Garlic Curry/Poondu Puli Kulambu

Turkey berries (tamil: Sundakkai) and Garlic with tamarind is the combination used in this curry!


This gravy is one of the specialty cuisines of Tamilnadu…
Exact flavors obtained when grounded in a grinding stone and cooked with gingelly oil.You can also prepare this curry with garlic alone; or can include sun dried vegetables, Okra, Eggplant etc..



About Turkey berries (taste: slightly sour and bitter) belong to eggplant family..Also called WILD egg plants. Common ingredient in thai and Indian cuisinez.


Garlic is renowned for its broad range of culinary, medicinal uses, antibacterial and beneficial circulatory effects. One amongst the most extensively used spice in worldwide cuisinez…


One of the oldest spice…believed to have been harvested in 12 th century!?
Ok!!!!Letz prepare this hot curry!
Ingredients:
Garlic – 1 bulb or 10-12 cloves((as per ur pref)
Turkey Berries 10-15(as per ur pref)
Cumin Seeds 1 tsp
Red chillies 4 -5
Onion - 1
Curry leaves 1 sprig
Tamarind - Lemon size
Hing powder 1/4 tsp
Chilli powder – 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder – 1/2tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste
Gingelly Oil - 2 tbsp
Curry leaves -1 sprig
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Fenu greek seeds -1/4tsp


Method:
1. Soak tamarind in 2 cups of water and extract the juice.
2. Heat the pan and pour gingelly oil/vegetable oil.
3. Fry the turkey berries for few seconds and keep aside.
4. In the same pan,fry onions, garlic, curry leaves, red chillies, pepper corns, cumin seeds separately and keep it in a different plate.
5. Take 5 cloves of fried garlic, curry leaves, pepper corns, cumin seeds, red chilies, onions and grind it.
6. Start the seasoning process: Pour 1 tsp of oil in to the pan and add mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, remaining fried garlic, and grounded paste and fry it well.
7. Add coriander powder, chili powder, turmeric powder, turkey berries, salt and sauté till all the ingredients blend well. This might take around 10 minutes.
8. Finally, add the tamarind juice and ¼ cup of water.


9. Let the gravy boil for around 20 minutes until its sufficiently thickened and you can see the oil floating on the edges around the pan.
10. Sprinkle a pinch of jaggery on the top…(quite optional!)
11. Serve hot and spicy with Rice!
Note:slightly fry the garlic ;let the edges alone turn light brown.

Rava Idly

Basic recipe……A healthy breakfast… tastes awesome with the ingredients of your choice.
YES!!!!!Yet another dish from the wheat family...This idly can be made even healthier by adding vegetables like carrots, peas, tomatoes etc…etc….The base method is juz this.

Ingredients:
Semolina/Rava 2 cup
Cumin seeds 1 tsp
Peppercorns 1 tsp
Curry leaves 1 sprig
Curd -2 cups
Channa Dal 2 tsp
Semolina/Rava/Sojii 2 cup
Ginger (chopped) 1 tsp
Tomato 1
Cashew nuts few
Salt to taste
Hing powder a pinch
Baking soda a pinch
Sugar (optional) a pinch
Coriander leaves
Oil
Letz Do:

1) Heat oil in a pan; add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, pepper corns, channa dal, ginger, curry leaves,cashews, hing powder and fry it and keep it aside.Fry Rava in the same pan until it turns light brown.Mix the seasonings with Rava.
2) Allow it to cool for few minutes. Now add 2 cups of curd, coriander leaves,tomatoes(optional,you can either add raw/fried ones to the batter) and salt. Adding a pinch of sugar and baking soda aids to a good consistency of batter.

3) Allow the batter to absorb the moisture and ingredients flavor for around ½ an hour. Now again mix it with ¼ cup of water to slightly liquefy it.
4) Take enough amount of batter with spatula to fill in the greased idly molds and steam it for 10-15 minutes.You can easily make 10-15 idlis in this measured batter.

5) Serve hot with any spicy side dish

If you have the Rava idly mix,jus mix it with water /curd and let the batter absorb the moisture for around 10-15 minutes ;finally pour on the molds and steam it.

