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Quick Spicy Brinjal Fry/ Kathirikkai Varuval

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BrinjalRoast-7Quick, flavorful, light and perfect vegan accompaniment for rice or roti!

When I was a kid, I was never fond of brinjal like many of them. I had these weird thoughts that they look gross 😀 which is not true at all. I later realized it is one the versatile easy vegetables to cook with and also taste great! So, try to make this vegetable for your kids and try to implant into their minds that 😉 it is tasty, I say this because I still see people don’t like to have this vegetable for the same reason. Brinjal is rich in iron, fibre and vitamins.  Brinjal is one of the low calorie vegetable when it comes with antioxidants, magnesium but it takes a lot of oil.

My dad made this for me this time when I went to India. He made it one afternoon with some tomato rasam when my mom and I went to doctor and informed him that we will be late. And that night I had this 😀 and I totally loved it. So I asked him to make it again another day and I clicked the pictures the same day. My dad is a great cook 😉 just like my mom. In India, I have never seen Men cook as much as women. I know and agree the fact that there are lots of male chefs compared to women. But when it is compared to home cooking, it is so weird that men don’t cook much and I have seen and heard that most men don’t cook whole of their life. How weird is that? Just because they are born as male, doesn’t make them any better ;)! Back to topic, I am proud and happy that my dad is not one among the crowd J He always helps my mom in cooking and he is always there for everything!

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He used the small brinjals for this recipe and I would totally recommend that instead of eggplant for the recipe. But I have made this with eggplant also and it does taste good except that the taste of the vegetable is different. This is one of the quickest recipes to make on a weekend as a side for Indian breads like roti, paratha or for plain rice and or for garlic dal/ tomato rasam/Buttermilk rasam /sambar !

My Other favorite Brinjal recipes. Masala Stuffed Baby Eggplants/Ennai Kathirikkai,Roasted eggplant mozzarella pasta and Honey garlic EGgplant.



5.0 from 8 reviews
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Quick Spicy Brinjal Fry/ Kathirikkai Varuval
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
 
Ingredients
  • • • Small Eggplant/ Kathirikkai – 10
  • • • Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp
  • • • Urad dal /black gram – 2 tsp
  • • • Curry leaves – 1 sprig
  • • • Sugar – a pinch
  • • • Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
  • • • Onions – 1 medium, sliced
  • • • Salt – 1 tbsp
  • • • Oil – 2 tbsp
  • • • Red chilly Powder – 1 tsp
  • • • Sambar powder – 1 tbsp
Instructions
  1. Remove the ends of the eggplant and slice them and soak them in water till you cook.
  2. Heat a wide pan with oil and add mustard seeds. When it crackles, add the urad dal and when it gets lightly golden brown, add the curry leaves.
  3. Add sliced onions, pinch of sugar, little salt, sauté till they become nicely golden in colour.
  4. Now add the eggplants to it. Add the turmeric powder, chilli powdfer, sambar powder, required salt and add 2 tbsp of water. Mix it well and cover it for 7-8 minutes.
  5. After 7-8 minutes, open the pan, the water would have evaporated and now mix and turn brinjal so that all sides gets roasted. Cook it uncovered in medium heat till both sides get evenly roasted.
  6. Switch it off and serve with some hot rice and dal.
Notes
1. Use a wide pan as it helps to turn the eggplants.
2. Reduce the amount of spicyness if you want by avoiding the chilli powder.
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 This roast is perfect for rice and tomato rasam/Buttermilk rasam/dal/sambar !

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Lemon Tomato Rasam Soup/ Elumpichai thakkali rasam

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A spicy flavorful Indian style soup tempered with aromatic spices.

We make rasam mostly daily in India even if we have some other kuzhambu or curries because it is something which is very healthy and also too quick to make. It takes 30 minutes for me to prepare this rasam. But my mom makes in 20 minutes. 🙂 I guess she has way more experience in cooking than me 🙂

 If we have stomach problems or cold or if we want to have something light, the first thing that comes to my mind is rasam and then buttermilk. I make rasam so often that I never click pictures. But this one 😉 I took the picture as my mom made it 🙂 I loved that trip 😉 I never cooked anything. Just had to wake up, watch TV, see her cook sometimes 😉 and take pictures sometimes 😀 and that too if I feel 😀 wow! Vacation it is I say! Can’t imagine when I can have a similar trip again.

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This rasam is with no tamarind, you can very well add tamarind, but it does add more tanginess. You can add rasam powder instead of sambar powder. My friend Vincy says rasam is best with omelette 😀 try it!

Other favorite rasam recipes: Tomato dal rasam, Buttermilk Mor rasam.

