A "maidless Tuesday"

What a Tuesday! Just when I was hoping for the week to settle into it's own pace after the mad rush of Monday - MY MAIDS DECIDED TO TAKE OFF TOGETHER!
So contingency plans had to be employed quickly.
Okay I'll manage without the dusting and the Jhaadoo - Pocha but what about the dishes?
Commission the easiest clean up menu -

1. Chane ki dal
2. Palak  paneer
3. Rotis from the dabba wala across the street

I don't know about you but years of household chaos have taught me that I should REALLY utilize the weekends.
So over the weekend - I always keep a lot of stuff ready in airtight containers to be commissioned on days like this.
All time favourites are -

• Half kilo chopped onions
• Half kilo chopped tomatoes
• Some ginger garlic paste ( I go with store bought)
• Two bunches of Spinach / palak - boiled with some salt and ginger garlic paste and pureed in the food processor
• Of course frozen paneer packets

So I put all these to good use to minimize the use of pots and pans that I would have to wash.

Chane ki dal
The trick with chane ki dal is that you have to wash it really well before pressure cooking it to minimise the mess in the kitchen.

1. Put the washed dal in the cooker with a teaspoon of oil and some salt.
2. Cook it for one whistle on full flame and the next on minimum flame.
3. Allow the cooker to cool
4. In a tadke ki kadhai ( a tiny katori like kadhai with a long handle) heat a tablespoon of oil.
5. To the oil add 1 bay leaf, a tsp of jeera and 1/2 tsp of haldi
6. Add 1 1/2 tsp of sugar to this.
7. As the sugar starts to brown, pick up the kadhai and pour the contents over the cooked dal
8. Simmer the dal with the tadka for 10 minutes.
9. Pour out the dal into the serving bowl immediately and use the cooker to make Palak paneer

Palak paneer

1. Heat some oil in the cooker
2. Add a tablespoon of chopped onions and when they are fried add a tablespoon of chopped tomatoes. Sprinkle a very minute amount of salt on the tomatoes so that they cook quickly. (There is some salt already in the spinach puree so we need to really watch it)
3. Now pour the spinach puree into a micrwave safe bowl and pour the fried onion and tomato over it. Mix well
4. Add the paneer cubes and mix
5. Microwave for 3 minutes at 100% power.

Ta -da - we have just the cooker and the tadke ki kadhai to wash and we're done with the cooking.
Thank God for the good sense that prevailed over me on the weekend!