Pusinikkai Kurma, Winter Melon ( White Pumpkin ) Kurma

          Whenever I buy winter melon, the first dish that I would do with it is Moru Kuzhambu ( curd based gravy ) or a kootu or raitha, and the Pusinikkai Dosa. Couple of weeks back, I had to make a side dish to go with rotis and I had to do it with Winter Melon, so then I thought I could make a kurma with it. It's an easy recipe, it  turned out good and went very well with the rotis..

Vendakkai Dosai, Bhindi Dosa, Okra Dosa

          It's been more than a month, something or the other kept me away from the blog and now I think, I have lost the habit of blogging. I haven't cooked anything special for the blog in the last 2 months, even today's post is something that I had made sometime back, well slowly I have to get back to the blogging routine. Today's dish is another simple and delicious dosa, Vendakkai Dosai or Bhindi or Okra Dosa. I came across this recipe in a cook book by Mrs Chandra Padmanabhan, and I was surprised at the thought that one can make dosas with lady's finger/okra. The batter needs to be fermented and the resulting dosas are soft and fluffy and nobody would be able to notice the okra in it, until you actually tell them, and they go well with a spicy chutney and sambar..

Amaranth Leaves Chutney, Mulai Keerai Thogayal

          Finally got to post after about 2 weeks, and today it's going to be a simple and delicious chutney using amaranth leaves, Mulai Keerai Thogayal. Till now, I have used these leaves only in a gravy and a masiyal, this is the first time I made this chutney or thogayal with it. We saute the leaves and grind them with some coconut and roasted spices, this tastes very good when mixed with some white rice and ghee..

Tendli Bhat, Mahrashtrian Ivy Gourd Rice

          I have heard of this Tendli Bhat, a rice made with ivy gourd in the Mahrashtrian style, but never got a chance to try it until now. When I saw the recipe, I found that I had made an almost similar rice using cucumber as the main ingredient, Cucumber Masala Bhat. This is a simple one pot meal with rice and ivy gourd/ kovakkai as the main ingredients and is very flavorful with the fresh masala powder made with sesame seeds and dried coconut/ copra and other spices. Serve it with some papads or chips and raitha or curd for a simple and delicious meal..

Basale Soppu Koddel, Malabar Spinach Sambar

          Every week, on alternate days, I used to get three types of leafy vegetables home delivered and I had opted for a bunch of spinach, methi and amaranth leaves. But on a couple of days, when methi was not available, they had sent me this Nela Basale Soppu ( soppu means greens in Kannada ), a local leafy vegetable. Verdolaga is the botanical name of these greens and you can check here to know more about the health benefits of it. The first time, I made a simple stir fry with it along with onions and tomatoes, but the second time, I tried out this Basale Soppu Koddel, a Mangalorean style sambar with them. We don't use sambar powder for this sambar, instead we make a fresh paste with coconut, chillies and other spices and we also add peanuts and small onions, This gives a nice taste to this sambar and it goes very well with white rice..

Eggless Pav Buns, Pav Bread

          Pav Buns or Pav Bread has been on my do-list for a long time, and I don't know the reason for not baking them until now. We have Pav Bhaji for dinner, but whenever I made it, I bought the buns from the store and just made the bhaji only at home. But once I started baking my own bread at home, I wanted to make these buns also at home itself. For today's post, it's going to be Pav Buns made with plain flour or maida, but I am sure that, the next time I bake them, it'll be with whole wheat flour, but once in a while we can enjoy these soft and pillowy buns with all purpose flour..

Quinoa Adai

          Though I have been cooking quinoa for so many years now, I have been using it only, in the place of rice in pilafs or just cooked it as such or with some rice and used it with sambar and curries. Only now, I have started using it in dosa batter and muffins and the next in that list is this Quinoa Adai. This is not a big recipe, we make it the same way as regular adai, using quinoa in the place of rice, the adai came out well and the quinoa gave a nice taste to the it..

