Poached Egg Kurma / Muttai kuruma

Ingredients
Eggs-2
Onion(chopped)-3tablespoons
Few curry leaves
Tomato-1
Turmeric powder-1/8teaspoon
Coriander powder-11/4teaspoon
Chilly powder-1teaspoon
Oil
Salt
Cilantro to garnish
To grind coarsely
Chopped onion-2tablespoon
Green chilly-1
Red chilly-1
Cinnamon stick-2"piece
Clove-1
Elaichi-1
Fennel seeds-1/2teaspoon
Coriander seeds-1/2teaspoon
Pepper corns-4
To grind into a fine paste
Grated coconut-2tablespoons
Cashew-4

Method
Grind the items under "to grind into a coarse paste" and keep it ready.
Grind the coconut and cashews with little water into a fine paste and keep it aside.
Heat oil in a pan, add the chopped onion, curry leaves and fry for a few minutes. Then add the coarsely ground masala, sauté till the raw smell of the masala is gone.

Now add the turmeric powder, chopped tomato, coriander and chilly powders, and continue cooking.
Once the tomatoes become soft n mushy, oil started oozing out from the content, add in the coconut cashew paste, adjust the water to the desired consistency.
Let the kurma boil nicely for 6-7 minutes on medium heat.
Reduce the heat to low, break the eggs and add it to the kurma one by one.
Leave the kurma undisturbed for 2-3 minutes and then mix it gently.
Switch off the flame after a couple of minutes and garnish with cilantro.

Delicious aromatic egg kurma is ready to serve. It goes well with Chapathi, dosa, idli and appam. 

Carrot Rice

This being my 300th post, am really happy and excited  to share some pictures from my garden and a recipe with my garden carrots! Thanks for all your support dear friends and readers! :)

I have written about my patio garden in my other(Tamil) blog often, but never wrote anything about it here. I love to grow colorful plants than growing veggies. :) So you will find more flowers than edible things in my small garden!

This spiring we got some dahlia bulbs. The beautiful, bright colored flowers lightened-up our mornings till the summer. Other than that, I have a few rose plants, some geranium plants and a few other small flowering plants.

Mint likes the Orange county weather, and I am getting a nice harvest year around to share it with friends! :)

Got a brinjal plant from the local farmer's market, the plant was doing good in the initial stage, but was affected by insects in between!! Hopefully, I have recovered the plant from the bugs and this is the first brinjal from the garden... :) 

I am happy that I succeeded in growing carrots in a pot..yup!! :))) Planted some carrot seeds in May [1st of May] and they were up for harvest last week.

The carrot seeds I got were not sweet enough to  enjoy the carrots as such, hence I wanted to some exclusive carrot recipe with these fresh carrots. Saw this recipe and it attracted me with fresh ground spice powder. Lets see how to make the delicious carrot rice.

Ingredients
Grated carrots-1/2cup
Cooked rice -1 cup
Chopped onion-3tablespoons
Green chilly-1
Mustard seeds-1/2teaspoon
Urad dal-1teaspoon
Hing/Asafoetida- a generous pinch
Few curry leaves
Salt
Oil

For the spice powder
Roasted peanuts-2teaspoon
Coriander seeds-1/2teaspoon
Cumin seeds-1/2teaspoon
Fennel seeds-1/2teaspoon
Cinnamon stick-a small piece
Clove-1
Red chillies-2
Oil

Method
Roast all the items given under "for the spice powder" in little oil. Let them cool and grind it into powder.
Grate the carrots and keep it ready.

Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and let them pop-up. Then add the urad dal and fry till it turn golden in color. Add the hing, wait for a second, then add in the chopped onions, green chilly. 

Saute till the onions become transparent, then add in the carrot.

Continue cooking for 4-5 minutes on medium heat or until the carrots become soft.  

Now add the spice powder and sauté for a minute. 

Add in the cooked rice, mix everything well.

Add the curry leaves and reduce the heat to low and let the rice blend in with the carrot masala for a few minutes. Delicious carrot rice is ready to serve.

You can have this rice with some chips, curd, raita or with some veggie curries. I had it with brinjal masala. 

Bitter gourd Stir-fry/Pakarkai porial

Ingredients
Chopped bitter gourd/Pakarkai -1cup
Chopped onion-2tablespoons
Chopped tomato-1
Sambar powder-11/2teaspoon
Grated coconut-1tablespoon
Sugar-1/2teaspoon
Mustard seeds-1/2teaspoon
Urad dal-1/2 teaspoon
Channa dal-1/2 teaspoon
Salt
Oil

Method
Wash, take out the seeds of the bitter gourd and chop it into fine pieces.
Heat oil in a pan, add mustard and let it splutter. Add in the channa dal-urad dal and fry till they become golden color.
Now add in the chopped bitter gourd, fry for 3-4 minutes.

