Batata Nu Shaak (Pan fried potatoes)

RCI is a wonderful food event started by Lakshmi of Veggie cusine and the current month's event is hosted by Mythili of Vindu. Her choice is Gujarati cuisine. My exposure to authentic Guajarti food was pretty late in life. Better late than never yeah. I have two good friends who happen to be Guajarati and fantastic cooks. Through them I was introduced to goodies like Dhokla, pakoda kadi and Undhiyo, things I didn't know existed before. It will be a sin not to mention the soft rotlis they make. They turn out the same size everytime, soft and almost melting in the mouth. What I like best is that the rotlis stay soft even after hours. It is simply amazing the way Guajaratis create varieties of snacks with chick-pea flour (gram flour).
My entry for the RCI - Gujarat event is Batata Nu Shaak a simple potato fry, that can whipped up in less than 20 minutes. The recipe is from Madhu Jaffery's 'A Taste of India'. Here is how it can be made
Ingredients
Potato - 5 small potatoes (cleaned and diced)
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Asafetida - a pinch
Cumin powder -1/4 tsp
Coriander powder - 1/4 tsp
Chilli powder - 1/4 tsp
turmeric powder - a pinch
salt to taste

Heat oil in a pan, when hot add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds. When the mustard seeds splutter add the asafetida, turmeric powder and then the potatoes. Stir the potatoes to ensure even cooking. When the potatoes are cooked add the cumin, corriander and chilli powder. Mix well with the potatoes and continue frying for 2 more minutes. Remove from fire and serve as a side dish. It went very well with parupu sadam (lentils and rice). Madhu suggests that the dish can also be served with roast and grilled meat.

Beans and Chickpeas Salad

Apologies to all for subjecting you to my bad photos in my previous posts. Today I found out that one of my younger troops had changed the settings in the camera and the results are – well you have already seen them. To be fair, bad photographic skills run in my family line. My dad took pictures of my mom in London with her head cut off. We ended up with many pictures of my mother from neck down. Till date I am not sure if my dad has poor sense for photography or if he did take those pictures on purpose. Anyways back to food it is salad time again. There was a warning in my previous post about S wanting to eat salad everyday (before you get all the wrong ideas, let me clarify that salad is considered a snack by S and not a meal). Now that the purpose is clear, I can go ahead with the recipe

Salad

• Chickpeas – 1 can
• Haricot beans – 1 can
• Onion – ½ sliced
• Carrot – 1 (cut in the middle and slice into thin half moons)
• Cucumber – ½ cut thinly
• Lettuce – ½ shredded
• Sesame seeds – 2 Tbsp (dry toasted)
• Green chillies – 2 (slit in the middle)
• Jalapeno peppers – 10 pieces (optional).

Salad dressing

• Sesame oil – 2 parts
• Olive oil – 1 part
• Soy sauce – 2 parts
• Lemon – 1 part
• Salt as required

Drain the peas and beans from the can and run them under cold water. Warm them up in a microwave and mix with other salad ingredients. The Jalapeno peppers are optional, I added them as I wanted to finish off the bottle. For the dressing combine all the dressing ingredients and whisk until an emulsion is formed. Since soy sauce is salty and hence less salt is required for this salad. This dressing is simply delicious. I am planning to make plenty of it, store in the fridge and add it in small amounts to any salad I make. Pour the dressing over the salad and mix it well. Since this is a warm salad, it is perfect for those cold winter evenings as a snack. As an after thought I added some dill to the salad (for no particular reason) and the dill actually went very well with salad. In retrospect, a pinch of the fennel falvour with fennel bulbs and/or seeds would also lift the salad. That is an idea for my next recipe.

