Curry with cauliflower and peas

Sine high school days, losing weight has always been on my wish-list.After gaining so much of weight in UK, I got back in track with aerobics and running. I was once a gym-addict. Yes, it was "ONCE". After my wedding, I have become too busy cooking and eating. Thanks to S for making me eat a lot of wrong foods. This has resulted in unimaginable gain in flesh around my waistline :-)

One good thing that I did for this new year is that I joined a gym. S was quite skeptical about me being regular to it and kept discouraging me from day 1. I have been hitting the gym for the past few days and I could feel myself more energetic and healthy. There has not been major changes in the food I prepare. I just replaced our menu more with lentils (in the form of dhal, soups, soondals) and vegetable stir fries.


One such exotic dish is Cauliflower peas masala. I eat them as a sandwich with wheat bread. This dish is a healthy yet tasty curry made from steamed cauliflower and peas. These two veggies are slow cooked in the creamy and aromatic tomato-onion sauce. The addition of garam masala infuses a mild spiciness to the dish perfectly. The final addition of fresh coriander leaves and dried fenugreek leaves adds a lovely flavor to the gravy. Finely chopped coriander leaves on top brings a beautiful contrast of colors in the dish making my plate tempting to spoon them quick. I serve this with pulka, chapati, roti and as a sandwich.


Gobi mutter masala
Source: My mother
Ingredients
1 kg cauliflower
1 cup frozen peas (thawed)
1 onion - finely chopped
1 tomato - puree
2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
4 tsp coriander powder
2 tsp garam masala
2tsp dried fenugreek / kasoori methi
1/2 cup coriander leaves - chopped
1/2tbs ginger-garlic paste
1 tbs lemon juice
500 ml water
Salt to taste
1tbs olive/ canola oil

Method
Wash and clean the cauliflower florets. Bring the water to a boil. Add little salt and throw in the cauliflowers and cook for 6-7 minutes. Once done, remove and let it cool.

Heat the oil in a cooking vessel. Once they get heated up, add the onions and little salt and cook till they brown lightly. Add the ginger garlic paste and cook for further 2-3 minutes. Then add the turmeric powder, chilli powder and coriander powder and cook till the raw smell disappears. Mix in the tomato puree and add little water, about 25ml and cook covered for 10 minutes.

Once the onions soften, mix in the cauliflower florets and peas. Sprinkle the garam masala on top and adjust salt to taste. Pour the lemon juice and finally garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves and hand-crushed dried fenugreek leaves (kasoori methi).

Warm beetroot salad

Indian cuisine is a medley of sophisticated aroma and subtle flavor comprising of spices,herbs, vegetables, legumes and rice. There exists regional dishes and cooking styles. Each region has a main ingredient. I hail from Southern part of India where most dishes comprise of rice as a major ingredient in contrast to the North, where they prefer wheat(Chapati, Roti). Pickles and chutneys are quite famous throughout India. Unlike in US or UK, pickles in India are the sun-dried vegetables marinated in salt, oil and spice powder. They could be stored for months together and its preparation process is a major family event. Some do have family recipes for it which has been carried from one generation to another.

Many of my non-Indian friends love spicy Indian food. I had been to a restaurant with my labmates once. There is an Indian restaurant near my lab. We were five of us, each one of us from each part of the world. To my surprise, everyone loved the food (samosa with channa masala, paneer wrap, dhal, naan) and I went bit curious to know whether they would go to an Indian restaurant again. The reply was they started eating Indian food long time back and that they love its flavour and taste. Our conversation landed on the complexity of Indian cooking and everyone finds it difficult to whip it in their kitchen.

There is a strong belief that Indian cooking is time-consuming and complex. I am here to disprove it. Here is my easy ways to make exotic Indian food at home. Easy Indian cooking is a celebration of the food Indians cook in non-Indian kitchen, using ingredients available in most local grocery stores.

Before we start with the actual cooking, lets have a quick peep in to the pantry.

