Paalak dal /spinach dal/ parippum cheerayum

Dal/Parippu is an absolute comfort food for all of us here. Even when we go on holiday the first thing I want to eat when we get back is some steaming hot rice with some dal. It’s pure bliss.

Many years ago when we set out to Switzerland for  our first holiday together I was so excited to see the places and to try new food. I enjoyed the food the first two days, trying out new food was really great but after that it became a bit less enjoyable and  I was desperate to eat some rice.So out we went for an indian  restaurant hunt but couldn’t find any restaurant nearby but instead found a Chinese. I didn’t even want to look at the menu , all I wanted was some rice. I can never forget the pleasure I got from eating that bowl of rice. Rest of the days we were automatically drawn towards that restaurant . After our holiday we came back hungry and tired, still I didn’t want to order a take away or eat out. I dragged myself to the kitchen and cooked some dal and rice. The taste of that dal and rice is still in my mouth, it was a pure comfort meal and we ate as if we haven’t seen food in many days J

Ingredients

Green gram lentil/ Mung dal – ¾ cup

Onion – 3 medium

Tomato – 2

Ginger garlic paste – 1 tsp

Green chillies – 4

Cumin seeds – 1 heaped tsp

Turmeric powder – ¼ stp

Spinach – 100 gm

Coriander leaves – few (finely chopped)

Oil

Salt

For tempering/ tadka ( optional)

Oil/ghee

Mustard seeds

Whole red chilli - 2

Garlic minced – 1 1/2tsp

Curry leaves

Method

• Pressure cook the dal adding enough water.
• In a pan add oil and sputter cumin seeds.
• Add chopped onions and saute until light brown.
• Add ginger garlic paste and saute until raw smell goes.
• Add chopped tomatoes, green chillies and cook for few minutes until tomatoes are mushy.
• Add turmeric and saute until raw smell goes.
• Finally add cooked dal, chopped spinach , add enough water and cook for 5-10 minutes.
• Remove from fire and add chopped coriander leaves.

Tempering/tadka

• Take oil in a small pan and sputter mustard seeds.
•  Add minced garlic and fry till  it’s brown.
• Finally add split whole red chillies and fry until dark. Add in curry leaves and to tadka and remove from fire.
• Add the tadka to the curry

Bharwa Baingan/ Stuffed Brinjal

I was never a brinjal fan. In fact till few years back , I used fish them out from  curries and keep it aside !! On the other hand, when it comes to certain things I just love baingan. Baingan bhartha, brinjal fry and then this bharva baigan are few of my favourites. I guess roasting and frying takes this veggie to a new level and it might be hard to dislike it even for someone who hates this veggie as such.

Usually the English brinjal variety is quite big and is called aubergine and doesn’t taste good like the brinjal but me being sluggish still pick those to make my chopping easier. Few weeks back when I saw this super fresh brinjals in our local Indian shop I couldn’t resist picking it up and they looked perfect for stuffing. I rang up my friend  A who makes super yummy bharwa baingan for her recipe and with few modifications of my own I made her bharwa baingan for our dinner and one super easy bharwa baingan was ready in about 30-40 minutes !!

Ingredients

Small brinjals -6

For masala

Shallots/ cheriya ulli – 4-5  or 1 medium sized onion( finely chopped)

Red chilli powder – 1 tsp

Turmeric powder- ½ tsp

Coriander powder/ malli podi – 1 ½ tsp

Garlic cloves – 2 (crushed)

Besan powder / kadala mavu – 1 tbs

Salt

Method

• In a small pan/ kadai add little oil and sauté the chopped onions until soft and translucent
• Add chili powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder and fry for a minute and switch off the flame.
• Grind it in a blender to a paste.
• Add crushed garlic, salt, besan to the paste and mix well.
• Make two deep slits on brinjal (like a cross) from bottom keeping the stalk intact.
• Take each brinjal and stuff it with the masala paste through the slits.
• In a non -stick  frying  pan or thick bottomed pan add oil and shallow fry the stuffed brinjal on a very low flame by covering it for 20-25 minutes by  flipping the sides in between.

Serve hot with rice/ roti !

Kale Kootu/ Kale and lentils stir fry

Each season has its own beauty, maybe not winters expect for the snow. Back home I never bothered about seasons as there was hardly any season change expect the monsoon. Here I love 'spring' the most especially as it promises a new beginning… It's indeed a beautiful feeling to see the flowers blooming, bees buzzing, birds nesting, children playing outside and most of all getting some sunshine ! Yesterday we went to our local park to enjoy the spring, to my distress  some trees were still barren but what I call the beauty of Spring “Daffodils” were on full bloom. I clicked away Daffodils to my heart’s content and I was a happy gal J

Coming to today’s post, I have to thank blogging for making me try new things which wouldn’t have dared to try otherwise. I saw this kale kootu in Anupa’s blog palaharam  and it was one of those recipes I knew I definitely want to try and so I did. It was so delicious and we wiped off our plate clean that day. We have been buying kale often after that and now if I don’t buy the leaves,  my boy often reminds  me in supermarket   “can you buy that curly kale amma”? Thank god he has inherited the foodie tongue of ours and he likes his greens!