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Lemon Tomato Rasam Soup/ Elupichai thakkali rasam
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 2 cups
 
Ingredients
  • Lentils/ Toor dal – 3 tbsp
  • Tomato – 2 small chopped finely (approx. ¾ cup)
  • Sambar powder – 1 tbsp
  • Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
  • Salt – to taste
  • Sugar – a pinch
  • Lemon – ½ , big, or 3 tbsp lemon juice
  • Coriander leaves – 2 tbsp, chopped finely to garnish

    To temper:
  • Oil – 1 tbsp
  • Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
  • Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
  • Curry leaves – 1 sprig
  • Asafoetida/Hing – 2 pinches
  • Ginger – 1 inch, chopped finely
  • Green chillies -2 sliced
Instructions
  1. Boil the toor dal in one cup of water for ten minutes on the stove in simmer. Or keep it in the cooker for 2 whistles. Mash it well and add a cup of water.

  2. Add the chopped tomatoes, sambar powder, turmeric powder and salt to it. Let it boil for 10 minutes in medium high flame. Add a pinch of sugar and switch off.

  3. Take a small pan with 1 tbsp of oil in medium flame for tempering, add the mustard seeds, and wait for it to crackle. Then add the cumin seeds, wait for it to change color to light brown. Add the ginger, ginger chilli, curry leaves and 2 pinches of asafetida, wait for it to get sauteed, switch off and add the tempering to the tomato rasam mixture.

  4. Squeeze some lemon into it. Usually, when the rasam is hot, do not squeeze lemon as it might give you sour taste. So, just wait for 5 -10 minutes and squeeze some lemon into it. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Notes
1. You can do this same recipe without dal as well. Just skip the second step and go to the third step.
2. Adding sugar will boast the flavors.
3. If you want it less spicy, reduce the sambhar powder,by half.
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It is best to have as a soup or with rice, beans stir fry or potato roast or other veggies dry stir fry or with the chicken dry roast.

 LemonTomatoRasam


Vazhaipoo Vadai/ Banana flower Vada

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VazhapooVada-3Crunchy,healthy and delicious deep fried fritters!

Vadai is a popular snack in southern India. It is an addictive snack. Perfect party snack and also it taste best with tea time snack. If you make these for parties, sure it is a great hit. The tips to make these vada tasty are by adding the shallots, and fennel seeds. People think it’s hard to make these. If you make them once, you will know how easy it is to make them. But make sure to not add water when you grind them. I have mentioned some tips in the notes. Do look at it to make it perfect.

My mom made this in India for breakfast with Idli sambar. Vada’s in India usually are for breakfast or we make it for a special occasion or even sometimes just for a snack. For my mom, anytime I or my sister are home 🙂 it is a celebration for her. We even make vada when we make some mor kuzhambu or Punjabi kadhi or even for some rasam or sambar. We soak the vadas in those gravies for some time, it will be soggy but crunchy totally sucking the flavors of the gravies into it. But that vada used for the dipping purpose is Medhu vada. But for me any vada is fine 😉 It still tastes good for me when I dip in sambar or rasam! We have “vada sambar idli Pongal” as a perfect breakfast combo meal in South India. 🙂 It is totally delicious! Any friends who are going to Chennai, try that combo next time!

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For others who do not know what the banana flowers are, the banana flower is the flower of banana plant growing under the bunch of tiny bananas. It is large and maroon colored cone shaped flower with cream colored florets layered inside, and it hangs from the bottom of the bunch of bananas. They stimulate the production of hemoglobin in the blood.Banana flowers are rich vitamins like C and E. It is free from sodium.This flower has been used as a medicine for constipation, menstrual cramps, and ulcer problems.

How to clean Banana flower: Cleaning Vazhaipoo makes your fingers black.So, Grease your hands with gingely oil very well or wear some thick gloves. Take the banana flower and when u remove the cover,u will see bunches of flowers.Take out the bunch and place it in the newspaper.Remove all the florets and collect in the newspaper. Take a big floret, or a bunch of it and remove the stamen and thin white colored cover portions. Repeat the same for all the big florets. No need to remove the stamen part for very small ones.You can chop and use it as it is. Chop it fine, immerse it in buttermilk to avoid browning.

Other Vada recipes: Beetroot Vadai/ Beetroot lentil fritters, Masala vadai/Lentil fritters, Medhu vada, Milagu Vadai



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Vazhaipoo Vadai/ Banana flower Vada
Author: 
Recipe type: Appetizer
Cuisine: Indian
Serves: 15
 
Ingredients
  • Vazhaipoo(Banana flower) Cleaned – 2 cups , chopped
  • Chana dal – ¾ cup
  • Onion – ¼ cup, finely chopped
  • Buttermilk - 2 tbsp
  • Mint leaves – 2 tbsp, chopped
  • Rice flour – 1 tbsp
  • Dry red chillies – 2
  • Green chillies - 2
  • Curry leaves – 10-15
  • Coriander leaves – 1 tbsp
  • Salt – to taste
Instructions
  1. Clean vazhaipoo (check how to clean vazhaipoo above) and chop it fine. Immerse with 2 tbsp of buttermilk just to avoid browning.