Sorakkai Chutney, Bottle Gourd ( Lauki ) Chutney

          Today's post is going to be another healthy and delicious chutney with bottle gourd, Sorakkai Chutney, Bottle Gourd or Lauki Chutney. The first time I tasted it, I was even surprised to know that there was bottle gourd in the chutney, but now when I think about it, we make chutneys with almost all vegetables and greens. Though, basically this chutney is made to go with idlis and dosas, you can still have it with rotis or even have it with some plain rice..

Suran Sabzi, Senai Kizhangu Curry, Yam Curry

          Whenever I bought Senai Kizhangu/ suran/ yam, the first dish that I made with it was always the senai kizhangu fry, and the next one would be the masiyal and sometimes I have made a gravy/ kuzhambu with it to go with rice. I have never tried making a curry with it to go with rotis, this is the first time that I tried this sabzi with suran. It's a curd/yogurt based gravy which gives the thickness and creaminess to it and it goes very well with both rotis and rice..

Soy Chunks Pulao, Meal Maker Pulao

          We like soy chunks at home, it's a good source of protein in a vegetarian diet, usually I add it to kurmas, briyani and I have also made parathas with it too. Recently I made this pulao with soy chunks, it's a simple and flavorful dish and very nutritious. Serve it along with a vegetable raitha or kurma for a complete and delicious meal..

Eggless Quinoa Muffins

          It's been a long time time since I had baked some muffins or cakes, in fact I have not been doing much baking because of the hot weather also, but now the temperatures have come done, so might be I'll be baking more. Coming to today's post, I have wanted to use quinoa in baking for a long time, but the first time, I had used uncooked quinoa in baking and the results were not good. After that, for some reason, didn't do it again until now, this time I used cooked quinoa in these Quinoa Muffins and they turned out good and I was very satisfied with them. I have used whole wheat flour/ atta along with the cooked quinoa, and they are not too sweet, so they are perfect for breakfast or snack. I have also added some grated carrots, golden raisins and walnuts and they tasted very good with a nutty texture from the quinoa..

Methi Chaman, Fenugreek Leaves With Paneer

          My daughter's favorite side dish for rotis is Palak Paneer and I have two versions of it on the blog. Recently I came across this dish, Methi Chaman and gave it a try, we can call the dish, a cousin to Palak Paneer. We grind and cook a mixture of fresh methi/ fenugreek leaves and spinach and add paneer at the end. This dish looks similar to Palak Paneer, but the methi gives a wonderful flavor and taste to the dish and it goes very well with rotis, naan and pilafs..

Pineapple Kesari, Pineapple Sheera

          Kesari is a favorite at home and since we all like pineapple, we love this Pineapple Kesari very much. It's been a long time since I made it at home, and now since pineapples are in season, I made this kesari. It's a very easy dish, we can use both fresh and canned pineapple, and the pineapple flavor takes the regular kesari to the next level..

Vazhaipoo Kuzhambu, Banana Flower Gravy

          Vazhaipoo Kuzhambu, gravy with banana flower, I had seen this on a cookery show, long time back, but never got to try it, until now. I remembered the recipe very vaguely, so then I saw this recipe video and followed it. They also call this gravy as ' Saiva Meen Kuzhambu ', which means Vegetarian Fish Gravy', the reason might be that, the ingredients added and the way it's cooked is all similar to that of a Fish Gravy. The kuzhambu is tangy and spicy and goes very well with some plain white rice..

Quinoa Dosa (Crepes)

          Today's post is going to be another healthy and delicious dosa with quinoa and brown rice. The most common way in which I include quinoa in our diet, is adding a little to the regular rice that I cook for lunch. Now this Quinoa Dosa has become another regular in my kitchen. The dosa comes out very good, it has the perfect texture, perfect color and also tastes really awesome with any chutney of your choice..

Ragi Aval Puttu, Finger Millet Flakes Puttu ( Sweet Breakfast Dish )

          We all know that millets have become very popular now, we get them in many forms, whole millets, flakes, semiya, noodles, flour and semolina too. Till recently, I was cooking millet flakes just like regular rice poha, soaking them and then cooking them covered. Then I saw on a show, they just rinse the millet flakes and then steam them. This method seems to be more suitable for millet flakes. Today's post is Ragi Aval/ Finger Millet Flakes Puttu, it's a sweet dish served for breakfast. It came out really good, soft and tasted absolutely delicious..

