Indian Baby food?

Wondering about the title? Don't laugh at me for posting this..But since I started making this for my daughter, I realized that it became more of my husband's favorite than my daughter's! :)
And I found this to be a quick and easy dinner fix if you are not interested to make an elaborate meal..
This is a traditional food that we start giving the babies when they start eating solid foods..healthy and tasty of course! But in our house this is pretty much everybody's dinner whenever I make it!

Servings: 2

Ingredients:
Rice - 1/2 cup
Toor Dal - 1/2 cup
Mixed Vegegtables - 1/2 cup
Spinach, frozen - 1/4 cup (optional)
Garlic, minced - 4 cloves
Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Curry powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida - 1/8 tsp
Water - 2 1/2 cups
Salt, to taste
Ghee/Clarified Butter - 2 Tbsp

Method:

1. Take a small pressure cooker and add everything else from above except the ghee. 
2. Cover and pressure cook for up to 3 whistles. 
3. Once the pressure goes off, remove the lid and mix ghee and serve. 

The spice measurements above are for a mild rice, if you are really targeting this for adults, you can increase the curry and chilli powders by 1/2 tsp more. This is a wholesome meal with veggies, protein and carbs that is more like a one pot dish that cooks in minutes. 

Traditional Sambar

This is a traditional sambar recipe from my mom's kitchen. In our house growing up, our everyday meal included rice, a gravy like sambar, rasam..etc and a side vegetable, egg or meat. So sambar was one of the most common gravies made..and was everyone's favorite :)

Ingredients:
Dal - 2 cups
Water - 5 cups
Onions, diced - 1 large
Tomato, diced - 1 large
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Sambar powder - 1 Tbsp
MTR sambar powder - 1Tbsp (optional)
Cilantro, chopped - handful
Asafoetida - 1 pinch
For Tadka:
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Jeera - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 5-6 nos

Method: 

1. In a pressure cooker, add dal, onions, tomato, asafoetida, water and all the powders, salt and cook for 3 whistles and switch off.
2. Meanwhile in a small pan, heat oil and add mustard seeds, jeera and curry leaves.
3. Remove the lid from the cooker and heat in medium flame and adjust salt and sambar powder according to taste and bring to boil. Add the tadka, cilantro and remove from flame. 

Homemade Sambar powder is nothing but a combination of coriander seeds and chilly powder. But if you don't have that you can just add readymade sambar powder. This recipe is for plain sambar. You can add any kind of vegetable to it and it will add more flavor and taste to it..The most common veggie suggestions are brinjal/eggpant, radish, capsicum, carrot..

Dal Makhani

Dal Makhani is one of my favorite and easy recipes that I make very often.

Ingredients:

Onion, diced – 1 medium

Masoor Dal – 2 cups
Tomato, diced – 1 medium
Garlic, minced – 4 cloves
Ginger Garlic paste – ½ Tbsp
Cilantro, chopped – 2 tsp
Green chillies – 2 nos
Water – 6 cups
Butter – 1 Tbsp
Asafoetida - 1 pinch

For Masala:
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Chilli powder – 3 tsp
Curry powder – 3 tsp
Turmeric – 1 tsp
Dal Makhani Masala – 3 tsp (optional)
Salt, to taste

For Tadka:
Jeera – 1 tsp
Curry Leaves – 6 nos
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Urad dal – 2 tsp

Method:

1. Take a pressure cooker and add dal, onions, green chillies, garlic, ginger garlic paste, tomato, asafoetida and all the masalas. Add water and cook for 3-4 whistles until well cooked.
2. Once the pressure goes off, take the lid, add butter and adjust salt and masalas according to taste and cook in medium heat until desired consistency.
3. In a small pan, add oil and heat. Add mustard seeds and when it pops, add jeera, urad dal and curry leaves.
4. Add the tadka and cilantro to dal and remove from heat.