Once the bitter gourd is half cooked, add in the onion and tomato with enough salt.

Cook till the veggies are done, now add in the sambar powder, grated carrots and sugar.

Mix everything well, reduce the heat to low and cook for few more minutes.

Tasty bitter gourd stir-fry is ready to serve. The bitterness will be low because of the tomato and sugar we are adding so this porial makes a good combo with any South Indian lunch.

In the plate: Beetroot stir-fry, Pavakkai porial, Poosanikkai rasavangi

Beetroot Stir-fry

I love to have my lunch plate colorful! :) So when I prepared spinach masiyal  the other day, the perfect side dish which came into my mind is beetroot! This stir fry is a quick fix and tastes grate with rice. Particularly, have this with curd rice (or) butter-milk rice, and you will make it often! :)

Ingredients
Grated beetroot-1/2cup
Chopped onion-2tablespoons
Green chilly-2 (adjust to your taste)
Mustard seeds-1/4teaspoon
Urad dal-1/2teaspoon
Few curry leaves
Grated coconut-2teaspoons
Salt
Oil

Method
Take the grated beetroot with enough salt. Sprinkle some water and cook it.

Heat oil in a small tempering pan, add the mustard seeds and let them pop-up. Then add the urad dal, fry till it turns golden in color. Add the curry leaves, onion, chopped green chillies. Fry till the onion becomes transparent, then add it to the cooked beetroot. 

Add grated coconut as well and mix everything well. Thats it!! delicious beets stir-fry is ready to serve.

 Enjoy it in South Indian way as I did...rice-spinach masiyal-beets stir fry- rasam and mor(buttermilk).

Rice-Bittergourd porial-Beetroot Stir-fry & Ash gourd curry

You can have it in North Indian way as a side dish for roti's too! 

How to re-heat Vada-Pav?

Hubby dear brought some vada-pav's on the way back home from an Indian store. But since it was too late, we couldn't finish them off, so I refrigerated them. The next day, I wanted to reheat them and was wondering how to do that.. and searched the net for some hints. Couldn't find any useful tips on the net, hence I came up with an interesting post. :)

I have tasted vada-pav once here in a Marati friend's place and the store bought one's were not even close to them. So made some missing! ;)) side dishes and we had a nice snack! 

How to reheat the vada pav? 

Pre heat the oven to 250F

Place the vada pav's in a baking tray and bake it for 10 minutes, turning the plate once in between. 

Garlic chutney

Desiccated coconut- 1/4cup

Red chilles-2

Garlic-2 cloves

Salt

Grind all the things in a small jar of a mixie. 

Fried Green chillies

Select the tender thai chillies. Slit them. 

Heat some oil, deep fry the chillies carefully.[Chillies might pop up, so be cautious]

Add little salt to the fried chillies and toss them nicely.

Serving suggestion

Plate the vada pav's, along with 2 fried chillies, some garlic chutney. Serve along with a hot cup of tea.  

Bindi do pyaaza/Okra Curry

Ingredients

Bindi/Okra/Ladies finger/Vendaikkai - 8 

Onion-1

Tomato-1

Fennel seeds-1/4teaspoon

Cumin seeds-1/4teaspoon

Turmeric powder-1/8teaspoon

Chilly powder-1easpoon

Coriander powder-1teaspoon

Kasoori methi-1/2teaspoon

Garam masala-1/4teaspoon

Cilantro- to garnish

Oil

Salt 

Method

Trim the edges of the okra and cut them into desired shape. 

Coarsely grind half of the onion. 

Grind 3/4th of the tomato and keep it ready.

Roughly chop the remaining onion and tomato into big chunks. 

Now heat little oil in a kadai, fry the onion chunks. Once they change the color, take them out and keep it aside. 

In the same kadai, add the okra and fry till the slimness has gone and the veggie turns slightly brown.

Heat oil in a pan and add fennel and cumin seeds. Let them crackle. Then add the ground onion paste and cook till the raw smell has gone. 

Add the ground tomato paste, chilly powder,coriander powder, kasoori methi and salt. 

Cook on medium heat till the gravy becomes dry and the oil oozes out from  it.

Add about a cup of water and bring it to nice boil. Then add in the pre-fried okra pieces along with the chopped tomato.
Let it cook for 4-5 minutes on low heat.
Finally add the cilantro and garam masala to the gravy and switch off the flame.
Delicious and yummy bindi do pyaaza is ready. It goes well with roti and rice.

