Dry Cauliflower Sabzi {For Roti}

Among the very many recipe requests I get on the blog,the one which tops the list is 'side dish for chapathi',so much so that I feel I owe to all of you who write in to introduce a new section on this blog for the same,really.It is a question which haunts me too-making chapathi dough is a breeze in the food processor and making chapathi does not take much time either.All the time is lost in thinking what to make as a side dish for the chapathi.

I had a go-north-indian phase a while back where I tried a new dish every day,from paneer to gobi to aloo,I made them all.But then we realized it was beating the purpose.We were having rotis as part of our weight loss regime and if I started to pair them with calorie laden dishes,we might as well have dal-chawal for dinner!

So in my new mission to try out sabjis for roti,this one is the first on the list.Cauliflower always works out as a good side for rotis-aloo gobi,cauliflower kurma and cauliflower sabzi.This one is no different-simple,delicious and gets done in a jiffy.

Dry Cauliflower Sabzi {For Roti}

Ingredients

Cauliflower/Gobhi - 1 medium,cut into bite-sized florets

Tomato - 1 medium,pureed

Oil - 1 tsp

Jeera - 1/2 tsp

Onion - 1 small,finely chopped

Ginger garlic paste - 1/2 tsp

Rec chilly powder - 1/2 tsp

Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp

Haldi powder - 1/4 tsp

Garam masala - 1/4 tsp

Salt to taste

Coriander leaves - for garnish

Method

 
Chop the cauliflower into bite sized pieces and wash well under running water.Drain and keep aside.

 
In a non-stick pan(preferably) add oil and splutter jeera,saute the onions,add the ginger garlic paste and saute for 1-2 minutes and then mix in the tomato puree.

 
Saute for 2-3 minutes and then add red chilly powder,coriander powder,haldi and garam masala.

 
Add chopped cauliflower,salt to taste and sprinkle 1-2 tbsp of water.Mix well.Cover with a lid and cook for 3-5 minutes or till the cauliflower is almost cooked.Now cook uncovered for another 5-7 minutes.

 
Add coriander leaves and switch off the flame.

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My Great India Cookbook - Vikas Khanna | Cookbook Review & Pachapattani Thoran Recipe

Like everyone else I know,we were hooked to the television watching Masterchef Australlia whenever it was aired,even the recaps were not missed.It was with the same enthusiasm we watched the Indian version,but we were disappointed,we felt there was too much drama and it looked so scripted that we stopped watching after the first episode.

Why I am mentioning Masterchef India here is because of the charming Michelin star chef who hosted the second season of the show which according to many was way better than the first season.I wasn't much familiar with the celebrity-chef,so I google'd.People Magazine named Khanna in the list of Sexiest Man Alive and also referred to as The Hottest Chef in the world.Khanna was awarded a Michelin star for his restaurant Junoon by Michelin Guide for 2012 and 2013.

I received his latest cookbook My Great India Cookbook as part of a book review program by MySmartPrice,a price comparison engine that helps users find the best price for Books, Mobiles, Cameras and lots more. 

As I was leaving for my hometown the very same day,I carried the book along with me.I sure caught a few glances in my direction in the train as I was reading a cookbook with such interest and concentration none might have seen before:)

I love cookbooks which have pictures,and lots of them.Almost every recipe is accompanied by a gorgeous picture and you cannot expect anything lesser when the food styling and pictures are by Michael Swamy.

The recipes are neatly indexed. Soups,starters,vegetables,dals,fish&seafood,poultry,meats,rice,breads,chutneys&more,desserts&sweets.The book is named so for a reason and has recipes ranging from almost all Indian cuisines which the author collected on his travels through the length and breadth of India.

Some recipes which caught my attention were Bylakuppe Thukpa,a Tibetan noodle soup made with a typical Tibetan masala called the kopan masala.Kerala special Pulisheri is made as a soup with cucumbers,which I am planning to try since we always have it as a side-dish.There is also a Kanji soup with fried fish.Raavan Bhaat,which has nothing to do with the mythological character but is named so because of the spice level in the recipe.Aloo achar,now that is something new,a pickle with potatoes?

