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..