A few must haves for Indian cooking:
1. Turmeric powder
2. Chilli powder
3. Coriander powder
4. Garam masala
5. Mustard seeds
6. Dry red chillies
7. Fenugreek seeds
8. Asafoetida
9. Urad dhal
10. Cummin seeds
11. Amchur powder (Dry Mango)
12. Curry leaves
13. Pepper corns
14. Cardamon
15. Cloves
16. Cinnamon sticks
17. Bay leaves
18. Fennel seeds
19. Tamarind
20. Channa dhal
21. Toor dhal
22. Dessicated coconut
23. Kasoori methi (Dried fenugreek leaves)
24. Coriander leaves
25. Yogurt
26. Lemon
27. Ginger
28. Garlic
29. Green chillies


Few essential utensils in the kitchen:
1. Non-stick cooking vessel / kadai in Hindi
2. Non stick frying pan / tava in Hindi
3. Non stick pressure cooker/ pan
4. Non-stick heavy bottomed pot

I would like to start with a simple recipe: Warm Beetroot Salad. Most of the incredible vegetable stir-fried dishes follow a similar protocol. Spices like mustard, urad dhal, dry red chillies or cummin are added to the heated oil in a kadai and are made to splutter. This tempers the oil and then its followed by the addition of green chilles or curry leaves. These ingredients coat the vegetables with a wonderful flavour. Almost every Indian dish is made tasty by the addition of turmeric powder ( an antiseptic) and chilli powder. The beetroot curry is a very simple dish made by using little oil, mustard seeds, urad dhal, curry leaves, green chillies, turmeric powder and onions. The sweetness from beets and onions blended wonderfully with green chillies and unfolds a delicious taste out of it. This curry is made in every household atleast once a month. They are nutritious and healthy. They taste absolutely delightful with roti, naan, chapati, rice/ yogurt.

Ingredients
2 small beetroots - chopped
3 serano peppers or 1 thai green chilly - deeeded and chopped
1 small red onios - chopped
2 tsp mustard seeds
4 tsp urad dhal
2 tsp turmeric powder
10-12 curry leaves - chopped
Salt to taste
1/2 tbs vegetable oil/ olive oil
1000ml water

Method
Heat the oil in a kadai. One they get heated up, throw in the mustard seeds and let it splutter. Then add the urad dhal and let it cook for a min.

Now add the curry leaves and serano pepper/green chillies. Mix in the onions and little salt and let it sweat. Add a dash of turmeric powder and cook till the raw smell disappears. Add the chopped beetroot and give it a complete mix. Pour in the water and cook covered on medium flame for 20-30min. Cook until they turn soft. If needed add another 200ml water and cook for further 15min.

Serving tip: Serve hot with rice/chappati/roti. You can also serve them as wraps with lettuce, ketchup and mayo.

Paruppu usili (Lentil based curry)

I have always noticed a lack of exposure of South Indian Cuisines to international audiences. Whenever I refer the term "Indian Food", most of my non-Indian friends, connect Indian cuisine to Naan, Dhal, Chicken Tikka Masala and Chai. Yeah! they are really yummy foods of the North and I am not here to deny that. I do love them and I cook them quite often in my kitchen. I have been pondering for days together to start a separate label for the dishes from South India but something or the other work kept coming along my way. I have decided to create it today. The Deccan Plateau is a large plateau in India, comprising of southern part of the country. I would be sharing the dishes from Tamil nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh in this kitchen. Hence the name "Deccan Kitchen".

This space would carry information on the authentic recipes of the South, the aromatic spices, their uses and origins. "Deccan Kitchen" will project and promote the South Indian cuisine to all my foodies. It will be platform to remove the notion that Indian Cooking is tedious and complicated. The posts will be made simple and straightforward, so everyone will find it easy to whip it in their kitchens.

I would be sharing information about my native state today – Tamil Nadu, situated in the southern most part of India. It’s a beautiful State with warm people, vibrant culture and mouth-watering cuisines. It has a variety of both vegetarian and non-vegetarian delicacies. Everyone’s door is open to guests and the word “hospitality” is synonym for Tamil Nadu. Rice and lentils are an important part of Tamil cuisine.

The post for today is "Paruppu Usili", traditionally they are made with beans but today I am  with asparagus.

