Red Cabbage ,Carrot and Potato Curry

I have made this curry over and over again to go with Rasam and each time it has turned out great. This curry is mild. For people who prefer spicy can add curry powder or any other spice powder while frying the onions. This curry goes well with chappathis too. This recipe is a common recipe in the Internet but I have made few changes to suit our tastes. Curries of


Ingredients


Red Cabbage - 2 cups(finely chopped)
potato - 1 small
carrot - 2
onion - 2 tblsp (finely cut)
garlic - 1 clove(finely chopped)
Seasoning::mustard, curry leaves, red chillies(2)

Method

Steam all your veggies together in pressure pan for 2 whistles.Heat oil in a pan. Season with mustard, curry leaves and broken red chillies. Now add finely chopped onion and garlic. Saute till they sweat a little. Add potato first. Fry till they turn a little crisp. Then add carrots and fry for about 2 min.Finally add red cabbage and stir. The red cabbage turns brown in few minutes. So now taste for salt and switch off. Curry is ready.

Bitter Gourd Gravy( Pulusu)

I wouldn't call this a pulusu actually. But it is more like a rich gravy kind of thing. It happens to be one of my mother-in-law's recipe. She uses the bitter gourd just like a regular veggie and she doesn't remove the bitterness from the vegetable unlike my mom who has a separate procedure to remove the bitterness from the vegetable. But I like to use my MIL's recipe as it is quite healthy eaten in this way without the bitterness taken.

There are many benefits from eating a bitter gourd. They have therapeutic properties like they are known to be an effective blood purifier, improves digestion and packed with minerals and vitamins.For people with diabetes it is associated with lowering blood sugar levels. Anyway if you readers have your own insight about bitter gourd please feel free to share it.


Whenever shopping for bitter gourd look for young immature ones ie it holds a dark green skin color, have firm skin, ripe ones have soft skin,when you cut it inside they should have white seeds and not orange or red color. When they are this color they are all the more bitter and very ripe. Try not to fry your bitter gourd too much as it kills all the nutrients in it.

Ingredients
onion - 2 tblsp
Bitter gourd - 2
tomato - 1

Paste
Heat a little oil. Fry in the given order. Make it into a paste.Keep ready.
cumin - 10 seeds
dhania - 1 tsp
garlic - 4
ginger - 1 tsp grated
red chillies - 3
coconut - 4 tsp

Method
Heat little oil. Pop mustard seeds, add curry leaves and fry onions.Now add thinly sliced bitter gourd pieces. Fry for a bit.Mix tamarind paste(1/2 tsp to 1 tsp).Now add 1 cup of water and stir.Close and cook till done.
Fry the ground masala paste till it changes color and becomes lil thick .
Now add tomatoes, fry for few min till they turn soft.
Now combine the (tomato+fried paste) to the bitter gourd gravy and add water to make it a rich gravy. Boil this gravy till bubbly and garnish with coriander.

Idly Podi- A yummy snack


Ingredients

seasoning:: mustard,urad dhal,channa dhal,hing,curry leaves
Idli - 7
onion - half or 4 to 5 tblsp
green chilli - 2

Method

Crumble idly and mix with little oil and keep aside. In a pan heat oil, add the seasoning one by one ,and then add finely cut onion along with thinly sliced green chillies.Fry for a while,add some turmeric powder and then add idly crumbles along with salt. Finally add a dash of lemon juice. Now it's ready to serve and relish.

Mint Chappathi

Ingredients

mint - 20 to 25 leaves

coriander - 10 stems or so

spinach - a handful

cumin seeds - about a tsp

curry pdr - 2 pinches

salt - per taste

Method

Grind the above ingredients into a thin sauce and combine this with atta(1 1/2 cups). Knead into a smooth dough. Apply oil to the kneaded dough and let it rest for 20 to 30 in a closed bowl. Then make chappathis and fry them on a hot stove.

