Broccoli Poriyal/ Broccoli stir fry

You will need:

• 1 lb brocolli
• 1 onion
• 1 tsp pepper powder
• 2 cloves garlic(chopped finely)
• ½ cup grated coconut
  
• salt for taste

For tempering:.

• 2 tbsp oil
• ½ tsp mustard seeds
• ½ tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp urad dal
• 1 dry red chilli
• few curry leaves (optional)

Procedure:

Step 1:

• Chop onion finely and keep it aside.
• Chop broccoli finely using knife. Or you can use food chopper to do fine chopping. I used food chopper to chop the broccoli.

Step 2:

Heat oil in a pan. When its hot add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, urad dal, dry red chilli and the curry leaves and allow it to splutter. Now add the chopped onions and chopped garlic to it. Saute it till it turns golden brown color.

Step 3:

Now add chopped broccoli to it. Add pepper powder and salt to it. Saute it or close the lid for couple of mins till its fully cooked. Since the broccoli is chopped finely it will take just 2 mins to cook.

Step 4:

If its watery dont close the lid. Just saute it for few mins. Check for salt. Finally add grated coconut and saute it for 2 more mins.

Serve with sambhar rice or even as side dish for roti, chappathi.

Kovakai Masala/ Tindora Masala/ Ivy Gourd stir fry

Ivy Gourd/ Kovakkai is a good source of Protein and Fiber. You can eat it raw and can make varities of dishes out of this vegetable. It looks like small cucumber. Tastes very good with all spices in it. So here comes the recipe.

You will need:

• 4 cups Kovakai/ Tindora
• 1 big onion
• 3 tbsp chopped tomato
• ½ tsp ginger garlic paste
• 3
• 1½ tbsp chicken masala powder or(1 tsp chilli powder, 1½ tsp coriander powder, 1 tsp garam masala powder, ½ tsp cumin powder)
• salt to taste
• ½ tsp pepper powder
• Lemon juice(optional)
  

For tempering:

• 3 tbsp oil
• ½ tsp mustard seeds
• ½ tsp cumin seeds
• ½ tsp urad dal
• 2 dry red chilli
  
• few curry leaves
• cilantro(coriander leaves) for garnish
  

Procedure:

Step 1:

Wash the Tindora/ Kovakkai nicely in the running cold water. Trim of the ends and slice it horizontally into thin pieces.

Step 2:

Chop onion and tomato into fine pieces and keep it aside.

Step 3:

Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, urad dal, red chili and curry leaves to it. Allow it to splutter. Now add te chopped onion to it and saute it till it turns light golden brown color.

Step 4:

Now add the ginger garlic paste to it and saute it till it get rid off the raw smell. Add the masala powders along with chopped tomatoes to it.

Step 5:

Now add the chopped tindora pieces to it and coat well with all masala powders. Then cover with a lid and keep the flame on medium heat.

Step 6:

Allow the tindora pieces to cook in low flame for 10 mins stirring occasionally.Add salt and pepper powder to it. Finally squeeze the juice of ½ lemon on top of it and serve hot with roti, chapathi or with any rice as side dish. You can even garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Enjoy!!!!!

Rava Dosa / Sooji Pancakes

Rava dosa is one of the breakfast dish in India. Very simple to make, but it need some skill to spread the batter very thin in the hot pan.

Here comes the recipe..

You will need:

• 1. 5 cups of rice flour
• 1 cup of sooji/ rava
• ½ cup of maida/ all purpose flour
• salt for taste
• water as required to form a thin batter (consistency similar to butter milk)

For tempering:

• 1 tsp oil
• 1 tsp ghee
• ¼ tsp mustard seeds
• ¼ tsp cumin seeds
• ¼ tsp black cumin
• ½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes / red chili powder
• ¼ onion ( chopped finely)
• few curry leaves (chopped finely)
  

Step 1:

Heat oil and ghee in pan. When its hot add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, black cumin, and then the finely chopped onions. Saute onions till it turn golden brown color. Then add the curry leave sand teh red chili flakes and switch off the heat.

