Asparagus Paruppu Usli ( A Nutritious Lentil Curry)

Asparagus is an “elegant” vegetable with a unique flavor. It can be served in numerous ways, but the key to great taste is to consume it as quickly as possible after purchase Read more: http://healthmad.com/alternative/health-benefits-of-asparagus/#ixzz1E6D3Mpa3 . Paruppu Usli is a traditional South Indian curry, particularly famous in Tamilnadu. This is a healthy dish prepared using lentils and vegetables. Beans, cluster beans, plantain flower, cabbage and potato, are the vegetables generally used for this recipe.  Here I am using Asparagus.

Ingredients:

Toovar Dal                                ½ cup

Chenna Dal                               ½ cup

Urdh dhal                                  1 tbsp

Moong dhal                               2 tbsp

Red chillies                               6 no

Curry leaves                              2 stem

Hing                                        ½ tsp

Salt                                        to taste

Asparagus chopped                   2 cups

 For Seasoning

Oil                                       4 tbsp

Mustard seeds                      ½ tsp

Urdh dal                               1 tsp

Method:

• Soak the all dals in a hot water for 3 hours. After 3 hours drain it and grind with curry leaves, Hing, red chillies, and salt. Grind them coarsely.  Put it in the Microwave bowl and cook it for 3 minutes. Keep aside.
• Take a sauce pan add water, two pinch of turmeric powder, asparagus and salt. Boil it for few minutes. Then drain well and keep aside.
• Heat a oil in a frying pan add seasonings, when mustard seeds crackled add the dal mixture and fry it for five minutes . Then add Asparagus in it and mix well.  Lower the heat, and stir it for few more minutes. The delicious Paruppu Usli is ready.

Baigan Bharta (Mashed Eggplant

This is a Punjabi dish. Bharta means “Mash”.  The boiled vegetables and ingredients, mash and cook them together.  The usual Punjabi baigan Bharta is prepared with a generous dose of onions. But I tried without onion, it came out very well.

Ingredients:

Sweet Peppers

Eggplant                      – 2 purple round, medium-sized

Tomato                        – 2 large chopped finely

 Grated Ginger               – 2 tbsp

Green chili                   – 1 chopped

Sweet mini peppers.         - 6 nos

Turmeric Powder              -1/4 tsp

Jeera –                             ½ tsp

Chili powder                   – to taste

Salt                                – to taste

Garam masala                 – a tiny pinch

Butter                                – ¼ tsp

Water                           – 2tbsp (optional)

Method:

Baigan Ka Bharta requires that the eggplant be roasted. This can be done in several different ways:

• Roast on a gas cook top by just placing the eggplant straight on the burner and keeping the flame on low setting. Keep turning and cooking till all the skin on the eggplant is charred and the inner flesh looks really soft. OR Brush little oil on the eggplant and put it in the microwave for 10-15 minutes till it's almost boiled. In this recipe, I do it on my gas burner. Peel of the skin. Mash well and keep aside.( De-seed the eggplant if you don’t like the seeds)
• Take a wok, heat the oil and splutter the Jeera. Add ginger, sweet peppers, turmeric powder, chili powder and garam masala powder. Fry for a minute. Then add chopped tomatoes, green chillies.
• Cover and cook for four minutes. Stir occasionally.
• Add butter, mashed eggplant, garam masala powder and salt and blend well. Add a little water (if you need).On high flame cook for two minutes till everything blends well and look the same color.
• Garnish coriander leaves top on it.
• Serve hot with chapatti, Nan.

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Kerala Sadya

Sadya means feast in Malayalam. It is also known Virundhu Sappadu in Tamil.

A Sadya is traditionally a vegetarian meal served on a plantain or banana leaf; people eat sitting cross-legged on the floor. After the habit of table meals creeped into our midst, we are compelled to remind ourselves that we sit on the floor cross-legged. The Sadya is usually served as lunch.

The dishes are plain rice, many curries, pappadum, plain yogurt or buttermilk, banana or plantain chips, and two or more sweet dishes. The curries are made of different vegetables and have different flavorings. They can be made of yogurt, bitter gourd, mango, Jaggery, etc. Coconut, being staple food in Kerala, is used in almost all dishes. Coconut milk also finds various uses in cooking. Coconut oil is used for frying. Onion and garlic are not typically used in the Sadya.

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 Recipes

 Paruppu,                                                                    Mango Pulissery,
                                                  
                                         

Sambhar                                                                           Avial,

                                        

Olan                                                                    Zucchini Theeyal, 

                                      

                                                             
Puli Inji                                                              Kumbalanga Kuttan, 

                                         


Erisseri,                                                                Pineapple Pachadi,

                                       


Beetroot Pachadi                                          Tomato rasam

                                                             

Cabbage Tuvaran,                                               Chips, 

                               

 Mango curry,                                                  Jeera Vellam,

                                


Nei Payasam                                                Ada Pradhaman,

                                


Milk Payasam,                                                 Cherupyar Payasam

                                             

Iyengar Milagu Kuzhambu

Pepper is perhaps the most common cooking spice in the world. Both ground pepper and peppercorns are also powerful herbal medicines, with a wide range of benefits. Black pepper’s health benefits are: aids digestion, helps relieve cough and colds, improves overall health, a powerful antioxidant, reduces inflammation.

Ingredients:

Pepper (Milagu)                         - 2 Tsp.