Avocado Salad

A few years back, I went vegetarian (don’t ask me why) and ended up eating yogurt rice all the time. I did not have the energy or time to cook something vegetarian for me, while the family ate something else. Re entering into the Non-Vegetarian world (not because I didn’t like eating yogurt rice all the time, in fact I still love it) made me realize that my family ate very little veggie food. Since then I have made it a point to limit meat and chicken to one day a week. It has been a battle ever since. My blog is a good reflection of my battles and their outcomes. Before this entry the veggie score stands at 14 while the non-veggie is close behind at 13. Leveling the scores would mean a loss and who likes loosing. So here I am with a vegetarian salad recipe. Oh yes you read that right, a salad it is and a vegetarian one at that. It is my own recipe made with ingredients that I could reach in my store cupboard and fridge without much effort.

So here goes my recipe with a toast to all things veggie

• Avocado – 2 (Chopped into bite size pieces)
• Lettuce - ½ (tear into bite size pieces)
• Jalapeno chillies – 10 cut pieces (straight from the jar)
• Cucumber – ½ shredded
• Red Onion – 1 thinly sliced
• Coriander leaves – 2 Tbsp (roughly shredded)

Salad Dressing

• Olive oil – 3 Tbsp (preferably extra Virgin)
• Juice of one lemon
• Chilli flakes as required (how else can I convince S to eat a salad)
• Salt to taste

Place the avocado, lettuce, jalapeno chillies, cucumber, red onion and some coriander leaves in a salad bowl. To make the dressing combine the salad dressing ingredients with a whisk until it form an emulsion like liquid and adjust seasoning. Pour the salad dressing over the veggies and mix well. That is how this yummy salad can be made and can be enjoyed any time of the day. The salad turned out so yummy that S wants salad everyday – now that is something I never even dreamed would come out of his mouth. To make this salad a meal by itself, grilled or any kind of cooked chicken can be added. There I go again, am I ever going to win the battle!!!!

Cabbage and Pattani Poriyal (Cabbage and peas stir fry)

Stir fry dishes are very popular in the region I come from. But they are not called stir fries, we call them poriyal. With a simple tempering process, the vegetables are transformed into delicacies that one craves for. Strangely I like cabbage poriyal, in fact I like cabbage in all forms. This poriyal is generally had as side dish for rice and would go well for Chapatti as well. This recipe can be adopted for any vegetable. I just added the peas to get a two dimensional color to the finished product. With the daylight becoming shorter, the photos of the food under my kitchen light are shaded and sometimes they end up like stills out of a badly shot Mani Ratnam movie.

• Shredded or grated Cabbage – 2 cups
• Peas – ½ cup
• Green chillies – 2
• Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
• Urad dal – 1 tsp
• Curry leaves – 1 twig
• Salt as required.

Steam the cabbage and the peas till nearly done. I like a little crunch, but if you like it well done, you can cook it thru. Heat a spoon of oil and add the mustard seeds. When they pop add the urad dal and when they turn golden add the curry leaves and the slit green chillies. After a few seconds add the steamed cabbage, peas and season it with salt. Stir fry it for a few minutes and remove from fire. It is a simple and easy dish.

Beans Poriyal (Spicy Beans Stir Fry)

Got off the phone after a long chat with my mom and as of this moment I am filled with random thoughts. First and foremost, how will life be when I am 55? The very thought of me and S sitting by the fire on a cold evening waiting for a call from one of our children, gives me shudders. Suddenly I am homesick, I want to go home and give my mom a big hug, go around the Meenaskhi Amman temple and taste the panniyaram from the raod side vendor in Madurai. So what you may ask prevents me from actually getting on the plane and shooting off to India? Apart from the family politics it is my green policy - Don’t want to contribute to the extra amount of Carbon Di Oxide. Okay that is a lousy reason. Leaving the reasoning behind and concentrating on the task at hand – What can make me feel better. A dash to Sparkhill and tucking into some of those oily samosas? The traffic on the road puts me off from going anywhere near that place. Remember I have an affinity to Traffic Jams.

