Snake guard curry

I have always said, my mom is my cooking guru. Growing up, I was fortunate to eat such amazing food prepared by mom. The best part about my mum's cooking is that it is very simple, minimal ingredients yet so delicious ..food that makes you feel so good. Today, I will share with you a delicious Snake guard curry that I learnt to make from my mom. This curry is sweet, a little spicy , oozing with flavors from coconut and cumin seeds. I have used cashews to act as the thickening agent but you can replace it by semolina / suji /rava.

Palak Sambar / Spinach-lentil Curry

Palak Sambar or Spinach curry is delicious sambar that pairs well with rice. This is a very simple recipe oozing with flavor. I prepare this sambar atleast once a week and is favorite dish for everyone in my family. This spinach and lentil curry is beautiful flavored with the spices from sambar powder.

Dal Makhani (Instant pot method)

Dal Makhani is one of most popular Indian curries that is popularly featured in almost all restaurants. Its a versatile dish that goes well with Indian breads or Rice. Some time back , I had shared the recipe for Dal Makhani to be prepared using Slow Cooker (Click here for the recipe). Today I will share the recipe that can be prepared using IP or Instant Pot.

Tomato Onion Saasmi (Tomato Onions in a mustard-coconut gravy)

The word "Saasmi" or "Saasve" means mustard seeds. Tomato Onion Saasmi is a curry with cooked tomatoes and onion in a mustard-coconut gravy. This curry is served with rice and usually eaten before the main entree "Sambar" . The saasmi recipes that I have shared earlier are fruit based (Mango Saasmi and Pineapple Saasmi) and have a sweet touch to them. Tomato - Onion Saasmi is savory and spicy in taste. In mango and pineapple saasmi recipes, I used dry red chillies while in this recipe, I have used green chillies.

Thai Red Curry

School vacations have started. That means , my kiddo is always at home asking for one thing or the other. Also, to keep him busy, there are play dates, trips to the library or pools. All this leaves me with practically no time for blogging:( When the day starts, I decide that I will spend a couple of hours at night to work on the blog. But by the time its night time, I am so tired that all I want is to hit the bed. But I have been feeling so guilty that I havenot posted any thing in a while so decided that I will post atleast one recipe by EOD.

So today, I will be sharing with you a recipe for a Thai Curry. I have adapted the recipe from here . This veggie curry is mildly spiced and mind blowingly delicious :) I have used alot of veggies but in case you like the curry more gravyish, then reduced the quantity of veggies. Also you can play with the choice of veggies.

Katachi Amti

KATACHI AMTI

This Maharashtrian soup is prepared from the liquid strained from cooked lentils (usually while preparing Puran poli) is eaten with plain white rice.

INGREDIENTS:
Note: All measurements are based on the US measuring cup and spoon sizes where 1 cup = 235 ml
Recipe adapted from here

• Chanadal stock / Split chick pea stock : 2 cups
• Goda masala: 2 tsp (Available in Indian stores)
• Red chilli powder : 1 tsp +0.5 tsp
• Jaggery powder : 4-5 tsp
• Dry dessicated coconut : 1/4 cup
• Cumin seeds: 2 tsp
• Tamarind : 5 gms (small piece)
• Salt as per taste
• Cilantro : 2 tbsp

For the tadka:

• Oil : 2 tsp
• Bay leaf (broken ) : 2
• Cinnamon stick : 1 inch broken
• Mustard seeds : 1 tsp
• Cloves: 4
• Turmeric powder / Haldi : 1/2 tsp
• Asafoetida / Hing : 1/4 tsp

PROCEDURE :

• To prepare the stock, cook 1 cup chana dal / split chick pea with 3 cups of water in a pressure cooker for 4-5 whistles. Once cooked, strain the water from the dal using a strainer. Use this liquid for the amti . (To see how to get the stock, check the recipe of Puran Poli)
• Soak the tamarind in hot water for about 30 minutes. Mash it well to obtain the pulp. Separate the pulp/ water from the tamarind waste.
• Add the tamarind water/ pulp, goda masala, salt, jaggery and 1 tsp of red chilli powder to the dal water. Add some extra water to adjust the consistency. The consistency should be thin. Bring this mixture to a oil.
• In a separate pan, roast dry dessicated coconut and cumin seeds. Once done, grind them into a powder.
• Add this coconut-cumin powder to the boiling dal water.Let it simmer.
• To prepare the tempering, heat oil. When hot, add bay leaf, cloves, cinnamon stick, mustard seeds. When the seeds start to splutter, add the turmeric powder, 0.5 tsp of red chilli powder, asafoetida and curry leaves. Pour this tempering over the amti. Cook for a minute or two.
• Lastly add chopped cilantro and serve hot with rice .