Methi & Carrot Chutney, Fenugreek Leaves & Carrot Chutney, Vendiya Keerai Carrot Thogayal

          I get three types of organic greens, spinach, methi and amaranth every week and sometimes the methi leaves bunch turns out to be a really big one. After making the usual stuff with them, I had some more and I was looking out for something new to try with it. I looked up for some chutney recipes with fenugreek leaves and finally decided to make this one with methi/vendiya keerai and carrots. This chutney has a coarse texture and tastes best when mixed with some rice and ghee. This is the first time I made this and we loved it, it goes well with some curd rice too..

Mushroom Briyani

          Mushroom Briyani, jotted the recipe down from a cookery show by Mallika Badrinath and I have been making this for so many years now. It's an easy dish and the mushrooms give a nice flavor to this briyani. We don't add any ghee in this briyani, so it's vegan too, the method is slightly different from the regular briyani and it tastes awesome. Serve it with some potato chips and raitha or curd for a delicious meal..

Palak Aloo Parathas, Spinach Potato Parathas

          I have already posted spinach parathas and aloo/ potato parathas and this time, it's a  combination of both, Spinach Potato Parathas. Usually I would have added some mashed spinach and potato along with other spices directly to the flour while making the dough, but this time, I made the dough with the spinach puree and used the potato mixture as the stuffing. The parathas turned out really soft and delicious and we loved the combo of spinach and potatoes, serve them with a pickle or a chutney and some curd on the side..

Nungu Payasam, Palm Fruit Kheer, Ice Apple Payasam

          Last week I had bought this Palm Fruit, known as nungu in Tamil and also as Ice Apple. While waiting for the guy to remove them from the shell, I was talking to him, he asked me whether I needed the small tender ones or the thick matured ones. We like the tender ones at home, but then I asked the guy, whether someone asked for the matured ones. I was surprised to hear when he told that people actually asked for them and the guy didn't stop there, he also told me about this Payasam/ Kheer that they made with it. After coming home, I made this payasam, this is one of the most easy and delicious payasam that I had ever made..

Gujarati Matar Kachoris, Green Peas Kachoris

          Gujarati Matar Kachoris, Peas Kachoris has been on my do list for a long time, I have already made and posted the Bengali Kachoris, which are more like stuffed pooris. For today's matar kachoris, we use maida/ all purpose flour for the outer cover and a simple and delicious peas mixture for the filling. When cooked on low heat, these kachoris have a crispy and flaky outer layer and a delicious soft inner filling and taste very good when served with some green chutney or even some tomato sauce..

Kadamba Chutney, Mixed Chutney

          Kadamba Chutney, a chutney using a little of many ingredients, so we can call it as Mixed Chutney. I do this chutney when I have a little of this and that, I have used mint leaves, coriander leaves, carrot, curry leaves, small onions, some coconut and also some peanuts. Making the chutney is simple, we saute the different ingredients, grind them all together and finally do a seasoning with mustard seeds and urad dal. This chutney goes very well with idlis and dosas..

Corn Rava Dosa

          Today's recipe is going to be another dosai or dosa, Corn Rava Dosa. This is an instant dosa, in the sense, the ground batter doesn't need fermentation. I have used Corn Rava or Corn Semolina for making these dosas. The corn semolina is a little coarse, so needs some soaking and grinding to make dosas. The dosas turned out really good and tasted good with a spicy chutney..

Sundakkai Sadam, Turkey Berry Rice

          We don't get sundakkai/ turkey berry in Bangalore, at least, where I stay, so whenever the husband goes to Chennai, this is one of the things that he picks from there. Usually I end up making kuzhambu with it, but this time I wanted to try something different, so decided to make a rice with it. There's nothing fancy to this recipe, I have cooked the turkey berries with some onion, tomato and other spices and to add some taste, I  have also added some boiled peanuts to it. The rice turned out good, serve it with some raitha and potato chips or pappads for a simple and delicious meal..