There are quite a number of Kerala and Konkani recipes which I must say made me very happy.Special mention goes to Karare Karele-spicy bittergourd chips,Kajuchi Usal-fresh cashewnuts in coconut,Fanasachi bhaaji-jackfruit curry,Goan Coconut rice,Kokum rice and many more.
 
I loved the Dals and Rice sections as well with interesting recipes like Sultani Dal-Royal lentils which uses milk,cream and yogurt with toor dal and is given a smoked flavor with betel leaf.Bishambar's Rajmah,a recipe which is so simple and looks gorgeous.Tapeliya Dal Bhaat,a Gujarati rice recipe uses Dal and a spiced masala-definitely a must-try in my list,Kanika Bhog,a dish made in Marwar as an offering to the Gods.

Khoba Roti,a patterned flatbread made in Rajasthan,too deserves a special mention,how can something look so pretty that eating it would make you feel cruel!

The dessert section,though small is packed with variety.There is a Khubani ka Meetha from Hyderabad,Chena Poda from Orissa,Daulat ki Chaat from UP and Pithagurir Payas from Assam along with a few others.

It was indeed a difficult choice for me too cook up something from this book as I was confused which one to try first.I haven't cooked much from other cuisines in India save for those so-called North Indian dishes,so I stuck with a recipe from my roots-Pacha pattani thoran,a simple side dish with green peas made in a Kerala style.

Pachapattani Thoran - Green Peas Thoran

Ingredients

Fresh/Frozen Green peas - 200 gms

For the spice paste

Grated coconut - 3 tbsp
Small onions/shallots - 3-4
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Green Chilly - 1 small
Cumin seeds/jeera - 1/2 tsp
Red chilly powder - ¼ tsp
Haldi - ¼ tsp

For tempering

Coconut oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds -  ¼ tsp
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Red chilly - 1,broken into 2
Onion - ½ of a small onion,chopped
Salt to taste

Method

 
Blanch green peas in boiling hot water for 1 minute.I skipped this step as I was using frozen green peas which is already blanched.
Make a smooth paste using the ingredients mentioned under the spice paste.
 
In a kadai add oil and splutter mustard seeds.Mix in curry leaves and red chilly bits and saute the onions till golden brown.
 
Add the spice paste and about 1- 1½ cups of water and salt to taste.Let it boil and then mix in the thawed and drained(or fresh)green peas.Close with a lid and let it cook till soft.
Serve with rice and rasam/sambhar.

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Bhende Phanna Upkari - Chilli Okra

I'd definitely count Lady's Fingers/Bhindi/Okra among the vegetables I can live without.Clearly Okra is not everyone's favorite vegetable,right?It is anyone's guess why-if not properly cooked Okra can get all slimy and mushy and clearly not appealing enough to eat.

The thumb rule while cooking okra is making sure the vegetable is chopped right and cooked in an open flame without adding an ounce of water.At home,my vanni made this dish within 15 minutes from start to finish.It pairs well with rice as well as rotis.If you love okra,you'll love this spicy and tasty phanna upkari.

Phanna upkari is a very spicy dish,typically made with seafood as the main ingredient.But it tastes great as a vegetarian version too.Like this Mushroom version or this Navy beans.

Bhenda Phanna Upkari

Ingredients

Lady's Finger/Okra - 15-17,sliced thinly 
Oil - 1 tbsp
Onion - 1,finely chopped
Tomato - 1,finely chopped
Salt to taste
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Red chilly powder - 1 tsp

Method

Wash the okra well and wipe dry.Snip off the ends and slice it into thin rounds.
 
In a kadai add oil and saute onions till they turn golden brown.Mix in the tomato and saute till the tomatoes turn soft.
 