Bengali Cholar Dal

Cholar dal is a mildly spiced creamy lentil curry prepared from split chickpea. This dal is traditionally served with Luchi or Kochuri. This lentil preparation is thick in consistency but you can always adjust the consistency and serve it as a soup or as a side with some hot steamed rice. 

Pineapple Menaskai

Firstly, a very happy and prosperous new year to all my friends. You must be wondering as to where I have been for the last couple of months. I went to India for about 6 weeks. I had such a great time with family and enjoyed amazing food. Days used to be so busy yet fun filled that I hardly was able to come online. I was pampered both by my mum and mum-in-law. Loads of yummy dishes..ahhh..Don't worry I will sharing a few of these dishes soon in my blog :)

Tomato Rasam (Without Lentils)

Rasam or Saaru is nothing but  "South Indian soup". Every South Indian meal begins with piping hot rasam being served with rice (with ghee/clarified butter drizzled on top of it). A meal with hot, spicy rasam rice with some fried poppadams on the side makes a great comforting meal. The rasam can also be served as a spicy soup. There are varieties of rasams prepared in a South Indian Household. It varies from region to region. I myself prepare different types of rasam. I have already posted LEMON RASAM (Kattu Saaru) , TOMATO RASAM and SOUTHE BEEJA SAARU recipes earlier.  The recipe that I will be sharing today is little similar to the previously posted Tomato rasam but in this case, we do not use Lentils. In this recipe , the rasam powder is ground with freshly grated coconut, little tamarind and tomato. This ground mixture is then added to cooked tomatoes and cooked a little while. Lastly a tempering is added to the rasam and the rasam is served with hot rice.

Sindhi Kadhi

Sindhi Kadhi is a delicious tangy gram flour based curry with mixed vegetables. This a very easy to prepare healthy curry that tastes even better the next day.. So it is perfect for large gatherings as you can prepare it well in advance . Serve it with hot rice and you have a perfect comforting meal.

RAJASTHANI KADHI-Dahi Pakoda kadhi/Khatta

Rajasthani Cuisine is very flavorful .On one side, they have rich and heavy dishes like Dal Bhaati while on the other end they have simple yet delicious Kadhis.  Kadhi Chawal is most commonly eaten meal combination in a Rajasthani house hold. Dahi Pakoda Kadhi is also known by the name "KHATTA" . Today we will learn how to make this simple yet delicious dish.

Shaam Savera - Spinach Koftas stuffed with paneer in a tomato gravy

My blog is more than 100 posts old but one thing was missing in the line of recipes...a KOFTA dish. Also, the theme of our next blog hop event happened to be "Kofta dishes " too. So my first Kofta dish had an added importance:) I wanted it to be something rich , tasty and visually appealing.Hence I chose "Shaam Savera". Shaam Savera is a restaurant style kofta dish. Spinach koftas stuffed with cardamom flavored paneer (cottage cheese) are served in a creamy tomato gravy.

Majjige Huli / Kodakyana

"Majjige" in Kannada (Language spoken in the Indian state of Karnataka) means Buttermilk and "Huli" in Kannada ( in this  context) means coconut based curry. In Tullu (another language spoken in South kanara region of Karnataka) , it is called KODAKYANA. This a mildly flavored curry that not only tastes great with rice but also with Idli and shyavige (rice noodles).

Panchvati Dal / 5 Lentil curry

Panchvati Dal  is a dal or curry made using five types of lenthils. For vegetarians like myself, Dals or lenthils are a great source of proteins.So I try to use lentils either by making Dal curries or using them in parathas or using them along with rice to make khitchdi .

Lasoon waali Palak dal

This is a simple yet a very delicious dal recipe.Top it with little desi ghee and serve it with hot jeera rice or plain rice. Cooked Dal and spinach is topped with a tempering of onion, ginger, chilli and garlic resulting in a flavorful and delicious dal:)

Maa Chole ki dal

Maa Chole ki dal is a delicious dal based on Punjabi cuisine.  It is made by combining split black gram  ( split urad dal with black skin) and split bengal gram (Chana dal).  This dish is not only tasty but very filling too. Serve it with plain rice or with jeera rice and you have a perfect meal.

