Curry Leaves Potato Curry, Karuveppilai Urulaikizhangu Curry

          Curry Leaves Potato Curry, well as the name says, this curry has potatoes/urulaikizhangu and yes, lots of curry leaves/karuveppilai. Actually, I had tasted at a restaurant, a curry similar to this but made with mushrooms and I simply loved the flavors in the dish. Then, why did I make the curry with potatoes, because on that day, when I had a huge bunch of curry leaves, I didn't have mushrooms but a bag of baby potatoes. The curry, as such is a simple one, but it's bursting with flavors from the curry leaves, garlic, pepper and fennel seeds, well, those are the main ingredients here. It's a dry dish and it goes well as a side with both rice and rotis, do try it out if you like potatoes and curry leaves, I am sure you'll love it..

Musk Melon Juice, Cantaloupe Juice

          Muskmelon/Cantaloupe is so much in season now, and with the weather so hot here, this has become a regular in our house. This, water melon and tender coconut water are the only relief from the heat. I am not going into the benefits and nutritional value of this fruit, you can check it out here. We can have it  as such, slices of fruit, but we love it as a juice or in a milkshake. This is not much of a recipe, just needs a couple of ingredients and a blender, do have this and keep yourself cool this summer..

Puli Sadam, Tamarind Rice, Puliyodharai, Puliyogare

          Puli Sadam, Tamarind Rice, Puliyodharai or Puliyogare, this is one of most popular mixed rice dishes of South India, something that we pack for trips and also most often served as a ' prasadam' at the temple. All of us in the family love the ' prasadam puli sadam '. Also this is one of the rice mixes, that I used to make and keep for my husband, when I came to India on vacations ( when we were staying in the US ), it keeps well in the refrigerator for at least 2 months. If you have the mix ready, then it takes minutes to mix in some cooked rice with it. I follow this recipe that I had jotted down long time back from a cookbook. And one more thing, gingelly oil, sesame oil is a must for this rice and also in a generous amount, so if someone is allergic to sesame seeds, then don't try this rice. I feel, that the rice will loose its unique flavor if we replace the sesame oil. Serve it with some papadams or chips on the side for a delicious meal..

Bengali Green Peas Kachori, Koraishutir Kochuri, Matar Kachori

          Recently we had been to a Bengali restaurant here, in Bangalore and we had ordered a Raja Rani Thali ( super big size vegetarian thali that can be easily shared between 4 people ). The thali consisted of six or seven curries served with luchis and plain rice along with the traditional Bengali rasagulla. I just loved all the dishes, each of them had a unique taste, with the aroma of mustard oil and khus khus. I have made a couple of Bengali dishes at home, but I haven't yet cooked anything in mustard oil. Long time back, when I was just married, I had bought a bottle of mustard oil, but the pungent smell was too much for me at that stage and I ended up wasting it. Now again, after so many years, I have bought a bottle and it's yet to be opened, but this time I will definitely cook something with it. I think, after so many years of cooking and more exposure to other cuisines, I am now ready for it. Well, coming to today's dish, it's another Bengali Kachori, Koraishutir Kochuri, or Green Peas ( Matar ) Kachoris. Bengali Kachoris are basically deep fried, stuffed flat breads. I have already tried and posted Radhaballabhi which has a stuffing with urad dal, now in this one, the filling is with green peas. It's traditionally made during the winter, when fresh green peas are in season, but when we don't have fresh peas, we can still make them with the frozen ones. I had served these kachoris with the Dum Aloo With Coconut Milk, and we simply loved it, do try this out for a weekend breakfast or brunch and I am sure you'll like it..

South Indian Breakfast/Dinner Recipes

          Idlis and dosas are the most common breakfast or dinner dish in most South Indian homes, a stock of idli or dosa batter is always there in the refrigerator. Apart from the plain idli and dosa, there are also ones made with millets and vegetables and then there are also other tiffin varieties like adais, upmas, khichidis and paniyarams too. I have made a collection of all of the South Indian Breakfast/Dinner dishes that I have posted in my blog, try them out and enjoy..

Vanilla Ice Cream - Eggless

          I have been cooking now for so many years, and being a food blogger, I have tried cuisines other than Indian, tried my hand at baking too, but for some reason, never tried making ice cream at home. In fact, I have an ice cream maker at home, that I had bought longtime back in the US, but till now, I haven't used it at all. Even today, for my first attempt at making ice cream at home, I didn't use it. Actually, I had a can of Milkmaid ( sweetened condensed milk ) and Fresh Cream in my pantry, of course when I had bought them, I had other ideas. But, now with this hot weather, I wanted to do something that didn't need much work and the first thing that came to my mind was ice cream. This is such an easy recipe, needs no ice cream maker, an electric hand blender is all that is needed, but I feel, even without that, you can still make this ice cream. I would still try making it, the regular way, but I think, even then, this would be my first choice, the ice cream tasted so delicious, perfect texture and most important of all, takes just minutes to put together..

