Koorka Thoran/Chines potato thoran/ Chinese potato stir fry

 Do you  know anyone who doesn’t like koorka/Chinese potato ? I haven’t met any.. Even my son who tried it sceptically for the first time yesterday said it’s quite yumm ! Unfortunately we don’t get it that easily here, so when my friend got me some from an Indian shop I was doing a happy feet dance ! It’s a tedious job to clean those beauties and a bit time consuming. With a baby who needs my constant attention, it wasn’t easy at all. I had to do the cleaning bit in three sittings during his cat naps. I aimed to cook it for lunch but in the end only got it ready for dinner. Do I need to say more about my dinner, I was in Koorka heaven which made all the effort in prepping them worthwhile!

Ingredients

Koorka – 500 gm

Kunjulli /Shallots – 7-8 no

Red chilli flakes – 1 tsp

Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp

Curry leaves – few

Mustard seeds

Grated coconut – 2 tbs

Coconut oil

Salt

water

Method

Wash the mud off from  koorka and scrape off the skin with a knife.

Wash again and cut them into small pieces, mix it with turmeric powder and set side.

In a pan/cheenachatti add coconut  oil and sputter mustard seeds.

Add thinly sliced shallots and fry until its soft.

Add red chilli flakes,curry leaves and stir for a minute.

Add  koorka, salt and very little water and cook the koorka until soft and cooked.

Finally add grated coconut, give it a mix and cook for a minute or so.

Remove from fire and add a tsp of coconut oil .

  

Beetroot Thoran/ Beetroot stir fry

Eventhough I love betroot I hate the mess it makes to my kitchen tiles and my fingers after I grate it.This time when I got betroot I forgot to put them in the fridge and left it among my onions and potatoes outside.So after 2-3 days when I saw it lying outside ,the skin was really soft and it was impossible to grate it . Eventhough chopped betroots taste much better than grated one I always preferd later as it is easier ,but this time since I didnt have a choice I had to chop and I found that its much easier to chop soft betroots and the mess is also less(didnt make my tiles red) ! Normally I wouldnt post this here,but since chopped version is a special one for a lazy person like me I thought I should post it here !

Ingredients

Betroot - 4 medium ones

Onion - 1

Grated coconut /Dessicated coconut - 2 tbs

Curry leaves - few

Redchilly powder - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Salt

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Oil

Method

1. In a saucepan add little oil and sputter mustard seeds.

2.Add chopped onions and saute till soft.

3.Add chopped betroot ,chilly powder,turmeric and salt and cook it covered.

4.When it is almost done add grated coconut ,curry leaves and cook for 1 minute .

Red Cabbage & Prawns Thoran/ Stir fry

Eventhough red cabbage is supposed to be a healthier one than the white cabbage I always prefered to pick either white or any other green variaties just because I liked the taste of later better.But I changed my mind set when I first tasted an amazing red cabbage salad with some dressing which came with my kebab from my favourite kebab shop round the corner where we live.The Kebab he serves itself is so delicious and on top of that he serves some amazing veggie salad with loads of red cabbage,white cabbage ,cucumber,tomato,carrot with some garlic sauce ! I am not a salad person really,never enjoyed salads but the kebab shop converted me ..slowly I am appreciating home made salads but not in the raw form though , I bought a jar of salad dressing which makes salad so delicious ! Last week I even picked up a whole red cabbage and enjoyed half of it as salad and with the other half I prepared this thoran..Adding prawns to veggies which are not my fav is a trick that I have been practicing from sometime now and it worked with red cabbage too..I liked the combination and hopefully I might pick another red cabbage soon :)

Ingredients

Red Cabbage - 1/2 of a big whole cabbage

Onion - 1

Cooked Prawns - 100 gms

Green chillies - 2-3

Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp

Salt

Curry leaves

Grated coconut/Dessicated coconut - 2 tbs

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Oil - 2-3 Tbs

Method

1.In a saucepan add some oil and sputter mustard seeds.

2.Add chopped onions and saute for 1-2 minutes.

3.Add chopped cabbage,sliced green chillies,turmeric and salt and mix well.Cook covered.

4.When it is almost cooked add prawns and cook for another 1-2 minutes.

5.Finally add grated coconut and curry leaves and stir for 1 minute and turn off the flame.

Pigeon Peas Thoran

Yet another week passed by and its only today I got some time for blogging.Last week I got an opportunity to Volunteer my lil A's nursery for their visit to Local library, I throughly enjoyed being with Nursery kids. It was a tough job to make 25 kids walk through the pavement of busy roads,making them cross the signal etc etc.They had a big rope with strings attached on each side of the rope and each one has to hold a string tightly and never let it go,and I was surprised how the kids listened and behaved !! Just before they entered the library they were asked to keep fingers on their lips and to be quiet (SHHHH) and guess what they didnt utter a word !!

