Payaru mezhukkupuratti (Yard long beans stir fry)

My final dish for Blogging Marathon #5 is a simple mezhukkupuratti made with payaru which is called yard long beans in English. Mezhukkupuratti is a very simple stir fry. Mezhukku stands for fat - usually oil and puratti means coated with or smeared with. So all you have to do to make a mezhukkupuratti is, cook the vegggies and then coat them with some oil(coconut, of course). Yard long beans are thin, long and pale green in colour. They grow abundantly in Kerala and are used to make mezhukkupuratti, thoran or olan. In Tamil, these beans are called karamani.

What you need:
Yard long beans
Salt
Turmeric powder
Coconut oil

Cut the beans into one inch pieces. Add a little water and cook in the pressure cooker up to one whistle or microwave for about 7-8 minutes. Drain excess water.
Heat 2 tsp of coconut oil in a pan. The amount of oil you use will depend on how much cooked beans you have on hand. There should be enough oil to coat all the beans, but if you rub your fingers over the finished product, it shouldn't come off oily either. Add the cooked beans, salt and turmeric powder. Stir well and heat thoroughly.
Serve with rice.
Check out the Blogging Marathoners doing BM#5 along with me  Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Aarthi, Divya, Me, Kaveri, Pavani,Seven Days of Indian Sweets:Gayathri, Priya Suresh,Seven Days of Microwave Meals: Monika,Seven Days of Regional Specials:Harini, Vaishali, Suma, PJ Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: KalyaniSummer Coolers: Jayasree, Kamalika, Srivalli

Muringakka (Drumstick) sambar

A sambar is a sambar is a sambar.....right???? Well, no - not exactly
Most sambar lovers will tell you that there is something special about muringakka (drumstick) sambar. The unique smell and taste that the drumsticks lend to the sambar is something that has to be experienced to be understood.
The flower of the tree, the vegetable and the leaves - all can be eaten and are exceptionally rich in nutrients. Iron and Vitamin A are the chief nutrients present in these. Eating drumstick leaves is said to be good for lactating women.
Sambar with drumsticks is made just like any other sambar is, but the taste is very distinct and different.

What you need:
Drumsticks - 2 or 3 medium sized, cut into finger sized pieces
Tamarind - a lemon sized ball
Sambar powder - 2 tsp (heaped)
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Tuar dal - 3/4 cup, cooked well and mashed with the back of a ladle
Salt - to taste
Corriander leaves and curry leaves - a few, to garnish
For tempering:
Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Split urad dal - 1 tsp
Red chillies - 2

Soak tamarind in about 2 -2.5 cups of hot water for 10 minutes. Extract the juice into a large kadai. Add the drumstick pieces, turmeric powder, salt and sambar powder to this. Let it come to a boil and then cover and simmer until the drumstick is well cooked and the raw smell of the tamarind is gone. Bruise curry leaves between your fingers and add it in. Add the cooked tuar dal. Stir well and switch off heat just before it starts boiling.
Heat all the tempering ingredients until mustard seeds pop and pour it over the sambar. Garnish with chopped corriander leaves.
Enjoy with rice/dosa/idli.

Check out the Blogging Marathoners doing BM#5 along with me  Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Aarthi, Divya, Me, Kaveri, Pavani,Seven Days of Indian Sweets:Gayathri, Priya Suresh,Seven Days of Microwave Meals: Monika,Seven Days of Regional Specials:Harini, Vaishali, Suma, PJ Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: KalyaniSummer Coolers: Jayasree, Kamalika, Srivalli

Vendakka(Ladies finger) pachadi

Kerala Iyers(KI), often called Palakkad Iyers(PI) even though many of us live in parts of Kerala other than Palakkad, are a community that migrated to Kerala from different parts of Tamilnadu centuries ago. They have made Kerala their home and have come up with a cuisine that incorporates the best of two worlds - Tamil cooking and Kerala cooking and have also come up with some dishes that are unique to KI cooking. You will be hard put to find some of the KI dishes in either Tamil/Kerala cooking. This vendakka pachadi is one such dish that is a unique legacy of the Kerala Iyers.
Unlike the connotation that the term pachadi has, of being an accompaniment, this pachadi is a full fledged side dish/gravy which you pour onto rice, mix and eat. It is a combination of three different tastes - sour, sweet and mildly spicy.
This, with some mangakari and papadam on the side makes a wonderfully satisfying meal.

