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Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Baby Bok Choy Pappu ~ Lentil


Baby bok choy

Bok choy, also known as Pak choi or Peking cabbage, forms a small but elongated head (not round like European cabbage) with plump white stalks and deep green leaves. A member of the brassica family, bok choy offers nutritional assets similar to those of other cabbages: It is rich in Vitamin C and contains significant amounts of nitrogen compounds known as indoles, as well as fiber--both of which appear to lower the risk of various forms of cancer.

Bok choy is also a good source of folate (folic acid) and potassium. And with its deep green leaves, bok choy has more beta-carotene than other cabbages, and it also supplies considerably more calcium. The stalks and leaves have quite different textures, so in culinary terms, it's like getting two vegetables for the price of one.Baby bok choy has a sweeter flavor than adult varieties. For more information on varieties, availability, storage and nutritional information click here, here, and here.

Did you know...?
1 cup of cooked bok choi contains 15% of your recommended daily allowance of calcium ~ equivalent to 1/4 pint of full fat milk.

Source: Whole health MD

Baby Bok Choy Pappu ~ Dal


Baby bok choy pappu ~ dal with phulkas and fresh cucumber

I like adding baby bok choy in salads, stir fry's, soups, stir-fry noodles and fried rice and recently thought why not make some dal ~ pappu out of it. That way we can have our fiber intake as well as some folate too. Its a nice cross-over for leafy vegetable dal.

Source : My own
Cuisine: Fusion

Prep time: 7 mins
Cooking time: 20 mins
Serves: 4 people
Ingredients:
1 cup toor dal/red gram lentil
5-6 stalks baby bok choy, trim the tough ends
1/2 red onion, sliced
3-4 green chillies, sliced
1/2 tsp turmeric powder/haldi/pasupu
1 tsp red chilli powder/cayenne pepper
1 tsp cumin seeds/jeera
2 tsp tamarind pulp
for tempering/tadka/poppu:
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp urad dal/black gram lentil
2-3 dried whole red chillies
2-3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
few curry leaves
a pinch of hing/asafeotida
Salt as per taste
1tbsp oil
Method:

  1. Chop coarsely bok choy and pressure cook them with toor dal/lentils along with turmeric powder, onions, green chillies, cumin seeds and chilli powder. Cook upto 3-4 whistles. Add tamarind pulp, salt to it and mash the contents.
  2. In a deep pan heat oil, add mustard seeds, let it splutter then add urad dal/black gram lentil, curry leaves, torn red chillies, garlic and fry for a min. Add hing/asafeotida and pour the entire mashed bok choy dal and mix well. Let it simmer for 2 more mins.
  3. Serve hot with plain rice or rotis /Indian flat bread.

Note: Use of salt should be limited while cooking this dal as bok choy already is little salty in nature. Thats what I found out while cooking with it.

34 comments:

Anonymous said...

Padma, what a neat idea. Bok Choy in daal is a new idea for me. Also I have never tried putting tomato to cook along with daal. Got to try this new idea.

Seena said...

Padma,
haven't heard of this bok choy.its name might be different here..
thanks for the information..

Rajitha said...

padma..that is a great idea...dal looks yummy!

Kribha said...

I've seen this veggie in chinese markets but never knew what to do. This is a really cool idea. will try it for sure. Nice picture.

Pravs said...

good info on baby bok. i haven't tried it so far.Next trip for grocery i will look out for baby bok.Must have been nice with roti, right?

Raks said...

Thankyou for this wonderful recipe,using Bok choy..I never hav cooked this veg b4,but I will give this a try...!Thanx for the idea.!

Apple said...

wonderful idea padma...I use only spinach and fenugreek for Dals...'ll try your recipe next time..Thanks for sharing

Viji said...

Nice one Padma. Very neat recipe. Viji

Unknown said...

Nice recipe Padma.. though I see this veggie in market, I avoid it bcoz it is new to me... Thanks to u, I can add one more veggie to my grocery list :)

Lissie said...

nice recipe, padma! thanks for the information. in Bangalore they call it chinese cabbage. but i never knew what to do with it!

