Happy friendship day !!!

Varutharaicha murungakai pulikuzhambu / Drumstick in fried coconut based tamarind gravy

Here is one more pulikuzhambu version which I like very much. This is a kerala style theeyal recipe. The smell of drumstick and the smell of golden fried coconut gives a unique taste and aroma to this dish.

The scientific name of drumstick tree is Moringa oleifera. The leaves, flowers and immature pods of drumstick tree are used as food. Leaves are the most nutritious part of the plant. They are  rich in Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Calcium , Pottasium, Iron and protein.  Different parts of drumstick plant is used to cure respiratory disorders, infections, digestive disorders, urinary disorders and sexual disorders ('Mundhanai mudichu' Bhagyaraj seems to be correct ;). 

Ingredients :

Drumstick- 2 nos

Coconut scrappings- 3 tbspns (fresh or dried)

Onion- 1 no

Tomato- 1 no

Curry leaves- a handful

Green chillies- 3 nos

Whole black pepper- 1 tspn

Coriander powder- 1 tbspn

Red chilli powder- 2 tspns

Tamarind- size of a small lemon

Turmeric- a pinch

Asafoetida- a pinch

Fenugreek, Mustard and urid dhal- 1/2 tspn for tempering

Salt to taste

Oil- 3 tbspn

Method :

Wash and cut the drumsticks into 2 inch pieces. Soak the tamarind in luke warm water. Take a pan and fry the coconut scrappings until they become deep brown in colour. Grind the fried coconut and one teaspoon of pepper into a smooth paste. Cut onions and tomatoes into small pieces. Slit the green chillies. Heat oil in a pan. When the oil gets heated add fenugreek seeds and urid dhal. When it browns add mustard seeds. When they splutter add the onions, curry leaves, green chillies, a pinch of asafoetida and a pinch of turmeric. Saute well until the onions become soft. Now add some salt and tomato pieces and saute until the tomato pieces are cooked well. To this mixture add coriander powder, chilli powder and ground coconut and pepper paste. Mix well. Saute for a minute until the raw smell of the masala goes away. Now add the extracted tamarind juice and enough water. Boil the mixture well until the drumstick is cooked. Allow the gravy to thicken. Add salt as per your taste.  A very tasty kuzhambu will be ready to be served with hot rice and papads.

Taste enhancing tips for this recipe : Sourness, spiciness and salt should balance well to get the best pulikuzhambu. Thick gravy is more tastier than the watery ones. Black pepper gives a very nice taste and aroma to this dish. Take care not to burn the coconut scrappings but it should be browned nicely. Add lots of curry leaves. When prepared with gingelly oil it has an unique taste. Happy cooking !!!

Happy weekend !!!

Oyster mushroom fry / Sippi kaalaan varuval

 

When rainy season comes and when there are a few days of thunder and lightning, these beautiful delicacies grow on plantain stems. In my village, our neighborhood boys go to the plantain farms early in the morning and collect these mushrooms for us. As I have already said, naturally growing oyster mushrooms (Sippi kaalaan) are several times tastier than the store bought, commercially grown ones. Here in Germany, I get them rarely in supermarkets like Edeka or Tegut. They are a bit costly but I buy them whenever I see them because once you get hooked up in their taste its hard to give up. Select mushrooms with stems intact as the crunchy stem gives this fry a wonderful taste. Aren"t you tempted by the way this fry looks? Just try it you will love it and they are very healthy too. This simple fry I learned from my mom and I am happy to share this recipe with you all.

 

Ingredients :

Oyster mushrooms (Sippi kaalaan)- 250 gms

Onion- 1 no or 6 shallots (use shallots if possible for a better taste)

Green chillies- 5 nos

Curry leaves- handful

Turmeric powder- a pinch

Chilli powder- 1 tspn or any garam masala

Mustard and urid dhal- 1/2 tspn (for tempering)

Salt to taste

Oil- 3 tbspns

Method :

Wash and tear mushrooms into small pieces using your hand. Do not discard the stem. Heat oil in a pan. When the oil is hot do the tempering using mustard and uri dhal. When the mustard seeds splutter and the urid dhal turns brown add the sliced onions, cut green chillies, curry leaves, a pinch of turmeric and enough salt. Saute well until the onions acquire a golden colour. At this stage add chilli powder  or garam masala and  oyster mushrooms. Saute them well.  Do not add water. Oyster mushrooms have enough water content. Simmer the flame and fry until they become golden and crispy. A very attractive, tasty fry will be ready in minutes. 