Dum Aloo With Coconut Milk- Vegan, No Onion And Garlic

         When I was surfing the net for a recipe for green peas kachori ( stuffed puris ), I came across this version of Dum Aloo with Coconut Milk. I already have two versions of Dum Aloo/Aloor Dum on my blog, one using curd/yogurt and another simple version that I had served with another variety of Kachori, Radhaballabhi. This version does not have curd but it gets all its creaminess from the cashew and poppy seeds paste and the coconut milk. It tasted awesome with the green peas kachoris and of course it would go very well with any kind of rotis, naans or puris. I love onion and garlic and I think that they should be part of our daily diet but if someone is looking for a version of Dum Aloo without onion and garlic, then this is for them..

Ginger Chutney, Inji Chutney

          Ginger is one thing that I always have in the refrigerator, something that I use almost everyday in my cooking. Though I always add a small piece of it to many of my chutneys and pachadis, this is the first time I made a chutney with ginger as the main ingredient. We also add coconut and other ingredients to balance the spiciness from the ginger. This chutney goes very well with idlis and dosas and it's a perfect side dish for pesarattu ( moong dal dosas ), but if you make this chutney slightly thick like a thogayal, we can have it with rice too..

Malpua With Rabri

          Malpua With Rabri, my daughter's favorite, we never miss to have this whenever we get to visit our favorite ' chat place ' in Chennai. The place is famous for its chats, but we go there mainly for their Malpua with Rabri. I have already posted the recipe for Rabri here, so today I am just posting the recipe for Malpua here. Malpua is almost similar to pancakes, the ingredients are mostly the same, but unlike pancakes, malpua is deep fried or at least shallow fried, but of course if you want, you can make it like pancakes ( with a small compromise in taste ). This dessert is for sure loaded with calories, but do try it once in a while, it tastes absolutely delicious..

Ragi Avarekalu Roti, Finger Millet And Field Beans Roti

          Avarekalu season is over, I had made these rotis when they were still there in the market, I couldn't post it right away but you can still make these rotis if you have frozen papdi lilva. Usually when I made ragi rotis, I used to make a dough with the ragi flour and hot water, but this time I made it slightly differently, I cooked the flour in the boiling water, then made the rotis with it. The rotis turned out super soft and remained that way even when cold. They go very well with coconut chutney, tomato thokku or pickle..

Gatte Ki Sabzi, Curry With Besan Flour Dumplings

   
          Gatte Ki Subzi is a famous Rajasthani dish, always part of the traditonal Rajasthani thali (lunch ). I had tasted it a few times, when we tried Rajasthani food ( in a restaurant ), but unfortunately I never liked it that much. It's a curry made with dumplings made with besan flour ( chickpeas flour ) but I always felt that the subzi needed something more to make it tasty. So when I decided to give it a try it at home, I was very much prepared to be disappointed with the taste. But, you should have guessed by now, it turned out really tasty, otherwise I wouldn't be posting it today. The stepwise pictures might make it look a little difficult and lengthy process, but actually we can make the gatte ( besan dumplings ) in the time we need to chop vegetables. It goes very well with rotis, serve it with some salad or a vegetable curry for a a complete meal..

Sun Dried Tomato Pesto

          Basil Pesto is an all time favorite at home, we just love it with bread along with some tomato slices and cheese. We can make pesto with basil, coriander, parsley and even spinach, I am yet to try out these other varieties. Today's pesto is with sun dried tomatoes, we can use both the dry variety or the ones packed in olive oil. The pesto turned out really good, you can use it as a spread on bread slices or with pasta or even as a topping on pizza, so simple to make and yet so delicious..

Eggless Cinnamon Rolls With A Coffee Glaze

          Warm  and soft cinnamon rolls dusted with some brown sugar or glazed with a simple creamy sugary glaze, I just love them, so soft and aromatic and perfect with some hot coffee. They have been on my do list for a long time and I finally made it couple of weeks back. While browsing the web for the recipe, I came across these delicious rolls with a coffee glaze and I made them immediately. The flavor of cinnamon and coffee go very well together, the rolls smelled and tasted so delicious, have them for breakfast or snack..