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..

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..

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..

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..

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..

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..

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 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..

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..

Cabbage Kofta Curry, Cabbage Dumplings In A Creamy Gravy

          I didn't mean to take a break, it's so happened that I got a little busy on a couple of days and then as usual it took me a while to get back to the habit. Today's post is a simple and delicious kofta with cabbage, a recipe that I had tried long time back. Unlike most of the kofta gravies, this one does not have paneer, cream or any other milk products, we use cashew paste to make the rich gravy. The curry tastes very delicious and you can serve it with pilafs, rotis and naans..

Thotakura Pappu, Amaranth Leaves With Lentils

          After that long post 'Shaam Savera' last week, I wanted to start this week with a simple dish, Thotakura Pappu. This is basically a greens and lentil preparation and a simple everyday Andhra ( a state in India) dish. We have used Amaranth leaves, known as Thotakura in Telugu and pappu means dal/lentils and we have used tuvar dal/pigeon peas in this dish. Serve this with some hot white rice and a fry or some nice spicy pickle on the side for a simple and delicious meal..

Shaam Savera, Spinach Paneer Kofta Curry

          When I was checking on the web for some spinach paneer kofta recipe, I came across this dish Shaam Savera by chef Sanjeev Kapoor. I have never heard of this dish before, or might have seen on some menu card and totally forgot about it. More than the actual recipe, the pictures of this dish on the web actually made it look very tempting and I wanted to give it a try. When I saw that, the dish is basically spinach koftas stuffed with paneer and served with a rich tomato gravy, I knew immediately, that nothing can go wrong in this combination. It's not an everyday kind of dish, needs some time, so make and enjoy it with rotis, naans or pilafs, for a relaxed brunch or a special dinner..

Podalangai Poricha Kootu, Snake Gourd Curry With Lentils

          When making a South Indian meal, when I want a change from the sambar, I make a vegetable kootu. Kootus are made with some kind of a vegetable and usually a dal, except when we make Moru Kootus, then we don't add lentils to the dish. We also add a lot more of the vegetable when making a kootu than when we make sambar. So if you make some rice and pappads, then along with the kootu, it would be a simple and filling meal. Today's kootu is with Podalangai/Snake Gourd and we use moong dal/split green gram in it, Podalangai Poricha Kootu. This kootu/curry is very flavorful from the freshly ground coconut-spice paste. Serve this with some white rice and a little ghee and some sutta appalam on the side, it such a delicious combo..

Mathanga Erissery, Kerala Style Pumpkin Curry

            Today's post is going to be Mathanga Erissery/Pumpkin Curry, another dish that's served in the Onam Sadya. This is a very flavorful dish with a double dosage of coconut, it's added as a paste to the cooked vegetable and then again some sauteed coconut is mixed at the end and of course, coconut oil is used for cooking. I followed the recipe from ' The Essential Kerala Cookbook', it's again an easy dish and since pumpkin cooks fast, it's done in no time. The curry tastes really delicious and goes very well with rice, try it out if you like coconut..

Cauliflower Posto, Cauliflower In Poppy Seed-Mustard Gravy

          Both the daughter and I like Bengali food, we love their dum aloo, kachoris and their vegetable curries in mustard gravies. Previously I used to use regular vegetable or sunflower oil instead of mustard oil, but recently I had bought a bottle of mustard oil and I am using it to make these Bengali style curries. Now, not everybody would love mustard oil, even my husband is not a big fan of it, sometimes I mix regular oil and mustard oil, so as to keep down the flavor a little. Now, coming to today's curry, we cook the cauliflower in a mustard-poppy seeds and cashew paste and milk. The curry tastes delicious with both rice and rotis, do give it a shot if you want to try out some Bengali food at home..

Palakottai Mangai Curry, Jackfruit Seeds And Mango Curry

          The next dish that I tried this time with the bag of Palakottai/Jackfruit Seeds that I bought was this  Palakottai Mangai Curry/ Jackfruit Seeds And Raw Mango Curry. Both mangoes and jackfruits are in season around the same time and this is a very tasty dish to try out with it. The coconut paste and the coconut oil used in the curry gives a wonderful flavor to the curry and it goes very well with rice along with some spicy vegetable curry..

Badanekai Yennegai, Karnataka Style Stuffed Eggplant Curry

          Jowar Roti With Badanekai Yennegai ( Stuffed Eggplant Curry ), ever since I came to know about this combination, I was waiting to make it. Why waiting, when I could have made it the very next day, well, I wanted to taste the combo at a restaurant serving traditional Kannadiga food, and then try it at home. But that didn't work out, so finally, I gave in and made it at home. With so many wonderful blogs out there, featuring Kannadiga dishes. actually that was not difficult. The curry turned out absolutely delicious and it tasted awesome with the Jowar rotis. I already have two versions of Stuffed Eggplant Curry in my blog, version 1 and version 2, and now this one is yet another and each one is tasty in its own way. Coming back to today's post, if you have not yet tried this combo, do try it and I am sure you'll love it, but if you can't make jowar rotis, then you can still have it with some plain rice and it's equally delicious..

Mushroom Capsicum Kurma, How To Make Mushroom Capsicum Kurma

          Mushroom is another vegetable which I pick up once a week or 10 days, it's so easy to cook and goes very well in curries, stir-fries and pilafs/briyanis and it tastes good either alone or in combination with other vegetables. For today's dish, I have paired it up with capsicum and I have made a white kurma with it. This curry is rich, delicious and tastes great with rotis, naans, dosas or as a side to pilafs and briyanis. If you are someone who likes mushrooms, then give this dish a try..

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..

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..