Step 2:

Take another bowl and add maida, rice flour, sooji/rava, salt and water. Mix it well to get thin batter. Now add the tempered mixture to it and mix it well.

Family size rava dosa


Step 3:

Heat a non stick flat pan on medium high heat. Spread the batter nicely in the hot pan. Better to start from sides of the pan and then finish it in the middle. But at Vahrehvah video i saw him sprinkling the batter over the pan using hands. I tried that and it worked for me. Apply oil on top if necessary. Turn the dosa when it turns golden brown colou. Enjoy with sambhar, chutney or with idli chutney powder

Kara Kuzhambu/ Simple spicy curry

Kuzhambu is the tamil word for curry. This kara kuzhambu is the simple version of sambhar but without dal. I made this kara kuzhambu with one vegetable i.e, brinjal(Egg plant). You can make this kara kuzhambu with fried okra(lady's finger), drumsticks(murungaikai) too. It tastes wonderful with garlic, tamarind paste and small onions in it.

You will need:

• 1 big onion (chopped finely)
• 10 small onions or use one more big onion (chopped finely)
• 5 garlic pods
• 3 small brinjals (chopped finely)
• 3 tbsp canned crushed tomatoes or 1 tomato(chopped finely)
• ¼ tsp tamarind paste
• 1 tbsp sambhar masala powder / (1 tsp red chilli powder and 2 tsp coriander powder)
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 2 pinch of asofoetida (perungayam)
• salt for taste

For tempering:

• ½ tsp mustard seeds
• ½ tsp cumin seeds
• few curry leaves
• 3 tbsp oil

Procedure:

Step 1:

Heat oil in a pan and when its hot add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, followed by asofoetida and curry leaves. When it splutters add chopped onions(small onions and big), chopped garlic and chopped brinjal. Saute it till it turns golden brown color.

Step 2:

Adding masala powders:

Now add the sambhar masala powder along with cumin powder and saute it for 1 min. Then add chopped tomatoes and saute it for min. Now add some water with tamarind paste and salt. Allow it to simmer for 3 to 5 mins or till it thickens.

Serve with steaming rice and omellete. Enjoy!!!!


Hint:

1. If you like very thick consistency add 1.5 cups of water or else add more than 2 cups of water.
2. You can even add 1 tsp jaggery/ 1 tsp sugar to this dish.

Cashew Chicken curry

This recipe is the base for Hyderabadi chicken recipe. Adding cashews in gravy gives very good tastes to that dish. I used to add cashew powder to egg gravy, vegetable kurma and also to some of my chicken dishes. This time i grind chicken with some khus khus(kasa kasa) and it gives very good taste to the chicken gravy. So just sharing that recipe.


You will need:

• 1 lb chicken
• 1 onion (chopped finely)
• 1 tomato (chopped finely)
• 3 green chillies
• 2 tbsp chicken masala powder or (2 tsp chilli powder, 3 tsp coriander powder, 1 tsp cumin powder, 1 tsp garam masala powder)
• few mint leaves
• few coriander leaves
• 3 tbsp oil
• salt for taste
  

To grind to fine paste:

• handful of cashews
• 1 tsp khus khus (kasa kasa)
• ½ cup grated coconut

Procedure:

Step 1:

Heat oil in a pan and add mint leaves, coriander leaves to it. Then add the chopped onions and green chillies to it and saute it till it turns golden brown color. Then add the ginger garlic paste and saute it till it get rid off the raw smell.

Step 2:

Grind the ingredients (Cashew nuts, coconut, khus, khus) to fine paste and keep it aside.



Step 3:

Now add the masala powder, tomato and then the chicken. Allow the chicken to cook for 5 mins with the lid on. Then add the ground paste to it and allow it to cook for 3 more mins. If you need more gravy you can add coconut milk or water to it. Add salt. Garnish with corinader leaves and serve with ghee rice, naan, roti, chapathi. Enjoy!!!