Pala pinju poriyal/ Baby JackFruit Stir Fry

Baby Jack fruit is a seasonal veggie which is available for a few days in the summer season. Back home we use to buy this for every year. It tastes awesome. Few days back, I saw few baby jack fruits in the Indian store. I was so excited and grabbed one without second thought.(May be I should have thought for a minute!!;) )

So this is how the veggie was...I peeled the skin & cubed it into chunks with the idea of making a simple stir fry.


Ingredients
Baby Jack fruit chunks-11/2cups
Onion-1
Red chilly-2
Green Chilly-1
Few curry leaves
Mustard seed-1/2teaspoon
Channa dhal & Urad dhal -1teaspoon each
Turmeric powder-1/4teaspoon
Garam masala powder-1/2teaspoon
Grated coconut- 11/2 teaspoons
Salt
Oil

Method
Cut the onion-green chilly into thin slices.
Heat oil in a kadai, make the tempering with mustard seeds, then add channa dhal-urad dhal and fry till they turn golden colour.
Now add the onion-g.chilly,broken red chilly pieces,turmeric powder and fry till the onions become transparent.
Then add the baby jack fruit, sprinkle little water.

Cover the pan and cook for 5-6 minutes.(till the veggie becomes tender). Add coconut and garma masala, give it a quick stir and put off the flame.
Baby jack fruit poriyal is ready! Goes well with any rice item or with Roti.
Baby jack fruit won't be sweet, it will have a nice taste, but to my surprise, this one was tasting just like jack fruit!! yesssssss..the veggie was sweet! My DH didn't like anything sweet, so after a few bites, he just handed over it to me! I have a sweet tooth, so enjoyed it! ;) ;)

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Cauliflower Roast

Ingredients for the stuffing
Cauliflower-11/2cups
Onion-1
Tomato-1
Cumin seeds-1/2teaspoon
Chilli powder-11/2teaspoons
Turmeric powder-1/4teaspoon
Coconut milk powder-1tablespoon
Salt
Oil.

Dosa Batter-1 cup

Method

Wash and cut the cauliflower into bite size florets,chop the onions,tomato & green chilly.
Heat oil in a kadai, add the cumin seeds,let them splutter.
Then add the onions,curry leaves, sauté them till the onions become transparent.
Add the tomatoes,chilli powder and salt. Cook till the onions become mushy.
Add the coconut milk powder with little water and bring it to boil.
Now add the cauliflower florets, sprinkle little water,cover it and cook(say for 4-5 minutes) till the veggie becomes soft but not mushy.


Reduce the flame to low, cook till all the gravy thickens. Finally add the cilantro and put off the stove.

The stuffing for the dosa is ready.
Make a thin dosa on a hot griddle, spread the masala in the centre,sprinkle some oil and cook till one side gets cooked.

Fold the dosa into a triangle carefully and flip it over.


Cook for 30 seconds and the cauliflower roast is ready to serve.

Enjoy it with your favourite side dishes!

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Vegetable Kurma

Roti..Nan..Paratha..Rice..Idli..dosa..aappam .. you name it!!! What ever may be the main course,this recipe will be a perfect accomplishment for all those!! :) This time we had it with spongy Appam!! It was delicious! :P :P

Ingredients
Mixed Vegetables of your choice-1cup
Onin(big)-1
Tomato(big)-1
Green chilly-1
Few Curry Leaves & Cilantro
Turmeric powder-1/4teaspoon
Chilli powder-11/2teaspoon
Sugar-1/2teaspoon
Salt
Oil

To grind
Ginger-1"piece
Garlic-3cloves
Green Chilly-1
2" piece of Cinnamon Stick
Fennel Seeds-1teaspoon
Bay leaf-1
Cloves-2
Elaichi-1
Grated Coconut -2 1/2 tablespoons
Roasted Peanuts-12No. (or) Dhaliya-1teaspoon(or) Cashew-7No.

