Khad ki sabzi / Root vegetables curry

I found this interesting recipe in TV presented by Aditya Bal and decided to give it a try. The main ingredients for this sabzi (dry curry) are root vegetables. The ingredients and the steps are so simple but it tastes really good. Important point to be taken care while making this dish is to use a thick iron pan instead of a light weight cooking pan. Not only does it end up tasting better but the overall cooking time will also reduce if you use an iron pan. The dish gels well with both rice as well as rotis/ phulka.

Total time taken: 40 mins

Ingredients:

• Root vegetables
• Potatoes - 2
• Yam
• Carrots - 1 or 2
• Onions - 2
• Green chilies - 3
• Lemon - 1
• Garlic cloves - 7-8
• Coriander seeds - 2 spoons
• Cumin seeds/ Jeera - 2 spoons
• Masala
• Red chilly powder - 1 spoon
• Turmeric powder - 1 spoon
• Asafoetida / Hing - a pinch
• Salt
• Ghee / Butter - 5-6 spoons
• Coriander leaves (to garnish)

Preparation:

• Cut all the root vegetables into big chunks and keep aside.

• Take a heavy iron pan and heat it. Add 5-6 spoons of ghee. Once ghee melts, add cumin seeds, coriander seeds and wait till they crackle.
• Add chopped green chilies, whole garlic cloves and stir well.

• Add asafoetida, turmeric powder, red chilly powder and stir well for 1 min.
• Add the chopped vegetables, salt and stir well for 4-5 mins in high flame.

• Close with a lid and cook for another 20 mins in low flame till the vegetables become soft. Keep stirring the vegetables to avoid them from getting burnt. Switch off when the vegetables are cooked.
• Squeeze lemon juice and mix well.
• Garnish with coriander leaves.

The dish is so easy to prepare and it has a very nice aroma because of ghee. Also this is a very good way to include yam in our diet. So try it out and let me know if you liked it.

Pesto Pasta

I always used to think that pastas are very hard to make. Then I had this super tasty Pesto pasta in Goa and I decided to nail this Italian recipe. All thanks to my hubby for getting me the right recipe and I realized it is so easy to make this awesome dish.

Time taken: 30 mins

Ingredients:

• Spaghetti pasta
• Mushrooms - 5-6
• Olive oil
• Garlic cloves - 3
• Pesto sauce
• Basil
• Parmesan cheese
• Walnut
• Cashews
• Almonds
• Pepper seeds
• Salt
• Olive oil - 5-6 spoons

Preparation:

• Soak almonds and cashews in water for 2 hours. After 2 hours, drain out the water.
• Take a big cooking pan and boil water.
• Once water starts to boil, add 1 spoon of salt and 1 spoon olive oil.
• Slowly add the pasta into the pan, close it with a lid and cook in high flame for 10 mins.

• Grind all the ingredients mentioned for pesto sauce in a mixer grinder. Make a very fine paste.

• Once the pasta has cooked well, transfer it to a vessel and drain out the hot water and fill normal/ cold water. This will stop the pasta from getting cooked further.

• Keep the cooking pan back to medium flame and add 2 spoons of olive oil.
• Toss the chopped mushrooms and 3 garlic cloves and saute for 3 mins.

• Add the pesto sauce and stir till the pesto sauce turns dark green. This will take 2-3 mins.

• Drain out water from pasta and transfer it to the cooking pan. Mix well, close with a lid and cook for 2-3 mins.

• Pesto pasta is ready now!

You can make pesto sauce and store it in refrigerator so that you can make this quick and yummy pasta anytime.

Perum payaru theeyal / Black-eyed pea curry

Theeyal is a popular spicy Kerala dish which can be made in different forms. Here is the recipe of theeyal made of perum payaru (black eyed peas). Theeyal can also be made of pearl onions (Ulli theeyal), chick peas/ chana (Kadala theeyal). The steps are the same to make all forms of theeyal. You need to replace blakc eyed peas with chick peas or pearl onions to get Kadala theeyal and Ulli theeyal respectively. This dish involves a lot of ingredients and many steps and hence can be a bit tedious to prepare, but all the effort put in will be worth it.

Preparation and cooking time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

• Perum payaru / Black eyed peas / Lobhiya - 1 cup
• Grated coconut - 1 cup
• Pearl onions - 6-7
• Garlic cloves - 2
• Red  chilies - 4
• Coriander seeds / Methi seeds / Malli - 3 spoons
• Pepper seeds - 1/2 spoon
• Curry leaves
• Tamarind
• Salt
• Edible oil

Preparation:

• Soak perum payaru/ black-eyed peas overnight in water. The pulses would have become soft and sized by morning.

• In a pressure cooker, cook the peas in water and take 3 whistles. Let it remain closed till the steam goes off completely. This could take 10-15 mins.
• Take a deep cooking pan, heat it and pour a spoon of edible oil.
• Transfer coriander seeds, pearl onions, pepper seeds, garlic cloves, grated coconut, curry leaves and saute well in high flame.
• Once the mixture becomes dark brown switch off the flame. Let the mixture cool down. This can take 5 mins.

• To a  mixer grinder, transfer this sauteed mixture, tamarind and salt.
• Grind it with water to make a very fine paste.
• In the cooking pan, transfer the cooked peas (from pressure cooker) and cook in high flame.

• Now transfer the finely ground paste and mix well.
• Add more salt if required.

• Close the pan with a lid and let it cook in high flame for 5-10 mins depending on how much water is there. Switch off when the curry becomes thick. 
• Transfer to a serving bowl.
• For seasoning, take a small frying pan, heat edible oil and toss mustard seeds and curry leaves.
• Add the seasoning to the curry.