  2. Soak channa dal for 4 hours.

  3. First grind ginger, red chillies,green chillies, mint and fennel coarsely in a blender jar.
  4. Drain channa dal completely and add it to the same jar of the ginger paste and grind coarsely. 4-5 channa dal pieces can be whole.

  5. Just squeeze and remove excess water from vazhaipoo and just give a quick grind for vazhaipoo(just one or two pulse, do not blend it too much, you should be able to see the vazhaipoo) and add it together in a mixing bowl.
  6. Mix finely chopped onion, coriander, salt, rice flour and curry leaves.
  7. Heat oil in pan/kadai.
  8. Meanwhile Keep a bowl with water and wet both hands. Make equal sized balls first for uniform sized vadas. Shape each ball to flat patties of medium thickness.

  9. The oil should be hot and when it is hot, Drop the vadas. Simmer the heat and deep fry them in hot oil until golden brown in color, flipping once in between. It is always good to cook in medium flame to ensure even cooking and golden colour.
Notes
1. Make sure not to add water while grinding.
2. Make sure to soak lentils for three to four hours. It is hard to grind them otherwise and also if it is not soaked well, it may turn hard and too crisp.
3. Rice flour helps to make it crispier. It is optional. You can soak 1 spoon for rice with the dal and grind instead.
4. Garlic is optional too.
5. Shallots can be replaced with normal red/white onions. But shallots give great texture and flavor.
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Spicy Mango Carrot Salad

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MangoCarrotSalad-4A perfect South Indian Style salad ready in 10 minutes for summer!

It’s mid of April, I can see the summer approaching 🙂 And I totally love it! And when I was in India last month, it was hot too. So, my dad makes me salad Indian way almost daily as a side for my meal. I realized how healthy I ate my food there only after I came back here. He always gives a big cup of fruits in the evening, I keep complaining but I eat them. 🙂 I am still a kid to my parents and I still complain to them for giving me fruits or veggies many times 😉 Deep inside I know that is the best healthy meal 😀 But I just complain! That is the original Me who does not fight, complain to others but I do to my dad and Mom: D may be because I love them more 😀 Or maybe they are the only ones who know the true me. Or May be 😉 I know that they are the only ones who won’t fight with me back 😀

I was never a salad person before 🙂 these days I just make them out of my own love for salad 😀 weird! Raw mangoes are a good source of Vitamin B and Vitamin C, it helps in throwing away waste products from the body :). It also helps a lot not to get a heat stroke, And carrot as you all know it improves vision, helps prevent cancer, slows down gaining and promotes healthier skin!

You can have these as side dish to rice and dal or any curry as well!

Other Raw Mango recipes : Mango Instant pickle, Mango Spicy pickle

Other Carrot recipes:  Carrot cucumber raita, Carrot stir fry spicy,carrot ginger raita, carrot truffles/carrot ladoo


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Spicy Mango Carrot Salad
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 1.5 cups
 
Ingredients
  • Raw Mango – 1
  • Carrots – 2 medium
  • Green chillies – 3
  • Asafoetida – ¼ tsp
  • Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
  • Oil – 1
  • Lime/Lemon juice- 1 tbsp
Instructions
  1. Chop the mangoes and carrots into small cubes.
  2. Take some oil in a small pan, temper it with mustard seeds and when it crackles, add the green chillies to it. Switch off and add the asafetida.
  3. Add the tempering to the chopped mangoes and carrots. Add required amount of salt and squeeze some lime juice. Mix well and serve !
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I like to have them with rice and rasam, potato roast!

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Paneer Potato Lentil Dumplings/ Paneer Koftas

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PaneerPotatoBalls-4Delicious, crispy dumpling fritters! Rich & perfect for any party! It has a texture that is melting soft inside and crispy outside!

Paneer in any form is bliss to me. And that when it is fried 😉 how will I say no to it! I never knew my mom’s loves paneer as much as I love them. When I went to India last month, I saw my mom craving for paneer most of the times 🙂 She just tries to avoid them on her health note. I have a collection of paneer recipes on this blog 😉 so for you to know I love them! I made these for my malai kofta but totally loved the taste and texture of these koftas as an appetizer so thought of posting them. My mom had them as kofta balls than having them with gravy :). If my Mom loves it 😉 I am sure kids would love these!!!!!

I added lentils to it instead of boiled veggies and it does give a different texture and flavor. My favorite part of the meal has always been appetizer. When my mom and I go out for dinner we order a lot of appetizers only 😀 This one has become a personal favorite now!

Vegan note: Replace paneer with tofu!

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I have collection of paneer & tofu recipes collection with all my paneer tofu recipes that you would love to look at.

Other favorite Paneer Recipes: Paneer Makhanwala, Paneer peas masala, Palak Paneer, Paneer sandwich.