We are adding twice the amount of onion than the usual measure, thus the name "do pyaaza"[do=2, pyaaz-onion, translated from Hindi! :)]. You can make this curry with other veggies like mushroom, cauliflower, paneer etc.

Chow-Chow Chutney/Chayote Chutney

This is a quick and delicious chutney. I had a sudden thought of trying this one day and tried it. No one will know this chutney is prepared with chow-chow/chayote squash unless you tell them! :) 

Ingredients

Chow-chow/Chayote/Merakkay -1/2cup{peeled and chopped into small pieces}

Channa dal-1tablespoons

Red chilly-4 (adjust to your taste)

Tamarind- a tiny piece

Grated coconut-11/2tablespoons

Salt

Oil

To temper

Oil

Mustard seeds-1/2teaspoon

Urad dal-1/2teaspoon

Curry leaves- few

Method

Heat oil in a pan, add the channa dal and fry till it turn golden in color. 

Now add the red chillies, fry them for few seconds, add the chow-chow and fry on medium heat.

Once the veggie is cooked, add the tamarind and coconut and put off the flame.

Grind it as a fine paste with little water and enough salt, once it cools down completely. 

Make the tempering in a small tempering pan, pour it over the chutney and enjoy it with idli or dosai.

Cauliflower stir fry with freshly ground curry powder/ Curry podi & cauliflower podi curry

Ingredients for Curry Powder
Channa dal-1tablespoon
Urad dal-1tablespoon
Coriander seeds-1tablespoon
Hing/Asafoetida-1/8teaspoon
Red chilly- 4 (adjust to your spice level)

Method 
Dry roast all the items given above, without burning anything.

Let it cool, and grind it to a powder. This powder can be used to make lot of dry vegetable curries.

Cauliflower podi curry- Ingredients
Chopped Onion-2 tablespoons
Chopped Garlic-1teaspoon
Mustard seeds-1/2teaspoon
Urad dal-1teaspoon
Few curry leaves & Cilantro
Salt
Gingelly oil-1tablespoon
Cauliflower florets-1cup
Curry podi/ Curry powder-11/2teaspoons (adjust to your taste)

Method
Wash and microwave the cauliflower florets till 3/4th done.(say 2-3 minutes in high power..or steam them in a steamer)
Heat oil in a wide skillet, add the mustard seeds and let them splutter.
Add urad dal and fry till it turn golden, then add the curry leaves.
Now add the pre cooked cauliflower and cook for a minute.

Add the curry powder and enough salt.

Keep cooking till the masala is well coated with the cauliflower, it may take around 2-3 minutes on medium flame. 

Finally add in the cilantro and put off the stove.

Enjoy with your choice of main course.

Quinoa Dosai

Ingredients
Idli rice/Ponni boiled rice-1cup
Vendhayam/Methi seeds-1/2teaspoon
Quinoa-1/2cup
Urad dal-1/4cup
Salt

Method

Wash and soak the rice, quinoa and methi seeds together for 5-6 hours.
Wash and soak the urad dal for 11/2hours.

Grind all the things in a single batch to a thick batter. (If you make larger quantity, you can grind the urad dal separately).

Add enough salt, mix it well and let it ferment for at least 8 hours. ( I kept inside the conventional oven with light on, and this is what happened to me! Hehe..! :) )

Add little water to the batter if necessary and make dosa's as you make regular dosa. 

Tasty and healthy dosa's are ready to eat. 
These dosa's turn brown sooner than the normal dosa, so careful and adjust the heat.  They have little sweeter taste (from the quinoa, I guess! :) ). 

Serve along with your choice of chutney/sambar or kurma. 

Capsicum Stir-Fry

This is a quick and delicious side dish for roti as well as rice. I didn't add any additional masala's to this so that the original taste of the capsicum remains and its really tasty. Adding colored peppers enhances the taste and its attractive to the eyes! :) 

Ingredients

Chopped capsicum-1cup(I have used half of green and half of yellow capsicum here)

Chopped onion-2tablespoons

Chilli flakes-1teaspoon

Mustard seeds-1/2teaspoon

Urad dal-1/2teaspoon

Salt

Oil 

Method

Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and let them splutter. Then add the urad dal and fry till it becomes golden in color. 

Now add the chopped onions and fry for 15-20 seconds, then add in the capsicum pieces. 

Fry on high heat for a minute, then add the chilli flakes and enough salt. 

Keep sautéing for 2 to 3 minutes on high heat. 

By now capsicum would have been cooked but still it has the crunchiness will remain.

Thats it, delicious capsicum stir-fry is ready.  Enjoy it with your choice of main course. I had it with rice - chayote dal - and boiled egg! :) 

Note: Keep an eye that onions and capsicum pieces are not be over cooked(i.e. soft!)