Carrot Thogayal

Thank you Sailu of sailus kitchen for this dish. I used her recipe but modified it to suit our taste. Here is the original dish.

Ingredients

2-3 cups grated carrot
3/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 tbsp split broken urad dhal
1 tbsp Channa dhal
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1-2 dry red chillies
1-2 green chillies
1 tbsp grated jaggery or brown sugar
1 tsp oil
salt to taste
juice of 1/2 lemon

Method

1. Fry urad dhal, channa dhal, red chillies, cumin seeds mustard seeds in a tsp of oil. Keep it aside to cool. Then grind the dhal mixture to a smooth powder.
2. In the same pan spray a little bit of oil and fry the carrots with green chillies.
3. Fry the cilantro leaves until the raw smell goes away. Takes a couple of minutes.
4. Add the carrot and cilantro leaves and grind with the dhal mixture.
5. Add lime juice in the end. This gives it a slight tangy taste.

Tastes great with Dosi or idli.

Potato Masiyal

Ingredients

3 big potatoes
1 cup tamarind water
1 tbspn chopped ginger
2-3 green chillies
1 tbspn channa dhal
1/2 tspn mustard seed
1/2 tbspn coconut
1/2 tspn turmeric powder
sprig of curry leaves
juice of 1/2 lemon (adjust to taste)
1 tspn oil


Method

1. Preasure cook potatoes and remove the skin. Mash it with the back of your spoon. Make sure there are some lumps in the potatoes.
2. Add the potatoes in a pan and add tamarind water, turmeric and salt. Let it boil for 3 to 4 minutes.
3. Meanwhile in a pan add the oil and once it is hot add mustard seeds, Channa dhal, chillies, ginger, curry leaves and shredded coconut. Fry till they are all golden brown.
4. Add this to the cooked potatoes and remove from heat.
5. Finally add the juice of one lemon.

Serve with hot rice.

Eggplant Subzi

Thank you Vaishali of earthvegan for this dish. I used her recipe but modified it to suit our taste. Here is the original dish




Ingredients

7-8 Small Brinjal
1 onion chopped
Small piece of tamarind softened
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbspn sugar
1 inch ginger
2 tbsp oil

Fry till golden brown

2 tbsp Coriander seeds
1 Tsp Cumin Seed
1 tsp Sesame seeds
3-4 Red Chillies
1/2 tsp methi seeds
1 tbsp shredded coconut

Method

1. Add the fried mixture, tamarind, salt, turmeric, sugar, ginger and grind it to a paste
2. Slit the brinjal and stuff the paste in it. The brinjal should be joined in the bottom to hold the paste.
3. In a large skillet add 1 tbsp of oil and add the brinjal. Fry it slowly until the flesh is tender. Keep it aside.
4 Pour the rest of the oil and fry the chopped onions. Add it to the remaining paste mixture and grind it to a pulp.
5. Pour it in a sauce pan and let it boil for a few minutes.
6. Add the stuffed brinjal to the sauce pan and let it simmer for at least 15 min.

Garnish with cilantro and serve with hot rice or chapathi.

Erivali Kulumbu

Ingredients

2 Cups of chopped mixed vegetables
(Carrots, White pumpkin, Okra, Eggplant, Capsicum)
1/2 tsp turmeric powder.

Fry and Grind
1 Tbsp Channa dhal
1 tsp Methi Seeds
6-7 Red Chili
1/4 cup shredded coconut
1 small piece of tamarind softened.
2 cups butter milk or fat free sour cream

Grind all the ingredients to a fine paste. Add the butter milk or sour cream in the end.

Seasoning
1/2 tsp mustard seeds, methi seeds, curry leaves.


Method

1. Boil all the vegi in a little bit of water with salt and turmeric.
2. Once the vegetables are tender add the ground mixture. Turn down the heat to medium low. It should not boil too much or the curd will separate.
3. Temper with mustard seeds, methi seeds and curry leaves.

Tastes great with hot rice

Variations:
1. While frying add 1 tbsp coriander seeds to it. Boil one tomatoe with other vegetables. Follow the same procedure.

Cilantro Pesto

Ingredients

1 cup coriander
1 tbsp red chili flakes
1/4 cup walnuts
2 inch ginger root
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp lime zest
2 tbsp cheese (Parmesan)
2 tbsp Olive oil
Salt to taste

Method
Grind all the above ingredients in a food processor. Keep adding olive oil as required. Serve with cooked whole wheat pasta.

Quick Jeera Rasam

Ingredients

2 tsp coriander seeds
2 tsp Jeera seeds
1 tsp grated coconut
3 red chillies
1 tsp jaggery
1 Tsp Turmeric
1 tomato
small ball of tamarind - Soak in hot water

Seasoning

1/2 tsp ghee
1 tsp Jeera
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
Curry leaves
Cilantro

In a sauce pan add tomatoes, turmeric powder, salt and boil it for 2-3 minutes. Grind coriander, jeera, red chilies, cocunut and tamarind into a coarse paste. If you want you can add the boiled tomato while grinding. Pour them in the pan again and let it boil for another 3 minutes. Add the jaggery on top. If it is too spicy you can add more jaggery. Temper with jeera, curry leaves, mustard seeds. Using ghee for tempering makes this rasam very fragrant.

In a different saucepan add a little bit of ghee or oil,

Channa Dhal Capsicum Subzi

Ingredients

1 Cup beasan flour
1 onion
1 capsicum/Green Bell pepper
1 tomato
2 Green Chile
Small piece ginger

Seasoning

1 tsp Jeera
Curry leaves
Cilantro
1 Tsp Turmeric


In a pan dry roast beasan flour. Remove roasted beasan flour in a bowl and add some water to it. Keep it aside. Now spray some oil. Fry Jeera, chopped green chile, minced ginger and onions. Add the bell pepper, tomatoes and cook till it is tender. Pour the beasn water and let it boil for 5 minutes. Garnish with cilantro and curry leaves.