What you need:
Vendakka/ladies finger/okra - 10- 12 medium sized ones, washed and dried on a towel
Tamarind extract - from a lemon sized ball soaked in 2 cups of water
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt
Jaggery - 1/2 tsp grated
Grind together to a smooth paste:
Grated coconut - 3/4 cup
Green chillies - 3 or 4
Mustard seeds - 3/4 tsp
Water - enough for grinding to a thick paste
Make a smooth paste with:
Rice flour - 1 tsp
Water - 1/4 cup
For tempering:
Coconut oil - 1 tsp
Red chilli - 1 or 2, broken into pieces
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Broken urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - a few

Slice the ladies finger into one inch pieces. In a large pan, take the ladies finger, tamarind extract, turmeric powder and salt. Bring to a boil and then let it simmer until the ladies finger is well cooked. Add the ground paste and jaggery. Let it boil for about 5-8 minutes until the raw smell is gone.
Add the rice flour paste and heat for a minute. This paste helps to bring all the ingredients together and to slightly thicken the curry.
Heat all the ingredients for tempering and once the mustard seeds pop, pour it over the curry.
Enjoy!!!
Note : Instead of using rice flour paste, you can add a teaspoon of rice and grind it along with the other ingredients for the ground paste.

Check out the Blogging Marathoners doing BM#5 along with me  Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Aarthi, Divya, Me, Kaveri, Pavani,Seven Days of Indian Sweets:Gayathri, Priya Suresh,Seven Days of Microwave Meals: Monika,Seven Days of Regional Specials:Harini, Vaishali, Suma, PJ Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: KalyaniSummer Coolers: Jayasree, Kamalika, Srivalli

Peanut chutney

Peanuts (called Verkadalai in Tamil and kappalandi in Malayalam) are a store house of protein.
This chutney using peanuts is very simple and quick to put together. It requires only 4 ingredients including salt and is thick, creamy and mild tasting. It goes really well with dosa/idli.

What you need:
Peanuts/groundnuts - 1/2 cup
Red chillies - 3 (adjust to taste)
Curry leaves - a few
Salt

Either dry roast or roast in half a teaspoon of oil,the red chillies and curry leaves. Then reduce the flame and fry groundnuts until they are well roasted. Let it cool. Add salt and blend until smooth.
This, along with adai was our dinner tonight.
Check out the Blogging Marathoners doing BM#5 along with me  Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Aarthi, Divya, Me, Kaveri, Pavani,Seven Days of Indian Sweets:Gayathri, Priya Suresh,Seven Days of Microwave Meals: Monika,Seven Days of Regional Specials:Harini, Vaishali, Suma, PJ Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: KalyaniSummer Coolers: Jayasree, Kamalika, Srivalli

Carrot corn curry

I was all set to make Mallika Badrinath's Carrot corn masala for dinner tonight, when I found that I didn't have over half the ingredients required for the gravy. However, since I had already gotten it into my head that I was going to use corn and carrot, I proceeded with the ingredients I had on hand and slowly,a new dish took shape. As I went along, I kept adding stuff to the gravy.....almost every masala in my pantry has been thrown in. At one point, I even thought of adding the two idlis that were left over from this morning's breakfast, but then, better sense prevailed.
The result, if I may say so myself, is quite a satisfactory curry and I am making note of it here so that if at some point in future I want to, I will be able to recreate it.