Method
Wash and cube the veggies into equal size.(I've used a carrot,a potato, 5beans and a fist full of green peas)
Chop the onion and tomato into very fine pieces. Slit the green chilly.
Heat oil in a pan, make the tempering with mustard seeds, then add in the onions-green chilly-curry leaves and sauté till onion becomes transparent.
Now add the veggies with enough salt,half cup of water,close the pan and cook for 4 minutes.
Meanwhile grind the ingredients given under "To grind" table with little water to a fine paste.
Add the tomatoes with the veggies and cook for a few minutes.
Add the coconut paste and cook on medium heat till the oil oozes out.
Finally add the cilantro and switch off the stove.

Enjoy it with your favourite dinner! :)

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Pakarkay theeyal/ Bitter gourd gravy

Bitter gourd is one of the few veggies my DH hates! If I make Pulikuzhambu once in a blue moon he will have it. Bitter gourd fry is always not permitted. As a result I buy this veggie rarely. When I bought it this time, i saw the paakarkay theeyal recipe in Chitra's blog. Tried it a few days back, and it was a big it. This is slightly different from the puli kuzhambu and tasted awesome.

Ingredients
Bitter gourd -2
Onion-1
Green chilly-1
Turmeric powder-1/4teaspoon
Tomato-1
Few Curry leaves
Sugar-1/2teaspoon

To roast & grind
Grated Coconut-3tablespoons
Small onions/shallots -5
Red chillies-7
Coriander seeds-1teaspoon
Cumin seeds-1teaspoon
Pepper corns-7
Raw rice-1teaspoon
Urad dhal-1teaspoon
Tamarind-one gooseberry size

Method
Heat oil in a pan and add raw rice and urad dhal and fry till they turn golden colour. Then add coriander & cumin seeds, pepper corns and fry for a minute. Add in the shallots,redchillies, tamarind,coconut and fry on medium heat till everything turns brown colour.

Let it cool and grind it to a smooth paste.
Slice the bitter gourds-onion-g.chilles into thin slices.

Heat oil in a kadai, make the tempering with mustard seeds, followed by onions-g.chilly, curry leaves. Add turmeric powder, fry till the onions become transparent, add the bitter gourd slices.
Close the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes. Then add the chopped tomato, cook till it becomes mushy. Mix the masala paste with enough water and add it with enough salt.
Cook it covered for 7-8 minutes, then open the pan, cook it on low heat till the oil oozes out from the gravy.
Add the sugar and switch off the stove. Pakarkay theeyal is ready to enjoy! It goes well with hot steaming rice as well as dosa and idly.

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Vazhakkay Eriseri/ Plantain Fry with roasted coconut

I tasted this in a friend's house. The very next day I wanted to try this out as 2 plantains were sleeping in my fridge for a long time. To my bad luck, I was running out of couple of other main ingredients(green chillies and fresh coconut) for the recipe. But was not having the patience to go to the store and getting things. So just proceeded with the alternatives and guess what?? It turned out to be really tasty. I know this may not be the proper "eriseri" but still it tastes awesome. :)

Ingredients
Raw Plantain -2
Red chillies-3
Coconut -1cup
Cumin Seeds-1teaspoon
Mustard seeds-1/2teaspon
Urad dhal-1teaspoon
Curry leaves
Pepper Powder-1teaspoon
Turmeric Powder-1/4teaspoon
Salt
Oil
Method
Peel the skin and chop the plantains into small pieces. Keep them in water till you use them.
Combine the plantains,pepper and turmeric powder,salt with enough water and cook till the veggie becomes soft but not mushy.
Grind 1/2cup of coconut with red chillies and cumin to a coarse powder.

Heat oil(preferably coconut oil) in a pan,make the tempering with mustard seeds-urad dhal and currry leaves. Then add the coconut+cumin+chilli powder, cook for a minute or two.

Drain the excess water(if any) from the plantain and add it..
In a separate pan, roast the remaining coconut till it becomes brown. Add the roasted coconut to the plantains and mix well.
Cook on low heat for a minute and switch off the stove.

Vazhakkay eriseri is ready! It goes well with all rice varieties.