Back to the present suddenly I start counting my blessings. One of them is my best friend B who is baby sitting my troops today, the whole day. Ain’t I lucky? Thanking my stars and hoping that the stars will be shinning 25 years later, I decided to cook beans poriyal for B. This is something that mom used to make often and a recipe that I had never asked her. I just simply know how to make it after eating it for ages. So here goes my recipe

• Dwarf Beans – 200 Gms
• Grated Coconut – 1 Tbsp
• Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
• Urad dal – 1 tsp
• Asafetida – a pinch
• Slit Green chilles – 3runchy and hence don’t cook them thru.
• Curry leaves – a twig

Chop the beans and steam them till ¾ cooked. I like the beans to have a little crunch. Grate the coconut. The easiest way is grating fresh coconut using a blender and running it till the coconut is coarse. Better still if you get hold of some frozen coconut you can use them. If using desiccated coconut, soak them for a while in water and then drain the water and use the coconut. Heat a spoon of oil in a pan and temper it with mustard seeds, urad dal, green chillies and curry leaves. When Mustard seed pops up add the steamed beans and stir fry for a minute or two. Season it with salt at this stage. Remove from stove and add the coconut. Mix thoroughly and server it as a side dish. It goes well with rice, noodles and pasta. This recipe is quick, easy, simple and yummy.

Sarkkarai Pongal

If there is one dish that has probably survived without much change for centuries, it must be Pongal – Tamil food can’t get any more authentic than that. The cooking method might have changed over time, but the dish itself has undergone only little change.

The finished product depends on the quality of the main ingredients used, rice and Jaggery. Par boiled rice is generally consumed in TamilNadu, it always intrigues me as to why par boiled rice isn’t used for making Pongal. I am sure there must be some significance. I make Sarkkarai Pongal for most festivals including Saraswathi Poojai as it is simple to make and delicious to eat. Hence decided to enter it for the RCI Tamilnadu festival food event. This recipe of mine is influenced by reading various tips from this place, a wonderful site for discussing food. So here goes my recipe

• Rice – 1 cup
• Jaggery – 1 cup (Oh yes I have a sweet tooth)
• Cardamom – 2 (roughly smashed)
• Ghee/butter – 1 spoon
• Milk – 1 cup
• Cashew nut/raisins/thinly sliced coconut strips – as per taste

Pressure cook the rice with 1 cup milk and 2 cups water. Once cooked mash it with a spoon as much as you can. In a thick bottom pan place the jaggery and ½ cup water on slow flame to melt it. Skim away any impurities that may come on the top. There are different varieties of jaggery and many people consider achu vellam the best. I use a combination of achu vellam and karupati (this gives a nice brown colour to the Pongal). After skimming away the top layer, add the cooked rice and stir well till all the water in the mixture is absorbed into the rice and the rice reaches a thick consistency. In a small pan heat the butter or ghee and add the cashew nuts, raisins and/or the coconut strips. When the cashew is golden brown and the raisins swell add this garnish to the rice and mix well. Finish off by adding some crushed cardamom. Some like to finish off with a generous amount of butter. There you have it, a dish favoured by all Gods!

P.S - a handful of moong dal is generally added to the rice in the cooker. I have found that moong flares my younger troops eczema and so I haven't included it in the recipe. I feel it doesn't make a big difference to the taste.

Ghee Rice

Ghee rice as the name suggests is a very rich concoction and meant for special occasions. My mother who doesn’t believe in coconut milk has never cooked it. When at school my friends talked about ghee rice, I always thought that it meant white rice mixed with ghee. I can’t remember when I first tasted the actual Ghee rice or when I cooked it first or where I got this recipe from. But this is a pretty standard recipe, mildly flavored by spices and needless to say a little unfriendly around the hips.