Mini Cherry Pizzas

How many of you have heard of Rainier cherries? Not me!! When my son and I had been shopping last week at Sam's ,the store lady was giving out these Rainier cherries to sample. She simply put two fleshy cherries in a tooth pick and handed over to us. The cherries felt soft to the touch. The cherries were mostly red and partly golden yellow. More than me, my son was quite excited to taste them. OK we did taste.They tasted plenty sweet , little bit tart but majorly sweet. So we purchased a 2lb box for $5.88 which is quite cheap when compared to retail , where it costs 5 to 6 dollars a pound. But they are worth every single penny. It's July and it is indeed RAINIER CHERRY season!!!! Common Guys you gotta give this a try!!!

Ingredients

English muffins -3
tomato sauce - 6oz
shredded cheese - a handful for each slice.
cherries- 6( I used rainier cherries)
spring onion -1 (thinly sliced)
salt/pepper - to taste



Method

1. Slice muffins in half.
2. Apply about a tablespoon of tomato sauce or pizza sauce onto each slice.
3. Top with loads of shredded cheese. I used a mixed variety.
4. Garnish with spring onions and cut cherries. If you like,you can also top with onions and green peppers for a simple taste,but addition of cherries gives a sweet twist to the pizza.
5. Season with lots of salt and pepper.
6. Bake in a 350 F oven for 20 min or until done.

Cracked Wheat Upma or Godhuma Ravai Upma

Cracked wheat or Godhumai Ravai ( Tamil) is a product made from crushing raw whole wheat kernels. These kernels are also known as wheat berries or just call them the seeds of the wheat plant. There are 6 classes and 30,000 varieties of wheat. There are 3 parts that make up the wheat. They are the endosperm, the bran and the wheat germ. The endosperm is the largest part of the kernel . It takes up like 80% of the kernel's mass and it is a large storage area of starch from which wheat flour is made up of. The bran is the outer coat of the kernel .There is a good source of fiber in it. It comprises like 14.5% of kernel's mass. The wheat bran is included in whole wheat flour and healthy breakfast cereals in the form of wheat flakes.The wheat germ is the embryo of the wheat plant from which springs new life.It makes about 2.5% of the kernel and it is also included in the whole wheat flour.

Info Source

http://www.library.thinkquest.org/

Ingredients

cracked wheat - 1 1/2 cups

onion - 1 big

g.chillies - 5

frozen tamarind paste - 1 tblsp( this looks like crushed tamarind ice)

water - 3 cups

Seasoning

mustard - 1 tsp

urad dhal - 1 1/2 tsp

channa dhal - 1 1/2 tsp

hing - little

curry leaves - a sprig

Garnish

grated fresh coconut - 1 tblsp

Method

In a stock pot add some oil. Once hot, add the seasonings one by one. Then add chillies and the finely cut onions. Add some turmeric powder and a tsp of salt. Fry well. Now add the slushy, icy tamarind and just saute for a bit till the raw smell is gone. Time to pour the water. Cover and boil for 10 min. Once the water is bubbling hot, add the cracked wheat and mix nicely. In about 5 minutes, the Upma will be ready. Now garnish with fresh coconut. While serving, add a spoon of ghee(clarified butter) to the steaming hot Upma for that special taste. Serve along with coconut chutney!!

I would love to SUBMIT this recipe to the "Show me your breakfast" event.

!!!!!Happy Independence Day to all my Readers!!!!!

Spinach and BlackBean Gravy

This recipe has been inspired by Nupur of OneHotStove.

It is quite a terrific recipe. Except for the canned tomatoes ,

VERY much tempting Goldie's Channa masala and famous black channa, I have used all of your other ingredients. I may have adjusted the method a bit too. Thanks a tonne!!!! I just can't wait to try other recipes of yours.

Gravy
Saute the onions and garlic till golden brown.

Blanch the juicy tomatoes (6 roma) in the microwave until skin peels off for about 6 to 7 min. Now blend all these 3 in the mixie to a thick paste after they cool.

Curry
In another pot, add the onions saute till golden brown.Now add salt( a tsp),turmeric and a spoon of spicy meat masala powder.

Fry for a min , add spinach and saute until spinach is completely wilted.

Now add the tangy onion tomato gravy to the pan.

Let simmer for few min and finally add half a can of smooth and shiny black beans.

Yummy gravy ready to be served with chappathis or curd rice!! Enjoy!!!