sometimes I use SWAD brand "Achar Masala"(pickle masala) as well which has the same ingredients.
The yellow pickle masala is made from Ranji's Thambale powder. I used just 2 large Yellow Lemons for this yellow pickle just to show you. I recently made a yummy Eggplant dish from Ranji's blog with this masala pd. She mentioned that I could also use this powder to make pickles too, so here it is! Thanks Ranji, it tastes good, looks beautiful as you can see!:)

How to make Microwaved Lemon Pickle:

You need:
2 large Lemons, cut in to small pieces like shown, take seeds out since it's going to be cooked,
3-4 tbsp pickle powder, home made or Thambale pudi or SWAD Achar mix, salt, 1 tsp sugar.
To season: 1/4 cup Canola oil or any oil you like ,4 whole or sliced peeled Garlic, 1tsp mustard seeds, few fresh curry leaves, 2 dry red chillies, 1/4 tsp hing/Asafoetida powder, 1/2 tsp chilli pd.
To make the pickle:
1. Add chopped Lemon pickles, 1/2 cup water, 2 tsp salt to a clean dry glass bowl and Microwave it for 10 mins or until lemons are light yellow and soft.
2. Take it out, add Thambale pudi or SWAD, sugar, mix with a clean wooden spoon and let it cool.
3. Heat oil in a pan until very hot, slide the pan off the heat to cool for a minute. Place the the pan on the low heat this time.
4. Add all Garlic, Mustard seeds, red chillies, curry leaves. When the garlic becomes golden, add hing and chilli pd and take off the heat. Cool the oil.
5. Add the seasoning to the pickle, mix well. Taste the pickle, add more salt,chilii pd and pickle pd if needed. They all should balance perfectly with the tartness of lemon juice.

When the pickle is completely cooled, add it to a clean dry glass bottle and store in the fridge. It will stay in the fridge for a month. Make sure your hands, bowl and wooden spoon you use is very clean and dry when pickling or else it will go moldy on ya!

Another close up!!

Bottled!! :)

Have a wonderful weekend. See you all next week!:)