mungodi wala palak ka nimona | spinach curry with lentil dumplings

We have a lot of nimona recipes on Banaras ka Khana and if you have been following this blog for some time you would have come across this spicy matar ka nimona, the tender peas nimona, mungodi wala matar ka nimona, alu gobhi wala matar ka nimona, harey chane ka nimona and even masoor dal ka nimona. To cut the long story short, nimona is a curry where the gravy is made with a liquidized ingredient and there are some vegetables of mungodi or vadi added to the gravy.

All these variants of nimona used to be a winter specialty owing to the ready availability of a lot of vegetables and greens. Liquidizing the vegetables makes sense if one wants to consume them in larger amounts. Clever ways to use up fresh produce.

Here is the next nimona recipe and this is palak ka nimona. This palak ka nimona is a curried spinach gravy with mungodis or fried mung fritters or masoor daal vadis. Sometimes a little besan (chickpea flour) or lentil paste was added to the palak ka nimona to give it body.

This masoor daal bhapouri (steamed lentil cakes) was also a common addition to palak ka nimona and I remember some street food stalls had adapted this curry into a chaat specialty. Larger masoor daal steamed dumplings soaked in spinach gravy, served almost like a dahi vada sprinkled with fine sev, some dry cooked kala chana and bit of onion and green chillies. Back in my maternal grandmother's place, this chaat was also called as Bhapouri or baphouri.


ingredients
(serves 2-3)

500 gm spinach steamed
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1 tbsp light everyday curry powder
turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
2 tsp mustard oil
pinch of hing (asafoetida)
tomato paste (fresh) 1/2 cup or whisked yogurt 1/3 cup

For the fritters/dumplings
200 gm red lentils (masoor daal) soaked for 2 hours, the volume increases when soaked
1 tsp cumin seeds
little ginger and green chili to taste
salt to taste
Oil for deep frying is doing so. Else follow the bhapouri recipe 

Minced ginger and chopped coriander greens for garnish

procedure 

Make a paste of the lentil fritter ingredients without adding any water.

In the same blender puree the spinach too. The remains of the lentils paste will thicken the gravy and make it more robust in taste.

Deep fry the fritters if doing so. Else follow the bhapouri recipe to steam them.

Heat 2 tsp mustard oil for the gravy. Add hing, ginger garlic paste and fry till oil released. Add the curry powder and turmeric, fry a little and then add the spinach puree and tomato paste or yogurt.

Mix well, simmer for 3-4 minutes.

Add the steamed fritters (lightly shallow fried if you wish) or deep fried ones. Add a little water to adjust consistency and simmer the curry till the fritters have soaked the essence of gravy.

Serve hot garnished with some ghee and coriander greens.

Note that this palak ka nimona can be made without the fritters too. Some people like it with shallow fried florets of cauliflowers and green peas, may be some boiled potatoes too.

This palak ka nimona pairs well with plain boiled rice as well as multi grain roti, millet rotis or phulkas.

harey chane ka nimona | a typical UP curry made with green garbanzo beans...

Talking about traditional UP curries one thinks of a spicy hot curry with deep colors and robust flavors. Winter and spring time curries are more spicy than the summer curries. Seasonal produce is used in the most appropriate way. I have been cooking spicy curries this winter more than ever. 

Harey chane ka nimona was also cooked for the love of eastern UP style curries. I have been talking about nimona a lot on this blog and noticed that a few of my friends and readers tried out my nimona recipes and wanted more of them. Of course variations of it. I knew how addictive these curries are. And all of them so different from each other in final flavors. 

This Harey chane ka nimona is yet another version of a lentil curry made using a paste of the lentil. Fresh green chickpeas or garbanzo beans are used for making this nimona but soaked green or brown chickpeas can also be used. This one a little more spicier than the other ones. The reason is, chana or chickpeas is loved in the spicier avatar in Eastern UP. The curry is enjoyed most with plain boiled rice or sometimes chapati. 

ingredients...