This dish is may combining cooked asparagus with cooked dhal (lentils). Two varieties of dhal are used here : Channa dhal and Toor dhal in equal proportion. These dhals can be bought from any Indian Grocery shops. This is a very common dish in any Tamilian household and this mildly spiced dish is super tasty and is loved by everyone. The cooked asparagus blends beautifully with the steam cooked lentil mixture and the dash of asafoetida, curry leaves and dried red chillies add the right amount of flavor to the dish. A warm plate of this aromatic curry goes perfectly well with rasam or sambhar.

Here is a straight forward recipe to make it in a easy and no-hassle way.

Ingredients
For the lentil mixture:

•  1 cup toor dhal
• 1 cup channa dhal
• 1-2 dry red chilly
• 8-10 curry leaves

The tadka:
1/2 - 1 lb Asparagus - chopped
1 tsp asafoetida (Available at Indian grocery shop)

1 tbs oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1tsp urad dhal
Salt to taste
5 cups water

Method

• Soak the lentil mixture in 2 cups water for 2-4 hours. Keep them aside.
• Wash the asparagus thoroughly and chop them into thin roundels.
• Heat about 3 cups of water with little salt in a cooking vessel on a high flame . Once they begin to boil, add the asparagus and cook for 15-20min till they become tender. Once done, drain them in a colander and set them aside.
• After the soaking time, remove the water completely and grind them to a thick paste. If the required, add a very little amount of water. The lentil paste should not be soggy. Place them in a stainless steel vessel and pressure cook them in a cooker/pan for 3-4 whistles. Once cooled, remove from the vessel and crumble them with hand.Transfer to a fresh plate/bowl.

• Heat the oil in a kadai/pan. Once they get heated up, add mustard seeds. Let them splutter. Then add the urad dhal and asafoetida.
• After a min, throw in the cooked asparagus and give it a complete stir. Add the crumbled lentil mixture and cook for another 10 min. Adjust salt to taste. Serve warm with rice.

Tips:

1. Ideal warm salad for South beach dieters. This can be eaten during all the phases. Paruppu usili is a protein packed dish.

Vazhakai varuval - A simple plantain curry

Hope you guys had a lovely weekend and are looking fresh and energetic for this week. My weekend was pretty fine, had been to a friend's place for dinner on Saturday and was pretty much at home on Sunday. I had been playing around with blog templates and every time I uploaded a new HTML, my blog looked pathetic. I ain't a computer geek and HTML codes were going over my head. On Friday afternoon, I lost my original template after I uploaded a new one. Literally I was on tears as I was lost on how to go about correcting it. It was so clumsy that I hardly could tolerate the look of it :-(

My mind was racing to catch a right person to help me and it was 4.00 PM. Everyone will be at work. Immediately, I remembered that my BIL,a software professional living in Kansas and it would be 6.00 PM there. I caught him when he entered his home and made him sit in front of the computer to sort this. He was kind enough to spend more than an hour to sort my blog. He suggested to download "Firebug" and gave me a quick tour on how to write HTML and it sounded pretty straight forward but later, I had trouble in writing one :-( Then somehow we got back my original template and added few widgets to get a look similar to my previous one. I had written queries on online forum and on other blogs to help me with changing the blog format. Aneesh of Blogger Widgets helped me in changing my blog look. You can have a look at his blog and can contact him for any guidance/assistance about new widgets and blog templates.

Here is my new blog look and do tell me whether you guys liked it or not? I would be glad to hear your feed backs. I know my header picture is blurred and so unprofessional, I am in the process of learning how to correct it :-) (smiles) So please pardon me for that!

Note : Friends, always remember to save your preferred template in a note pad or create a test blog before you start experimenting your blog look.

The post for today isn't as complicated as my template-changing-story, its a simple yet crispy and tasty plantain curry which can be cooked in no time. This dish is so quick to make and tastes absolutely heavenly with rice served in hot rasam or an ordinary yogurt. Crispy plantain curry is sure to make you crave for more. This can also be eaten as a munch during TV sessions. It will be a sure hit among kids :-)


Ingredients

• 2 raw banana/plantains - peeled and diced
• 5 curry leaves
• 1tsp mustard
• 1tsp urad dhal
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1-2 tsp chilli powder
• 2-3 tsp coriander powder
• 1 garlic - minced
• 1 tbs oil
• Salt to taste
• 1/2- 1 cup water

Method

• Peel and dice the bananas into small chunks. Leave it in water and keep aside.
• Heat about 1/2 tbs oil in the kadai. Once the oil is heated up, add the mustard and let it splutter. Then add the urad dhal, garlic and curry leaves.Saute for a min.
  