Anyway coming to todays topic,Pigeon peas is my new discovery,I had no idea how to cook it or how long it will take to cook when I bought it , first time I tried to cook it a saucepan and waited for 20 mins,but there was no sign of pigeon peas getting cooked so I transferred it to a pressure cooker and gave 2 whistles ,voila ! it was cooked,and thoran was so delicious and I loved it.I am going to make this a regular in my kitchen from now on.

Here goes my recipe

Ingredients

Pigeon peas -250gm

Shallots - 7-8

Grated coconut - 1/4 cup

Red chilly powder- 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/3 tsp

Salt

Curry leaves

Preparation

Pressure cook pigeon peas with 1/8 cup of water adding redchilly powder,turmeric and salt.

Make a coarse paste of shallots and grated coconut and add this to cooked pigeon peas .

Cook the pigeon peas for 1-2 minutes until the raw taste of shallots and coconut goes.

In a pan ad oil and sputter some mustard seeds and add curry leaves to.

Add this to cooked pigeon peas and mix .

Kerala Spinach /Cheera Thoran

Hope u all had a good Diwali..Mine was good too ,had a small party on Diwali day with my friends and is going to have one more with family soon..I love parties,who doesnt right?? I love to eat what others cook ,even once in a week when I am bored of my dishes I ask my H to cook and he does it happily..

Are u all set for Halloween too ?? I havent made up my mind whether to carve a pumkin yet, I guess its a little early for my lil one to appreciate it,infact I m scared that he might even cry if I manage to carve a scary one !!

Kerala spinach/cheera (red and green) is my favourite leafy vegetable , I can eat 2 meals of rice in a go with this.My love for this cheera is even popular among my inlaws ,and I remember one time soon after marriage when were invited for lunch at his uncles place I was so surprised to see that even the aunty knew about this and she prepared this especially for me..

Here goes my favourite cheera thoran recipe for u all.

Ingredients

Cheera/Kerala spinach - 1 bundle
Onion - 1
Green chillies - 1-2
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Grated coconut - 3-4 tbs
Curry leaves
Mustard seeds- 1/4 tsp
Salt

Preparation
Wash and chop the spinach.
In a saucepan add oil,sputter mustard and add green chillies and chopped onions ,saute onions until soft. Add spinach ,turmeric ,salt and cook it covered.When it is almost cooked add grated cononut and curry leaves and cook for 1-2minutes.

Broccoli and prawns stir fry( broccoli and chemmen thoran) and an award

Ingredients
Broccoli -1
onion - 1
prawns - 3/4 cup
Green chillies -3
Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Grated coconut - 2-3 tbs
Curry leaves - few
salt

Preparation
In a pan take some oil and sputter mustard seeds,add chopped onions and saute well until onions become soft. Add broccoli florets, and prawns. Add green chillies,turmeric powder,pepper powder,salt and cook it covered.When it almost cooked add grated cocnut and curry leaves and saute for few seconds and turn off the flame.

Award time again...

My friend Dolly has passed this beautiful award to me...I am so happy and thrilled to receive this award...Thank you Dolly for this beautiful award and for all the support you give me through your encouraging comments.



I would like to pass this award to all my blogger friends.Please accept it .

BRINJAL PEPPER THORAN

Hi all

I still cant believe I have created a blog.Till yesterday I had no idea about creating a blog.After creating this blog also I dont have much idea about what to post here.I think its better to start with recipes.I love cooking very much and like to try out new recipes.

I will make my recipes more colourful next time,I dont have any picture of my recipe with me right now..Please excuse.

The name of my recipe is Brinjal pepper thoran .I got this recipe from my mother in law.I love this recipe very much...


Here goes the recipe

BRINJAL PEPPER THORAN

Ingredients

Brinjal 1/2 kg( finely chopped)

Onion 1 large

Garlic cloves 4-5(crushed)

curry leaves (1-2 strands)

Grated coconut (2-3 teaspoon)

Pepper powder(1 tablespoon)

turmeric powder( 1/4 tsp)

salt to taste

Preparation

Marinate the finely chopped brinjal with turmeric powder ,pepper powder and salt.Keep it aside for half an hour.

Heat oil in a pan and saute the onions till it become pink in colour.Add the marinated brinjal and crushed garlic cloves to it.Donot add any water.Stir occasionally.Let it cook for 5 - 10 minutes.Add grated coconut to it and stir for few seconds and finally add curry leaves and switch off the burner.