(2-4 servings)

fresh green chickpeas 300 gm 

boiled, cooled and cubed potatoes 1 cup

to be made into a smooth paste...

garlic 3-4 cloves

ginger roughly chopped 1 tbsp

whole dry red chilies 2-3 or to taste

whole cumin 2 tsp

whole peppercorns 2 tsp or lesser if you don't want it too peppery hot

whole coriander seeds 1 tbsp

scissor cut tejpatta 2 

turmeric powder 1 tsp

mustard oil 2 tbsp

whole cumin seeds 1/2 tsp

procedure....

Grind half of the green chickpeas into a coarse paste. Keep aside

Heat oil in a heavy based pan and tip in the cumin seeds. Let them crackle.

Add the cubed potatoes and half of the whole green chickpeas. Stir fry for a couple of minutes. Add the masala paste and bhuno for about 5 minutes or till the masala gets aromatic. Add salt to taste and mix well.

Add the coarse paste of green chickpeas, mix well and bhuno for a couple of minutes more. The paste now becomes a little lumpy but wont stick to the pan if you keep the flame on the lower side. Just let everything mixed up so the spices are soaked in.

Add about 3 cups of water, cover the pan and simmer the curry for about 10 minutes. Adding more water if required.

Serve hot with plain boiled rice. Some people like it with parathas or pooris. It is a tasty spicy curry that can go well with any traditional bread or rice preparation.

Simple home cooked meals used to be frugal most of the times as the lady of the house was the only one contributing to the kitchen or cooking most of the times. I am talking about middle class Indian households, the way food traditions are formed. So one curry and one daal used to be cooked mostly, sometimes the daal and curry was rolled into one with such curries like nimona. It made sense as taste and nutrition both were taken care of.

Joint families used to have more elaborate meals I have seen. Many more hands to contribute to the cooking process and many more choices to be catered to. In nuclear families, elaborate meals were prepared only on weekends or on festivals. Who cared when frugal was so yummy.

masoor daal ka nimona | a winter stew with lentils and cauliflowers..

Masoor daal ka nimona is one of those winter stews made in eastern UP that uses seasonal vegetables and lentils in it's full glory. Daals cooked with vegetables and mild spicing would be a good idea to pack in everything in just one dish and have some hot chapatis or rice going with it. Of course there always is some raw salad and some winter pickles on the side for a busy homemaker. Green garlic shoots pickle is one of them enjoyed with such meals.

These stews are simple homely flavors, cooked with ease, especially useful for someone who has to cook for a large family or in a limited time, or both. I have tasted many versions of this stew, some had the cauliflowers all muddled up with the daal, some had a few bits floating here and there and some had loads of green peas in it too. Some people added fried lentil vadis to this stew to make them more flavorful. All of them are tasty owing to the taste of seasonal vegetables and liberal use of coriander greens.

Actually it was my sister who reminded me of this nimona. She was cooking this one day and called me for something. And then she asked me what was cooking. She was not impressed by whatever I was cooking that day and announced with a gleaming voice that she had made masoor daal ka gobhi matar wala nimona. That too with added vadis. The dinner was decided then and there. Such things make you crave for the long forgotten flavors.

ingredients...

red lentils 1 cup
cauliflower florets 2 cups
peeled and cubed potato 1/2 cup
roughly chopped tomatoes 1 cup
finely chopped garlic 2 tsp
finely chopped ginger 1 tbsp
cumin powder 1 tsp
coriander powder 1 tsp
turmeric powder 1 tsp
mustard oil 1 tbsp
cumin seeds 1 tsp
chopped coriander greens 1/2 cup

procedure...

Wash the red lentils and cook in pressure cooker with 2 cups of water, the chopped tomatoes, turmeric powder and salt to taste. Cook for 4 minutes after the first whistle blows, lowering the flame after the whistle.

Heat mustard oil in a separate pan while the daal cooks, and tip in the cumin. Wait till they crackle and then add the potato cubes and salt to taste. Stir fry and cook for 3-4 minutes on low flame and then add the cauliflower florets and the garlic and ginger chopped. Crank up the flame and stir fry for just 2 minutes more.

Add the powder spices, mix well and stir fry for a minute more. Take off heat.