5.0 from 1 reviews
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Paneer Potato Lentil Dumplings/ Paneer Koftas
Author: 
Recipe type: Appetizer
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 10-12
 
Ingredients
  • For koftas: (roughly makes 10 kofta balls)
  • • • Paneer/Firm Tofu(if vegan) - ½ cup,grated
  • • • Potatoes - 2 , medium, boiled and washed
  • • • Split Bengal gram (chana dal) - ¼ cup
  • • • Salt to taste
  • • • Red chilli powder - 1.5 tsp
  • • • Garam masala powder - ½ tsp
  • • • Cashew nuts - 5, broken
  • • • Green chillies - 1, finely chopped
  • • • Cumin powder- ½ tsp
  • • • Coriander powder-1.5 tsp
  • • • Cornflour/ corn starch - 4 tbsp
  • • • Oil - to deep fry
Instructions
  1. Wash and Soak the chana dal for 2 hours. Add chana dal with 2 cups of water in a pan and bring to a boil. Cook until the dal is tender, strain and grind to a smooth mixture with no water.

  2. Take all the ingredients under the kofa ingredient list with the blended chana dal, mix together check for salt. Shape them into lemon sized balls. If you think they cannot form into a lemon sized balls, add more corn flour and mix well.

  3. Heat oil in a kadai, deep fry the koftas until golden brown. Drain on a tissue paper and set aside.


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Instant Mango Pickle

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MangoPickle-4Just 5 minutes to make this tangy and spicy  Raw Mango Pickle.

It is prepared with red chili powder and salt. It is known for its spiciness you can enjoy the goodness of raw mango like this. Mango pickles are my favorite of all the pickles. To be frank, I love all pickles



My mom makes this for me always 😉 and even this time she made this just for me and I had it with my every meal for 5 days. I have already made an Mango pickle but that one can be stored for 6 months. This one is totally instant made in just few minutes and should be done eating in 5 days. I totally love this taste more than the store bought ones. You should try making this to understand what I say ;). You can use sesame oil or mustard oil. And any day I am a curd rice lover 😉 so without pickle for my curd rice is not happening.  It taste great even with dals ( like Three Lentil dal, Gujarati peanut dal or Garlic dal).

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Instant Mango Pickle
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 1 cup
 
Ingredients
  • Mango - 1 (unripe)
  • Salt - As needed

    For temper:
  • Sesame oil - 1 tblsp
  • Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
  • Red chilli powder - 1.5 tbsp
  • Asafoetida - 3 pinches
  • Roasted fenugreek seeds powder - 2 pinches
Instructions
  1. Chop the mango finely and place them in a mixing bowl with the required amount of salt.
  2. In a pan, heat oil and temper by adding mustard seeds, when it cracks, add the red chilli powder and asafoetida. Switch off and add roasted fenugreek seeds powder. Mix everything with the chopped mango.
  3. You can store this upto 5 days in a container - Mix well and Store it in a dry container.
Notes
1. Adjust the spice and salt according to the tanginess of the mango.
2. AI have roasted fenugreek seeds powder with me always, so I add it to all of my pickles easily. If not, Just roast around ½ tsp of fenugreek seeds , crush and add it.
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MangoPickle

Lentil Malai Kofta

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MalaiKofta-2Paneer and Potato cheese dumplings in an almond-cream sauce. A royal Indian treat!

I have used Almond Breeze almond milk for this recipe. I always like to use almond milk for my recipes to replace cream for my gravy recipes  for a healthier option. And I always use them for my milkshakes. And if I wanted to make vegan recipes, almond milk always stays in my refrigerator. You can find these Almond Breeze products in the refrigerated section of your grocery store. 

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Paneer is a type of fresh cheese that can be made easily at home.  Paneer has a milky flavor on its own, so it taste best when paired with strong spicy flavor like curries or tikka. This is a cheese that won’t melt like mozzarella or cheddar will. We can add them on any curry, or crumble them into flat breads like roti. Or even add them to kebabs and the cheese will keep its shape and chewy texture. Anything with paneer is a definite win. The texture of paneer is similar to greek feta which is prepared in a similar manner. This healthy and delicious vegetarian curry can be on your plate in one hour. It is one of the popular recipe amongst the north Indian recipes. I have seen that it’s a part of most restaurants menu. Goes well with steamed rice, ghee rice, Pulao,paratha, parotta, naan or roti. Paneer can be replaced with tofu also. Don’t add lots of cashews to make it rich, it will spoil the originality of the taste.

 Vegan note: Replace paneer with tofu, ghee/butter with oil. 

I have collection of paneer & tofu recipes collection with all my paneer tofu recipes that you should look at.

Other favorite Paneer Recipes: Paneer Makhanwala, Paneer peas masala, Palak Paneer, Paneer sandwich.

