Thursday, March 20, 2008

Kyoonki Saas bhi kabhi bahu thi......(because the mother in law was once a daughter in law)

When I initially played the role of a nayi bahu (new daughter in law)..., I used to walk around the kitchen with a sense of uncertainty...unable to figure out what is expected of me..., as all pair of eyes were studying me ...from the elders in the family to the tiny tots ...., from relatives to the servant maids ...! I wondered how I will fit into this new house hold , which my mother in law and sister in law were managing so well. The usual cold wars between saas and bahu(mother in law and daughter in law) was missing here. As days passed , I understood that my mother in law would just accept everyone as he or she is ...and we daughter in laws had the freedom to live according to our taste... I knew I was lucky!

One day I saw her making rice balls and putting them in boiling water.
"What are you making, Amma?” I asked
"Udkaanthuli undi (rice balls in water) she replied
I had not heard of a dish like this.... but in my home my mother used to make rice balls in daal or lentils.
"This is what your sister in law likes... so I make this ... not the usual Konkani dish , which we make with daal." she replied...
I was amazed to see how she always adopted to the likes and dislikes of others in the family. She used to avoid certain ingredients if it was not my sister in law's choice. When she knew that I liked the rice balls in lentil soup, she invariably prepared one with daal and one without daal...
How could one be so flexible?...may be because she was once a daughter in law herself.

So here is a toyaa-thuli undi(rice balls in lentils soup) enriched with vegetables...This is my own version of the dish...

Ingredients

Toor daal 1 cup
Rice flour 1 cup
Assorted vegetables of your choice 1 cup
Baby onions 3-4
Ginger garlic paste
Green chillies 2
Cumin 2 tbsp
Mustard seeds 1 tsp
Coconut grated 2 tbsp(optional)
Salt to taste
Oil for seasoning
Coriander leaves a bunch
lemon juice 1 tsp

Pressure cook the daal with salt. In a vessel, mix rice flour 1 tbsp cumin, grated coconut , salt and boiling water to make a dough. Make small balls and keep aside. heat oil in a deep pan , temper with mustard , cumin , green chillies. add ginger garlic paste and chopped onions. Add in the cut vegetables. M ix in cooked daal and dilute with water. Add enough salt according to taste. once this mixture starts boiling add the rice balls. Simmer it and let it cook for 10 minutes. once the rice balls are cooked garnish with coriander leaves and lemon juice and serve hot.

This post is being submitted to Holler of Tinned Tomatoes, hosting No Croutons Required, a monthly soup event that is also hosted by Lisa of Lisa's Vegetarian Kitchen. This month's theme is Spicy Soups.
This also goes to WBB Balanced Breakfasts hosted by Mansi and to Jugalbandhi's click event.

15 comments:

Finla said...

You have a wonderful MIL.
I was lucky didn't had to go through the new daughter in law thing.
Got married and straight moved into hubbies apartment :-)

Sum Raj said...

this recipe sounds great....will surly try.....

bee said...

that is a lovely picture - full of life and action. thanks for participating in CLICK.

Anonymous said...

This one seems another lovely yummy recipe & nice reading the description too...Wish U & your family a Happy Holi. May this Holi brings a lot of joy and happiness in our life & Wish that your life becomes colorful as the colors of Holi..

J said...

Nice dish. The picture is nice too.

Bharathy said...

Hope you too will be a wonderful MIL to your Daughters in law ;)..

Great read!fine recipe!,Nandu...:)

Lakshmi said...

sounds like my mom in law too..

Pooja said...

Nice wholesome dish Nanditha :) .
Never heard of it either. thanks for sharing :)

Susan said...

Nanditha, your MIL sounds like a treasure, and this recipe is not only wildly colorful, but flavorful - I can tell. ; ) Just my kind of dish.

Maddy said...

never seen this - first i thought you were talking about Kozhakattai...then once the boiling part was over, i realised it was something else..

Cynthia said...

You are blessed to find such a mother in law.

Unknown said...

Your MIL seems like a very sweet lady! Lucky girl:)

ranji said...

hi nanditha!!i love all variations of dal curry...this is very new to me and realy delicous... mil's recipes are something to treasure!!!bookmarked..:)
my hubby also studies in udyogamandal school and he told me he knew a nanditha prabhu,a great dancer, from school so was wondering if it was u:).My hubbys name is Binoj Ramesh.

recipes galore! said...

hi !
i tried this today. the thoy came very tasty, but the undi dint get cooked ....it was pretty raw in the centre. i cooked it for almost an hour, still nothing happened. Also the undis were very hard. can u tell me what went wrong and how i get soft , cooked undis next time? Thank you.

Nanditha Prabhu said...

hi maithri,
grt to know that you tried this out. did you use boiling water to mix the rice flour?
try making smaller rice balls.... this recipe has never failed for me..............