Palakottai Poricha Kuzhambu, Jackfruit Seeds Gravy

          Jackfruit season is back, at least I am seeing it in Bangalore, but I am yet to buy them. This Palakottai Poricha Kuzhambu, I have done it during the last season, but didn't get a chance to post it then, so now since the season is coming back, I am posting it now. Usually I add jackfruit seeds to sambar, especially along with drumsticks and last year I had also tried out Palakottai Vadai, Palakottai Cutlets and Jackfruit Seeds And Raw Mango Curry. Coming back to today's Kuzhambu, it's very simple and tastes great with rice with a nice flavor of coriander and peppercorns..

Broccoli And Sun Dried Tomato Pasta

          It's been a long time since I posted a pasta recipe on the blog, might be it's been a long time that I have cooked pasta or did the same usual stuff. This time, I had broccoli and sun dried tomatoes with me and I wanted to try out something different, and after searching the web, finally I decided to do this Broccoli And Sun Dried Tomato Pasta. It's basically a simple recipe and it has the usual basic ingredients that we add in a pasta dish, but the way it's added made a difference, the pasta had such a delicious flavor and it tasted really good..

Aloo Paneer Tikkis, Potato Cottage Cheese Patties

          I had some paneer left after doing the usual Palak Paneer, it was a small quantity and not enough to make a dish with it alone, so I decided to add some potatoes with it and make these Aloo Paneer Tikkis, Potato Cottage Cheese Patties. I have also added some fresh methi ( fenugreek ) leaves to add some flavor to the tikkis. Tikkis can either be deep fried or shallow fried, I have shallow fried these tikkis. They turned out super delicious, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, and tasted great with coriander chutney, you can also serve them with some tomato sauce too..

Kuttu Atta Roti, Buckwheat Flour Roti

          I have heard about buckwheat flour, when staying in the US, but never tried anything with it back then. Then after coming to India, I totally forgot about that flour, then again a couple of years back, I came across recipes with kuttu atta, but didn't know at that time that kuttu atta was buckwheat flour. Kuttu Atta is used for making rotis, puris and sweets during Navrathiri time ( vrat, fasting dishes ), in the northern states of India, in the South we do not use this flour, at least to my knowledge. Buckwheat flour is gluten free and hence these rotis are ideal for people with gluten allergy. But as with gluten free flours, it is very difficult to roll out rotis with it, so we have added some mashed potatoes while making the dough for these rotis. The rotis turned out soft and they would go very well with any kind of spicy curry..

Achari Gobi, Cauliflower With Pickling Spices ( Lucknowi Style )

            I have been seeing these Achari dishes for a long time, but I finally tried this Achari Gobi only now. I wanted to try something new with cauliflower and decided to do this Achari Gobi, after going through so many variations of this dish, I decided to do this Lucknowi Achari Gobi. Basically 'achar' means pickle and Achari Gobi is actually cauliflower ( gobi ) cooked in pickling spices. The pickling spices used here is a mixture of mustard, fennel, fenugreek, cumin and nigella seeds ( also known as kalonji, onion seeds ). The dish is originally cooked in mustard oil, but as usual I have used a mixture of regular oil and mustard oil, Achari Gobi turned out really good and tasted delicious with rotis..

Karuveppilai Dosai, Curry Leaves Dosa

          Whenever I get a good big bunch of curry leaves, I would always want to try out this Karuveppilai Dosai with it, but only now I made it. This is the second time I have made this dosa, the first time, I couldn't take decent pictures, so it didn't make it to the blog. The main ingredients for this dosa are rice and curry leaves, and it's an instant dosa, the batter need not be fermented. The dosa tastes best when served hot and like all instant dosas with rice, the dosa becomes rubbery when it turns cold. This time, I added some aval/poha/rice flakes while making the batter, this improved the texture of the dosa, still it's best to have this dosa when it's fresh and hot and it goes well with coconut, peanut chutneys or even with some tomato thokku..