Add this cooked vegetables mixture to the cooked daal and let them all simmer for 10 minutes on low flame. The cauliflower florets should be firm but you can cook them mushy if you like.

Finish cooking by adding the coriander greens. Serve hot as a meal or as an accompaniment to a roti or rice kinda meal. You can always serve it with some butter or ghee on top.

You can add some green peas too to this stew or some fried lentil vadis (called badiyan in Hindi)

alu-gobhhi wala matar ka nimona | green peas nimona recipe with potatoes and cauliflowers, an authentic eastern UP curry...

This alu-gobhi wala matar ka nimona is such a delight to cook. It always evokes memories of my grandmother who used to cook such curries with so much of love and affection thrown in for good measure. Such spicy curries were her favorites, I remember how she used to insist on grinding a fresh chutney for every meal and slicing neat wedges of tomatoes, onions and carrots or radishes for salads. Food cooked with love has so much warmth to it, we would know if we have seen our mothers and grandmothers enjoying what they did for us kids. There is no substitute of a loving touch in everyday cooking you would agree. All the measurements and accurate methods fail when the love is not poured through the ladle.

And the love was poured through the ladle in the form of ghee sometimes. Fragrant and freshly homemade. Such recipes when cooked in ghee have a very distinct flavor but many people cook it in mustard oil and serve the curry with a spoonful of melted ghee for that lovely aroma. I prefer cooking this alu gobhi wala matar ka nimona in mustard oil because stir frying the vegetables in mustard oil imparts a complex flavor into this curry along with a few robust spices used.

ingredients...
(4-5 servings)
fresh green peas (shelled) 2 cups
baby potatoes (new winter potatoes) boiled, peeled and halved 1.5 cup
cauliflower florets 1.5 cup
ginger-garlic-green chilly paste 2 tbsp
coriander powder 2 tsp
cumin powder 1tsp
black pepper powder 1.5 tsp
turmeric powder 1 tsp
whole cumin seeds 2 tsp
mustard oil 1/3 cup
salt to taste
chopped coriander greens and stems 1/2 cup

procedure...

Make a coarse paste of the green peas, some of them should remain whole so if your food processor makes a paste quickly it's better to keep some whole green peas separately.


Heat oil in a deep pan and tip in the cumin seeds. Tip in the small florets of cauliflowers and boiled potato halves and stir fry them on medium flame so it all gets pinkish brown in 5-6 minutes. Add salt while this step as it helps absorbing the flavors later.

Add the powdered spices and the ginger-garlic-green chilly paste to the cooking mixture. This paste is made freshly, using about 2-3 green chilies, an inch piece of ginger and about 6-7 garlic cloves. The quantities can be adjusted to taste as you might like the nimona more garlicky or more hot.

Mix everything up and keep bhunoing the mixture on medium flame again. It helps the masala paste become toasted well and get aromatic. The earthy toasted aroma of the masala paste will be an indication of it's doneness. In appearance the mixture looks shiny and a little brownish. Total time taken for this step wont be more than 6-7 minutes.

Now is the time to add the coarse paste of green peas. Mix it all well and bhuno again for a couple of minutes so the flavors get melded.

Do not brown the green pea paste, it should just mix well with the masala paste and get a little sticky to the pan.

Now is the time to add water to the cooking mixture. Two cups of water will be good enough, but go by your choice of how runny or thick you want your nimona. Add the chopped coriander greens and stems at this stage, cover and let the curry simmer for about 5-7 minutes. Keep the flame low just after it get a gentle boil. It helps to keep the aromas of spices within the curry mixture. On high flame the top notes evaporate. Take crae the cauliflower florets keep their shape and don't get too mushy.

A firm bite in the cauliflower will be good to have otherwise it just gets lost and affects the final flavor of the nimona as it then interferes with the fresh flavors of green peas and coriander greens.

Serve the nimona hot with plain boiled rice or plain chapatis/rotis. Some people like a dollop of ghee on top of the nimona, but we like it as it is. The plain nimona is essentially cooked in ghee and that has a different flavor altogether. This one with alu-gobi, uses only cumin, coriander and black pepper as spice powders that are robust flavors on spices. Garam masala (cloves, cardamom, cinnamon etc) is not used so the fresh flavors of the green peas, the new potatoes and coriander greens make the curry aromatic in a different way.