Add salt to taste and coriander and red chilly powders.
 
Mix in the okra and stir well.Keep stirring till the okra becomes soft and cooked well.
Serve hot with rice,dal or roti.

Spicy Chilly Okra is off to one of my dearest blogging pal Bharathy(Spicy Chilly)who is hosting My Spicy Recipe event on her blog.There are some amazing prizes to be won with which you can shop from shopping sites like Flipkart-which happens to be my favorite hop for e-shopping.So go ahead and send in your entries too!

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Bredda Upkari/Bread Upma | Leftover Bread Recipes

I sleep well in the night if I know what's for breakfast the next day.Not necessarily ready to eat stuff,but things like vegetables chopped for masala dosa,freshly ground dosa batter and grated coconut for chutney.Or even ideas for breakfast.But there are days when I am left staring inside the fridge,scratching my head for breakfast ideas.On those days,I turn to bread.

We are not a bread-omelette eating family.I don't eat eggs and Ajay is not a big fan of eggs,so bread breakfast mostly means toasted bread with butter and jam along with oats or cereals.Bread usli is saved for tea time.When last time in-laws were here,ma-in-law made this delicious bread upkari which tasted very similar to upma and which was so good on its own.Perfect breakfast in 15 minutes!

Bredda Upkari / Bread Upma

Ingredients

Day old bread - 1 loaf
Oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Green chilly - 2,slit
Red chilly - 1,broken into two
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Onion - 1,sliced
Thick curd - 1/3 cup
Sugar - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Grated coconut - 2 tbsp


Method

Chop the bread slices into small pieces.

In a thick bottomed kadai add oil and splutter mustard seeds.
Mix in the green chilly,red chilly and curry leaves.

Add in the sliced onions and saute till they turn golden brown.
Meanwhile mix together curds,sugar and salt.

Add in the grated coconut followed with the curd mix.Mix in the bread slices and cook till the bread cubes turn golden brown and crisp.

Update - Adding curd to the Bread Upma is a unique idea of my ma-in-law.She started making this upma with wheat bread.As it is,wheat bread becomes hard and chewy when it is stale,adding curd makes it soft.I follow the same method for white bread too which makes the bread soft on the inside and crisp on the outside.

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Cheera Thoran

There are were a few dishes I wouldn't touch with a barge pole.Greens/cheera was one of them.However good the dish is,I had only one thing to say,how can cooked leaves taste good.No amount of coaxing or cajoling from family got me into tasting it.

Don't get me started on the cleaning part.I wouldn't know what to discard and what to keep,seriously.Few days back,when in-laws were here,ma-in-law got excited with the fresh vegetable market downstairs and got home a bunch of greens.I got excited,no,I am not in love with cheera as yet,but hey,I'll get to post this on the blog!

Cheera Thoran | Greens Stir fry

Ingredients

Cheera/Fresh greens - 1 bunch,cleaned and chopped
Oil - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Red chilly - 2-3,broken into two
Small onions - 3-4,sliced
Grated coconut - 2 tbsp
Haldi/turmeric - 1/2 tsp
Jeera - 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste

Method

 
In a kadai add oil and splutter mustard seeds and red chillies.Mix in the small onions and saute till light brown.
Add the cleaned and chopped greens and give a good stir.
 
Mix together grated coconut,haldi,jeera and salt and add it in.
Close with a lid and cook for 5-7 minutes.
Open the lid,stir well and cook for another 5 minutes or till the greens are cooked and wilted.
Serve with rice.

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Batate High Jump | Garlic Baby Potatoes in Coconut Masala

Tell me if you found the name interesting.Cute isn't it?My love for baby potatoes is well documented here,any curry made with potatoes can be made prettier using baby potatoes,that's my mantra.

High Jump Potatoes is a star recipe from Asha Philar's book The Konkani Saraswat Cookbook.I saw many people trying it and posting it on Facebook and even mentioning it as one of the best recipes in the book.I had no reasons to postpone making this dish.