Without much ado here is the recipe,

• Onion – 1 thinly sliced
• Green chillies – 5
• Cardamom – 2
• Cloves - 2
• Cinnamon – 1 inch stick
• Bay leaf – 1
• Ginger-garlic paste – 1 Tbsp
• Cashewnuts – 10 (optional)
• Basmati rice – 2 cups
• Ghee or butter – 50 gms
• Coconut milk – 1 cup
• Mixed chopped vegetables – 1 cup (carrot, peas and potato)

Heat the butter or ghee in a pan and add the spices. In recent years I use sunflower oil or Olive oil. Then add the onions and Chillies and fry until it is soft (don’t brown them). Then add the ginger and garlic paste and fry till the raw smell disappears. To this add the cashew nuts and the vegetables. Any vegetable can be added, to make it look nice include green and red colour vegetables like peas, beans, broccoli, carrot. I tend to add frozen vegetables, saves time on cutting the veggies. Saute them for a few minutes and then add the washed rice and fry it briefly in the ghee mixture. For 2 cups of rice, 4 cups of liquid is required. Add one cup of coconut milk (The tinned ones are very good) and add 3 cups of water. The general rule is to add one fourth of coconut milk and three fourths water. When the water starts boiling reduce the fire to the least possible level and close with a lid and cook until done. For 2 cups of rice, it generally takes 20 mins to cook thru. When done mix the rice gently with a fork or the back of a wooden spoon. Server hot with a raita and enjoy all the praise from the guests. If I use frozen veggies and coconut milk from a can, this rice gets ready in 30 minutes.

Vendakkai pachadi (Spicy Okra with lentils)

This is one of my signature dishes, mainly as it meets the elusive balance of being appreciated by S and maintaining a no-protest status from the children. This is from ‘Rs 15 cook book’ (that’s the nickname for my precious book) that I picked up in Chennai road side. S has never been keen on Okra until he tasted this. It is also one of my Veggie camouflage dish. The smaller troops don’t realize what goes down their throat and the battle is won without a war. If only mothers had a say in the decision making process, the world would be a better place. Me and my wishful thinking!

To the recipe now

• Vendakkai (Okra) - 200 gms (sliced very thinly)
• Onion medium size – 1 chopped
• Tomato – 1 chopped
• Green chillies – 2
• Sambhar powder – 2 Tbsp (if not using sambhar powder substitute with 1 Tbsp of Corriander powder and 1Tbsp od chilli powder)
• Tamarind – size of half lemon
• Garlic – 1 clove (chopped or sliced)
• Curry leaves – 1 twig
• Mustard seeds – 1 Tbsp
• Urad dal – 1 tsp
• Oil for cooking
• Salt according to taste
• Paruppu (yellow lentils ) – ½ cup
• Turmeric powder – ½ tsp

Pressure cook the lentils with some turmeric powder until half cooked. Soak the tamarind in little water and heat it for a minute in microwave (high) and sqeeze the juice out. Heat the oil (sesame oil tends to add a special flavour for this dish) and when hot enough add the mustard seeds. When they start popping add the urad dal. When the dal turns brown add the curry leaves and then the chopped onions and garlic. Fry until the onions are soft. Then add the sliced okra and keep frying. The pan tends to brown rapidly during this process and it is important to turn the veggie. After 5 minutes, add the green chillies (whole) and then the tomato. Add the sambhar powder and some water to avoid the browning of the pan. When the okra is half cooked add the lentils and water if necessary. Close with lid and cook until the okra and the lentils are cooked thru. Add the tamarind juice and let it boil for a few minutes. If the pachadi has too much water, increase the heat to reduce the water. The dish should be semi dry. It is generally meant to be a side dish. As a result of camouflaging, my dish turns out to be gravy that can be mixed with rice. The okra just melts (really my kids have never found out what goes through their mouth and they wolf it down) in your mouth. This is great as an accompaniment for all rice dishes and yummy with chapatti.