Taste enhancing tips for this recipe : Make it as simple as possible to relish the real mushroom taste. If you have chicken 65 masala you can use it for getting that unique colour, taste and flavour, you can also name it as mushroom 65 :). Happy cooking !!!

Have a beautiful weekend friends !!!

Spring onions and egg curry / Ulli aaku, kodi guddu koora

 

Dear friends, I am back after a long break. Thanks to everyone who remembered me during my absence :).  I learned this egg curry  from my sister-in-law. In my home my mom never used spring onions. At those times we rarely get these leaves in market. But in my in-laws place they get lots of ulli aaku  (spring onions) from their farm. They use spring onions regularly in their cooking and it tastes awesome. Egg and spring onions make a very healthy and tasty combination.

Spring onions or scallions are appreciated for their medicinal properties. They contain a compound called quercitin which is proved to halt the growth of certain tumours. They are also rich in vitamin C. Quercitin and  vitamin C provide spring onions their anti-bacterial activity. It is an excellent food for people suffering with cold and flu. They are also rich in vitamin K, A and folate.

Ingredients :

Spring onions- 1 bunch

Egg- 2 nos

Ginger- 1/2 inch piece

Garlic- 2 pods

Green chilli- 3 nos

Jeera seeds- 1/2 tspn

Red chilli powder- 1/2 tspn

Turmeric- 1/4 tspn

Mustard and jeera seeds- 1/2 tspn for tempering

Oil- 3 tbspns

Salt to taste

Method :

Mince the spring onions. Grind the ginger, garlic into a smooth paste. Coarsely grind together green chilli, jeera and turmeric powder.  Heat oil in a pan. When the oil gets heated add mustard and jeera seeds. When they splutter add the  ground ginger, garlic paste and minced spring onions. Saute them well until the raw smell of ginger, garlic paste dispappears. Now add the coarsely ground green chilli, jeera, turmeric mixture. Saute well for few minutes. At this stage add salt and red chilli powder. Saute for a few seconds. Now break the egg and pour it on top of the spring onion mixture. Simmer flame and cover the pan. After few minutes open the pan and slowly  turn the egg upside down so that the top layer gets cooked. When the egg is done switch off the stove. A very tasty side-dish for chappathi will be ready to be served.

Taste enhancing tips for this recipe : Use fresh spring onions. Ginger, garlic paste adds a lot of flavour to this dish Take care not to burn the ingredients. Happy cooking !!!

Happy weekend !!!

Milagu, kozhi vathakkal / Pepper chicken

 

I  got this recipe from one of my friend. Thank you Raghavan for this simple and tasty recipe. When I heard about this dish, I am sure it is going to taste great. I do make pepper chicken but in a different way with many spices. But this recipe is very simple without any spices other than pepper. I have heard from my dad that his grandma prepares mutton only with salt and green chillies !!! Even NV when prepared in the simplest possible way,  tastes very yummy and satisfying and this dish is one such example. Try it you will defintely love it :).

 

Ingredients :

Chicken- 1/2 kg

Onions (preferably shallots)- one cup

Green chillies

Black pepper corns - 2 tbspns

Turmeric powder- 1/4 tspn

Salt to taste

Oil- 4 tbspns (preferably gingelly oil or seasame oil)

Method :

Clean the chicken and cut them into small pieces. Peel and slice the onions. Mince the green chillies. Heat oil in a pan. When the oil is hot enough add the onions, green chillies, salt and turmeric powder. Simmer the flame. Saute the onions until they become soft. Now add the chicken pieces and mix well. Let the chicken cook in a low flame. Mix the onion, chicken mixture frequently. When the chicken is cooked add the coarsely powdered black pepper and mix well. Remove from fire after 2 minutes. A very tasty pepper chicken will be ready. This dish tastes very yummy with hot rice. Try to eat it when you are run dowm with cold or flu, I am sure you will feel better :)

Taste enhancing tips for this recipe : If you need more gravy add more onions . Never add even a drop of water. This dish needs more oil the usual. Cook only in a very low flame and use a heavy bottomed vessel. Freshly ground pepper greatly enhances the taste. Use tender chicken. You can also add lots of curryy leaves. Happy cooking !!!