Baby potatoes cooked in a coconut based masala and seasoned with Garlic,how can it go wrong I ask.Tastes great with Rice and dal and even with some curd rice.So what are you pairing it with?

Batate High Jump|Garlic Baby Potatoes in Coconut Masala
Recipe from The Konkani Saraswat Cookbook

Ingredients

Baby Potatoes - 30-35
Salt to taste

For the Masala

Grated coconut - 3-4 tbsp
Roasted Red chillies - 3
Tamarind - a small channa sized piece
Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp,roasted
Whole peppercorns - 1/4 tsp
Hing/asafetida - a pinch
Haldi/turmeric powder - a pinch

For the tadka/seasoning

Oil - 3 tbsp
Garlic - 6 cloves,crushed with skin

Method

Cook the baby potatoes in a pressure cooker for 4-5 whistles.Peel and keep aside.
 
Make a smooth paste of the ingredients given for the masala.Keep aside.
 
In a thick bottomed kadai add oil and then the crushed garlic.Saute on low flame till the garlic is evenly brown and soft.
Mix in the ground masala,salt to taste and let it boil.
 
Add the cooked potatoes and give a good mix.
Simmer the flame and let the potatoes cook further in the masala.Keep stirring over a low flame until the potatoes become brownish and dry.

Featured in Food Fetish Fridays.

Notes

• If you do not eat garlic,use mustard seeds and curry leaves for seasoning and then proceed with the rest of the procedure.

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Karathe Saglen - Spicy Bittergourd Coconut Masala

Time for yet another Konkani recipe.Yeah,ever since I posted the Batata Upkari,I've been trying to post at least one Konkani dish here on a regular basis.It is strange because,I cook the same on a daily basis.But before I post it on the blog,I have to measure the ingredients,note the cooking time and then post because these dishes are cooked with eyeballed ingredients.
 
Bittergourd is not my favorite vegetable.Especially the ones we get in Chennai.Dark green in colour and very bitter compared to the ones we get in Kerala.I believe curries like these were created to mask the strong bitter flavor.Fried bittergourd by itself is so tasty,so imagine dunking it in a coconut based curry.Divine!


Karathe Saglen - Fried Bittergourd in Spicy Coconut Masala


Ingredients


Bittergourd - 2-3,medium sized
Salt to taste
Oil to deep fry


For the Masala


Grated Coconut - 5 tbsp
Roasted Red chillies - 2-3
Tamarind - pea sized piece
Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp
Urad dal - 1 tsp


For the seasoning


Coconut oil - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 sprig


Method


 
Chop the bittergourd into small pieces,apply salt and keep aside for 10-15 minutes or till you get everything ready.
 
In a kadai add 1/2 tsp of oil and roast the coriander seeds and urad dal till they start turning brown in color.Remove from the pan and let it cool.
 
Grind a masala paste using coconut,red chillies,tamarind and roasted coriander and urad dal.
 
Add enough oil in a kadai too deep fry the bittergourd.Squeeze the bittergourd well and sprinkle it into the oil.You can fry the bittergourd all at once or in batches.Drain to a kitchen tissue and keep aside.Remove excess oil in the kadai.
 
Meanwhile,in the same kadai add 2 tsp oil and splutter mustard seeds and add curry leaves.
 
Mix in the ground masala,enough salt to taste and around 1/4 cup of water and let it boil.Simmer for 5-7 minutes or till the curry becomes thick.
Mix in the fried bittergourd and switch off flame.
Serve hot with rice and dal.
 
Notes

• Though it is named a curry,it is more of a side dish.The bittergourd absorbs most of the gravy and becomes a thickish curry.
• It is best served with some dal based gravy on the side.

