Stir-fried Cauliflower & Spinach

Ingredients:

Cauliflower Florets - 1.5 cup

Spinach- 2 cups (chopped)

Garlic - 6 flakes (crushed)

Onions - 2 (medium-sliced)

Tomatoes - 2 (medium-thinly sliced)

Green chillies - 2 (slit lengthwise)

Chilli powder - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp

Garam Masala - 1/4 tsp

Salt (to taste)

Oil

Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp

Preparation:

Heat the oil in a kadai.

Add cumin seeds and let it jump.

Add onions and saute till they become light-brown.

Add green chillies and fry for a minute.

Add cauliflower and stir-fry till it is half done.

Add spinach and saute for a minute.

Sprinkle with turmeric powder, chilli powder and garam masala.

Add tomatoes and stir for two minutes.

Cover and cook for 5 minutes or till they are cooked.

Add salt and coriander leaves.

After 2 minutes, remove and serve hot.

Serves as a good side dish for parathas or rotis.

This is sent off to Viki's "Side Dish for Chapathi".

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Paasi Paruppu/Moong dal Sundal

Ingredients:

Moong dal - 3/4 cup

Coconut (grated) - 1 tbsp

Green chillies - 2 (half-slit)

Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp

Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp

Urad dal - 1/4 tsp

Curry leaves - 4

Asafoetida - 2 pinches

Salt

Oil (for tempering)

Dry Roasted & Ground Ingredients:

Dry Red chillies - 3

Dhaniya seeds - 3/4 tsp

Cumin seeds - 1/4 seeds

Preparation:

Dry roast the dry red chillies, dhaniya seeds & cumin seeds and powder them.

Soak the moong dal for 20-30 minutes.

Boil them without letting them get mushy (add salt while boiling).

Strain the dal if any water is left.

Heat oil in a kadai and add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds & urad dal.

When the mustard seeds start to crackle, add the green chillies, asafoetida & curry leaves and saute.

Add the boiled dal and saute again.

Add 2 pinches of ground spices & grated coconut and mix.

Serve & enjoy it as an evening snack!

Note:

1. You can use the remaining ground spices in any other curries/gravies.

2. Adding ground spices is an optional choice.

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Tender Coconut Curry

Ingredients:

Tender coconut pieces - 1 cup

Onion - 3 (medium- chopped)

Tomato - 3 (medium- chopped)

Cashewnuts - 2 tablespoons

Red chilli powder -1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Garam masala - 1/4 tsp

Salt (as required)

Coriander leaves

Oil

Preparation:

Soak the cashews in hot water for 30 minutes.

Grind them into paste.

Heat the oil in kadai.

Add the onions and fry till it changes into light brown color.

Add the tomatoes and fry till it becomes mushy.

Add the chilli powder, turmeric powder, garam masala, salt and mix well.

Add the cashew paste and saute for a minute.

Now add the coconut pieces and mix.

Add 1 cup of water and mix.

When the gravy starts to boil, add the coriander leaves and remove.

Serves as a good side dish for pulaos and rotis.

Recipe Source: Recipe Book

This is sent off to Viki's "Side Dish for Chapathi" event.

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Omelette Roll and Pesto

Omelette roll:
Source of omelette roll is from 101 CookBooks. To begin with, omelette may be stuffed with any kind of cheese, mixed salad greens and pesto. You may add any kind of favourite stuffings. Instead of mixed greens here, I added crumbled cottage cheese and basil pesto. The eggs should be beaten so well and poured onto a medium hot tawa or crepe pan. For pesto, I picked Rekha's Kitchen's "Mint and Pistachio Pesto". I tweaked mint with basil and followed all the other ingredients. The above picture is from one omeltte.

Ingredients:
Egg - 1
Basil pesto - 1 dollop
Salt (as required)
Crumbled Cottage cheese (as required)

Method:
Beat the egg with the fork evenly.
Add the salt and beat again.
Now pour the egg on a very-medium hot crepe pan and rotate.
Cook on both sides.
Remove and place it on a plate.
Now spread the pesto on surface of the omelette. (for spreading, you can add water in pesto) Now add the cottage cheese and salt (if required).
Now roll the egg and cut diaganolly.
Continue this process with other eggs.
Serve for breakfast and enjoy!

Basil pesto:

Basil - 2 cups
Pistachio - 1/4 cup (chopped)
Garlic - 3 cloves (crushed)
Olive oil - 1 tablespoon
Salt (as required)
Peppercorns - 1/4 teaspoon
Lemon juice - from 1 lemon

Method:
Toast the pistachios for a few minutes in medium heat.
Cool it.
Now add the pistachios, basil, garlic and peppercorn and grind well.
Then add the salt and oil and grind.
Finally add the lemon juice and grind.
Have it with bread, pasta, etc.

This is sent off to Divya's "Show me your omelette" event.

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Betel Leaves and Garlic Rice

This is a 3rd century(!) Kongunadu delicacy. Recipe from Chef Jacob Sahaya Kumar from expressbuzz.com. According to him, this dish is originally prepared without onions and garlic. Instead of pearl onions, I used red onions and for dry ginger powder, I used fresh ginger.

Ingredients:

Basmati Rice (boiled) - 3 cups

Betel leaves - 3 leaves (chopped)

Garlic - 6 extremely thin slices

Onion - 1 (sliced)

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Asafoetida - a pinch

Pepper powder - 1/4 tsp

Chilli powder - 3/4 tsp

Ginger pieces - 1/2 tsp

Coconut milk - 1 cup

Sesame oil

Salt to taste

Ghee - 1/2 tsp

Ingredients for dry roasting and powder:

Bengal gram dal -2 tsp

Sesame seeds - 2 tsp

Method:

Heat the oil and add the garlic.

Fry till it changes into golden color.

Add the onions and fry till the color changes.

Now add the betel leaf pieces, asafoetida, turmeric powder, chilli powder, sesame powder, bengal gram powder, ginger and saute.

Then add the coconut milk and let it thicken.

Add the salt, boiled rice, ghee and mix.

Finally add the pepper powder.

Serve with raita.

This is sent off to RCI-Kongunadu cuisine hosted by Priya of Priya's Easy 'n' Tasty Recipes and originally started by Lakshmi of Veggie Cuisine.

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Vegetable Soup

This soup contains a lot of mixed vegetables. I grabbed whatever vegetable was there in the refrigerator-Carrot, beans, green peas, yellow pumpkin and red capsicum. Adding capsicums in this soup give a sweet taste. It's a very easy and a simple soup to make. I didn't fry or roast any veggies. I just directly boiled them.



Ingredients:
Yellow pumpkin - 1/3 cup
Green peas - 1/4 cup
Carrot - 2 (medium-sliced)
Beans - 5 to 7 (cut into pieces)
Red capsicum - 1/2 (diced)
Corn flour - 1 tbsp
Butter - 1 tsp
Salt (as per taste)
Pepper powder - 1/4 tsp (coarsely crushed)

Method:
Boil all the veggies in a vessel and cover it with a lid.
When it is half-boiled, add the salt.
When the veggies are boiled, cool it.
Blend them in a blender.
Again boil them.
Meanwhile mix cornflour in little water without any lumps.
Add it to the soup and stir.
Then add butter and stir.
Now remove from the heat and add the pepper powder.

This is sent off to Sireesha's "Soup 'n' juice" event.

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