Kidney beans curry

Kidney beans are available in red and white colours. However, the red variety is widely used as it is sturdy and it easily absorbs the flavours of the spices used in its preparation.
They are rich in dietary fibre and complex carbohydrates. A cup of cooked red kidney beans will give you approximately 225 calories. When eaten with steamed rice, it makes a wholesome meal.

Ingredients:
Red kidney beans -200gms
Garlic -few pods
Coriander seeds -2tsps
Cardamom -3 to 4
Cloves -2
Red chillies -4
Black pepper corns -1tsp
Onion -3
Tomatoes -3
Sugar -1tsp
Chopped coriander leaves -2tsps
Salt and oil – as required

Method:

Wash the kidney beans and soak in drinking water for 10 hours or overnight. Cook it along with the soaked water in a pressure cooker for 20 minutes. Keep it aside.
Lightly toast the spices (Coriander seeds, cardamom, cloves, red chillies, black pepper corns) in little oil. Keep it aside.
Chop the onion and garlic. Fry them till it changes colour. Then add the tomatoes. Cook till the tomatoes turn mushy. Cool and grind it along with the toasted spices.
Add the ground paste salt and sugar to the cooked kidney beans. Simmer for few seconds till is blended. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Note: This goes very well with steamed long rice that is laced with clarified butter.

Fried dumplings gravy (lauki kofta curry)

 

This curry is also known as doodhi or lauki kofta curry. Here grated bottle gourd is mixed with chick pea flour and fried into dumplings. Then it is immersed in spicy tangy tomato gravy. This curry is another all-time favourite in our house. The gravy is simple with flavours of carom seeds and fried onion, while the dumplings are soft and spiced with green chillies and green coriander.

Ingredients for dumplings:

Bottle gourd -400gms

Chick pea flour -100gms

Chopped green chillies - 2tsps

Chopped coriander leaves -1tsp

Chopped ginger -1/tsp

Salt to taste

Oil for frying

Method:

Peel and grate the bottle gourd. Squeeze out the juice and reserve the liquid.

Combine the residue with chick pea flour, green chillies, coriander leaves, ginger and salt. Make small round balls and deep fry them in small batches. Keep it aside.

Ingredients for the gravy:

Tomatoes - 4

Carom seeds -1tsp

Onion -2 (chopped finely)

Chilli flakes -2tsp

Garam masala powder - 1tsp

Sugar -1tsp

Salt and oil - as required

Chopped coriander leaves for garnishing

Method:

Puree the tomatoes in a blender. Keep it aside. Heat little oil in a frying pan and fry the carom seeds. Add the onions. Fry till it becomes brown. Add the chilli flakes, garam masala powder, salt, sugar, the reserved water and pureed tomatoes. Cook for few seconds till is blended.  Garnish with coriander leaves.

Immerse the fried dumplings in the gravy and serve within five minutes.

Note: Carom seeds are also known as bishop’s weed. In Hindi, it is known as ajwain.

 

Stuffed capsicum curry

This is a rich recipe, wherein capsicums are stuffed with spicy potatoes and sweet corn then placed over tangy tomato cheese curry. This goes well with flat breads and steamed rice.
 
Ingredients:
Green capsicum -2
Boiled and mashed potatoes -1cup
Green chillies - 3
Chopped coriander leaves - 2tsps
Sweet corn - 2tsps
Grated cheddar cheese -4tsps
Salt to taste

For the gravy:
Tomato -3
Onion -2
Garlic paste -1tsp
Ginger paste -1/2tsp
Chilli flakes -3tsps
Garam masala powder -2tsps
Sugar -1tsp
Cottage cheese - 1/2cup
Chopped coriander leaves -1tsp
Butter -1tsp (optional)
Salt and oil -as required
 
Method:
Cut the capsicum into two and scoop out the seeds. Blanch them in hot water for few seconds. Keep it aside.
Combine the potatoes, sweet corn, green chillies, coriander leaves and salt. Stuff the capsicum cups with this mixture. Top each of them with grated cheddar cheese. Pre heated oven to 180°C. Grill the stuffed capsicum for 10 minutes or till the cheese turn brown. Keep it aside.
Chop the onions and tomatoes finely. Heat little oil in a frying pan and fry the onions. When it turns translucent add both the pastes. Sauté it well. Add the chilli flakes, garam masala powder and the tomatoes. Cook for few seconds. Cool and grind it along with the cottage cheese to a smooth paste. Place the paste again on the frying pan. Add sugar, salt and little water. Simmer over a low flame till it is blended. Garnish with butter and coriander leaves.
Arrange the grilled capsicum on the gravy and serve hot.

Crispy onion noodles soup

 

This is a sweet and sour creamy soup with flavours of fried onion and cheese besides the crunchiness of fried noodles. This is an all-time favourite in our house. In fact, kids would love it a lot.