4.5 from 2 reviews
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Lentil Malai Kofta
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4 cups
 
Ingredients
  • For koftas: (roughly makes 10 kofta balls)
  • • Paneer/Firm Tofu(if vegan) - ½ cup,grated
  • • Potatoes - 2 , medium, boiled and washed
  • • Split Bengal gram (chana dal) - ¼ cup
  • • Salt to taste
  • • Red chilli powder - 1.5 tsp
  • • Garam masala powder - ½ tsp
  • • Cashew nuts - 5, broken
  • • Green chillies - 1, finely chopped
  • • Cumin powder- ½ tsp
  • • Coriander powder-1.5 tsp
  • • Cornflour/ corn starch - 4 tbsp
  • • Oil - to deep fry


    For gravy
  • Oil - 2 - 3 tbsp
  • • Onion - 2 medium, roughly chopped
  • • Garlic - 4, roughly chopped
  • • Ginger paste - 1inch, roughly chopped
  • • Turmeric powder - ¼ tsp
  • • Tomato - 2, medium,roughly chopped
  • • Coriander powder - 1 tsp
  • • Cumin powder = ½ tsp
  • • Chilli powder - 1.5 tsp
  • • Dry Methi Leaves - 1 tsp
  • • Cashewnuts - 6
  • • Almond milk - ¼ cup
  • • Fresh coriander leaves chopped 2 tablespoons
Instructions
  1. Wash and Soak the chana dal for 2 hours. Add chana dal with 2 cups of water in a pan and bring to a boil. Cook until the dal is tender, strain and grind to a smooth mixture with no water.
  2. Take all the ingredients under the kofa ingredient list with the blended chana dal, mix together check for salt. Shape them into lemon sized balls. If you think they cannot form into a lemon sized balls, add more corn flour and mix well.



  3. Heat oil in a kadai, deep fry the koftas until golden brown. Drain on a tissue paper and set aside.



  4. Meanwhile, for the gravy, heat 2 tbso of oil in a pan in medium flame, add chopped onions, garlic, ginger and saute until golden brown. Add tomatoes, turmeric powder, chilli powder, coriander powder and sauté for few mins till it oozes out oil. Add 2 tbsp of water, cashew nuts and cook for 5 mins till they mix together and raw smell goes away. Switch off, cool and blend it into a smooth paste.

  5. Take the same pan, add 1 tsp of oil/butter, add the blended paste, almond milk, dry methi leaves, 1.5 cups of water , mix and bring to boil for 5-7 mins in medium-low heat.

  6. It will form into a correct gravy consistency, now add the kofta balls, top up with chopped coriander leaves, switch off and serve hot.

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Disclaimer: This post has been sponsored by the Almond Breeze and I have been compensated monetarily! However all opinions are my own as always.

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Shrimp/Prawn/Eral Thokku – Shrimp Curry

by 6 Comments

PrawnThokku-3Tangy & Spicy Prawn tomato curry with Indian spices. And it is an excellent side for many dishes. Store and enjoy!

I really love using my freezer to preserve food. I love these homemade chutney or sauce and they are always a great savior when it comes to weekdays. I am alright cooking on weekends, but on a weekday I get so tired that most of the days I tend to make recipes under 30 minutes, finish and sleep. You can also use these for travel, it will not get spoiled easily for a long travel. For this recipe, try to use ripe tomatoes. And adding sugar or jaggery enhances the flavor and helps in balancing out the acidity.

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You can use them as a dip and it also taste great with  plain rice, Lamb Biryani, Chicken  Biryani, Peas pulao, Naan, paratha, bajji or mix it with plain rice and its heaven on earth!

You can store this in the fridge for 3-5 days and you can store it in freezer for 2-3 weeks. When you want to have it, just keep it outside for 30 mins from the freezer, heat and serve.

Other favorite similar recipes: Spicy Tomato Thokku, shrimp Biryani, pavakkai thokku, home style fish curry


 

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Shrimp/Prawn/Eral Thokku - Shrimp Curry
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 2 cups
 
Ingredients
  • • Prawn -15 (uncooked)
  • • Onion – 1 (medium), chopped & finely blended
  • • Tomatoes – 2 (medium), chopped & finely blended
  • • Garlic – 10 (medium sized cloves), chopped finely
  • • Ginger – 3 inch, grated
  • • Curry Leaves – 1 sprig
  • • Asafoetida/ Hing – 2 tsp
  • • Red Chilli (whole) – 2, broken
  • • Salt – to taste
  • • Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
  • • Red Chilli powder – 2 tbsp
  • • Fenugreek seeds powder – 1 tsp
  • • Fennel Seeds powder - 1 tsp
  • • Jaggery – 1 inch
  • • Gingelly Oil – 3- 4 tbsp
  • Coriander - 1 tbsp, finely chopped for garnishing
Instructions
  1. Heat a pan with oil in medium flame and crackle the mustard seeds. Then add the broken red chilli, asafetida, curry leaves, ginger and garlic. Sauté till they change color slightly.
  2. Add the blended onions with a pinch of salt and sauté till they become translucent.

  3. Add the blended tomatoes at this stage and cook it till it becomes mushy. Stir it occasionally.
  4. Add the red chilly powder, turmeric powder, fennel seeds powder, fenugreek seeds powder with 2 tsp of oil again. Sauté till the raw smell leaves. Add the marinated prawn to this mixture and let it cook in its own juice for 2 mins.