Rice Kheer/Pudding

A creamy Rice dessert……………………………The most commonly prepared pudding all over India…


Ingredients:
Basmati Rice ½ cup
Milk 3-3/12 cups
Raisins 15-20
Sugar 1 cup
Cardamom pods 1 -2
Condensed milk ¼ cup (optional)
Rose water essence ¼ tsp (optional)


To Do:
1) Wash and soak rice for about 15 minutes.
2) Boil rice with milk. Keep on stirring in low flame and boil till rtheice becomes soggy and reduces to 1/3 rd of the original state.
3) Now add sugar and stir well for another 10 minutes.
4) Add condensed milk, cardamom pods, raisins (it’s optional to fry it in ghee) and Serve hot or cold.

Garnish with saffron and almonds for rich flavor.

Rava Payasam/Kheer

Broken wheat is made by milling the wheat coarsely after cleaning and husking it. Has a good source of fiber and manganese. It’s encouraged to add this in our daily requirement diet as a combo with legumes &cereals. You can try hot kichidi or sweet dessert…what ever… you bring a lot of energy to your body through the wheat recipes.
Jump....NOW!!!!
Ingredients:
Broken Wheat (brown)-1 cup
Milk 3 -4 cups
Sugar 1-1 1/2 cups
Condensed Milk -1 cup
Cardamom powder -a pinch
Cashew nuts and Raisins-10(broken/whole)
Ghee (to fry the nuts) -1 tsp
Letz do:
There is lot of methods to prepare this kheer…..
This is a very simple way…..fastest dessert?!!!!
1) Pressure cook the wheat with 2 cups of water and keep it aside.


2) Now pour 3-4 cups of milk (as per ur taste) and 1 cup sugar; Let the Rava boil in
this mixture for some time. Keep stirring.


3) After 10 -15minutes, you will find the Rava mixture in a semi liquid consistency;
Now add condensed milk to the kheer (this is optional; but it brings a really a yummy taste to the kheer) and a pinch of cardamom powder.
4) Garnish with ghee roasted nuts and raisins.
As we pressure cook this Rava; it consumes less time and of course the Rava will be soft enough!
You can try the same kheer with jaggery and coconut milk instead of the sugar and condensed milk depending on the availability of ingredients.

Serve Hot or Cold!
Wheaty.............................:) ;))))))))))

Potato peas curry/Aloo mattar

Historic vegetable…….origin from Andes….
Believed to be in existence for the past 7000 yrs….so many varieties and I was really surprised when I read there are around 5000 varieties..



Photo courtesy:oregonstate.edu
Rich in carbohydrates and fiber content.
Reduce the ulcer problems and even blood pressure when taken as per the nutrition value. The starch content in cooked potatoes increases when it‘s cooled…
Much more to share about these POTATOES…will see a lot about in forthcoming additionz..
Here is the recipe for a simple potato curry….a real tummy filler…..

Ingredients
Potatoes (boiled and pealed)
Green peas ½ cup
Onions (chopped) 1 cup( around 2 big onions)-some for grinding
Tomatoes
Cumin seeds1 tsp
Green chilles 3
Garlic (4 cloves, crushed)
Ginger 1 inch (chopped)
Chilly powder 1tsp
Turmeric powder1/4 tsp
Coriander powder 1 tsp
Mango powder ¾ tsp(optional)
Garam masala ½ tsp
Oil
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves to garnish




How to make:
1. Smash half of the boiled potatoes and cut the rest of the potatoes in to cubes.
2. Boil the peas (frozen) for around 3min in oven.
3. Grind garlic, ginger, green chilles, onions (3/4 of a cup) in to fine paste,
4. Heat the pan, to 1 tsp of oil add cumin seeds, mustard seeds let it splutter.
5. now add the onion paste and allow it fry till golden brow
4. Then add chili powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, mango powder(for the sour taste), garam masala powder,stir it continuously for the masala to blend with the mixture.
5. Add chopped tomatoes and then salt and cook until these tomatoes get mashed well (add few spoons of water if necessary).
6. Now, add the potatoes, peas and mix it well. Sprinkle some water and close the lid of pan, let it boil under a very low flame (for about 10-15 min)
7. Once you see the gravy consistency, you can go ahead and garnish with coriander leaves



Serve with Roti, Naan, Paratha..