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Kumbalanga-Muringakkya Pulingari - Ash Gourd and Drumstick Curry

It takes me less than an hour to cook breakfast and lunch for the day if I am in a good mood and I have the menu ready in my mind.I agree to every one who says it is the menu part which takes up all of the time.Which ozhichu curry(gravy)to make and what upperi(side-dish)will go with seems to be a daily issue.I try and decide it the previous night itself so that kitchen time is minimal.It is scorching summer here in Chennai and even the tadka heat becomes unbearable.

 
I rely on my Mallu friends when it comes to authentic malayali curries and this one is no different.My friend Ramya made this for lunch one day and I just couldn't guess what was it that made it different from the regular Kumbalanga pulisheri that I make.While sour curd is used for puli in pulisheri,in this curry the souring agent is raw mango.


We love pairing pulisheri with beetroot upperi and it went well with this pulingari too.
 
Kumbalanga-Muringakkya Pulingari


Ingredients


Kumbalanga/Ash gourd/Vella poosnikka - 1 cup,cubed
Muringakkya/Drumstick - 1,sliced into 2'pieces
Raw Mango - 1/2 cup,chopped
Toor dal - 1/2 cup
Salt to taste


For the arappu/masala


Grated coconut - 4 tbsp
Green chilly - 1
Jeera - 1/2 tsp
Haldi/Turmeric - 1/4 tsp


For the seasoning


Coconut oil - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Red chilly - 1
Curry leaves - 1 sprig


Method


Cook the toor dal in a pressure cooker with enough water till 2-3 whistles or till the dal becomes mushy.
Add in the chopped vegetables and the raw mango and cook for exactly 1 whistle.
Meanwhile,make the masala with the ingredients mentioned.Grind to a smooth paste.
Mix in the ground masala and salt to taste and bring the curry to a boil.Simmer for 5-10 minutes.
Prepare seasoning in a pan with oil and splutter mustard seeds.Add red chilly and curry leaves and pour the tadka over the boiling curry.
Switch off flame and serve hot.


 
Beetroot Upperi


Ingredients


Beetroot - 1,chopped
Onion - 1,chopped
Oil - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Green chilly - 1,chopped
Salt to taste
Grated coconut - 1 tbsp


Method


In a thick bottomed kadai add oil and splutter mustard seeds and add green chilly followed by onion.
Saute onions till golden brown and mix in the chopped beetroot.Add around 1/4 cup of water and salt to taste,close with a lid and cook for 5-10 minutes or till the beetroot is cooked.Mix in the grated coconut.
Serve with rice and pulingari.

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Batate bhajun Upkari ~ Roasted Potato Stir-fry

Whenever amma asks me details about the blog and what my latest post is,it so happens that it'd be a cake or a baked goodie or something else.She always says,why don't you post something which we make on a regular basis,you know, different upkaris/ghashis etc.Which actually makes me sit and ponder.

I started the blog way back in 2008 without a clue what blogging was all about.Initial entries of mine were all dishes made for breakfast,lunch and dinner.Slowly I graduated to posting stuff from different cuisines etc and after the baking bug hit,it was baked goodies all through.

Sometime back when I made our favorite roast potato stir-fry,I thought about what amma said and decided to post this on the blog.So here is a very basic and simple potato stir fry which goes well with rice and dal and is a great combination with chapathi/rotis too.

Batate bhajun Upkari - Roasted Potato Stir-fry

Ingredients

Potatoes - 2,medium

Oil - 2 tbsp*

Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp

Red chilly powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste

Method

Peel and slice potatoes into thin triangular pieces and soak in enough water till required.

In a kadai add oil and splutter mustard seeds.

Drain the potatoes and mix in.Add red chilly powder and enough salt to taste.

Stir well and cover with a tight lid and cook for 10 minutes stirring often.

When the potatoes are cooked,remove the lid and cook for further 10 minutes on simmer or till the potatoes are roasted evenly.

*Oil can be added as per ones choice-more oil would make the roasting speed up and the potatoes more crisp.

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