Recipe adapted from - Palaharam

Ingredients
Kale leaves - 200 gm
Chana dal/ Kadala parippu - 1/3 cup
Shallots/ Kunjulli - 5-6 no
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Cumin seeds/ Jeerakam - 3/4 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Redchilly powder - 3/4 tsp
Salt
Oil
 Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
Whole redchillies
Curry leaves

Method

• Soak chana dal for few hours and pressure cook it for 3-4 whistles.
• Chope the kale leaves and keep it aside( I didn't use stem)
• Cook kale with redchilly powder, turmeric powder, salt for 5-7 minutes.
• Make a coarse paste of shallots, cumin and grated coconut in  a mixie.
• Add the cooked chana dal, coconut paste and give it mix.
• Add salt and cook for 3- 5 minutes.
• Finally take oil in small pan add mustard seeds and when it crackle add whole rechilly and curry leaves and pour the tempering to cooked Kale and give it a mix.

Mixed Vegetable Masala

Our christmas tree is out again ,I know its a bit early ,but lil A was asking for tree for sometime now,even I was also keen to dp some decoration. Now the tree is out, I can feel the real spirits of christmas !! I am excited about indulging in some good food,cakes, sweets and much more during holidays.
Did I tell u that my lil one will be stating school after this holidays,we are very much looking forward to that, and tomorrow is the beginning of the excitement,we are invited to his School to make him familarise with staffs and surroundings . He is going to have some nursery activities too . Also before he start School ,his teachers will come home to see his surroundings too !! How cool is that :) I really liked the whole idea, I m sure the this will make his first day at school much easier.

I have been making this mixed vegetable masala for a long time now, but most of the time for dinner,so this time I made it for lunch escpecially for clicking it during day light !

Ingredients
Onion - 2
Tomato -1
Mushroom - 250 gm
Potato - 1-2
Carrot-2
Green peas - 1/4 cup
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds -1 tsp
Redchilly powder - 1 tbs
Turmeric- 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tbs
Garam masala - 1 1/2 tsp
Coriander leaves

Preparation
In a saucepan add some oil and sputter cumin seeds. Add chopped onions ,when it is soft add ginger garlic paste and saute for 1 minute. Add tomoto and all the spice powders and saute for 1-2 minutes until tomatoes is slightly mashed. Now add all the vegetables except the green peas .Donot add any water as the mushroom will leave enough water to cook the other vegetables.When the vegetbales are almost done add green peas and cook for 2-3 minues or until green peas are cooked.Finally garnish with coriander leaves.

Cauliflower masala

Last week I was telling all about the awesome weather here,but things have changed,its grey,chilly and miserable now,but atleast the christmas decorations and gifts all around the shops is bringing some postive energy .This time my lil one also knows more about christmas and father christmas,he has already asked for his favourite train for christmas !!
This recipe is from my friend who lives next door,she prepared this for a get together and we all loved it, I also used to make cauliflower masala but my cauliflower always gets bit overcooked,but the one she prepared was crucnhy and perfect,so this time I didnt over do cauliflower and we all loved it.

Ingredients
Cauliflower - 1 small
Carrot - 1
Green peas - 1/2 cup
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Onion - 1
Tomato -1
Green chillies -2
Redchilly powder - 1/2 tbs
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tbs
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

Preparation
In a saucepan add some oil,sputter cumin seeds,add chopped onions and saute till soft. Add ginger garlic paste fry for 1 minute and then throw in chopped tomatoes and all masala powders , green chillies and saute till raw smell of masalas goes. Finally add cauliflower and carrot and when they are half done add green peas and cook .

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.

Avial

Hope all those who celebrated Vishu and Newyear had a fabulous day yesterday. Thank you all for your warm wishes on my previous post. As mentioned earlier I arranged a Vishukkani and made a small sadhya.With just me, my hubby and my little one to eat I didnt pepare all the sadhya items. I have loads of leftover in my fridge even after making on a small scale. I prepared a Kallathappam(kannur special),Payasam,Sambar. Avial, kootu curry,Pachadi and a Thoran.

Today I am going to post the simple recipe of Avial which was requested by one of my friend last month , since Vishu was around the corner I posponed making it till yesterday.

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Ingredients

1 1/2 cup vegetables chopped lengthwise. I used

Carrot ,Plantain,Yam (chena),Long Green beans and Drumsticks

Greenchillies- 3

Grated Coconut - 1/2 cup

Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp

Cuury leaves- few sprigs

Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp

Curd/Yogurt - 1 cup

Salt

Coconut oil

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Preparation

Cook the vegetables by adding salt and turmeric powder,

In a blender make a coarse paste of grated coconut,green chillies , cumin seeds and curry leaves.When vegetables are cooked add this paste and cook for 1 - 2 minutes. Add the beaten curd/yogurt and give it a good stir and turn off the flame immediately. Add coconut oil and give a good mix again.

