小笼包の疯狂世界: Dal, Aloo Gobi & Raita for an Indian Dinner @ Home!

I've been craving to make an Indian dinner for the longest time ever. I love Indian food a lot and especially now that I'm pregnant with a definite Asian boy who loves spicy food, it seems to be just the perfect time to cook myself some real quality Indian food at home!

Deardo isn't such a big fan though, so I invited my two sisters, Ducum and Vivian to come over for an Indian dinner where they also very kindly, helped out a lot throughout the whole cooking process!

So today, I would like to share with you just some recipes of Indian dishes that you always think you could only get at a Mamak or Indian restaurant out there.

Dal
Got this recipe from one of my closest friends back in Perth, Revathi. I've made this once very long time ago when I haven't started sharing my cooking experiments on my blog, so I'm sharing it now! :)

What you Need:

Dal Beans, pre-soaked, boiled to cook and then drained, chopped or sliced garlic and onion, A handful of mustard seeds, handful of curry leaves, vegetables of your choice (I used tomato, green beans and carrots), Sambar Powder (as shown in picture) or tumeric powder, water and salt to taste

What to do:
1) In a wok, or a big cooking pot, simmer the garlic, onion and curry leaves.

2) Then add in the mustard seeds and continue frying.

3) Now add in your vegetables and fry them for a bit.

4) Now throw in the dal beans and add some water, enough to cover all the ingredients.

5) Now add in your Sambar powder or tumeric powder, enough to make the entire dish look yellowish. I actually added both since I have both powder in my kitchen. :)

6) Let the ingredients boil till all the they turn soft, then add in salt to taste and that's it!

You know, the best thing about making your own dal is that you can choose to make it healthier with a lot of vegetables and cut down on the salt. Also, homemade ones are normally thicker and yummier, unlike those watery ones that you get from the Mamak outside! I always make one big portion of them so that I can keep the leftover in the freezer/fridge and heat up just whenever I want to have them.

It is so versatile too, you can have it with bread, Paratha, Tosai, Capati, rice or even just eat it just like that! Trust me, I used to do that A LOT back in Perth whenever Revathi makes this! The dal beans make you full okay!

Aloo Gobi
Revathi used to cook me this simple vegetable dish with cauliflower as the main ingredient before, so I just had to Google a bit and sort of mixed and match the recipe, depending on my preference on the usage of ingredients and spices.

What you need:
Chopped garlic, about 2 tablespoons of cumin, a tablespoon of curry powder (you can adjust this according to your preference), cauliflowers cut into florets, potatoes cut into small cubes, red chili cut into strips (without seeds), handful of frozen green peas, water and salt to taste

What to do:
1) In a non-stick pan/wok, simmer the garlic.

2) As the garlic starts to turn a little brownish, add in the cumin.

3) And then, the curry powder.

4) Now add chili and potatoes and fry them all up.

5) Then, enter the cauliflower! Fry them fry them!

6) Add some water (we do not want a flood in this dish, so make sure to add water very little at a time) and cover with lit and let them cook. You can open the lit to check if you need more water once in a while.

7) Once the vegetables are all nicely cooking, add in the green peas.

8) As all ingredients cooked, you can add sufficient amount of salt to taste and you are done!

Served as a very homey and healthy side dish, Aloo Gobi shouts yumminess especially with the nice scent of the cumin! So make sure you don't miss out on that very important ingredient! It's definitely something different if you want something out of the normal Chinese style stir-fry vegetables! :)

Raita
Made some Raita just because I know my two sisters are big fans of yogurt and I thought this is a perfect bowl to cool stuff down if they ever find my Indian dinner a bit too hot to handle! :p

I didn't take photos of the step-by-step though, cos I think it is pretty easy to make. I basically followed Kim's recipe and method, but I added some cumin powder, as per recommended by other recipe found online and trust me, it makes whole loads of difference! The cumin powder gave the otherwise plain bowl of Raita a spice-kick and trust me, it's in a very good way!
My two sisters were so addicted to that bowl of awesomeness I think that was their favourite dish of the night! :)

Added my signature Lime Leaves Prawns and a Broccoli Soup just because I know the sisters will love them too! See, how thoughtful a sister I am! :p

Our Indian dinner with just some extra non-Indian dishes... LOL!

Sometimes I really love cooking for guests cos I can cook more stuff, more than just for two persons you see. But by the end of the day I'll become so damn tired! But once in a while really won't hurt! :)