Capsicum Curry With Peanuts And Sesame Seeds

          As I have mentioned so many times, capsicum is one vegetable, that I always have in my fridge, it is a very versatile vegetable and so many dishes can be made with it. It pairs beautifully with so many vegetables, it takes less time to cook and most importantly, can be chopped in minutes. For today's curry I have cooked the capsicums with some roasted peanut and sesame seeds powder which gives a nice taste and flavor to it. It's again an easy one, very ideal for those busy weekdays and goes well with both rice and rotis..

Microwave Apple Jam

          Homemade jams are always more special than the store bought ones and I had always wanted to make some, but kept putting it off since my family is not the 'jam' kind, they like savory sandwiches better. But this time I had so much apples at home, I had bought some and then a visiting friend had got some more, and I knew I had to do something with it. This apple jam, it's from a cook book that came with my microwave oven. It's such an easy method, I followed the original recipe, except for the amount of sugar and I added some ginger which gave a nice flavor and taste to the jam. My daughter who's not a big fan of jelly sandwiches, loved this jam and I was so happy, that my maiden attempt at jam making was a success..

Potato And Lentils, Aloo Dal

          On weekdays, when I pack lunch, and when it's rotis, I try to make some side dish that has some protein in it, usually by adding some dal/ lentils or some form of soy, so that it's filling and doesn't make you hungry very soon. Today's dish is one such, I have cooked moong dal along with potatoes, and I have added kasuri methi which gives the dal a nice flavor. This is so easy to make, you have to only dice the potatoes and tomatoes and the entire cooking can be done in the pressure pan. This dal goes very well with pilafs, rotis or even with dosas..

Potol Posto, Parwal/ Pointed Gourd In Poppy Seed Paste

         When I was back in the US, I used to see this vegetable called as Potol/ Parwal/ Pointed Gourd at the Indian grocery stores, it looked similar to tindora/ kovakkai/ gherkins, but a little plumpy. I had no idea where to use this vegetable or how to cook it or how it tasted once cooked. Then after moving to Chennai, I didn't see it, but now in Bangalore, I am seeing this vegetable everywhere, but I still didn't buy it till a couple of weeks back. I had bought this Bengali cook book called Bangla Ranna, while browsing through it, I saw that this vegetable is widely used in Bengali cooking. I have tasted posto a couple of times, which is basically a vegetable dish, in which the chosen vegetable ( usually potato, potol and even ridge gourd ) is cooked in a poppy seeds gravy. I checked a couple of other Bengali food sites and then made this, reduced the amount of poppy seeds and of course I haven't used mustard oil. This dish goes very well with rice, even if you don't find or don't want to try parwal/ potol, try this curry once with the common potatoes..

Guacamole (Avocado/ Butter Fruit) With Cumin And Garlic

          After moving to India, getting my hands on a good avocado or butter fruit as they call it here was a big problem, the couple of times that I bought this while staying in Chennai, it always turned out bad and then I stopped buying it. But now in Bangalore, I am able to buy good avocados, they are in fact huge ones, almost double the size of the Hass avocados, that we get back in the US. My family loves guacamole, we have it as a spread on our sandwiches. Till date I only knew that they used the fruit for making guacamole, in milk shakes and ice creams, only recently, while reading about Coorg, I came to know, avocado is a staple there and they enjoy it simply with some honey, I have to try this yet. Coming to today's post, I have already posted a recipe for gaucamole in my blog, this is a slightly different version and it's more flavorful with the addition of garlic and cumin..

Palak Paneer - 2, Spinach With Indian Cottage Cheese

          Though I am calling this post as Palak Paneer - 2, this is in fact, the first palak paneer that I used to do for my daughter. It's a very simple dish that does not use much spices or masalas. Back in the US, we get baby spinach packets, just wash and blanch them and use them and they taste very good in this dish, better than the regular spinach. This dish is ideal for a small group, because we are using only spinach puree here, no onions or tomatoes to give more volume, for a bigger group or party, I would recommend my other recipe here. I got this recipe from a cook book of Chef Sanjeev Kapoor, a delicious recipe with minimum ingredients and maximum flavor..

Potato And Capsicum Rice, Urulaikizhangu Kudaimilagai Saadam

          Potato and Capsicum Rice, this again is a very easy and quick dish, it can be put together in a breeze, especially if you have some leftover rice from the previous day. It's a perfect lunch box idea for your busy weekdays, uses the basic ingredients from your pantry and of course, potatoes and capsicums. Just serve it with some raitha or curd and some chips on the side for a delicious meal..