Malai Kofta

Collaborative curry needs no special introduction , a Collaborative blog by my friends Namitha and Sunitha. They always come up with fabulous recipes and irrestitable clicks, so I have a long try list from their blog but only time is the factor that restrict me from trying our their recipes.When Sunitha posted this recipe I bookmarked this one and last week was perfect to try it out and the outcome was superb...My hubby has approved this as a hit item and I am defintely going to include this in my guest menu. Thank you so much Sunitha for sharing this recipe.

Vegetable kurma

Ingredients

Whole garam masala
Cinnamon stick - 1 inch stick
Cardamom - 2 -3 pods
Cloves - 3
Bayleaves - 2
Star anise - 1 (optional )
Fennel - 1/2 tsp ( optional)

Onion -2

Potato -2
Cauliflower florets - 1 cup

Paneer - 1/2 cup ( optional )

Carrot -1

Green peas - 1/2 cup

Capsicum (green pepper) - 1/2 of one

Green chillies -2

Ginger- garlic paste - 1 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Corainder powder - 1 tsp

Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp

Red chilly powder - 1 tsp

Salt

Fresh cream - 1/2 cup

Cashew nuts -fistful ( ground into a paste )
Water

Preparation

1. In a pan add oil and add the whole garam masala till nice aroma comes out. 
2. Add chopped onions and saute till it becomes soft. 
3. Add green chillies and ginger garlic paste and saute again for few minutes. 
4. Add all the chopped vegetables along with spice powders . Add water and cook. 
5. When vegetables are cooked add salt, fresh cream, grinded cashew nut paste  and when it  boils remove from fire and garnish the kurma with coriander leaves.

Simple Yellow Stew

Ingredients

Onion -1

Potato -2

Carrot -1

Green chillies -2

Ginger chopped - 1 tsp

Curry leaves - few

Shallots - finely chopped 2tbs

Coconut milk - 1/2 cup

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Pepper powder- 1tsp

Salt

Preparation

In a saucepan cook potatoes, carrots,onions along with chopped ginger,turmeric powder,salt and green chillies .When it cooked mash half of the potatoes and add coconut milk and pepper powder.When it about to boil turn off the flame.

For tempering

In a pan add some oil/ghee and add finely chopped shallots and fry until golden brown,add curry leaves too. Add this to the gravy.

This stew goes well with Appam,Puttu and Dosha.

CHERUPAYAR CURRY( MOONG DHAL CURRY)

My hubby always prefer cherupayar curry along with puttu, for me I like both kadala curry and cherupayar curry . I also like to eat puttu with bananas...I put some sugar and also a bit of ghee with bananas...Ghee makes puttu very tasty and I never think about the calories when I am having tasty food :) But afterwards guilt starts haunting me. I start thinking about work outs. Most of the times such good thoughts will bury deep inside without any affect.But few times I tried work outs ,used to do it regularly for one week and then again I will be back to square 1. In malyalam there is an old saying "Shankaran pinneyum thengil thanne "

INGREDIENTS

Moong dhal _1/4 cup

shallots - 6-7

green chillies - 3 nos

Red chilly powder - 1/2 tsp

turmeic powder - 1/4 tsp

Pepper powder - 3/4 tsp

Curry leaves

Mustard seeds

Ground coconut 1/4 cup

salt

PREPARATION

Soak moong dhal overnight and pressure cook the dhal adding chopped shallots. Add red chilly powder, turmeric powder, salt, pepper powder, curry leaves, green chillies and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add the ground coconut and when it starts to boil turn off the fire.In a pan sputter mustard seeds and add redchillies. Add this to the curry.

PARIPPU AND MURINGA CURRY

Weekends are always busy for me...I dont know how the time goes..After friday night when I open my eyes it will be monday...Oh I hate monday mornings..

Parippu with Muringa is a Nadan curry that I make...I love the combination of parippu and muringa so much...Dont think that there is any other veggie that goes so well parippu.

INGREDIENTS

Toor Dhal - 1/4 cup
Drumsticks 3
Onion 1
green chillies 3
curry leaves
Ground coconut - 1/4 cup
Turmeric powder-1/4 tsp
Red chilly powder -1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Mustard seeds

Red chilly - 3 no

PREPARATION

Pressure cook Dhal adding chopped onions along with it. Add drumsticks, green chillies,red chilly powder,turmeric powder and salt to dhal and cook for 5 minutes or until done.Finally add the ground coconut and when it starts to boil turn off the fire. Heat oil in a pan and sputter mustard seeds,add red chillies and curry leaves to it and add to the curry.