AVIL or AVIAL (Mixed vegetables in a spicy buttermilk gravy)

Happy ONAM!! {i know its been a  couple of days since the day of Onam..actually i started writing the post on the day of Onam, but some how got tied up in some house hold work:( So please excuse me for the delay in wishing y'all} As I may have mentioned earlier, although I have been brought up in Mumbai, I was born in Mangalore. So , growing up my mum made alot of dishes at home that were authentic south canara recipes or recipes belonging to the UDUPI cuisine. After completing my engineering ,I got a job and was posted in Mysore. Here in Mysore, I was lucky to have a very good group of friends. This is especially important when you are away from home. Friends become more like your family. Amongst my friends , few of them hailed from KERALA. As I got to know them, I also got to learn alot about the Kerala cuisine. I soon realised that many dishes prepared in Kerala are also prepared in Mangalore and Udupi. The cuisine is very similar.This might be  because mangalore is very near to the KERALA-KARNATAKA border. Avil/ Avial is one such recipe found in both the cuisines.

Avil/Avial is sometimes made in a greenish white gravy and sometimes in a red gravy. The difference is due to the type of chillies used. If you use green chillies you get a Avil/Avial with a greenish white base while if you use dry red chillies , you get a red base. Either ways it tastes superb.

My mum always used dry red chillies and hence I am using the same.

Serve hot Avil/Avial with piping hot  rice and Enjoy!!

So here is the recipe..Hope you all will like it:)

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 cups of mixed chopped vegetables (I used chayotte, potato, green beans, carrots and peas. Other vegetables of choice could be yam also called as "suran", mangalore cucmber, ridge gourd, raw plantain and drumsticks)
• 1/4 tsp haldi or turmeric powder
• 1 tsp jeera
• 5 dry red chillies (i used the Byadgi kind. adjust this number according to your taste)
• 1/2 cup sour buttermilk (i used the store bought buttermilk)(You could  also use sour yogurt instead of butter milk. Just whisk it well before adding)
• 1 tsp tamarind pulp (use if the yogurt is not sour)
• 1 cup freshly grated coconut.
• 1 tbsp of semolina or rava or suji
• Salt as per taste
• For the tadka/tempering:

1. 2 tsp ghee or clarified butter
2. 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
3. 2 dry red chillies
4. 4 curry leaves

PROCEDURE:

• Cook the chopped vegetables in 4 cups of water. Add haldi/ turmeric powder to the vegetable mixture.
• While the vegetables are cooking, grind the coconut, red chillies, jeera (cumin) and  tamarind pulp into a thick paste using very little water.
• Once the vegetables have cooked, add the thick red coconut paste to it and mix well. Cook for about 3-4 minutes.
• Now add the sour  buttermilk. Also add the salt at this point. Also adjust the consistency as per you liking.Bring it to a boil.
• Once it comes to a boil, simmer for about 5 minutes and turn off the heat.
• For the tadka, heat ghee in a pan. When it is hot, add the mustard seeds, urad dal and the red chillies. When the mustard seeds start to crackle, add the curry leaves and turn off the heat. Add this tadka to the Avil/Avial.
• Serve this Avil/Avial with hot rice.

HAPPY COOKING!!

Mango kadhi

Summer is here and so are mangoes.. I love mangoes so much that as soon as I see them in the stores, I can't resist and have to buy them. On my recent trip to COSTCO , I bought a box of big mangoes. I had used most of them in smoothies, in curries like Menaskai and a few we ate them just as is:).. Last couple were remaining. It was I think one Thursday evening, I was totally blank as to what I would cook for dinner. It had been a hectic day, so wanted to cook something simple but wanted it to be "chatpatta"... So thought of browsing on the web if i could get something interesting..It was then I saw this recipe in Archana's space.

Pearl Onion Sambar

I make different varieties of  sambar. But this sambar is particularly good with idlis and dosas. I use the pearl onions that you find in the frozen section of any grocery store like Meijer and Walmart. Its convenient as it is ready to use. It saves me all the time cleaning the little onions. Along with these pearl onions you can use any vegetable of your choice like green beans , chayote etc.

