Add some dill to your cooking

LIVING IN THE KITCHEN 

Those wispy leaves can give your vadas an appetizing flavour.Try it, says, Vinaya Govind,as she describes the numerous uses of dill.

Dill leaves are almost synonymous with the masala vada of the south. These wispy fern-like leaves are known to give an appetizing flavour to the vadas, that are a favourite snack with tea or coffee. Traditionally, dill leaves are called vade soppu or sapsige soppu in Kannada.  These leaves are sauted with a variety of vegetables and dals that make the main course dishes in India. They are used in fish dishes, soups, salads and pickles in other parts of the world.

Dill leaves as well as dill seeds are used in a variety of culinary delights and medicines.
Dill is believed to have properties that help the secretion of digestive juices and bile.

*The oils in dill aid peristaltic motion of the intestine
*Being carminative in nature, dill leaves when consumed, help in the expulsion of gases and also reduces formation of intestinal gas

*Its calmative effects aid in having a good sleep
*Besides being diuretic (aiding in the removal of toxins from the body by increased urination), dill also helps in curing diarrhoea caused due to indigestion
*Consumption of finely chopped dill leaves sauted with a little ghee and salt is believed to stimulate lactation in new mothers

*Dill leaves are effective in relieving menstrual pains
*Fresh dill leaves act as a mouth freshener. Chewing them helps minimise damages caused to the gums due to microbial infections in the mouth
If dal is part of your daily diet, pressure cook dal with chopped dill leaves to make it tastier and healthier. Try out the following recipes with dill leaves.

Masala Vada

Ingredients: Bengal gram dal (chana dal) – 2 cups, a small bunch of dill leaves, coriander leaves – 2 tbsp, and a tsp of curry leaves, onions-2, green chillies – 2, garlic – 2 cloves  (optional), ginger – ½ inch piece crushed, clove – 1 (powdered), salt to taste, soda bicarbonate – 2 pinches, oil for frying.

Method: Soak the dal for at least three hours. Grind it to a coarse paste with salt, garlic and very little water. To this paste, add finely chopped onions, dill leaves, coriander leaves, curry leaves, green chillies, clove powder and soda bicarbonate. Mix thoroughly using your hand. Check on the salt, add more if need be.

Heat oil in a kadai. Grease your palm with a little oil, make lemon-sized balls with the mixture. Flatten them lightly on your palm and slide them into the hot oil, one by one. Once both sides are slightly browned, turn over the vadas repeatedly so that they are cooked uniformly. Remove from oil when vadas are brown and crisp. Place them on a kitchen tissue for a minute. Serve hot with tomato sauce or hot green chutney.
Note: The vadas will break into pieces if the mixture has more water content. This can be fixed by adding a tbsp of besan or rice flour to the mixture.
Tip: Adding a few mint leaves will enhance the flavour of the vadas. As a variation, you could use spring onions instead of the regular onion.

Dill leaves dosa
Ingredients: Rice - 2 ½ cups, urad dal – ½ cup, fenugreek seeds – 1 tbsp, beaten rice (avalakki) – ½ cup, dill leaves – a small bunch, green chillies - 1-2, soda bicarbonate – ¼ tsp, salt to taste.
Method: Soak rice with urad dal, fenugreek seeds and beaten rice for about three hours. Grind these ingredients along with a little water, chopped dill leaves and green chillies to make a fine batter. Add salt and soda bicarbonate and rest the batter to ferment for at least six hours. (You could leave the batter to ferment overnight if ground in the night).
Heat the tava, smear it lightly with oil. Pour a little batter and spread it into a thick dosa. Flip the dosa and roast the other side too. Flip it again, drop a dollop of butter and serve hot with mint chutney or coconut chutney.
Note: Keep the flame medium/low to avoid burning the dosas. If any of the dosas get burnt, sprinkle a little water on the tava and wipe it with a clean cloth/kitchen tissue before continuing to make dosas.

Rice rotis with dill leaves
Ingredients: Rice flour – 2 cups, a bunch of finely chopped dill leaves, finely chopped coriander leaves – 2 tbsp, finely chopped onion – 1, green chillies chopped – 1 tbsp, roasted jeera and til seeds – 1 tsp, salt to taste, oil for basting.
Method: In a big bowl, mix the rice flour, salt and all other ingredients. Add 2 tbsp of oil. Now add water in little quantities to make a hard dough. Heat a tsp of oil in a kadai. Remove it from fire and smear the oil on the sides of the kadai using a spoon. Take a handful of the readied dough, place it in the middle of the kadai. Wet your hand lightly and pat the dough uniformly to form a thick roti. Put the kadai on low flame and drizzle a tsp of oil around the roti’s edges and the surface. Close the kadai with a lid and allow the  roti to cook for 2-3 minutes. Use a flat spoon/knife to loosen the edges first before turning over the roti.  Fry the other side too for about a minute, basting the roti with a little oil.  Serve hot with ghee and coconut chutney.

Note: Dill leaves should be used when fresh as they lose their flavour rapidly.