Mushroom onion fry

This is one of my recipes that are made as a quick fix, with whatever is available in the fridge and pantry. I am prone to this style of cooking. S was amused at my style of cooking when we were newly married (not anymore, he is used to it) and told his friend that he never gets to eat the same thing twice as I come up with different dishes all the time. The real reason behind the variety is that, I would forget what I put in a dish the previous time and wouldn’t know how to reproduce it. Anything that feels good to my heart will go into it. Some mushrooms were left in the fridge and the thought of having something nice and spicy with rasam rice were reasons good enough for cooking it.

Mushrooms - 4 large field sliced (about 300 gms)
Onion - 1 sliced
Tomato puree - 1 Tbsp
Chilli powder - 1 Tbsp
Paprika - 1 Tbsp

Cumin seeds – 1 tsp

Fennel seeds – 1tsp
salt

Heat oil in a pan and add the cumin and fennel seeds and then add sliced mushrooms and onions. Fry them till they are soft. Add the tomato puree, chilli powder, paprika and salt. Cook until done. It is not necessary to add water as the liquid that comes from mushroom while cooking is sufficient. Don't wash the mushrooms, clean them with a kitchen towel. This turned out really well, well enough to blog the recipe. It tasted great with dosai the next day too.

This is the first time I am committing my ad hoc recipe to paper. Thanks to blogging.

Rasam (Spicy Tamarind soup)

The general tendency of Indians is to spice up almost all food. Their British counterparts do the same, but in the reverse direction. The result - the world is rewarded with three dishes chicken tikka masala, kedgeree and mulligatawny soup. Rasam is the origin for mulligatawny soup meaning milagu thanni (pepper water). Probably Rasam is one of the few dishes that are reminiscence of an old cuisine that managed to retain its originality even after the deadly chillies were unleashed from South America. In the part of the world where I come from, a cook is judged by the quality of rasam they whip up. Unfortunately for me my dad never liked rasam and so my mother made it occasionally. I think a balance has been reached, when I married S who can make fantastic rasam. I never cook rasam as S makes the best rasam. Every guest who comes home for a meal unfailingly has a second helping of rasam rice.

This is a special recipe because there is no powder involved and all the ingredients are assembled from scratch. Here is how he makes it. This recipe makes about 3 liters of Rasam. S doesn’t believe in small quantities!

• Tamarind – 1 lime size ball
• Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
• Tomato – ½
• Salt
• Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
• Curry leaves – 1 twig
• Corriander leaves – to garnish

To grind

• Garlic – 1 whole pod
• Cumin seeds – 3 Tbsp
• Curry Leaves – 1 twig
• Red chillies – 4
• Pepper corns – ½ spoon

Grind the ingredients under ‘To Grind’ in a blender. Extract juice from the tamarind and squeeze the half cut tomato into the tamarind juice and add in the tomato pulp also in the juice. To this add the turmeric powder, asafetida and the ground paste. Add salt and taste it. You can adjust for seasoning at this stage. S feels it is very important to taste it at this stage. Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. After they pop add the tamarind water mixture. Another thumb rule is to always add the water to the tempering of mustard seeds and oil, never the opposite. It makes a difference to the end result. The last bit is never to let the rasam boil. When it just starts boiling, take it off the flame and garnish with coriander leaves. This is a bit garlicy in taste. You have to taste it to appreciate the flavours of rasam.

Variations:

If you want to make parupu rasam, then add some mashed paruppu and the water that it was cooked in.

To make it a tomato rasam, squeeze 1 more tomato and add the pulp.

To make it a pepper rasam, reduce the red chillies and add more pepper corns.

Mulu Kathirikkai vathakal (Stuffed Aubergine curry)

One of my colleagues hates aubergines. My reaction always is - wait until you set foot in Andhra to change your mind. One has to give it to the Andhrites for their imagination for creating many many varity and in so doing taking the humble aubergine to great heights. There are so many recipes that I have a theory which goes like this – For every great aubergine recipe from Andhra there are minimum 5 greater aubergine recipes from the same region. This is one such recipe, combination of two recipes one from a cookbook by Mallika Badrinath and the other from my ex-colleague. It is divine with plain boiled rice.