What you need:
Corn kernels - 2 cups
Carrot - 2, diced
Grind together:
Corriander - finely chopped, 1 cup loosely packed
Green chilli - 2
Tomato - 2
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Cumin powder - 3/4 tsp
Corriander powder - 3/4 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Oil - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Take carrot and corn in a microwaveable dish. Add 1/2 a cup of water. Cover and cook for 8 minutes or until done.
Grind all the ingredients under the "Grind Together" list into a smooth, thick paste adding as little water as possible.
Heat a teaspoon of oil in a kadai. Add cumin seeds. When they sputter, lower the heat and add the ground paste. Add half a cup of water, stir well and let it boil until aromatic. Add the cooked corn and carrot along with a cup of water and salt. Let it simmer on low heat until the mixture thickens.

Serve with roti/puri.

Check out the Blogging Marathoners doing BM#5 along with me  Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Aarthi, Divya, Me, Kaveri, Pavani,Seven Days of Indian Sweets:Gayathri, Priya Suresh,Seven Days of Microwave Meals: Monika,Seven Days of Regional Specials:Harini, Vaishali, Suma, PJ Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: KalyaniSummer Coolers: Jayasree, Kamalika, Srivalli

Kathirikka mezhukkupuratti (Brinjal stir fry)

Most of the dishes that I cook are simple and quick to make. If they are not, then I find ways to minimize the time involved in the process. So, when Srivalli announced Blogging Marathon #5, signing up to do it under the theme Curry in a hurry (under 30 minutes) seemed to be the logical thing to do. I would have preferred taking up a challenge - like making sweets for a week, but then, there are no takers for sweets in my home.
So, in keeping with the theme, I am posting a really simple stir fry that goes well with rice.

What you need:
Brinjals - I used 8 of the long, green variety
Sambar powder - 2 tsp (Can be substituted with red chilli powder if you want it spicier)
Oil - 1.5 tbsp
Salt - to taste

Cut brinjals into long, medium sized pieces. Heat oil in a pan Add the brinjals and salt to it, reduce flame to low, cover and cook until the brinjals are 3/4th cooked. Now add sambar powder and mix well. Remove the lid and cook till brinjals are done.


Check out the Blogging Marathoners doing BM#5 along with me 

Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Aarthi, Divya, Me, Kaveri, Pavani,
Seven Days of Indian Sweets:Gayathri, Priya Suresh,
Seven Days of Microwave Meals: Monika,
Seven Days of Regional Specials:Harini, Vaishali, Suma, PJ
Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: Kalyani
Summer Coolers: Jayasree, Kamalika, Srivalli

Ragda Patties for Blogging Marathon #5

I can't believe that I've wasted all these years of life without making this. I can't stop raving about how lip smackingly and tongue tinglingly good it was. What am I talking about??? Ragda patties, of course. A famous street food from Mumbai, I have eaten this at restaurants (the best being at Kailash Parbat, Chennai), but never knew that it is so easy to make at home. Ever since I read Nupur's post(lo.....ng back), this has been on the back of my mind. I have made absolutely no changes to her recipe and I am glad I didn't because, in Nupur's words, this truly is an explosion of flavours.....and I couldn't have done anything to make it better.

What you need:
For the patties:
Potatoes - 4 medium sized, boiled, peeled and mashed well
Bread - 4 slices
Salt - to taste
(Please resist the temptation to add green chillies/corriander/garam masala to this.)

For the ragda:
White peas - 1 cup, soaked in plenty of water overnight
Onion - 1 medium sized, chopped fine
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Tamarind extract- from a small gooseberry sized pieced soaked in just enough water to cover it.
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Corriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
Jaggery - 1 tbsp
Salt - to taste

For the garnish:
Onion - 1, chopped fine
Corriander leaves - chopped fine
Sev
Tamarind chutney

To make patties:
Dip the bread in water. Squeeze out all the water and add it to the mashed potatoes. Add salt. Mix well and shape into patties. Shallow fry on a tawa drizzling a little oil over the patties until well browned on both sides.

To make ragda:
Cook peas with plenty of water in a pressure cooker.
Heat some oil in a pan. Add the chopped onions and fry on a low flame till well browned. Add ginger garlic paste and mix well. Stir in all the powders and fry for a minute. Now add cooked peas, 2 cups of water, tamarind extract, salt and jaggery. Cover and let it simmer on a low flame for 15-20 minutes or until the gravy thickens.