We love this meal of nimona-chawal with a thick creamy raita. Any raw vegetables can be used for a raita that goes with this hot comforting bowl of winters.

Someone had commented on another nimona post of mine about this alu-gobhi ka nimona that is cooked in UP homes and that made me crave for this winter treat. It was made almost the next day, took some time to come to the blog and now again it makes me crave again for a warm bowl of this alu-gobhi wala matar ka nimona. In cold weather, such meals are a bliss.

See a mungodi wala matar ka nimona here..
another plain matar ka nimona without onion garlic here
and here are some basics of matar ka nimona that I posted in my initial days of this blog.

mungodi waala matar ka nimona | green peas nimona recipe with mung dumplings

A soup like thin gravy made with a paste of fresh green peas, spiced delicately with a few mung dumplings to bite into. It is basically a curried soup made using a coarse paste of green peas. The mung dumplings are made freshly for the nimona but the recipes is not as complicated as it sounds. Just to make 2 different pastes in the grinder and it takes about 30 minutes to cook. Some rice or chapati cooked on the side and a salad or a stir fry can make the meal really special. I made a quick begun bhaja with it, fried slices of brinjal with a melt in the mouth texture. The roti for me was a hearty jowar roti while the husband enjoyed it with plain boiled rice.

I have posted details about Matar ka nimona here and here and this nimona with mung dumplings is another version. A tasty curry with tastier dumplings, soaked with the spiciness from the gravy.

The mung dumplings can be fried in a batch and can be frozen for later use. I make them more easy by frying large sized mungodis (fried mung dumplings), and cutting them in to 3-4 pieces when cooking them in the nimona. This way they are bite sized and soak the juices well.

ingredients and procedure for the mung dumplings....

split mung beans 1 cup soaked for 2 hours
cumin seeds 2 tsp
green chillies 2 or to taste
salt to taste
mustard oil or ghee to deep fry

 Drain the soaked mung and make a paste of all the ingredients together without using any water. A coarse paste with specks of green chillies and cumin seeds is expected, so do not make a smooth buttery paste.

Traditionally , this paste is scooped between the fingers and small amounts are dropped in hot oil to make small fried dumplings of a size exactly similar to soaked garbanzo beans. But that is a time consuming process to make that tiny dumplings . I just scoop out spoonfuls and drop them gently into hot oil , these make irregular shaped dumplings but can be chopped to size when being cooked in the curry. My ways to cut short the cooking time so I can enjoy all these traditional fare more frequently. The fried dumplings look like this.

I used only 5-6 of these dumplings and the rest of them were frozen for later use. Makes a lot of sense for me...

ingredients and procedure for the green peas gravy...
green peas 1.5 cups
chopped ginger 1 tbsp
green chillies 1-2
every day curry powder 1 tbsp
garam masala 1/4 tsp Or to taste
whole cumin seeds 1 tsp
asafoetida a pinch
ghee 2 tbsp
1/2 cup of chopped coriander leaves to finish

Make a paste with the first three ingredients , the paste should be coarse and not very smooth and no water should be added while pulsing it.

Heat the ghee in a pan and tip in the cumin seeds and the asafoetida powder. Wait till the cumin crackles and then add the every day curry powder with a sprinkling of water along with it. Pour in the paste immediately and stir fry, the paste becomes lumpy first and then starts getting crumbly and sticks to the base. Cook on low flame till now.

Add the garam masala powder and mix well, stir and cook for a minute before adding about 4 cups of water. Mix well and let it come to boil.

Tip in the cut pieces of the fried mung dumplings, add salt to taste and simmer for about half an hour on very low heat. Add chopped coriander leaves to finish in the last few minutes of cooking and serve hot when the dumplings turn spongy and curry thickens to your desired level. You might like to add some water if you want it thinner. The mungodis absorb a a lot of water making the curry thicker.