Radish Chutney, Mullangi ( Mooli ) Chutney

          Today's post on the blog is another side dish to go with idlis and dosas, Radish Chutney. At home, most of the time, radish gets used up in making sambar and in parathas, very rarely I have made anything else with the vegetable. Couple of days back, when I had to make a chutney for dosas, I wanted to try something new and after going through the vegetables in the fridge, I decided to make this Radish ( Mullangi, Mooli ) Chutney. This is also a nice way to sneak in some veggies, it looks and tastes ( to some extent ) like the coconut chutney, so we can have it with idlis, dosas, adais and upmas..

Vegetable Briyani

          Vegetable Briyani, I had made this so many times, but it has made it to the blog only now. Sometimes, I couldn't take pictures, sometimes, the pictures were not good and most importantly, I couldn't get that delicious Briyani flavor which I had got long time back, the main reason for that ( I learned later) is the amount of ghee used in the dish. The ghee gives that rich flavor to the dish, of course for today's dish, I have used a mixture of oil and ghee, but more ghee than oil and I have used a little more than 2 tablespoons of fat on the whole. The dish turned out perfect, and we had it with some cucumber raitha and potato chips for a rich and delicious weekend lunch..

Beet Yam Parathas, Beet Suran Parathas

          Usually I buy a slice of yam ( karunai kizhangu, suran ) and I make the masial or varuval with it. This time I had bought a whole one, I had used half of it for the varuval and with the remaining, I wanted to try something new and then I remembered seeing parathas made with it. The recipe that I saw used raw grated yam, but I decided to use cooked and mashed yam, I also added some grated beets and other spices and the parathas turned out soft and delicious. Serve them with some pickle and curd for a simple and delicious meal..

Mysore Sambar

          Mysore Sambar, just like Mysore Rasam or Mysore Pak I really don't know why we have 'Mysore' in the name of this dish. This a recipe from the cookbook Dakshin by Chandra Padmanabhan, I can say that, this is one of the first cookbooks that I started following after my marriage. Back then, I had written down all the recipes from this book, which I had borrowed from the library,  and to this day, I follow many of her recipes for day to day cooking. I have made this sambar so many times and it had always received good reviews from all those who had tasted it. The sambar is very simple to make and it gets its unique flavor and taste from the ground paste that we add to it. It goes well with plain rice and can also be served with idlis and dosas too, do try this when you want to have a change from the regular sambar..

Rice Flour Rotis, Arisi Maavu Chappathis, Ukkarisida Akki Roti

          Rice Flour Rotis ( Arisi Maavu Chappathis, Ukkarisida Akki Roti ), my friend had made this for her son who had gluten allergy, it looked close to wheat flour rotis and it tasted good too. She had also mentioned that unlike the wheat flour rotis, these were a little difficult to roll out, because it lacked the gluten. So, instead of adding just hot water to the flour to make the dough, I followed the same way as I did for the ragi ( finger millet ) rotis. I cooked the flour and then made the dough. This made it a lot easier to roll out the rotis, but of course we have to roll it out carefully, keeping in mind that the dough will break ( lack of gluten ) if rolled out very fast. We can make them like phulkas without oil or cook it with oil too, and it goes well with all curries, but I love it with Baingan Bharta With Mustard Oil..

Methi Muthiya, Wheat Flour & Fenugreek Leaves Dumplings

          Every week I get a bunch of fresh methi ( fenugreek leaves, vendaya keerai ) bunch and sometimes the bunch turns out to be slightly bigger. After having used half of a big bunch for sambar or kootu, I was left with a little more leaves, which I decided to use for making these Methi Muthiya. This is again another healthy and filling Gujarati snack, I have already posted Khandvi and Dhokla and now these Methi Muthiyas join the healthy snack list. As the name suggests, we use methi leaves along with whole wheat flour and besan flour to make them and there are two ways of making them, deep fried version and the steamed version. Today's post is the steamed Methi Muthiyas, and they can be eaten as such or with some spicy chutney or sauce..