Red Chillies                              - 2

Hing (Asafetida)                       – ¼ tsp

Tamarind                                   - a small lemon size

Urdh dal                                    - 1 tsp

Coconut                                     – 1 tsp

Toovar dal                                  - 1 tablespoon

Mustard                                      - 1 teaspoon

Jaggery                                       - 1 inch piece

Gingili Oil                                    - 2 tablespoon

Curry leaves                                 - 5 to 6 sprigs

Salt                                                to taste

Method:

• Soak, strain and collect thick tamarind juice and keep it aside.
• Heat the frying pan with 1 tsp of oil. Fry pepper, red chillies, Toovar dal, Urdh gram dal, coconut and curry leaves. Grind this into a fine paste by adding small amount of water.
• Heat the frying pan with 2 tablespoonful of oil and add mustard and when it stops crackling add few curry leaves, Hing and extracted tamarind juice.
• Add turmeric powder and the grounded paste and mix well. Add Jaggery in it.
• Cook till the raw smell goes off and add salt to taste. Boil till oil separates and floats on top.
• Serve with steamed rice and pappad and it tastes best when served  with Inji (Ginger) Thuvaiyal and Paruppu Thuvaiyal.
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Mysore Bonda

The name Mysore Bonda says it all. It is also famous in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. This is classified as evening snacks and often it is very popular in home and Indian restaurants. Mysore Bonda goes well with chutney and Sambhar. It is a very important item during - almost forgotten -  "pon parka varadhu" event. People 40 and above might remember the legendary joke "Mappillai enna pannindu irukkar" and "Bonda chaptundu irukkar" from old Tamil movie "Kalyana Parisu"

Ingredients : 

Maida                                                  - 1 cup

Finely chopped Green chilies/Jalapenos)-     4 no( I used jalapenos chilies) 

Rice flour-                                               ¼ cup

Sour curd-                                                1 cup mix with little water

 coconut pieces                                        1 tbsp

 cooking soda(Soda uppu)                         1/2 tsp

 cumin seeds                                             1 tsp

ginger chopped                                          1 tsp 

Salt                                                       to taste

 baking soda                                            A PINCH

Chopped coriander leaves                          1 tbsp

Oil                                                          for frying

 Method:

• Take a bowl add Maida, rice flour, salt, soda mix well then add buttermilk make it into a Vada batter consistency.
• Now add cumin seeds,finely chopped coconut pieces , chopped Jalapenos chillies  and  chopped Coriander leaves, mix well keep  aside for 1 hr.
• Heat oil to fry, make into small round bondas and put in to the oil, cook in a very slow flame.Remove once it is golden brown color.
• Serve it with coconut chutney or mint chutney. Typically it is served with Kesari followed by Coffee/Tea.

Mysore Bonda

Nawabi Mushroom Curry

For thousands of years, Eastern cultures have revered mushrooms’ health benefits. Mushrooms are low in calories, fat-free, cholesterol-free and very low in sodium, yet they provide important nutrients, including selenium, potassium, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin D and more.

 The name itself explain this is a royal dish.This mushroom curry is very famous in northern India. This curry will be good with either rice or chapatti. 

Ingredients:

White Mushrooms                             – 10 no (Chopped)
Red,Orange, green capsicum -               1 cup (chopped)

Cashew nut                                      – ½ cup

Aniseed (Sombhu)                             – 1 tsp (optional)

Cinnamon                                        – 1’’ (broken into pieces)

Cardamom pods                               – 3 no

Cloves                                           – 4 nos

Coriander powder                              –  1 tsp

Chili powder                                   – 1 tsp

Ginger paste                                  – 1 tsp

Plain Yogurt                                  – 2 tbsp
Tomato puree                                - 2 tbsp

Heavy cream                                 – 2 tbsp

Whole milk                                   – ¾ cup

Saffron                                            – a pinch soak into warm milk

Oil                                               – 2 tbsp

Salt                                             to taste

Method:

• Wash the mushrooms and cut into medium pieces. Keep aside. Whip the yogurt and cream and keep aside.
• Soak the cashewnuts in hot water for 40 minutes. Add chili powder, coriander powder and aniseed into it and grind to a smooth paste in blender and keep aside.
• Keep  stove on medium flame. Heat oil in a frying pan, add whole garam masalas, ginger paste, and capsicums.  Sauté for a minute. Add tomato puree and fry for few more minutes.
• Add grounded cashew paste in it and fry for three to four minutes. Add the whipped yogurt cream mixture to the dish and stir gently.
• Add mushroom pieces, salt, saffron and cook for 15 minutes in a medium flame.  Garnish with coriander leaves.
• Serve hot with rice or chapatti.

For Low fat Use:  Use less  cashews and 2 % milk in this recipe and avoid cream.

Cabbage Thovaran

Thoran/Stir fry is common side dish for Kerala meals. This cabbage thoran is super easy to make and very delicious.

Ingredients

Cabbage (small)                         1 no

Curry leaves                               2 stem

Green chills                               2 no (silted)

Coconut                                   2 tbsp

Salt                                        to taste

For Seasoning:

Oil                                         1 tsp

Jeera                                     ¼ tsp

Hing                                      ¼ tsp

Method:

• Cut cabbage into small pieces. Actually how the pieces look and feel determines the final quality of this dish.
• Heat oil in a pan; add mustard seeds, green chilies, curry leaves and Hing. When mustard splutters add cabbage and salt ,mix it and close the pan.  Lower the stove heat. Stir it occasionally.
• When water is getting dry and cabbage has cooked, add coconut on it.Ensure that it is not overcooked Stir it. Switch off the stove.
• Serve hot with rice.

Cabbage Thovaran