Serve with chapatis or rice as I said. Hot curry like this can be nice warming winter meal any time of the day...I served it with a few slices of Begun bhaja, a bengali specialty that goes with any spicy meal. The eggplant slices turn buttery from inside when fried like this , with just a little crispness which dampens within minutes of frying it. Almost sweet and caremalised while frying and balances the meal well.

Egg plants are sliced and marinated with salt , turmeric powder and red chilly powder for about half an hour and then fried in hot oil or shallow fried on a hot griddle.

A warming hearty meal not too high on fat even when it has some fried components. A Jowar roti balances it well. I love such meals and can have loads of vegetables if served like this .... reminds me that I still have those frozen mungodis and might cook it tomorrow for lunch...

Who wants to join me for this ?

matar ka nimona version 3 | tender green peas nimona recipe

I have shared a rustic and more robust version of matar ka nimona earlier and in that post I had promised to post this delicate version of the dish. This version is made with the absolutely tender peas and the frozen ones are not suitable for this, the natural sweetness of peas takes the center stage here and the green pigment from peas is extracted in the ghee which floats on top.

The bright green colour that floats into this version of matar ka nimona makes it really aromatic and tasty with all the tenderness of early season peas. Incidentally peas are obscenely costly right now, that is, Rs.100 a kilo, but those who love this nimona  wouldn't bother about the expense.

Matar ka nimona is a fairly unheard of recipe. Purely a banarasi recipe made in some parts of eastern UP too, I make this version of matar k nimona in three versions depending on how tender the peas are as when they are the tender most, they need to be kept simple in seasoning and that is when they are the best  ...

Other two recipes are here, you can try any version according to the spice level you want and the type of peas you get, or the meal you want to make it for. It can be a main course or a side dish, and the version I am sharing now can be had for fasting days too as it is devoid of onion garlic and is made in ghee. Many Banaras people do fast on Mondays for Shiv ji and eat kadhi chawal, or nimona chawal for dinner after a day long fruits only diet. I made it quite hot with green chillies and ginger but it can be adjusted to personal taste.

ingredients ...

tender peas 1.5 cup
ginger 1.5 inch piece chopped
green chilies 3-4 or more chopped
coriander seeds 1tsp, cumin 3/4 tsp and black pepper 3/4 tsp powdered with 1 bay leaf
( all this can be wet ground in the mixie ..i used my everyday curry masala made with same proportions of the spices)
green coriander leaves chopped with stems 3/4 cup (stems are to be kept separately)
salt to taste
ghee 1 tbsp (no substitutes)
cumin seeds 1/2 tsp

procedure... 

Make a coarse paste of ginger n green chillies in a mixie jar and in the same jar put all the peas and grind till a coarse paste is made, some peas can remain whole too...

Heat ghee in a kadai and throw in the cumin seeds and let the splutter, put off the heat and throw in the spice powders and mix well....

After this add the peas paste and mix, start coking on medium heat, stirring frequently.....

 fry for a while, for 2 minutes on medium heat it should become glossy after frying well.....

Pour 1.5 cup of water in it and the chopped stems of coriander leaves and let the slurry like mixture boil for 2 minutes. It has been half cooked already and just needs to get the flavors of spices and coriander stems infused nicely.

I used less ghee than is used traditionally so the ghee does not come on top after boiling. But as soon as the cooking is done (coriander leaves will be added in the last minute) and you cover the kadai and rest it for  while, you can see the ghee floating on top with a lovely green color.

This green rogan (rogan = floating oil over any curry) is the indication of most fragrant and flavorful curry made with simple ingredients....

We enjoyed it with thin, soft and hot chapatis for dinner and it was a treat for the senses. Literally...

This version of matar ka nimona takes just about 10 minutes to cook if you are cooking for 2, you can plan the cooking accordingly. If you plan to cook for about 6-8 people you can expect about 20 minutes for this recipe as the time taken to heat up the larger quantity takes a little more time.

Make this simpler yet more aromatic version of matar ka nimona and let me know if it becomes a family favourite.