Sending the following recipes to "Healing foods -Banana" event started by Siri and hosted in Krithi's Kitchen.
1.Plantain Eriseri
2.Banana-Walnut Cake
3.Pazha kachayam

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My Article in Aval Vikatan

Dear Friends, Am happy to share the news that my article about Carlsbad Flowerfields is featured in the latest issue(published last Monday in India) of Aval Vikatan, a famous tamil magazine from the Vikatan Groups.

The Flower Fields is a beautiful place with lot of fun filled activities. If you live around LA, this is a must see place. With the Pacific breeze, colourful flowers and a big outlet mall, am sure you can spend a whole day here. They are open for 3 months in the Spring, so don't miss it in the next season!

Thanks to Aval Vikatan team,Thanks to my family and friends who wished me through phone and mails.

:))))))))

You can see some more photos of the Flower fields in the album.

Carlsbad Flower fields

Thanks!

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Potato Podimas

Ingredients
Potato-2 (medium size~200grams)
Onion-1
Green Chilli-2
Few curry leaves and Cilantro
Hing-2pinches
Turmeric powder-1/4teaspoon
Mustard Seeds-1/2teaspoon
Cumin Seeds-1/2teaspoon
Channa dhal-1teaspoon
Urad dhal-1teaspoon
Salt
Oil

Method
Boil the potatoes with enough salt in a pressure cooker for 2 whistles. Peel them and keep aside.
Chop the onions & green chillies finely.
Heat oil in a kadai,add the mustard seeds,let them pop, then add hing,cumin seeds followed by channa dhal and urad dhal. Fry till they turn golden colour.
Add the onions-g.chilli-curry leaves and turmeric powder. Add little salt and fry till the onions become transparent.

Mash the potatoes coarsely and add it..
Mix everything to gather, fry on low heat for 2-3 minutes, add in the cilantro.
Potato podimas is ready to serve.
Can have this as a side dish for roti's as well as rice.You can use this as stuffing for masala dosa.

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Puliyodharai / Tamarind Rice

Ingredients
One (big) lemon sized Tamarind
Onion-1
Garlic- 1 bulb(roughly 12 cloves)
Round Red chillies-15
(adjust to your spice level &variety of the chilly.Can decrease the number if using long red chillies)
Methi seeds-1teaspoon
Curry leaves-2 springs
Mustard seeds-11/2teaspoons
Cnanna dhal-1tablespoon
Urad dhal-1tablespoon
Roasted peanuts-1 fistful
Turmeric powder-1/2teaspoon
Sugar-11/2teaspoons
Salt-2teaspoons
Oil-1/4cup
*Cooked rice-5cups

Method
Cook the rice well in advance.
Soak the tamarind in 3 cups of water for an hour, extract the juice and keep aside.
Roast the methi seeds on low heat till you get a nice aroma. Cool them and grind it to a fine powder.
Chop the onions and garlic. Break the red chillies.

Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and let them pop-up. Then add channa dhal-urad dhal and peanuts. Fry them till they turn golden colour.

Add the onions-garlic-redchillies-curry leaves, turmeric powder. Sauté them till the onions become transparent.

Add the tamarind juice, enough salt.

Let it boil nicely.
Cook the tamarind mix well till it oozes out oil. Finally add the methi seed powder & sugar,mix it well and switch-off the stove.
Puliyodharai mix is ready once its cooled completely. You can store it in a clean airtight container and store it for week in room temperature,can refrigerate it for 2-3 weeks.[if planning for a long term use, avoid the onions. I always make this for the trips and finish it off in one time.]
Mix the rice and puliyodharai mix.
This will be a perfect lunch for picnics and trips. You can keep it for 2 days. *I cooked 21/2 cups of Basmathi rice. The tamarind mix in the last but one photo was enough for that quantity.

This rice tastes divine with raw coconut(yes, raw coconut pieces - தேங்காய்த் துண்டுகள் :) ) or with paruppu chutney/coriander chutney/mint chutney. The chutnies should be thick and preferably made with roasted coconut(if using). Even any chips will be enough with this rice.

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