You will need

• Aubergine – 300 gms
• Sambhar powder – 4 tbsp (if the sambhar powder is bland add some more to make it hotter)
• Coconut – 3 Tbsp grated (if you want a smoother texture then grind the coconut)
• Tamarind – size of ½ a lime
• Onions – 2 small (finely chopped)
• Channa dal – 2 Tbsp
• Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
• Oil.

Microwave the tamarind for 2 minutes high with some water. Dilute with some cold water and extract the juice. The juice should be thick and so the water used must be as little as possible. Heat some oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds and when they pop add the channa dal and wait until they turn light brown. Add the chopped onions till they turn soft. In a bowl mix the onions, sambhar powder, tamarind juice, coconut and salt.

Slit the aubergine into 4 on the top without cutting them. The idea is to keep them whole and stuff the onion mixture in them. The aubergine have to be stuffed individually.

Basic Recipe Courtesy Mrs Mallika Badrinath

Heat 3 Tbsp oil in a pan. Add the aubergine to the oil and if you have any of the onion mixture left add it on top. Fry for a few minutes, then add water, close the pan and let it cook. Check every 5 minutes for water and move the aubergine without breaking them if they are sticking to the pan. The more oil in the pan, the less possibility for the curry sticking in the pan. As a result you will end up with an oily, but lip smacking curry. Once the aubergine are done, remove from heat and serve with hot boiled rice. If Nigella were to taste it she would probably describe it as ‘Hmm out of the world’.

Pasta with Vegetable Sauce

My older son does not like vegetables and can make my life difficult by refusing to touch anything that has vegetable. Well that is a rather blunt statement that many mothers would concur with. It is a constant quest of mine to find techniques to camouflage vegetables and make it look edible for a 6 year old. The idea for this was formed after watching a program in BBC about food. This dish is a tried and trusted recipe that works with my kids and the best part is my son loves it. They look forward for 'Pasta Days' which is generally on Thursday. Mind you, he doesn't know what goes in it though. So all the mothers out there, here is stress free veggie route.

You will need

Pasta - 3 handfuls
For the Sauce
Onion - 1
Tomato - 2
Mixed Vegetables - 1 lb
Garlic - 2 cloves

Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions. I prefer Penne pasta as it can take in more sauce.
For the sauce steam the mixed vegetables. The ones I use mostly are beans, carrots and peas. However over the last year, I started using seasonal vegetables and had success with courgettes, butternut squash, celery, pumpkin, potatoes, peppers and broccoli (yes, you read that right, cauliflower however is not suitable).
Heat a spoon of oil in the pan and add the chopped onions, garlic and tomatoes. Once they are soft and cooked add the steamed vegetables and mix it for few minutes. Let the vegetables cool and use a blender to grind them into a smooth sauce.
Serve the pasta with sauce. The sauce is delicious. For the senior troops, I spice it up with some chilli powder and serve it as a chutney for Idli and Dosai.

Arisi Parupu Satham (Rice with lentils)

This is another of my one-pot dishes which is quick, easy, delicious and comforting. The origin of this dish can be traced back to the regions surrounding Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. It reflects the attitude of people from that region – simple, no-nonsense, straight forward and down-to-earth.

I do this on lazy rainy days, when there are lots of better things do outside the kitchen without compromising the meal. Strangely my mother never made this at home and I learnt it from one of best friend and slightly adapted to suit my taste buds.

