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..

Bombay Potatoes, Potato Curry

          When going through pins on Pinterest, I saw some pins for this curry Bombay Potatoes and had pinned them some time back. The name and the pictures were so attractive, but while checking the ingredient list, I didn't find anything special, just the regular ones that goes into a curry. I have used baby potatoes, but we can use the big ones, the curry is so very simple, but it was very flavorful and tasted so good. It's a semi-dry curry and would go well with both rice and dal or with rotis too,do give it a try, the next time you cook potatoes..

Methi Moong Dal Sabzi, Fenugreek Leaves With Lentils

          Every week, I get a bunch of fresh organic methi, and I was browsing the web for a new dish that I can try out with it, when I came across this Methi Moong Dal Sabzi, fresh fenugreek leaves cooked with moong dal. The recipe is a simple stir fry and in fact I didn't expect it to taste this good, it goes very well with rotis but you can serve it as a part of a South Indian meal too..

Baingan Bharta In Mustard Oil

          My family loves eggplant, especially when I prepare a dish after roasting it on stove top, they like the smoky flavor. I have a thogayal/chutney, masial and another bharta recipe on the blog, but recently this has become the most favorite eggplant dish at home. The dish is very simple, once the eggplant is roasted, peeled and mashed, the remaining can be done in just minutes. I have already mentioned that my daughter and I like dishes cooked in mustard oil, but since the husband doesn't like it if I use just mustard oil in a dish, I use a half and half mix of regular oil and mustard oil, and that way, he also likes the dish very much. This dish gets its flavor from the mustard oil and panch phoron used for seasoning and the bharta goes well with plain phulkas/rotis or even plain akki rotis ( without any added veggies, will post that recipe soon), do try this simple dish, the next time you cook eggplants..

Pumpkin Curry, Parangikkai Curry

          Today, it's going to be another simple and healthy dish with pumpkin/parangikkai. The pumpkin pieces are cooked and flavored with a fresh spice powder and the dish has a sweet, tangy and spicy taste from the tamarind and jaggery added. It's a semi-dry curry and tastes great when mixed with rice but would also pair well with some rotis too..

Cauliflower With Fenugreek Leaves, Methi Gobi

          I get organic greens 3 days a week, and it's methi/fenugreek leaves one day, so every week I have to cook something with it, sometimes I make sambar, kootu or parathas and then I try to make curries with it along with other vegetables. As much as I like Aloo Methi, now I have started making this Methi Gobi and I like it even better, and we get a good serving of vegetables. It's a simple curry, cleaning the fresh fenugreek leaves and preparing the cauliflower takes the most time, otherwise the curry gets done fast. This goes well with phulkas and rotis or even as a side with some rice and dal/sambar..

Eggplant Roast, Brinjal Roast

          After making some Kerala and Karnataka dishes, I realized I haven't tried the Andhra cuisine that much, of course I have made a few dishes like the Pesarattu and Stuffed Eggplants but none from their day to day cooking. Today's dish is a simple Eggplant/Brinjal Roast and when I say simple, it's really that, just a handful of ingredients and no special masalas or anything. I found this recipe in the cookbook, 'Cooking with Pedatha', and in fact even while cooking I had doubts about how it would taste with such few ingredients. But then, it turned out really good, spicy and tasty and went very well with rice and dal..

Vendhaya Keerai Paruppu Usili, Fenugreek Leaves (Methi) With Lentils

          Paruppu Usili is one of my favorite side dishes, especially with moru kuzhambu, we can make it with many vegetables, the common ones being green beans and cluster beans ( kothavarangai ). I have tried it with other vegetables too, but this is the first time I made it with methi/fresh fenugreek leaves. Since fenugreek leaves have a bitter taste, I also added some green peas and jaggery in the usili and it turned out really good and tasted perfect with rice and Moru Kuzhambu..

Heerekayi Palya, Karnataka Style Ridge Gourd Curry

          I am always amazed at, how the same vegetable is cooked in so many different ways, using different blend of spices across the different states in India. Today's dish, Heerekayi Palya is a Karnataka style curry with Ridge Gourd, Heerakayi in Kannada, Beerakaya in Telugu, Peerkangai in Tamil and Torai in Hindi. It's a simple curry, the vegetable is cooked and sauteed with Palya Powder/ Curry Powder. Since I don't have the curry powder, I have made a small quantity, just enough for this curry. This palya would go very well with rice and dal or even as a side dish for rotis too..

Pavakkai Gojju, Bitter Gourd (Karela) Curry

          Bitter Gourd, not a very favorite vegetable for most of us, some of us just can't eat it at all, but in my house, we like it, and this Pavakkai/Karela Gojju is a favorite. This is a simple recipe, the vegetable is sauteed really well and this removes the bitterness ( at least most of it ) and we also add jaggery which makes this curry really tasty. This goes very well as part of a South Indian meal, with rice and sambar, as a side dish for rotis, tastes great when mixed with some white rice or as a side for some curd rice..

