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..

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..

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..

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..

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..

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..

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..

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..

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..