• Add the plantain chunks into the tempered oil and saute for couple of mins. Sprinkle in turmeric powder, chilli powder, coriander powder and salt over the plantains and saute till the raw smell disappears. Pour in the water and leave the lid closed for 3-5 min. Cook on medium flame. After the cooking time, check them by poking with a fork in its center . Pour in the remaining oil and let it cook for 3-5 min on high flame. Crispy yummy curry is ready.

Serve hot with rice and sambar/rasam/yogurt

Palapinji poriyal / Stir fry with baby jackfruit

An ancient huge banyan tree and few neem and coconut trees were one of the beautiful things in the "Sandhai" (local farmer's market) at my grandparents village. A number of locally grown vegetable,fruits, organic eggs and dried fishes were sold here. Even turkey,hens and cows were sold and bought during the day. Its open only on Mondays. People from neighboring villages throng in great numbers to watch the trade. There will be merry go rounds, terracotta, "colour" (cold drink),"kuchi ice" (local ice sticks) and sparrow stalls too. I have always enjoyed my visit to Sandhai with my granddad. I was really fascinated when I visited it for the first time.

This episode was during my school summer break.

"Thathaaaa! (Grandfather) , its getting late we need to go to Sandhai today." I screamed as I woke up from the bed.

"Get up, brush and take a shower first! Join the prayers soon and don't overfeed the turkey today" replied my grandmom.
Everyday when I wake I would run to the backyard to feed the turkey my grandmom used to raise. It would lay 1-2 eggs every other day. Due to over-excitement I would feed them every 30min and they end up sitting with a blotted stomach. So my cousins and I were always warned from giving them too much grains.

After the quick shower, I wore my favorite red frock and was all set for the day. I ran to the small garden and plucked few hibiscus. As I entered the pooja room, my granddad's serene face spared a warm smile and I entered winking at him and stretching my arms with the flowers towards him. He then placed them in the "Velli poo-koodai" (Silver flower basket) and then kept a dot of "kumkumam" (red coloured auspicious powder) on my forehead as a blessing and continued to chant the Mantra.

My granddad is a handsome old man with criss-cross wrinkles running everywhere around his face. He always wears "Spadiga Malai" (beaded chain) around his neck, his arms will be smeared with chandanam (sandal wood paste) and also a triple layer of vipudhi (ash) on his forehead. I feel that this makes him look even more handsome.Every morning he would dutifully offer prayers to the Amman (Lord Devi) idol at our home and decorate the goddess with flowers and kumkumam.

After the ellaborate prayer session, I became too restless and kept nagging my grandad to get ready to leave. I ate my breakfast fast and kept running behind my granddad to start early.The local market generally works from 6.00AM to 1.00PM. My grandmom repeated the list of things to buy to our maid M and also to my granddad. Even I kept contributing the stuffs my grandmom had forgotten to mention. The Sandhai is just two bus stops away from our home and it just takes 10min to reach there.

As we entered the massive open space, I clutched my maid's hand tight and kept walking with her towards the hand-fan seller, an old man with toothless mouth and wrinkles all around. He sold 2 for Rs. 10 (0.20$) and she claimed that to be very expensive and finally bargained 4 for Rs.10. (he he!). Once she finalized the deal, she spared a proud smile at me.By then, my granddad went to other part of the Sandhai to purchase sacks and ropes.

As I walked across the Sandhai, I remember little boys and girls, barefoot and clad in partially torn and restitched dresses, running along the narrow path between the various stalls to the puppet show happening at the other corner. The little ones were busy nagging their parents to buy them new combs, mirror and trinkets and there will be immediate "No-No" nodding as a reply.

