Tuesday 8 December 2015

ORANGE LENTIL AND CARROT CURRY WITH NATURAL COLOUR OF RATANJOT

ORANGE LENTIL AND CARROT CURRY
WITH NATURAL COLOUR OF RATANJOT

# Edited: This recipe was featured at Happy snap bakes for Friday free for all, Check here.

Special announcement about co-hosting Fiesta Friday
I am excited and pleased to host another event on 11th December, called Fiesta Friday which is the 98th week of this blog party. This blog post party is on from the last two years, and it will soon be celebrating the 100# week on 25th of December 2015. In this blog hop, bloggers around the world share their splendid recipes through their blog posts and awesome clicks of the recipes. You can check the above link and join us. Please read the rules and guidelines and follow them to get a chance to be a winner, who will be featured in the next week party. This is a wonderful way to meet and gain exposure and views of the other blogger friends. I am sharing my recipes with this group from so many months and I am assuring you that, this is a friendly, supportive and welcoming group. This week in Fiesta Friday, my co-host and I will visit each and every participant's post and comment on their awesome recipes, which is a normal procedure of this party.
I am co-hosting this event with Natalie of http://stayathomechef.ca/ . If you are joining for the first time please link your post to the main page of Fiesta Friday, my page herbsspicesandtradition and Natalie's page-stayathomechef. I really appreciate and would like to thank Angie of Fiesta Friday who gave me this chance to co-host this event for the first time.


A few days ago, my daughter and I were discussing some recipe. In that discussion, I mentioned to her of a natural root of a tree which my mother was using in curries to give a distinct red/maroon colour. She couldn't believe there was such a thing, she said, “I have never heard about it, what is it?” 


I told her that we’ll try to look for it on the next trip to the Indian grocery shop. By chance, during that very weekend, we went for grocery shopping in the little Indian area in Calgary, and we found it in Indian grocery shop. I was very delighted, and thought, not only I will show it to my daughter but also to use it in my cooking and share it with you all on my blog.


The name of the root in Hindi is Ratanjot, that is what my mom use to call it. Its English name is Alkanet (Alkanna Tinctoria). It is mentioned in Wikipedia that, this root is used to give colours to wines and other drinks. In Indian cuisine, it is used to give a bright red colour to curries. In Ayurveda (traditional Indian healing system with natural things), it is used as a medicine for various ailments, amongst which, one is for reducing fever.


As I have mentioned in my first introductory post that I do not use artificial food colours in my recipes because they are not good for health. But colors like ratanjot I use in my recipes because they are natural and harmless.


Now coming to the recipe, this is a very healthy lentil curry with carrots and tastes awesome. For vegetarian lentils are a good source of protein, though a lot of varieties of lentils are used in my kitchen, but I still try and mix them with vegetables to give new taste and flavour. The other reason to mix vegetables with lentils is that I want to feed it to my grandchildren. In this way, they do not see the carrots and still get the nutrients out of it.



RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 cup orange lentils
  • 2 big grated carrots
  • salt and chilli powder to taste
  • ¼ tsp turmeric
  • 2 tsp ginger and garlic paste
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 medium onion (chopped into small pieces)
  • 1 tsp roasted cumin seeds powder
  • 2 tablespoon butter or ghee
  • 2 tbs lemon juice or more to taste.

FOR GARNISHING

  • 2 tbs butter or ghee
  • 1 tsp ratanjot powder

METHOD

  • Wash the lentils 3-4 times in running water till you see the water on the top of lentil is clear.
  • Heat butter in a pot and add cumin seeds, when seeds are changing colour, add onion and fry till golden brown.
  • Now add ginger and garlic paste and saute for few more minutes.
  • Add lentils and grated carrots with the good amount of water- 2-3 cups.
  • Let it boil for 20-30 minutes till lentils and carrots are done and cooked properly.
(I used pressure cooker, which can take five minutes after the whistle)
  • When ready, add lemon juice and roasted cumin powder and mix well.

FOR GARNISHING

  • Heat ghee/butter on a high flame in a small fry pan.
  • Add ratanjot, it will leave colour in few seconds, then garnish on top of the curry as shown in the picture.


79 comments:

  1. This root is totally new to me, the curry looks so tempting and delicious..

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  2. Healthy and yummy curry.love the color.

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  3. Curry looks sooo colorful and its just one great healthy pot of a lentil curry...

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  4. Hi Sadhna,
    Glad to hear you are co-hosting a recipe blog hop. This recipes sounds delicious and easy to make. Thanks for sharing on Real Food Fridays. Pinned & tweeted.

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    1. Thanks Marla, you are always helping me by pinning and tweeting my posts.

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  5. What a lovely curry you have made - I enjoy lentils in any recipe! Thanks for co-hosting and have a great time :)

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    1. Thanks very much Judi for vising my blog and for commenting.

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  6. Wow, this looks amazing! I had never heard of raganjot before, what an intriguing root. Thank you very much for co-hosting FF!

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    1. Thanks for visiting and commenting, You are welcome,I am enjoying hosting this event.

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  7. See, Moms and Grandmas all over the world are trying to sneak veggies into kids! I found this post very informative and so interesting, and wanted to thank you for hosting FF this week! I love lentils in all forms, but no one else in the house will eat them, no matter how hard I try to convince. (I'm staying at my folk's house and helping them out for awhile.) These look lovely!

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    1. Awwww such a lovely comment, thanks very much for visiting. You are welcome I am enjoying hosting this event.

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  8. Sounds interesting..love the color and looks healthy

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  9. I think I am going to have to take a visit to an Indian grocery store, my desired list of special ingredients keeps growing. This is beautiful.

