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..