1. Rice – 3 cups
2. Lentils – 1 cup (after some trial and error, I found 3:1 ratio works well).
3. Mixed Vegetables – 1 cup ( frozen veggies are a quick way to add flavor to the rice)
4. Onion – 1 sliced
5. Tomato – 1 quartered
6. Garlic – 1 sliced
7. Sambhar powder – 1Tbsp (optional)
8. Curry leaves – a twig
9. Mustard seeds -1 tsp
10. Urad dal (split black lentils) – 1 tsp
11. Channa dal (split yellow lentils) – 1 tsp
12. Dried red Chillies – 3
13. Salt – as required
14. Oil – 2 Tbsp
15. turmeric powder – ½ tsp

Purists don’t add the vegetables and Sambhar powder for this rice. But I find this as an easy way of getting some veggies into the kids system. Wash and rinse the rice and lentils. Heat the oil in a pressure cooker and add the mustard seeds and after they pop add the urad dal and channa dal. The channa dal gives a nice bite to the rice. When they start browning add the curry leaves and the red chillies. When the red chillies start turning colour, add the onions and tomatoes and garlic. When the onions are soft add the vegetables and then the sambhar powder and salt. Mix in the rice and lentils and add 7 cups of water (6 for the rice and 1 for the lentil) and close the cooker with the lid and put the weight on. I generally cook for 2 whistles, this may vary depending on your cooker size and make. The end texture is a bit mushy (texture similar to bisibele bath or risotto). But S doesn’t like the mushy texture and so I reduce the water level by one cup and the rice will come out with their grains separate (like briyani). With some chips and yogurt at the side to give contrasting textures the rice is a bliss on those rainy evenings.

Valakkai Varuval (Raw Banana chips)

It is raining bananas this month in JFI and this is my drop of the rain! This recipe is from a treasure filled recipe book that I procured on a road side for 15Rs nearly a decade before. The purchase of the book was one of my many spontaneous reactions in the brief period that I was engaged to be married. This is an unusual recipe that calls for deep frying and pan frying and tastes excellent. With minimum effort and few ingredients that can easily be found in the store cupboard it is a winner.

Raw Banana – 3

Turmeric powder – ½ tsp

Chilli powder – 1 Tbsp

Garlic 4 cloves

Salt – as required

Cut the banana into half. Peel the skin and cut it into ½ inch pieces. Mix turmeric powder and salt to the banana and let it rest for 5 minutes. Peel and crush the garlic. Heat oil in a pan and deep or shallow fry the banana till half done. Drain the chips on a paper towel. Coat the chips with chilli powder. Heat the pan with a spoon of oil and return the chips to the pan and fry them. Two minutes later add in the crushed garlic and fry till the chips are cooked. The crushed garlic gives it a unique flavour and goes well with Sambhar rice or yogurt rice. Or this can be a good replacement for potato chips (French fries).

Sundakkai Puli Kuzhambu (Pea aubergine hot and sour curry)

One Eared bunny carrying pea aurbigines

Puli kuzhambu roughly translates into sour gravy, and is very easy and simple to cook. The three elements that epitomizes Tamil cuisine are uppu (salt), puli (tamarind) and milagai (chilli) and puli kuzhambu is the best example that brings out all the 3 individual flavours to their fullest, yet blending to create a taste that can only be described as magical. The gravy can be made with different vegetables. Last week when i saw some fresh pea aubergine (sundakkai) in a Chinese grocery, i simply couldn't resist it. Pea aubergine are usually dried and then used to make gravy or deep fried as an accompaniment for yogurt rice in South India. Fresh Sundakkai is a luxury and a real treat if made into puli kuzhambu. The gravy is cooked using sesame oil which gives it the unique taste.