Ingredients:
Tomato puree - 1/2 cup
Pumpkin -50gm
Onion -2
Chilli powder -1/2tsp
Garlic paste -1tsp
Rice noodles -3tsps
Grated cheddar cheese - 2tsps
Sugar -1tsp
Salt and oil -as required

Method:
Slice one onion and fry in little till it becomes brown. Deep fry the noodles in oil till it turns crispy. Keep it aside.
Cut the other onion and pumpkin into small pieces. Boil in one cup of water. Cool and puree it in a blender. Mix it with tomato puree, garlic paste and chilli powder. Add salt and sugar. Add little water and bring it to pouring consistency. Simmer for few seconds. Garnish with fried onion, fried noodles and grated cheese.

Carrot tomato soup

Soups can be creamy or clear. In both cases, vegetables  are boiled - crushed and strained.
In some soups some tiny bits of vegetables are also added to give it some bites. In the first place, why should we strain the crushed vegetables, which is a big process in itself? Secondly, why not by pass the process of adding cream or corn flour for thickening it.
For me, soup making involves pureeing the vegetables and boiling it. This way the fibre content of the vegetables is retained. The taste is also not compromised.
Here is a simple soup that kids would also relish.

Ingredients:
Tomato -1
Carrot -2
Garlic - few pods
Green chilly -1
Oats - 1tsp
Pepper powder -1/2tsp
Salt to taste

Method:
Puree the tomato, carrot, garlic and green chilly to a smooth paste. Add oats, salt and water in 1:1 ratio. Bring it to a boil. Garnish with pepper powder.

Sago kitchadi

 I remember my younger days when my patti(grandmother) used to fast on ekadashi days. She would eat only milk and fruits the entire day. The next day (on dwadashi day) she would break the fast with an early morning lunch consisting of kerrai moolakotal(Amaranth curry) and nellika pachadi (Indian gooseberry dip). This was perhaps to clean the stomach of the toxins that would have accumulated on the fasting day.

On Shivratri day, another type of fasting was undertaken. She would abstain from salt and eat only sweet foods. She used to eat sweet potatoes cooked in brown sugar besides fruits and milk.

Another fasting snack is the sago kitchadi that can be made for breakfast too. 

Sago is high in carbohydrate and low in protein and fibre. Hence, its caloric value is also high. However, the carbs fall in the category of macro-nutrients, which is energy boosting.

Interestingly, fasting never meant starving. It was undertaken to control ones senses. In fact, the fasting foods were also energy enhancers.

Here is the recipe for sago kitchadi. It is usually prepared with sago, potato and peanuts. However, I have used onion instead of potato.

Ingredients:
Sago -200 gm
Chopped onion -1/2 cup
Peanuts -1 cup
Green chilies -2
Black peppercorns - 2 tsp
Cumin seeds -1 tsp
Grated coconut -2 tsp  
Finely grated carrot for garnishing -2 tsp
Oil and Salt -as required

Method:
Slit the green chilies into two. Spread the sago on a colander. Sprinkle sufficient water on it. Allow the water to drain. Keep it aside. Sprinkle water again after half an hour and repeat the process till the sago swells double its size. Grind the peanuts and black peppercorns coarsely. Mix the soaked sago, salt, grated coconut, ground peanuts and black pepper corns.
In a frying pan, fry the cumin seeds in little oil. Then add the onion and green chilies. Fry for few seconds. Add the sago mixture and stir fry till the sago becomes soft and pearly. Garnish with grated carrot.

Lady’s finger in cheese

What do you do with curdled milk? The best option would be to separate the whey from the solids. Add sugar to the solids and heat it till becomes hard. I think differently. So, I have used the milk solids to make a tasty side dish.  It also has lady’s finger and select spices. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:
Homemade cottage cheese – 1cup
Lady’s finger – 200gm
Garlic – few pods
Turmeric powder -1tsp
Chopped tomato -1cup
Chopped onion -1cup
Chilli powder -1tsp
Chopped coriander leaves – 2tsps
Salt and oil –as required

Method:
Cut the lady’s finger into half inch length. Shallow fry them in little oil. Keep it aside. In the same pan stir fry the onion, when it becomes translucent add the garlic and tomato. Stir fry for few seconds. Cool and grind them to a smooth paste. In a frying pan add the curry powder and ground paste. Stir fry for few seconds over high heat. Stir in the cottage cheese and the fried lady’s finger. Sauté till is blended well. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Stir fried veggie

This stir fried vegetable is very low in calories. Stuff  this veggie in cheese spread and make cheese rolls while serving to kids.