Eggless Banana Pancakes

          Last week I bought some bananas, the three of us ate some but then, as usual, there was some left which was overripe. Most of the time, this ends up in the garbage, but this time I had so many left and I had to do something with it. Initially I thought of making some appams, but then after eating so much sweets for Diwali, didn't feel like doing it and then decided on making these pancakes. I tried to make it as healthy as possible, used whole wheat flour and replaced eggs with yogurt and used oil instead of butter. The pancakes came out very good, but the best part is, I served them, slathered with some chunky peanut butter, the slight salty taste from the peanut butter took the pancakes to another level..

Okra Fritters, Vendakkai Pakoras, Bhindi Fries

          Both my daughter and husband love okra/ vendakkai/ bhindi and they like all the dishes that I make with it, starting from sambar to curries. I have made these fritters/ fries long time back and after that whenever we had it, it was store bought ones as I usually make the vendakkai curry every time that I bought okra. This time I reserved some okra for making these fries, it's such an easy recipe and you'll love it, even if you don't like okra otherwise. This might not be a healthy way of eating okra, but deep frying it removes the sliminess from it and leaves you with a crunchy and yummy snack..

Muttakos Adai, Cabbage Adai

          Adai is a family favorite, it's not only tasty but also very nutritious. I usually make the regular Paruppu Adai just with rice and dal batter mixed with onions and coconut or the Vazhaipoo Adai with the same batter mixed with chopped banana flower. This time, I made the adai with chopped cabbage and also slightly changed the flavor of the batter with ginger and cumin seeds instead of fennel seeds. Cabbage gave a different taste and flavor, and we enjoyed the adais with some tomato chutney..

Pottukadalai, Dalia, Roasted Gram Chutney

          Though I haven't posted yet, the tomato chutney is one that I do most often as a side for idlis and dosas, since it's a favorite for both my husband and daughter. But sometimes, when I run out of tomatoes or I am running short of time, then it's this pottukadalai/ dalia or roasted gram chutney. No previous roasting or sauteing is required and you can do a couple of versions with it. Usually I do a combo of green chillies, ginger, roasted gram and a little coconut or dried red chillies, garlic, roasted gram and coconut. But for today's chutney I have used red chillies with ginger and have also added a couple of shallots. This chutney goes well with almost everything, both as a side to idlis and dosas and would also taste good if mixed with rice too..

Beetroot Kootu, Beetroot Dal, Beets With Lentils

          Whenever I buy beets, I usually make a poriyal or use it along with other vegetables in a kurma or curry. I've made kootu with it long time back, but the taste was not that amazing, so I never did it after that. I made the kootu again, couple of weeks back, cooked beets along with some dal and this time, spiced it up with black pepper and the taste was awesome. I've noted that black pepper ( instead of dried red chillies ) goes well with vegetables that have a sweetish taste like carrots and beets. And also, I have done the seasoning with coconut oil which gives a wonderful flavor to this kootu. It tastes great with some plain rice and pappads..

Aval Upma, Poha Upma

          It's been a week since I checked on my blog, had been on a trip to Coorg and came back only on Saturday. It was a different kind of a vacation, very relaxed and peaceful, saw for the first time, a coffee estate, learnt a little more about what goes into that morning cup of coffee. We also visited Talakaveri, the place of origin of the river Kaveri, a holy pilgrimage for the Hindus. We also got to taste a little bit of the local Kodava cuisine, Coorg food, I would be trying out some of the dishes and posting them here later. Now coming to today's post, it's the simple aval upma or poha, this is one upma that my daughter likes and I have been trying out different versions of this simple and humble upma. I have already posted one, Pepper And Jeera Aval, and today it's going to be another one, here we are flavoring the rice flakes/ aval/ poha with lemon, ginger and green chillies. It's such a simple dish, can be put together in under 20 minutes and makes a good breakfast or an after school snack..

Green Beans And Chickpeas Curry

         Back after a weekend of fun and celebration, hope everybody had a fun filled and safe Diwali. After all the sweets and savories for the past couple of weeks, today's post is going to be a simple curry with green beans and chickpeas/ garbonza beans or chana. It's very simple to make, goes very well with both rice and rotis, very healthy and nutritious..