1. Pea aubergine (Sundakkai) - 100gms
2. Chilli powder - 2 Tbsp
3. Coriander powder - 4 Tbsp
4. Tamarind - a lime sized ball ( If you can't get hold of tamarind, then 2 Tbsp of tamarind extract available in supermarkets can be used)
5. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
6. Fenugreek seeds - 2 Tbsp
7. Shallots or small onions - 10 (alternately 1 big red onion can be used)
8. Tomato - 1
9. Green Chilli - 1
10. Curry leaves - 1 twig
11. Sesame oil - 3 Tbsps (Vegetable oil can also be used instead)
12. Asafetida - a pinch


Chop the onions if using big ones, if using shallots then cut them into two. Quarter the tomatoes.
To extract the tamarind juice, place the tamarind in a bowl and add enough water to immerse it and then microwave on high for 2 minutes. Remove from microwave and add some cold water (so that your hands won't burn when you dip in the hot water) and squeeze the tamarind. Filter the water and retain it and throw the pith.
Heat a wok and add 2 Tbsp of sesame oil. When the oil becomes hot, add the fenugreek seeds. When they start turning brown add the curry leaves, Asafetida, green chilli (whole) and then the onions. Sauté the onions and then add the sundakkai and fry it for a few minutes. Add the chilli powder, coriander powder and turmeric powder and mix it with the onions and sundakkai. Add the tomatoes and then add some water and salt to it. When the vegetable is half cooked add the tamarind extract and let it boil. When the gravy is thick and the vegetable is cooked add the remaining 1Tbsp of sesame oil and remove from fire.
This tastes heavenly with hot boiled rice.

Pavakkai Varuval (Stir fried Bitter gourd)

1. Bitter gourd – ¼ Kg
2. Chilli powder – 1 tbsp
3. garlic – 1 clove

This is a simple and delicious bitter-hot vegetable fry that reaffirms the words “ the best food is generally simple food”.

Chop the bitter gourd. I generally slice the gourd in rings, but if the gourd is nice and rounded (like me), I slit it vertically and then slice it up.

Heat oil in a pan and add the cut gourds. Fry for a few minutes and add some salt if you think the gourd requires some water. The salt brings out the water from the gourd. Add the chilli powder and fry till done. Sprinkle some water if the vegetable is very dry. Continue the process till the bitter gourd is well cooked. Add one crushed garlic and mix it with the cooked vegetable and remove from fire. If you like it hot like I do, then increase the chilli powder and adjust the spice level according to taste

The bitter and hot gourd tastes excellent with the bland yogurt rice.

Paruppu Keerai (Greens and Lentil curry)

This is a recipe I adapted from my neighbour “Aunty” in Hyderabad. Did that happen 6 years ago? Seems like last month. Those were good old days when I was learning to cook. This is a firm favorite with the family, which is a good thing as it is an easy to cook one-pot recipe. I try to make it once a week with different kinds of keerai(green). I saw some fresh methi (fenugreek) greens at the grocers last Saturday and had to buy it. So Vendhaya keerai Paruppu it is today.

• 4 medium bunches of Vendhaya keerai (Methi leaves)
• Paruppu (lentils) – 1.5 cups
• Onions – 2 (preferably Indian red onions)
• Tomato – 2
• Garlic – 2 cloves
• Ginger – ½ inch
• Chilli powder – 2 tbsp
• Corriander powder – 2 tspn
• Turmeric powder – ½ tspn
• Tempering
• Mustard seeds – 1 tspn
• Urad dal – 1 tspn
• Cumin seeds – ½ tspn
• Curry leaves – 1 twig

Chop the onions, tomatoes, garlic and ginger. Wash the Lentils and the greens. Chop the greens (if you are lazy like me, then never mind the stalks, if you are a perfectionist then pick out the leaves). In a cooker add all the above with some water. It is important not to add salt at this stage. Put the weight on and cook until done. Open the cooker and add salt and boil the paruppu if water level requires to be reduced.

My daughter who is 3 helped me peel the eggs. This picture is posted by a proud mom.

Temper some oil with mustard seeds, urad dal, cumin and curry leaves and add it to the paruppu. I remember the dish being bright red when my neighbour prepared. My little one cries ‘karam karam’ when she sets sight on chilli powder, so to get the red colour without the chilli powder, I use paprika. It is one of the little tricks that I have up my sleeves. Hope you enjoy this simple, yet healthy and tasty recipe.