Putting it all together:
Arrange two patties on a plate.
Pour a generous helping of ragda over it.
Top with chopped onion, corriander leaves, sev and tamarind chutney.
Dig in!!!

Notes:
The ragda tastes great by itself and can be served as a curry with puri/roti. As it can be made within 30 minutes, this is my first post for Blogging Marathon #5 themed on Curry in a hurry under 30 minutes.
I must give a shout out here for the Fun Foods brand of Imli Sauce (which I bought at Nilgiris). It has just the right balance of tanginess, sweetness and spiciness and kicked up the taste a notch.

Check out the Blogging Marathoners doing BM#5 along with me  Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Aarthi, Divya, Me, Jayasree, Kaveri, Pavani,
Seven Days of Indian Sweets:Gayathri, Priya Suresh,
Seven Days of Microwave Meals: Monika,
Seven Days of Regional Specials: Cool Lassi(e), Harini, Vaishali, Suma
Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: Kalyani
Summer Coolers: Kamalika, Srivalli

Corn pulao - revisiting an old recipe

Lunch today - Corn pulao and vegetable raita.
I have rediscovered just how simple this pulao is to make and how flavourful it is. This time around, I didn't even use onions......so no chopping. I've uploaded a new pic which in my opinion is a huge improvement on the previous one.

Simple pizza sauce

The little girl and I both love to read.....we often go to a library nearby where we take ages trying to decide which books to take back home with us. On the last visit, LG picked up this book called Golgappu makes pizza which tells a story about a little boy who, with the help of his mother, makes pizzas for a pizza party with his friends. Soon after reading this book, she wanted to make pizza. So we did and here's the simple tomato based pizza sauce that we made.

What you need:
Tomato - 4 large, juicy ones
Onion - 1, chopped fine
Garlic - a few cloves
Oil - 1 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Sugar - a little

Heat oil in a pan. On a low flame, saute the onions until pink. Crush the garlic slightly and stir it in. Add chopped tomatoes, cover and cook for 8-10 minutes on low flame. Crush the tomatoes with a ladle. Add salt, sugar and a cup of water. Let it simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the sauce thickens.
This is the sauce that we used on our pizza. We kept it simple and non-spicy because that's how my daughter prefers it. However, this can be spiced up with some chillies or chilli powder. You could also add your favorite herbs to make it more flavorful.

Eggless Mango banana muffins

The mango season is upon us and the variety of mangoes that is available in the market leaves me confused as to which one to buy. I end up buying a different kind each time.
On a recent trip to Coorg, I saw a stretch on the Bangalore-Mysore highway filled with street carts that were laden with different types of mango. The foodie in me had to stop and take a closer look. What I liked best about these vendors is that they give nice juicy chunks of mangoes as samples.....you can taste the mango(es) before you decide which one you want to buy.

These vendors from whom I bought mangoes were very happy to pose for a photo.
The mangoes I bought from them have nothing to do with this post because they were eaten up in almost no time.
I recently (as in this morning) bought a silicon muffin pan and immediately started scouring the web for a good muffin recipe. The search led me to Vaishali's mango cupcakes. I made some minor changes to incorporate ingredients that were in a "use-or-perish" state and the end result is a moist, soft and delightfully yellow cupcake.

What you need:
All purpose flour/maida - 1.5 cups
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Baking powder - 2 tsp
Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
Mango - 2 medium sized ripe ones
Banana - 4 small, over ripe ones
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
Oil - 1/4 cup

Mix the maida, salt, baking powder and cardamom powder together.
Puree the mango and banana. The quantity I used gave me two cups of thick puree. Take sugar, oil and vanilla essence in a bowl. Add the puree to this and beat till well blended.
Stir this into the flour making sure that it is well mixed but take care to not beat too vigorously.
Pour into the muffin pan until 3/4th full. With a silicon pan, there was no need to grease and the baked muffins were extremely easy to pop out of the pan. I made a few in paper muffin cups as well.
Bake at 175 degree centigrade for 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Let it cool completely and then dig in.

This post goes to Divya's Show Me Your Muffin event.