Cabbage Thoran, Kerala Style Cabbage Stir Fry

          Next in line on Onam Sadya Dishes is Cabbage Thoran. Thoran is stir fry with vegetables and can be made with cabbage, carrot, beans or greens and is close in taste to the poriyal in the Tamil Cuisine. The main difference is the cooking oil, which is coconut oil and the amount of coconut that is added at the end. It's a very easy dish, and a perfect side to any South Indian meal..

Mangalore Cucumber Palya/Curry

          Mangalore Cucumber, the yellow color one ( shown in the picture ), we don't use it that much in Tamil cuisine, or at least as far as I know. After moving to Bangalore, I saw this a lot in the market and I wanted to try it out. The first dish that I made with it was this Curry and now this Palya is my second dish and I have adapted the recipe from here. This curry goes well with rice and dal or even as a side to rotis, if you don't find this variety of cucumber, I think you can do it with regular one too..

Gawar Aloo Subzi, Cluster Beans ( Kothavarangai ) Potato Curry

          We use cluster beans/kothavarangai/gawar a lot in South Indian Cooking, we make poriyal, paruppu usili, in avials, dry them and use as vadams, but I have never really tried to do a side dish with it for rotis until recently. I have tasted it in subzis at a Gujarati friend's place and even in restaurants but when I tried it at home, I was not completely satisfied. Then I saw this recipe, it has both gawar/cluster beans and potato in it, the ajwain, peanut powder and coconut and other spices make it so flavorful and it goes very well with chappathis/rotis..

Beans Potato Subzi, Aloo Beans Curry For Rotis

          Beans Potato Subzi/Aloo Beans Curry is a perfect side dish to go with rotis, of course, only if you like dry curries. I used to make it whenever I felt that the beans was a little less for making a curry by itself, so I just add a couple of potatoes to make it enough for three people. This is perfect when you have to pack something dry while travelling, serve this with rotis and a dal/lentils for a complete and delicious meal..

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..

Chembu Mezhukkupuratti, Kerala Style Colocasia Fry

          Mezhukkupuratti is a Kerala dish, basically a spicy vegetable roast and it had been on my do-list for a long time. Though it's a simple dish and doesn't require any exotic ingredient, still I made it only a couple of weeks back. I made it along with Olan for a Kerala style lunch. We can make it with beans, okra, potatoes, with almost any vegetable that you can make a dry curry. I made it with Chembu/ colocasia/ arbi/ seppankizhangu, it's a spicy curry and goes very well with rice and dal or sambar or moru kuzhamu. We had it with plain rice and Olan and I love it with some curd rice too..

Jackfruit Seeds Curry, Palakottai Varuval

          This year's jackfruit season is over, as much as I miss the fruits, I miss the seeds too. In fact my daughter doesn't like the fruit at all, but she likes the seeds very much, especially in the sambar that I make with drumstick and the seeds. Usually I'll buy a dozen jackfruit bulbs or the edible part of the fruit and always used the seeds for making the sambar. Once, I got a large quantity of the seeds alone and I wanted to try out a varuval ( curry ) with it, I made it just like the way I make potato curry. It's an easy dish and it goes very well with rice and dal/sambar..

Oven Roasted Vegetables

          Roasted Vegetables, this is an easy and healthy side to any meal, I have sauteed vegetables on stove top, and oven roasted pumpkins and onions for a soup, but this is the first time I tried roasting a bunch of vegetables in the oven. I wouldn't even call this as a big recipe, it's just mixed vegetables roasted with some herbs and oil. Serve it with burgers, pasta or even roll it in a roti or chappathi topped with some chutney..

Red Cabbage And Banana Flower ( Vazhaipoo ) Poriyal ( Stir Fry )

          Everybody knows about the benefits of cabbage, especially the red one is even better than the white one. Whenever I bought this, I usually added it to a fried rice, but some time back, I made a poriyal with it, and I added banana flower ( vazhaipoo ), just because I had a little in the refrigerator. The combination tasted very good and now whenever I make red cabbage, I make it this way. Another big reason, my daughter who doesn't like both cabbage and banana flower separately, for some reason, likes this poriyal with both in it. I know most kids and even some adults don't like banana flower ( vazhaipoo ), next time, do try out this combo..

Begun Bhaja, Baingan Bhaja, Bengali Style Eggplant Fry

          Begun Bhaja, Baingan Bhaja, another dish that I had tried from the Bengali cuisine, some time back. It's a simple and tasty dish, we use the big eggplants for this, the slices are marinated in spice powders, dusted with some rice flour and shallow fried. It tastes very good with rice and some dal/lentil curry, but of course it can be served with rotis too..