My Husband's favourite curry in maharashtrian food is "matkichi usal".After my marriage,I hardly know ABC's of cooking,one day he went to kitchen and cooked 'matkichi usal' for me and same time teach me also.Matki means sprouted beans and it is also called as math or matki in marathi.Matki usal is very famous Maharashtrian traditional cuisine , its lentil curry made with onion,tomato and other spices.'Matki Usal' is very good recipe for protein content as well as gluten free diet.
Ingredients:
1 cup Matki (Moth beans), sprouted
1 Onion, chopped
1tbsp Ginger Garlic paste
2 tsp Red Chilli Powder
2 tsp Garam Masala
½ tsp Turmeric
1 tsp Cumin Powder
1 tsp Coriander Powder
2 Tomato, chopped
2-3 strands of Corriander 5-7 curry leaves 1/2 tsp assfetida
Oil
Salt to taste
How to make sprouts:
1.Wash and soak matki for 5-6 hrs. 2.Drain water and put matki in cotton cloth for sprouting.It will take 7-8hrs.
Usually I soak matki in daytime and put it for sprouting in nighhtime.The next morning matki sprouts are ready.
Matki Usal
- Put sprouted matki in pressure cooker and cook for only 1 whistle.Don't overcook it ,it will lose its existence.
- Heat oil in pan and add curry leaves,asafetida and ginger-garlic paste.
- Then add chopped onion and saute till onion turns yellowish.
- Now add chopped tomato and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Add all spices and mix well.Cook the mixture till it starts leaving oil from all sides.Add matki and now cook for 5-10 minutes.Add salt as per taste.
- Garnish with coriander.
- Serve with hot chapati or phulkas.
- If salt is added with tomatoes, tomatoes will lose water and mix it well with masala.
- If gravy is needed, add water to the above process.You can add roasted peanut powder to give thickness to the curry.
- Put some lemon juice into usal to make it more delicious.