Ingredients:

1. Toor Dal         1/2 cup
2. Pearl onions    1/2 cup
3. Chayote         1 (chopped into 1 " cubes)
4. Onion             1/2 (thinly sliced.)
5. Freshly grated coconut  1/4 cup
6. Sambar powder   3-4 tsp or as per your taste* 
7. Salt as per taste
8. Tamarind    size of a ping pong ball (Soak it in warm water for some time and extract the pulp. You can use a "chalni" to separate the pulp from the unwanted seeds etc).
9. Jaggery  3 tbsp (you can use more or less depending on your taste)
10. Hing  1/4 tsp
11. Turmeric powder (haldi)  1/2 tsp
12. Oil  2-3 tsp
13. For the tadka: 

• Mustard seeds (rai)  1/2 tsp
• urad dal  1/2 tsp
• Red chilli   2-3
• Curry leaves  4-5
• Oil   2 tsp

Method:

1. Wash the toor dal. Now pressure cook the dal with the veggies (Chayote and pearl onions) until done. When cooking the dals, along with sufficient water also add haldi and a tsp of oil. Adding oil make the dals soft and gives a buttery feel to them.
2. Heat a 1.5 cups of water in a heavy bottomed vessel. Add tamarind pulp and jaggery to it and let it boil for about 5 minutes.
3. Now add the cooked dal with vegetables.If the dal seems very thick you can adjust the consistency by adding more water.Cook for about 5 minutes.
4. In a separate pan, lightly saute sliced onions in a little oil until golden.
5. Grind  these sauteed onions, fresh grated coconut and sambar powder in to a smooth paste using little water.
6. Add the paste to the dal mixture and mix well. 
7. Add the hing and salt and let sambar boil for 2-3 minutes.Turn off the heat.
8. To make the tadka, heat some oil in a pan. when the oil is hot, add mustard seeds , urad dal and red chillies. When the mustard seeds start popping, add the curry leaves and turn off the heat.
9. Add the tadka to the sambar. Pearl onion sambar is ready to be served.

* Homemade or store bought.Amongst the store brands i personally like MTR

Mixed vegetables in coconut gravy

Ingredients:

1. Potatoes  2 medium sized
2. Green beans or french beans  12-15
3. Shelled grean peas  1/2 cup
4. Cauliflower              1/4 flower
5. Carrots     2 medium
6. Fresh grated coconut   1/2 cup
7. Tamarind pulp  2 tbsp ( If using dry tamarind,soak ping pong ball size tamarind in 1/4 cup of hot water. After some time , mash it well and extract the pulp. You can also use the store bought tamarind pulp .In this case, dissolve it in 1/4 cup of  water.)
8. Thick Coconut milk  1/2 cup
9. Dried red chillies  6 (byadgi chillies)
10. Cumin seeds 1 tsp
11. Coriander seeds   1 tbsp
12. Garlic cloves        8
13. Turmeric powder  1 tsp
14. Salt as per taste
15. Oil for tadka  3 tsp
16. Mustard seeds  1 tsp
17. Urad dal   1 tsp
18. Curry leaves  6-7
19. Jaggery powder  1 tbsp (optional)
20. Hing   1 pinch

Method: 

1. Peel and dice the potatoes in to 1" cubes. Cut the beans into 1 " pieces. Peel and dice the carrots in to 1 " cubes.Separate the flower in to small pieces.
2. Heat a little oil  and saute 4 red chillies, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, garlic and coconut till nice aroma comes. Grind this into a smooth paste using little water.
3. Cook the vegetables in 1 and 1/2 cup of water. Add turmeric powder and salt to it.
4. Add in the tamarind pulp and cook for some time.
5. When the veggies are cooked, add in the ground paste and cook for 10 minutes.
6. Lastly add the coconut milk and simmer for 2-3 minutes. 
7. Heat some oil  and when the oil is hot, add mustard seeds, urad dal, curry leaves and remaining red chillies . When the mustard seeds crackle, turn off the heat and add this tadka to the gravy.
8. Serve this curry with hot rice. ENJOY!!

Note:

• Usage of jaggery is totally optional. It tastes great well without it too.
• Use only byadgi chillies for this recipe. Byadgi chillies are long dried red chillies which have milder spice level. This is widely used in south india for various dishes like rasam, sambar, bisibelebaath etc.