  5. Add 3 tbsp of water with jaggery and allow it to boil for few minutes in medium to low flame.
  6. It will start to ooze out oil in the sides at a stage and will become a thick paste. It takes about 12-15 minutes for this process.
  7. Cook the shrimp for atleast 10 minutes till oil is separated from the prawn gravy.
  8. Garnish with coriander, Switch off and cool it completely.

  9. Store it in an air tight container for 2- 3 weeks in the refrigerator.
Notes
1. we really need the amount of oil in the recipe to make the recipe if you want to store it.
2. If you are using cooked shrimp, you need to cook for minimum 5-8 minutes.
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Chickpeas Corn Capsicum Puff

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chickpeascorncapsicumpuff-14A handy pastry filled with a perfectly crusty, buttery and flaky crust filled with classic Indian flavoured chickpeas, corn and capsicum masala. Delish!

These spicy vegetable pastries make a great vegetarian alternative to sausage rolls or chicken puffs. They are packed with healthy vegetables and chickpeas!

They are the quintessential Indian tea-time snack .Whenever you think of Indian snacks and the first thing that pops up is Samosa. After coming here, I understood that it has got a big name in the foreign world. Many of my colleagues have told me that they love samosas so I made some of my Christmas potluck  at work sometime back. So, this time I wanted to make another classic Indian Puffs this time for valentines potluck at work. But for potluck, I wanted to make more, so thought of making these beauties using the advantage of easy availability of samosa pastry these days. You can just use the puffs with classic potato peas carrot veggies filling. But I am using chickpeas, corn and capsicum filling. You can ditch this and use chicken  filling, egg masala or potato cheese filling and so on. I took mine to work 🙂 and it was a big hit 🙂 I was super happy!

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Whenever there are some parties or dinner gatherings, these are perfect! I was so scared to make them, not because it is hard to make  It is for the reason that the first batch would be finished before the second batch even gets baked. I should accept the fact that they are super easy to make except that in my area it was hard to find readymade pastry and if the pastry dough is store bought, it’s quick. I have done the pastry dough myself before and it is easy too except that it s life consuming


The idea of Savory puffs and hot chai combination is irresistible.  Perfect as appetizers and you can have more  It is easy to prepare savory’s at home and it is hard to get some here in Canada. I could always get great sweet pastries but savory ones are hard.

My Other Favorite snacks/appetizers: Jalepeno Herbs cheese muffins, Indian spiced kale chips, Potato Garlic Tikka.

chickpeascorncapsicumpuff-16

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Chickpeas Corn Capsicum Puff
Author: 
Recipe type: Appetizer
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 9
 
Ingredients
  • Readymade pastry
  • Corn(Cleaned & Boiled) - 1 cup
  • Chickpeas(Cleaned & Boiled) - 1 cup
  • Capsicum/bell pepper - ½ cup
  • Garam masala - ½ tsp
  • Chilli powder - ½ tbsp
  • Coriander powder - 1 tsp
  • Cumin powder - 1 tsp
  • Ginger - 1 inch, chopped finely
  • Garlic - 3, chopped finely
  • Onion - 1, small, chopped finely
  • Green Chilli- 2, chopped finely
  • salt - as per taste
  • oil - 1-2 tsp
  • butter - 1- 2 tsp ( to brush- optional)
  • Egg yolk - 1, small ( to brush- optional)
  • Coriander leaves - 1 tbsp, chopped finely
  • Dry Methi/Fenugreek Leaves - 1 tsp
Instructions
  1. Heat a pan with a tsp of oil and add onions, garlic, ginger and fry for 1-2 minutes.

  2. Add the chopped capsicum and saute for a minute

  3. Add the boiled corn, chickpeas and add the chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, cumin powder and garam masala powder.

  4. Mix well and saute in low flame till all the masala blends well with with the corn and capsicum masala. Lastly add the salt, coriander leaves, methi leaves, mix well and cool down.
  5. Pre heat the oven to 220 Deg C.

  6. Allow the pastry sheet to soften slightly, then unwrap , cut into desired sizes. I cut them to rectangular sizes.

  7. Spoon the vegetable mix along one of the sides of the pastry, fold and cover the stuffing.
  8. Line a baking tray with aluminium foil and grease it with oil and arrange the puffs. Brush the puffs with oil/butter/beaten egg. sprinkle some sesame seeds.

  9. Bake for 15-20 mins, until golden brown in colour.
  10. Brush again with oil or butter if desired.
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Blueberry Banana Pecan Oats Milkshake + Oatbox Review

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oatboxMilkshakeI always look for a substantial breakfast beverage that is easy, quick, nutritious and delicious!