Waiting to hear from you.

matar ka nimona | a soupy spicy curry with liquidized green peas

Matar ka nimona is a favorite recipe of all the matar (green peas) lovers and the best taste comes in winters when farm fresh tender peas are available. Frozen peas are somehow not as good, though they can be used as a substitute.

What is so great when we make nimona is winter season? In fact the flavor of tender peas is extremely rich, sweetish and minimum seasoning is needed, the taste is beyond comparison if you ask me.

Whenever I use the frozen peas, I make it using onion-garlic and a bit more garam masala, so this one turns out a spicy recipe and goes well with rice or chapati. I am giving both the recipes here as both of them are different in taste and preparation.

I would tell you what a matar ka nimona is, as the name is quite unusual and it doesn't sound like a curry that it really is. I eastern UP, any curry that is cooked with a lentil paste (preferably fresh seasonal green lentils I repeat) to make a thick daal like gravy is called Nimona. So we make Harey chane (green garbanzo beans) ka nimona, kale chane ka nimona, mung ka nimona and so on. Some people even make a palak ka nimona that is simply a paste of steamed spinach leaves that makes the curry thick and creamy, some fried lentil dumplings, green peas and seasonal vegetables like cauliflowers or beans  are added to this palak ka nimona.

Now over to the Nimona cooked with fresh green peas...

ingredients (using fresh peas)
fresh peas 1 cup
desi ghee 2 tbsp
black pepper powder 1 tsp
jeera powder 1tsp
ginger chopped 1 tbsp or more
green chillies chopped 1 tbsp
whole jeera 1 tsp
tejpatta or bay leaf 1
salt to taste

procedure

First of all put the peas, ginger and green chillies in a grinder without water and make a coarse paste so that some of the peas are left whole, keep aside.

Heat ghee in a non stick pan or a cast iron one, put in whole jeera n tejpatta, then add the ground peas paste when the jeera splutters, fry this on low heat for 5-6 mins, then add the powders. I don't use haldi so that a rich green color comes, it is optional and you can add haldi (turmeric powder) for it's medicinal values, it wont affect the taste of nimona.

Add salt and keep frying on low heat until a nice aroma mixed with the smell of ghee starts coming, add 2 cups of water. Less water if thick consistency is needed. Cover the pan and give it a boil, it is ready after 2 minutes. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot.

The aroma and taste is so amazing that nobody can guess matar ka nimona is so simple to make, moreover, a minimum amount of masala allows the flavour of the peas to take over. The freshest green peas make the best matar ka nimona.

Since there is no onion garlic in this recipe it can be eaten on fasting days when evening meals are allowed.

Now towards the other recipe of matar ka nimona using frozen green peas. Frozen green peas don't normally have the subtle sweetness of the fresh peas and the mature peas mostly are a little more starchy than fresh ones. It needs a little more potent spicing than the fresh green pea version of matar ka nimona.


ingredients ( for the frozen peas)

frozen peas 1 cup
onions chopped 2 tbsp
ginger, garlic n green chilly (equal amounts) paste 2 tbsp
tomato paste 2 tbsp
whole jeera 1 tsp
coriander, jeera, black pepper and garan masala powder 1 tsp each
haldi powder 1 tsp
salt to taste
coriander leaves 2 tbsp
bay leaf 1
desi ghee 2-3 tbsp
boiled potatoes cubed 1/2 cup or soya nuggets soaked and squeezed 1/2 cup or paneer 1/2 cup or dry mung daal wadi fried 1/2 cup

procedure

Grind the peas coarsely as the above recipe and keep aside.

Heat ghee in a pan and put in the jeera n tejpatta and let it splutter, now put in the onions and fry till translucent. Add the ginger garlic chilly paste and fry till ghee separates, now add the powder masalas and fry till aromatic and finally add the tomato paste and salt, add the potato pieces at this time if using.

Other ingredients will be added later. Fry a bit and add the peas paste, keep frying for 3-4 minutes, add 2 cups water and soya nuggets or paneer or fried mung wadi, cover and cook till done or when ghee comes on top, garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

Edited to add : another matar ka nimona with mungodi (fried mung dumplings) can be seen here.
                       and another delicately spiced version here