Finla said...

Hey that is a very clever idea adding the bokchoy to the dal. I hacve never ever thought about doing it.

Big Boys Oven said...

oh lovely!

FH said...

Looks delicious! I recently cooked with iceberg lettuce, loved it.Finding new soppus to cook to replace the Indian ones, YAY!:)

Richa said...

hey, u've made using bok choy so easy to do, that too in a cooker, fantastic! i see it still retains it's texture, right?
i'm surely going to try it.

Padma said...

Hey Redchillies! thanks for your kind comments ya! But I did not add tomato to it, I avoid cooking tomatoes with cabbage and spinach..

Seena, nice to see you here. Yeah it is called chinese cabbage in some parts of the world

Thanks Rajitha !

Kribha dear, try and let me know how that tasted

Pravs it was tasting so good with rotis as well as rice

Rageshwari Let me know how that came out and tx for visiting

Keerthi, got fed up eating the same old leafy dals so thought of using bok choy in my dal, try it, you will love it

Thanks Viji, Spanz, Lissie and happy cook...I hope my dal might have inspired you to buy some on ur next visit to the groceries :)

Hey BBO, nice to see u here. Tx for visiting!

Asha dear, thinking of try with lettuce next time

Richa, yeah the bok choy did not loose its texture even after pressure cooking it... I felt really wonderful while eating....

Swaruchy said...

Nice one Padma.....I remember seeing this vegetable in grocery stores...will check out specifically for this next time...Dal looks tempting :-))

Latha Narasimhan said...

It is looking like Raddish padma! nice idea to adapt these vegetables to our recipes!:))

remya said...

nice n cool idea!!! i have seen this in stores....havent tried as i donno the name an wat to cook...urs looks yumm

Meg Wolff said...

Bok Choi...I love the buttery taste of it! This looks delicious with the pita. :-)

Sharmi said...

hey Padma, nice info. I have to try it. Does it taste like other regular dals?

Anonymous said...

Hey padma, how does bok choy taste. I never cooked with it before.

S said...

padma cool idea making pappu with that...good one..manchi ideas vasthai neeku

Laavanya said...

Great job putting these two together... I haven't tried cooking with bokchoy but this recipe of yours makes me want to.

Laavanya said...

Great job putting these two together... I haven't tried cooking with bokchoy but this recipe of yours makes me want to.

KellytheCulinarian said...

Looks great and healthy as well.

Padma said...

Thanks Sirisha, you are always so kind to check my posts and leave your heart warming comments...

Latha Amma! thanks for the compliments, yes indeed it is a new combination for me

Remys, thanks for visiting, nice to see u here.

Meg, great to see you here, so you are also a Bok choy lover!

Sharmi and Hima go and get some choy n make this dal, I promise you gonna love this. If you ask me about how this tasted it is something closer to Raddish leaves taste... but once mixed with dal, the lentil dominates the flavor

Shanti and Laavanya, thank you very much to check on this post and if you do cook in some other variation do let me know

Daily Meals said...

Hi Padma,
Nice idea to cook the bok choy with dal and thanks for letting us know about the importance of the bok choy...I only tried this with noodles in chinese vegetarian stalls...
Vijaya:)

East Meets West Kitchen said...

I've never put those two together before, but I can't wait to try it now. YUM!

Sia said...

i have never tried cooking with bok choy padma. i keep saying to myself that i will buy this 'foreign' veggie and cook one day but that day has never come. ur dish look very safe and delicius to me:)

Kalva said...

Bokchoy pappu?? very creative!

Bong Mom said...

I have a BOk Choy-Masoor Dal in my blog too :) Actually whenever I get a chance I add green leafy stuff to my dal

Bindiya said...

Wow! What a beautiful dish, and your way of explaining is so precise, right down to the timing of the recipe, lovely!

Shivapriya said...

I use bok choy a lot but never tried in Indian dishes. Pappu sounds interesting. Will try it next time.

Anonymous said...

Bok Choy.......Hmmmm should give a try. Nice idea.

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