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  10. Your lentil & carrot curry looks delicious. I love natural colours & flavours, I haven't come across ratanjot before, going to keep an eye out for some at our local cash & carry. Thanks for hosting Fiesta Fridays Sadhna :-)

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    1. Thanks very much dear for visiting and reading my post.I have enjoyed hosting this great party.

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  11. i have never heard about this root but very interesting. i love lentils in general though :)

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  12. Yum; I love lentils! You always make the most colorful and pretty dishes. Thanks for sharing at #FoodandFitnessFriday!

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    1. Thanks Jebbica for your comment, i am glad you like my dishes.

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  13. Beautiful click and color. flavorful and delicious recipe!

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  14. This is great that beside your daughter, I had also learn new thing. Not hear of the root before but im sure your curry is delicious! Thank you for sharing it with us #pintorials

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  15. What a beautiful bowl of curry, it looks amazing. Thanks so much for sharing your post with us at Full Plate Thursday and have a great day.
    Come Back Soon!
    Miz Helen

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  16. My husband loves curry anything!! I bet this is great! Thanks for sharing on My 2 Favorite Things on Thursday! See you again tomorrow! Pinned!

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  17. Flavorful & healthy recipe of orange lentil..I used to make it in a sameway but never used carrot, I just loved the addition of carrot in dal..yumm

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    1. Thanks Jolly, ya carrots are making it more tastier, give it a try.

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  18. The colors of this are gorgeous! I always learn something new when I visit your blog. Thanks for joining us on the Tasty Tuesdays Linky Party. I hope you will join us again in two weeks (on Dec 29th).

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  19. A different & easy curry.......lovely color of ratanjot.

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  20. I love the combination of colors of the orange curry with the maroon ratanjot, so pretty and it sounds delicious! Thanks for sharing at What'd You Do This Weekend?!

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  21. Looks delicious curry, thanks for sharing with Hearth and soul blog hop, pinning, tweeting.

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    1. Thanks Swasthi for your comment and for pinning and tweeting.

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  22. Oooh these flavours so amazing! Thank you for sharing with #CookBlogShare x

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  23. This recipe is new to me... Specialy ratanjot... I need to know more about that

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    1. Thanks Priya, you can get ratanjot in an Indian grocery shop.

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  24. Looks delicious!
    Thanks for sharing at Funtastic Friday!

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  25. This sounds a perfect healthy recipe packed full of veg for the new year! Thanks for sharing with #frifree4all. Sorry I am late with my comments, Christmas had taken over :-) I hope you enjoyed your Christmas holidays. Thank you for joining in with my link up over the last year. There is a new #frifree4all link up over on my blog now, I hope to see you there

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    1. Thanks Hayley for your comment. yes we have enjoyed Christmas holidays.I will be joining you this year again. Wishing you a Happy and healthy new year.

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  26. This sounds and looks so delicious. My mum's been wanting to try to make her own curry from scratch so I think we will have a go at this together. #YumTum
    Angela x
    Only Crumbs Remain

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  27. Sadhna, you always show us the most delicious recipes! I always want to start preparing right away!!! You make me so hungry, this is so delicious looking, I love lentils!

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  28. This looks delicious, like all of your recipes do. I am not a fan of artificial colors in foods either, for the same reasons, but I have never heard of ratanjot. You always introduce me to new things!

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    1. Thanks very much Jessica, nice to know that you also do not like the food colours.

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  29. Hi Sadhna, not only does this recipe sound delicious, but I am crushing on the beautiful pot it is pictured in! As good as it is, the pot has to make it taste just that much better, I'm sure. And I am always looking for good lentil recipes. Thanks for sharing, Lynn

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    1. Thanks Lynn for your lovely comment. I got this lovely serving pot here at Indian grocery store, you can find many more lentil recipes on my blog.

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  30. I'm sure that, in addition to tasting phenomenal, it must smell amazing too. I bet your home just smells delicious, day in and day out.
    Thanks for sharing with us Hun.

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    1. Awwww, thanks very much for your visit and the comment.

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  31. Thi slooks like such a delish recipe. We also use lentils in our Greek cuisine but of course we don't use curry with it.

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    1. Hi Mary, nice to know that you also use lentils in Greek cuisine, I would love to learn some Greek recipes of lentils.

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  32. It looks delicious and healthy. I love lentils, but haven't had any orange lentils.

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    1. Hi Carol, Thanks dear for your comment, orange lentil is very nice and quick to make.

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  33. We have been using more lentils in our food as our daughter is a vegetarian, and I love learning new ways to use them! We've had them in chili and then next night chili nachos, in bean soup, and in stew. I'm pinning your recipe to try, especially the rantanjot, it looks fun and no hidden chemicals! So cool!

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    1. Thanks Nikki for your lovely comment and for pinning, I am very sure you will enjoy it.

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  34. Sadhna - you always come up with these dishes that are beautiful and original. I learn so much from your posts. Always love new lentil recipes!:):)

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    1. Thanks dear for such an encouraging comment and for your visit.

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  35. Another great recipe! I can almost smell it from here! I love that you don't use artificial coloring in your dishes - keeps them healthy! This recipe looks easy to follow, I'll give it a try!

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    1. Thanks Erin for your comment, give it a try, i am very sure you will like it.

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  36. wow this looks good! I've never tried carrot curry before, I love the natural colour! Thanks for linking up to #YumTum

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  37. Looks delicious as always!

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  38. thanks for ur entry to the MLLA event ! this root is new to me :)

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