Potato Curry In A Peanut-Curd Gravy

          Today's dish is going to be another simple and delicious dish with potatoes, Potato Curry In A Peanut-Curd Gravy. I have made curries with a curd/yogurt base, but I liked the addition of coarsely pounded peanuts in the curry. While making the curry, I was thinking that this would also taste somewhat similar to the other curd based curries, but it tasted very different and delicious, might be because of the peanuts. The curry would go very well with rotis, naans or even with a pilaf..

Green Peas Dosa, Pattani Dosai

          Will I ever get tired of eating idlis and dosas, never, and I am always ready to try a new one. Today's dish is yet another dosa, Green Peas Dosa or Pattani Dosa and what better time to make them, than now, when fresh green peas are still in season. I have already posted Moong Dal Dosa, Pesarattu and this Peas Dosa is a slight variation of the pesarattu. This is a very healthy dosa, rich in protein and also, we can make them immediately after making the batter as there is no need for fermentation. If fresh green peas are not available, we can make them with frozen peas too, so make and serve it with some spicy chutney..

Manathakkali Kai Masiyal, Mashed Black Nightshade Berries Curry

          Manathakkali/Black Nightshade, till now I have cooked with only the keerai/greens, of course a few berries would be there with the greens, but this is the first time, I have made a dish with the berries alone. These berries are green when raw and turn blackish purple when they ripen, for today's dish we are using the raw green berries. Whenever we go to Chennai, I always remember to buy sundakkai ( turkey berries ) and fresh green peppercorns as I don't find them in Bangalore. This time, my husband had bought these manathakkali kai, mistaking these berries for the green peppercorns. Since I had never cooked these berries, I had to call my co-sister for a recipe and she asked me to do this masiyal with it. Since these berries have a bitter taste, I was not sure about this dish till I tasted it and, to my surprise, the curry tasted so good, didn't have the bitter taste at all. I am not going to say anything about the health benefits of these berries ( there's a lot of information on the net ), but do try out this masiyal, the next time you get these berries. Serve the Manathakkali Kai Masiyal with plain rice along with a vegetable curry and papads for a simple and delicious meal..

Choliya Paratha, Fresh Green Chickpeas Paratha

          Choliya Paratha, this is the last dish that I made with the fresh green chickpeas ( choliya ) that I had bought, the other two dishes are Choliya Paneer and Choliya Kofta Curry. There are some more dishes that I would love to try out with these chickpeas, but they have to wait till I can get another batch of them. Coming to today's post, it's very simple, we make a mixture with the fresh chickpeas and other spices and use it as a stuffing for these parathas. As usual, serve these parathas with a vegetable curry, some curd, pickle or chutney for a simple and delicious meal..

Bread Halwa Recipe

          The first and perhaps the only time that I had tasted Bread Halwa is some 20 years back. My knowledge about cooking was negative back then, but I can still remember the rich taste and texture of it. After that, I had wanted to try it so many times and finally got to make it only now. I am not exaggerating, when I say that it's one of the easiest sweets you can make, and you just need some bread and the other basic ingredients in a sweet. Try it out the next time you have some extra slices of bread and you have the sudden craving for something sweet..

Instant Oats Uthappam, Savory Pancakes

          Today, I had to make lunch just for me, of course, my daughter would have some too, after she came from school. I wanted to make something that was simple and at the same time a little healthy too and after thinking about so many things, I finally made this Oats Uthappam. Though the name has only oats in it, I have added so many other ingredients to it, starting with poha/rice flakes, rice flour, carrots, paneer and other spices. I just made a batter with all of them and made the uthappam, they turned out perfect and they would taste good with any kind of chutney/thokku or gravy..

Keerai Pongal, Spinach Pongal

          Today's post is going to be a simple and delicious pongal, Keerai Pongal or Spinach Pongal. I used to make this Spinach Pongal a lot when we were in the US. I always had frozen chopped spinach in the freezer and so this dish could be put together in minutes, here in India, I don't get frozen spinach, so I use fresh spinach. It's a very easy dish, serve it with some Onion And Tomato Gothsu for a complete and delicious meal..