Bottle Gourd with Channa Dal /Soraka Kootu

Of course, this is an another tasty dish...falvoured dal recipe..We all know this.....
apart from this.....watz spl today...
letz see some interesting facts about bottle gourds.......
Bottle gourd/ calabash/Opa quash –belongz to the cucumber family is considered to have itz origin from Africa and commonly found in European and Asian countries. It shapes differ from region to region depending on the variety of seeds planted.
Why the name BOTTLE GOURD?
The name "bottle gourd" is especially appropriate, because this plant species is one of the few from which useful and lasting containers can be made. I didn’t know this…….They can be used even as decorative pieces (right from small to massive container shapes…amazing!!!).

Most of the contemporary tribal shapes are made out this vegetable’s firm shell.....Incredibily AWESOME......
A few decor pieces which got online…(Courtsey of:www.suewalters.com)


Alright!!!!!!!Letz jump in to the recipe making process:)



Ingredients
Channa Dal 1 cup

Bottle Gourd 1 cup
Onions ½ cup (chopped)
Red chillies 1
Turmeric powder ¾ tsp
Chilly powder ¼ tsp(optional)
Hing powder a pinch
Ginger 1 tsp (chopped)
Tomato 1 (chopped)
Tamarind paste 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds 1 tsp
Oil 1 tsp
Salt to taste
To grind:
Shredded Coconut ½ cup
Green chillies 6
Cumin seeds 2 tsp
Clove 1
Cinnamon –tiny stick (optional)
To Do:
1.Dice bottle gourd in to desired cubes.
2. Wash the dal, pressure cook dal and the vegetable with a pinch of turmeric powder, a drop of oil and water (the dal and vegetable should be covered) for a whistle or two.
3. Heat the pan, add mustard seeds, red chillies, hing powder, onions, chopped ginger, tomatoes and sauté it well.

4. Add this to the dal mixture; now add ¼ tsp of chilly powder (optional), the grinded paste, salt to taste.(if you wish,you can also add tamarind paste to it..)
5. Let it boil for 10-15 minutes
6. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve hot with Rice!

Lentil Rice/Moong bean rice/ Rice Kichidi

A friend of mine is a scholar in bringing the taste in words before even we cook...........
this is one amongst the recipes that i grabbed....i tried ..itz simply awesome..

Whole Moong Bean
It has the Higher % of vitamin c and calcium....
Simply a protein food!!!!
Here goes the recipe for u....


Take:
Rice 1 ½ cup
(Green gram )Whole Moong bean ½ cup
Fennel Seeds1/2 tsp(optional)
Jeera 1 tsp
Ground nuts 2 -3 tsp (optional)
Hing powder ½ tsp
Onions ½ cup
Green chillies 4
Ginger-garlic paste 1 tsp
Potato 1
Meal maker 10(optional)
Garam masala Powder 1.5tsp (depends)
Turmeric powder ¼ tsp
Chilli powder ½ tsp
Salt to taste
Oil to fry


Will make:
1.Heat oil in the pressure pan; Add ground nuts, jeera,fennel seeds ,
ginger garlic paste, hing powder and fry for a minute.
2.Add chopped onions ,green chilies and fry it till golden brown
3.Add garam masala, turmeric powder ,chili powder and fry it for few minutes
4.Let it mix well with the onion mixture.
5.Soak peeled and cut potatoes, meal maker (soya) in warm water for 5 minutes and add to this mixture.
6.Wash rice and lentils; for 1 ½ cup of rice, add ½ cup whole moong bean/any lenthil of ur choice.
7.Put the Rice – Dal in to the pressure pan, add salt ; sauté it once.
8.Pour sufficient water and pressure cook it in medium flame (3-4 whistles).
9.Keep aside; Allow it to cool.


Best with Raita