I totally love these Oatbox oats! I am not paid to say you this! 🙂 Oatbox – Handmade in Montreal, Free shipping & no taxes, only $20 per month and Here is a link to get some $5 off an oatbox subscription: http://oatb.co/1ZybwnB You’ll get two different mixes, every month! And also every time they ship you a box, a child will be given a full breakfast at school.

Oats is something I have 5 days a week for my breakfast. It is very quick to make oats. Oats are packed with fiber which will keep us full longer. I had this milkshake one day, and the next day I was totally looking forward to make the same. It really made me feel full 🙂 and thereby made me have normal lunch and small dinner box 🙂 purpose solved!

oatboxMilkshake

Regarding Oatbox:

Oatbox is handmade in Montreal (where I live now):), so I am just going to buy them always no matter what. I loved their product oats, oats jar, photos in the website, the packaging when they ship, the little beautiful note, and few small recipe notes.I tried mine straight up in a bowl and it was yum! You can have them with a splash of milk or as a breakfast parfait, snacks, make it to a muffin, cookies, milkshake like me.

oatboxMilkshake

If you sign up with oatbox, you’ll receive two bags of oats every month in a beautifully package. And the first order comes with a free glass jar. I guess every month they change flavors, mine were banana,pecan& walnut oats and Coconut,Kiwi &Almonds Oats. And I have something for you, you will receive $5 offer off your subscription! To sign up, just click here: http://oatb.co/1ZybwnB

And also every time they ship you a box, a child will be given a full breakfast at school. Oatbox have a monthly subscription that delivers right to your door, once a month. You’ll get an email a few days before your box is sent, in which case you can decide to go ahead with the order, or skip until the next month. You can skip months or cancel subscription at any time.
oatboxMilkshake

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Blueberry Banana Pecan Oats Milkshake + Oatbox Review
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 2 cups
 
Ingredients
  • Oats ( I used banana pecan and almond oatbox oats) – ¼ cup
  • Almond milk/ milk – 1 cup
  • Honey – 1 tsp
  • Ground cinnamon – ¼ tsp
  • Fruits like blueberry, orange, apple, berries – ¼ cup
Instructions
  1. In a blender, combine all ingredients, puree until smooth.
  2. Serve immediately with some granola oats, fruits on top.
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Disclaimer: Oatbox provided me with the oats package for sampling and review purposes.  I’m not being paid, and oatbox has not reviewed this post prior to publication. However all opinions are my own as always.  This is an affiliate program so we are compensated if you order via the link mentioned!

oatboxMilkshake

Home Style Spicy Chicken Dry Roast

by 1 Comment

SpicyDryChickenRoast-15Spice coated chicken slowly roasted and browned in the hot pan scraping up the juices and flavor on the bottom.

This is the most indulgent, easy and delicious way of preparing chicken in Indian style. The ingredient is very simple and pretty straight-forward. I used just garlic, ginger, curry leaves and onions for this recipe. But 😉 hopefully you should miss these ones. It is simple, spicy and succulent. This is such an easy dish, yet so delicious and flavorful.



When you wanted to make a dry side dish with chicken, you might be guilty to make chicken 65 always which is fried. So, this one taste like it is been fried but it is not. I have another recipe Butter chicken roast which is similar but uses ghee and coconut in it. It tastes like butter coated chicken. I made this with a lot of recipes on a weekday so you could have guessed how easy it is to make. I would say it is the easiest recipe of all my chicken recipes yet tasty. It taste great with Biryani like lamb biryani or egg biryani, with plain rice and tomato rasam or  sambar.

My other chicken recipes: chicken 65, Spicy chicken roast,pepper chicken curry, sweet and spicy garlic chicken drumsticks, spicy chicken egg fry noodles

SpicyDryChickenRoast-13

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Home Style Spicy Chicken Dry Roast
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 3 servings
 
Ingredients
  • • Chicken – 400 grams, bite sized pieces, cleaned and washed
  • • Cardamom – 2 , Cinnamon – ½ inch stick, cloves - 2
  • • Curry leaves – 1 spring
  • • Dried Red chilli - 1
  • • Cumin seeds/ Jeera – 1 tsp
  • • Small Shallots – 10, chopped finely or medium sized onions – 2, sliced thinly
  • • Green Chillies – 2
  • • Garlic – 3, chopped finely
  • • Ginger – 2 inch, chopped finely
  • • Turmeric powder – a pinch
  • • Pepper powder – 1 tsp
  • • Sambar powder – 1 tbsp or (Chilli powder – 1 tsp and Coriander powder – 2 tsp)
  • • Garam Masala Powder – 1 tsp
  • • Coriander leaves – 1 tbsp, chopped, for garnish
  • • Salt – as needed
Instructions
  1. Take a pan and add oil in medium flame, add dried red chilli, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, cumin seeds and when their color changes, add garlic, ginger, shallots, green chillies and curry leaves.

  2. After the onion is sautéed well, add the chicken with turmeric powder, sambar powder (or chilli powder, coriander powder and salt. Sauté well for 2 mins, and add 2 tbsp of water.
  3. Close it with the lid and do not add more water. Let the chicken cook from the water that chicken oozes out.