Yes this dish will definitely test your patience. But again its worth all the wait. Theeyal is taken with rice in Kerala but it will also blend well with dosa or roti. When taken with rice, the best partner would be Vellarikka kichadi (cucumber kichadi). Kichadi has a very light taste which will compliment the spicy theeyal. 

For Vellarikka kichadi (cucumber kichadi), visit -> 

http://she-simple-healthy-elegant.blogspot.in/2013/12/cucumber-kichadi-vellarikka-kichadi.html

Rice, theeyal and kichadi will make a great weekend lunch. So try it today! I must admit that this combo is one of my favorite meal.

Aviyal

Aviyal is part of both Kerala and Tamil Nadu cuisine. It is made of a mixture of vegetables and the special twist given by curd (yoghurt). It is very popular for it's light tangy taste and is taken with rice. The best partner for aviyal is sambar.

I love aviyal made by my mom and grand-mom. So let me share the recipe here.

Preparation and cooking time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

• Vegetables:
• Plantain -1 
• Drumstick - 1
• Cucumber - 1/2
• Carrot - 1
• Brinjal - 1
• Pearl onions - 6
• Grated coconut - 1/2
• Green chilies - 3
• Cumin seeds / Jeera - 2 spoons
• Tamarind
• Curd/ Yoghurt - 3 spoons
• Turmeric powder
• Salt 
• Edible oil (preferably coconut oil)

Preparation:

• Soak tamarind in one cup of water and keep aside.
• Chop all the vegetables into long pieces, in equal length.

• Take a deep cooking pan and transfer all the chopped vegetables. 
• Cook the chopped vegetables in tamarind juice (soaked tamarind water) and salt.

• Close with a lid and cook in low flame for 15 mins. 
• In a mixture grinder, coarsely grind grated coconut, turmeric powder, cumin seeds, pearl onions, green chilies and keep aside. Be careful to not grind it finely. It has to be coarse.

• In 15 mins the vegetables should become soft. 

• Add the ground mixture now. Add more salt if required. Mix well.

• Close with a lid and cook in low flame for 5 mins and then switch off.

• Wait for 5 mins so that the dish cools down.
• Add curd/ yoghurt and mix well.
• Seasoning: In a frying pan, heat 2 spoons of edible oil and toss mustard seeds and curry leaves.

• Add the seasoning to the cooked dish.
• Aviyal is ready now!

Try this yummy dish this weekend with rice and sambar. For yummy sambar ->

http://she-simple-healthy-elegant.blogspot.in/2013/12/delicious-sambar.html

Unniyappam/ Unni appam

Kerala's all time favorite sweet is Unniyappam or Unni appam. Let us see how to prepare this sweet which is loved by people of all ages. I grew up eating this yummy sweet.

Ingredients:

• Rice (pure white) / Pachari - 1 cup
• Jaggery - 1 lump
• Bananas - 2
• Cardamoms - 3
• Dry ginger/ chukku - 1 small piece
• Unniappam maker
• Coconut oil - 1 cup

Preparation:

• Wash and soak 1 cup rice in 2 cups of water for 1 hr.
• Drain out extra water.
• In a mixer grinder, grind soaked rice, jaggery, bananas to make a coarse mixture. It should NOT be finely ground.
• Add crushed cardamoms and dry ginger to the batter and mix well.

• Transfer it to a vessel and keep it closed for 2 hrs.
• Optional step - Add a pinch of soda powder to the batter and mix well. 
• Take unniyappam maker and heat it in high flame.
• Pour coconut oil and let it boil.
• Now carefully pour the batter into the sockets.

•  Once it is becomes medium brown, flip it using a pair of tongs.

• Repeat the flipping till it turns dark brown. 
• Remove the appams once they turn dark brown.

Unniyappams are ready now. Have fun munching this cute little sweet!

Idiyappam / String Hoppers

Idiyappam is a delicious breakfast popular in South India, especially Kerala. This recipe was requested by many of my friends. This dish is also known as String Hoppers.

Cooking time: 30 mins

 

Ingredients:

• Finely ground rice flour - 1 cup
• Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
• Boiled water - 2 cups
• Salt - 1 spoon
• Edible oil - 1 spoon
• Idiyappam maker (for making the strings)
• Idli maker (for steaming)

Preparation:

• Mix the finely ground rice flour with 1 spoon salt. 
• Very carefully add the boiled water to make a soft dough.
• Use 1 spoon edible oil so that it doesn't stick to your fingers. Making the right dough is the secret to getting soft  Idiyappams.

• Fill the idiyappam maker with the dough.

• Now take an Idli maker and carefully make the strings using the idiyappam maker. Close it with the lid and cook for 10 mins in high flame.

• After 10 mins you can see that soft idiyappams are ready.

Idiyappams can be taken with grated coconut and sugar. Alternatively, you can prepare a simple coconut chutney as a side dish. Enjoy this simple but delicious breakfast.

How to prepare simple coconut red chilly chutney:

Ingredients:

• Red chillies - 4
• Tamarind - little
• Garlic cloves - 2
• Grated coconut - 1/2 cocnut
• Salt

Preparation:

• Grind all the above ingredients and transfer to a bowl.
• Seasoning:
• In a frying pan, heat edible oil.
• Add mustard seeds, black gram (urad dal), pearl onions (2), full red chilly (2), curry leaves.
• Add the seasoning to the curry.
• Simple yet tasty chutney is ready!