There was an old lady screaming about the price of her vegetables with maximum enthusiasm. My maid knew her and she bought most of the vegetable from there. She got me introduced as "Yedhu! Achi ooda peethi" (meaning Achi's granddaughter).

She immediately recognized me.....rather recognized my grandmom and as always spared a huge lie "Yes, yes!! she resembles her grandmom" and smiled at me.

Thats the way everyone in the village would refer you whenever somebody introduces you to be so-on-so 's grandchild.

Thats where I saw a Palapinji (baby jack fruit) for the first time in my life and also tiny chicks painted in pink, red, yellow and orange colour. I insisted that my maid buys them and on my way back home I carried those cute chicks in a bamboo basket and a baby jackfruit with great pride. For the next day lunch, my grandmom made this yummy baby jack fruit curry and I am just in love with it since then.

The post for today is Baby Jackfruit Curry. This is a simple curry prepared with onions and shredded coconuts. This is an easy to fix curry which has a mushy texture. It tastes absolutely divine with Rasam rice. The lovely aroma of dry chillies and curry leaves adds an exotic taste to this dish.



Ingredients

• 2 cups baby jack fruit cubed (after removing the green exterior)
• 1tsp turmeric powder
• 2 cups water
• 1-2 cups chopped onions
• 1tsp mustard seeds
• 2tsp urad dhal
  
• 2-3 dry red chillies
• 8-10 curry leaves
• 1/4 cup grated coconut
• 1 tbs oil
  
• Salt to taste

Method

Cook the cubed pieces of Baby jackfruit along with turmeric powder and salt in a cooking vessel carrying hot water. Let them cook for 15-20min or till they turn soft.Remove from flame and drain the water. Let it cool and then grind them into a coarse form in a mixer. (Look at the picture above for the coarse look). Set them aside.

Heat oil in a kadai and add the mustard seeds, urad dhal, dry red chillies and curry leaves. Once they splutter, add the onion to the tempered oil. Cook in a medium heat for couple of minutes stirring occasionally.

Add the cooked baby jack fruit to it and add salt to taste. Let them cook for 3-5 min. Finally add the grated coconut and give it a complete mix. Cook for further 2 mins and serve hot.

Maravalli kilanzhu / Tapioca masala

There was a mood of festivity at home. Everyone looked cheerful and the house was packed with guests. There were giggles and gossips in every corner of the house. Chennai's torrential rain wasn't really hampering our together times. Sun hardly smiled at us today, rain kept singing aloud the entire day, heavy traffic on the roads, knee-length water everywhere, power-cut for more than 12hrs -- it wasn't a pleasant day for others but we guys had a lovely time together.

Hot, spicy and steamy stomach filling meal is just apt for this weather. My grandmum had decided our menu for the brunch that day. She just needed suggestion on the side dish. We wanted something spicy, crunchy and also fun to cook together.We always crave for the dishes made from our country vegetables. She had brought tapioca from our village, so the unanimous decision was to have tapioca cooked in a spicy coconut masala. This is one of my grandmum's signature recipe and it tastes great with rasam.

Ingredients

1/2 kg tapioca/maravalli kezhangu

2 onions

1/2 tbs ginger-garlic paste

10-12 curry leaves

1/2 tbp Chilli powder

4tsp Coriander/dania powder

1/2 cup shredded coconut (fresh/dessicated)

1tsp fennel seeds

4 tbs Oil

Salt

Garam masala:

2 Cloves]

2 Cardamon

1/2'' Cinnamon stick

Method

Grind the coconut and fennel seeds with little water to a fine paste and keep aside.

Dry roast the garam masala ingredients. Cool and grind to a fine powder. Set aside.

Heat the oil in kadai. Add the powdered masala, ginger-garlic paste and curry leaves and stir for few seconds.

Saute the onions till brown in the tempered oil. Add the cubed tapioca with little salt and let them cook for a couple of min.

Add the turmeric powder, coriander powder and chilli powder. Cook till the raw smell disappears. It would take about 3-5min.

Add the coconut-fennel seeds paste now and mix them all together well. Pour in 3 cups of water and close the lid. Let them cook for 20-30min till the tapioca turns soft.(Add excess water if necessary)

Adjust salt to taste.