Ingredients:
Carrot- 2
Capsicum- 1
Chayote-1
Tomato-1
Onion-1
Cumin seeds -1/2tsp
Turmeric powder- 1/2tsp
Sambhar powder- 1/2tsp
Garam masala powder- 1/2tsp
Salt and oil -as required
Coriander leaves for garnishing

Method:
Cut all the vegetables into square pieces. Heat little oil in a frying pan and fry the cumin seeds. Then add the onion and fry. When it turns transparent, add all the powders and salt. Sauté for few seconds. Add the carrot, chayote and one cup of water. Close and cook. When the vegetables are half cooked add the tomato and capsicum. Stir cook for few seconds. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.
Note: Other vegetables that can be used instead of chayote and carrot are potato, bottle gourd, pumpkin and ridge gourd.

Sooji Halwa/Rava kesari

This is a very easy to make sweet that even beginners in cooking can try. Further, it requires very little time in its preparation.  

 
Ingredients;

Roasted Semolina/rava -1 cup
Sugar -11/2 cup
Water -21/2 cup
Clarified butter/ghee -3/4 cup
Cashew nuts -25 gm
Raisins -25 gm
Cardamom powder -1 tsp
Food colour -1 pinch (optional)

Method:

Heat the semolina with two teaspoons of clarified butter. Heat the water to which food colour has been added. When it begins to boil (around 99 degrees Celsius) lower the flame and add the semolina/rava. Cook it till becomes like a pudding. Add the sugar. It will become liquid. Continue cooking till becomes firm and solid. At this stage add the balance clarified butter. Cook stirring continuously till it leaves the sides of the pan.  Add cardamom powder.  Fry the cashew nuts and raisins in little clarified butter. Garnish with fried cashew nuts and raisins.  

 

 

  

Bread toast twist

There were few sachets of chilli flakes, oregano and tomato sauce lying idle in my kitchen. These items came along with the veg pizza that I had ordered for guests last week. There was also few slices of wheat bread lying in the refrigerator. I used them all to make a quick meal for breakfast. The outcome was indeed very nice.

Ingredients:
Whole wheat bread - 4 slices
Chopped onion - 1/2 cup
Chilli flakes - 2tsps
Oregano - 2tsps
Tomato sauce - 4tsps
Finely chopped capsicum - 3tsps
Salt and oil - as required
Chopped coriander leaves - 1tsp

Method:
Apply little oil on both sides of the bread slices and toast over a griddle till it becomes crispy. Cut it into small square pieces. Keep it aside.
Fry the onion in little oil till it becomes transparent. Add the bread pieces, capsicum, chilli flakes and oregano. Stir for few seconds. Add the tomato sauce and coriander leaves. Serve hot.

   

Lunch book

Cooking alone and cooking along with a partner makes a lot of difference. I think the latter is better as it shortens the cooking time and helps you to get on the spot assistance. Two heads can make a decision on the amount of salt, pungency, taste and consistency. Cooking with a book is also like that. It shortens the time as one can set the ingredients beforehand and keep a tab on the measurements. However, I must admit here that taste is subjective.

So, here is a book on South Indian vegetarian lunch that has 66 recipes sans onion and garlic spread over chapters like payasam, poriyal and kootu, sambhar, rasam, pickles and miscellaneous items. It has lunch ideas for everyday cooking and for feasts. Cooking instructions are simple. Measurements are around one or two cups that can serve for one or two people. Each recipe has a photo showing the real colour and consistency. 

This book is available in two formats.

Follow the links below for paper back and kindle format respectively.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1499761546

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KRX8APC

Happy reading and happy cooking.

Self portrait

 This is my self-portrait painting done in oil on canvas. In fact, to see your own painting develop on a plain canvas is really interesting. I saw to that all the asymmetrical features of my face were included. This was difficult. It is easier to paint a more symmetrical face, as the outcome looks more beautiful.

Next is the use of colour. This was not that difficult as it is true like me. Anyway, I am satisfied that I could bring some life to such paintings. This was evident when I received some good compliments from most of the people at home. Some even suggested that I use it as my profile picture in many places including the books I write.

Jack fruit seed fry

The seed of the jack fruit is encased in the jack fruit flesh and it is edible. It has a nutty flavour and tastes like potato. This stir fried recipe is known as chakka kurru Mezhukuperrati in Kerala.

                                                         Jackfruit seed with the covering

Ingredients:
Jack fruit seeds - 1cup
Turmeric powder -1/2tsp
Brown sugar - 2tsps
Coconut oil - 2tsps
Salt to taste

Method:
Remove the outer covering of the jack fruit seed and cut into small pieces. (Alternatively you can the cut the jack fruit seeds and then remove the outer plastic like covering).
Wash and cook in two cups of water along with salt and turmeric powder. Once it is cooked drain the water and place it in a frying pan. Add the brown sugar and oil. Stir fry over a low flame for few minutes till everything is blended.