Chinna vengaya sambhar / Shallots sambhar

 

This is one of my favourite sambhar. I actually forgot about this recipe until I saw Viki's post on this. I just can't wait to prepare it. It is one of the most tastiest and aromatic sambhar. This dish goes well with hot rice, idly or dosa.

The scietific name of shallots is Allium ascalonicum. It is a relative of onion but tastes a bit sweeter than the onions. Shallots are easily digestible and contains 6 times more phenolics than the lowest ranked onions. They also have the most antioxidant activity than any other members of onion family. If you wonder what are these phenolics and anti-oxidants, they are the substances which provide shallots and onions their anti-cancer property. So presence of more of these substances tells us that they are potent anti-carcinogenic agents. Shallots are low in saturated fats, cholesterol and sodium. They are high in Vitamin A, vitamin B6, vitamin C, manganese, folate and pottasium. (Source : Wikipedia and natural environment website)

 

Ingredients :

Small onions or shallots- 20 nos if small and 10 nos if they are big

Toor dhal- 1 cup

Tomato- 1 no

Green chillies- 4 nos

Tamarind- size of a small lemon

Curry leaves- a handful

MTR sambhar powder- 2 tbspns

OR

Coriander powder- 2 tbspns and chilli powder- 1 tspn

Fenugreek seeds- 1/2 tspn

Jeera and mustard seeds- 1/2 tspn each

Coconut scrappings- 1 tbspn

Turmeric powder- 1/4 tspn

Asafoetida- a pinch

Salt to taste

Oil- 3 tbspns

Method :

Peel the onions and cut them into 2 if they are very large (here the shallots are very big, no need to cut the small variety shallots you get in India). Cut the tomatoes. Longitudinally slit the green chillies. Cook toor dhal until soft and mash them using a wooden spatula or masher. Soak the tamarind and extract the juice. Now heat oil in a pan. When the oil is hot add the fenugreek seeds. When they brown and emit a nice aroma add mustard and jeera. When they splutter add the onions, green chilli, curry leaves, turmeric and a pinch of asafoetida. Suate for about 1 minute. Now add the tomato pieces and saute for 30 seconds. Add sambhar powder or coriander and chilli powder to the mixture and saute for 30 seconds. At this stage add the tamarind juice and enough water. Allow the mixture to boil. Now add the cooked dhal and allow it to boil once again. Simmer the mixture for another 10 minutes or until the oil seperates out. A very aromatic sambhar will be ready to be served.

Taste enhancing tips for this recipe : Read it here. The onions should not become too soft. It must stay in sambhar firm like a vegetable. So reduce the sauting time. Happy cooking !!!

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This recipe goes to Priya's Easy N TastyRecipes,  Healing Foods-Onion event. This event was started by Siri of Siri's corner. This is the link for her event announcement page. Great theme Siri and thanks Priya for hosting this event.

Milagu Vendakkai / Black pepper stuffed ladies finger or okra

 

This easy recipe was given by my dad to me. I think he read it in some magazine. My dad was the first person to encourage my cooking expeditions :). Whatever dish I prepare he just loved it. I am not sure whether he liked the dish or the fact that it was prepared by his daughter. Sometimes when my mom says  to him that I prepared a particular dish (eventhough I haven't ) he appreciated it whole-heartedly and vice versa :). So I am sure that the love for his daughter made him appreciate the dishes prepared by me. But those appreciation s helped me to grow better and better :). I would love to dedicate this blog to my loving and caring dad. Try this recipe. It is very simple, very tasty and very healthy way to enjoy ladies finger.

Ingredients :

Vendakkai / ladies finger / okra- 6 nos  (select fresh, green and tender ones) 

Freshly ground black pepper powder- 1 tspn

Salt- 1/4 tspn

Oil- 3 tspns

Method :

Make a longitudinal slit in vendakkai as shown in picture. Mix black pepper powder and salt. Apply a thin coating of the above said mixture inside the slitted ladies finger. Heat 3 teaspoons of oil in a pan. When the oil gets hot simmer the flame and place the vendakkai on hot oil. Turn ladies finger more often until they get brown tints all over their outer skin. The pepper stuffed vendakkai will be ready to be relished.

Taste enhancing tips for this recipe :  Instead of cooking them in a pan you can grill them. Before grilling spray a thin coating of oil. This pepper stuffed vendakkai will be loved by everyone in your grill party. Happy cooking !!!

This entry goes to Tasty apetite's I love my dad event. Thank you Jay for hosting this lovely event.