  4. Once it is almost 90% done, add pepper powder, garam masala and cook till the chicken is dry, browned scrapping up the juices from the pan and roasted. Keep the vessel open and not close it with lid now.

  5. When it is perfectly roasted, garnish with chopped coriander leaves.
Notes
1. Do not add a lot of water when you cook chicken. The chicken has to get cooked with the chicken juices itself.
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It taste perfect with rasam, sambar or restaurant style lamb biryani.

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Punjabi Kadhi Pakora/ Fritters in yogurt gravy

by 2 Comments

PunjabiPakoraKadi-19Crispy onion pakoras simmered in yogurt besan gravy. Perfect Comfort food!

Kadhi is yogurt besan based gravy and pakoras are fritters. It is very quick to make surprisingly. I thought it might take quite a lot  time, I tasted this few times in restaurants and wanted to try it. So asked one of my friends who does it well, tried and now I just love it more than the restaurants ;).  After having at restaurants, I realized that many states of India has their own version of kadhi like gujarati kadhi, maharashtrian kadhi, Punjabi kadhi and so on. And this here is my version ;)! I am sure everyone has their own version with a few tweaks here and there like any other food. Some add veggies to it, but I heard the authentic recipe is just plain pakoras in besan yogurt gravy. Make sure to simmer the kadhi for 2-3 minutes, so it soaks up some gravy and flavors. I have heard adding ghee making a lot of difference to the gravy 😉 and I always love ghee (Indian clarified butter) so I would say yes. Try and let me know! Even oil tasted perfect to me. I had this for my lunch with some parathas, plain hot rice and spicy potato roast.

Vegan note: Replace yogurt with coconut milk or vegan yogurt

Other Favorite North Indian curry: Pepper Paneer Do Pyaza, Trevti Dal/Three Lentil Dal, Mushroom Peas Spring Onions masala, Roasted bell pepper gravy, Paneer Makhanwala

 PunjabiPakoraKadi-15




5.0 from 1 reviews
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Punjabi Kadhi Pakora/ Fritters in yogurt gravy
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4 servings
 
Ingredients
  • • For Pakora: (yields 7-8 pakoras)
  • Besan flour/ Gram Flour/ Chcikpeas flour/ Kadalai maavu – ½ cup
  • Baking powder – a pinch
  • Chilli Powder – ¼ tsp
  • Green chilli – 1, chopped finely
  • Ajwain/ Carom seeds – a pinch
  • Onions – 1, thinly sliced (approx. ½ cup)
  • Cilantro/ Coriander leaves – 2tbsp (finely chopped)
  • Curry leaves – 1 Sprig (finely chopped)
  • Salt – to taste
  • Water – ⅛ - ¼ cup as needed
  • Oil – to deep fry


    For Kadhi:
  • Yogurt – 1.5 cups (preferably sour)
  • Besan flour – 2-3 tbsp
  • Oil/ghee – 1 tbsp
  • Asafetida - pinch
  • Red Whole dry Chillies - 2
  • Methi seeds – ½ tsp
  • Cumin seeds – ½ tsp
  • Curry leaves – few
  • Ginger – 1 tsp (finely chopped)
  • Garlic – 2 (finely chopped)
  • Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
  • Chilli Powder – ½ tsp
  • Cilantro – 2 tbsp (finely chopped)
Instructions
  1. For Pakora/Fritters:
  2. Mix the chickpea flour, ajwain seeds, baking powder, onion, chilli powder, green chillies, salt, curry leaves and coriander leaves. Make sure to add righta mount fo salt, as it is going to absorb jucies and flavor from the kadhi gravy later.

  3. Add water slowly by whisking the batter, so that there are no lumps in the batter. It should be light, thick and smoother than a pancake batter I would say.
  4. Heat oil in a pan and drop small portions of the mixture into the hot oil and deep-fry till golden brown. Drain on absorbent paper and set aside.


    For kadhi:
  5. Take a bowl, whisk together yogurt and besan flour until its smooth. Authentic kadhi is thick, but if you want to thin it out, add some water and set aside. I added 1 cup of water as I was going to simmer for some time.

  6. Heat oil in a big wide pan in medium low heat, add methi seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves, red chillies, ginger, garlic, and asafetida. When the red chilli turns color, add the besan yogurt mixture, salt ( as per your taste) and turmeric.
  7. Turn the heat to low, bring to a boil and cook on low heat for about fifteen to twenty minutes, stirring occasionally.

  8. Heat 1 tsp of oil/ghee in a small pan,add the red chilli powder and sauté for few seconds.
  9. Add this to the gravy , add also the fried pakora, and continue to simmer for two to three minutes.
  10. Switch off and garnish with coriander leaves.
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Serve with hot plain rice or ghee rice or Peas pulao or paratha or phulka or naan.

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