Choliya Kofta Curry, Fresh Green Chickpeas Dumplings In Tomato Gravy

          Couple of weeks back, I had bought some choliya ( fresh green chickpeas/kondakadalai ) and I had made 3 different dishes with it. I have already posted the first one, Choliya Paneer Curry, today's the second one, Choliya Kofta Curry. Like all kofta curries, there are 2 steps to this one too, making the koftas and the gravy and then putting them together, but still it's an easy dish. The koftas turned out soft with a crumbly texture and tasted very good, this curry would go very well with rotis, naans and pilafs..

Motichoor Ladoo Parathas

          I had some leftover motichoor ladoos ( store bought ones ), and I wanted to make something with it,other than eating it as such. I have already tried a pudding with ladoo and bread, it tasted really good, this time I saw a couple of other dishes that we can make with them and I decided to make these Motichoor Ladoo Parathas. The parathas turned out so flavorful and very delicious, you can have it as such, or dust it with some powdered sugar and enjoy..

Mint Almond Pesto

          I had brought this huge bunch of mint leaves, I made a chutney with some of it, added some while making a rice dish, but still was left with more leaves and then I remembered this pesto. I usually make the classic Basil Pesto and I have also tried the pesto with Sun Dried Tomatoes, this is the first time I tried this Mint Almond Pesto. I have used almonds in the place of pine nuts and have added some garlic and lemon zest for flavor. The pesto came out perfectly and had a nice mint flavor and we can have this mixed with pasta or spread it on a piece of bread. top it with some cheese and tomatoes, grill and enjoy..

Jowar Aloo Paratha, Jowar Potato Paratha

       
          After a weekend of rich festival food, I am going to start of this week with a healthy paratha, Jowar Aloo Paratha. There's already an Aloo Paratha using wheat flour on the blog, but today's paratha is gluten free since we are using jowar/sorghum flavor for making them. Jowar flour dough is difficult to roll out, so stuffing them with the potato mixture and rolling out would become messy, so I have mixed in the potatoes with the dough and then made the parathas. The parathas turned out soft and delicious, serve them with some curd/raitha and pickle for a filling and healthy meal..

Fresh Green Chana & Paneer Curry, Choliya Paneer

          Winter is when we get fresh green peas, avarekalu, fresh green chana/choliya, red carrots in India and I love all of these vegetables. Fresh chana/chickpeas is not available as easily as the other ones, so when I see some, I buy them immediately. Last week I bought some and instead of doing the regular curry with it, I browsed and noted down a few recipes to try out with it and first in line is this Choliya Paneer, a simple and delicious curry with green chana and paneer. The curry turned out super good and tasted excellent with rotis and I am sure that it would go well as a side with pilafs and other rice dishes, do try this curry when you find some fresh green chana in the market..

Akkaravadisal (Akkara Adisal), Sweet Milk Pongal

          Akkaravadisal, I have come across this name so many times, but never got to taste it and when going through the recipe for it, I found it to be similar to Sakkarai Pongal, but with a slight variation. It's a Tamil Iyengar recipe and it's made as a 'naivedyam' especially on Koodaravalli which is an auspicious day observed on the 27th day of the Tamil month Margazhi . This year it happens to fall on today and also, Pongal being just around the corner, I thought of making and posting it today. Taste wise, it is more like Sakkarai Pongal, but with a milky flavor, since we cook the rice in lots of milk and ghee. Since it's a rich dish with lots of milk and ghee, have a small serving and enjoy..

Lauki Akki Roti, Bottle Gourd (Sorakkai) Roti

          Bottle Gourd/Lauki/Sorakkai is such a versatile vegetable, we can make so many dishes with this vegetable, starting from curries, koftas, idli, dosa, roti and halwa and I buy it almost every week. Today's dish, Lauki Akki Roti is such an easy dish and the main ingredients are rice flour and bottle gourd. I have given an easy method of making this roti, and they come out really soft, serve them with a spicy chutney for a filling and delicious meal..