Kaara Kuzhambu – Spicy Curry – For rice

This spicy curry can be made without using any vegetable.

Ingredients:

Coconut – freshly grated or desiccated – 1 cup
Cumin seeds – 2 tbs
Pepper corn – 1 tsp
Onion – 1 medium size – finely chopped
Tomato – 2-3 – finely chopped
Sambar powder – 2 tbs
Gingelly oil – 4 tbs
Tamarind extract – from lime size ball
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Urid Dal
Fenugreek seed powder
Asafoetida – 1 pinch
Curry leaves

Method:

1)Grind to paste – coconut, cumin seeds and pepper corn.

2) In a pan, heat the oil. Add mustard seeds, urid dal,fenugreek seed powder, asafoetida , curry leaves , onion and tomato. Saute till this mixture becomes a paste.

3) Add sambar powder , salt and a cup of water.Allow this to boil for few minutes.

4)Next add tamarind juice and half portion of gingelly oil i.e. 2 tbs. Let this again boil for few minutes.

5) Next add the coconut paste and remaining portion of gingelly oil.

6) When the gravy thickens, turn off the heat.

Green gram curry – Pachai Payaru Kuzhambu- Whole Moong Dal Curry

Simplest recipe on the earth i can say 😉  . Try and enjoy.

Ingredients:

Green gram – 1 cup
Onion – 1 medium size
Green chilies – 7-8
Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds – 1 tbs
Coriander seeds – 1 tbs
Curry leaves
Cilantro leaves (for garnishing)
Salt
Oil

Method:

1) Pressure cook green gram with enough water and turmeric powder.(3-5 whistles, depending on the variety of green gram).

2) Add required amount of salt ,mash the cooked green gram and keep it aside. Green gram gets dry easily so may have to add more water.

3) Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds, coriander seeds (crush the coriander seeds between your palms before adding), curry leaves, chopped onion and green chilies.Saute these items.

4) When the onion gets translucent , transfer the contents to mashed green gram.Mix well and garnish with cilantro leaves.

Serves : 2

Mor kuzhambu – Buttermilk Curry

This one is a awesome dish…my all time favorite..

Ingredients:

Yogurt or Butter Milk (Should not be sour) – 1 cup
Onion – 1 medium size/Shallot – 7-10
Vegetable (optional) – Chayote or Drumstick or Ash Pumpkin or Bottle gourd
Coconut – grated or dessicated – 1 cup
Green chilies – 4-5
Pepper corn – 5-6
Jeera – 2 tbs ( 1 tbs for grinding and 1 tbs for tempering)
Rice – 1 tbs
Toor Dal – 1 tbs
Chana Dal – 1 tbs
Red chilies – 2-3
Fenugreek seeds
Curry leaves
Mustard Seeds
Cilantro
Oil
Salt

Method:

1) Soak rice , toor dal and chana dal for 10 minutes.

2) Grind the above  soaked items along with coconut, green chilies, jeera and pepper corn.

3) In a pan, heat the oil and add mustard seeds, jeera, curry leaves, red chilies, fenugreek seeds and onion.

4)  Saute till the onion gets translucent, add the vegetables and the coconut ground paste.

5) Add salt and cook the vegetables in this paste till they are well done.

6) In the end, add yogurt or buttermilk.Let it simmer for few minutes.Turn off the heat and garnish with cilantro leaves.

This curry is good when served with papad/appalam/vadagam. Enjoy!!

Sambar – Version 1 – For rice

Ingredients:

Toor Dal – 1/2 cup
Tomato – 1
Onion – 1 medium size
Drumstick – 4 pieces or any vegetable of your choice
Sambar powder – 2 tbs
Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
Tamarind extract  from 1 lime size ball
Mustard seeds
Curry leaves
Red chilies

Method:

1) Pressure cook toor dal with 1.5 cups of water and turmeric powder. (2 whistles will do). Keep this aside.You may extract cooked dal water for rasam.

2) In a pan or pressure cooker , add chopped onion (do not finely chop the onion) ,chopped tomato, drumstick , tamarind juice and sambar powder. Cook till the drumsticks are well done. Pressure cooking will speed up the process (single whistle will do).

3) Now add dal to the cooking ingredients.

4) For tempering, add mixture of clarified butter (ghee) and oil to a heated pan. Add mustard seeds and wait till they splutter.Next add curry leaves and red chilies. Add this to sambar. Health conscious people can avoid ghee.

Yummy sambar is ready!!

Salad

Healthy eating…that is what i am trying. 🙂

I have just implemented this plan of eating salad once a week, probably for dinner.I’ve been doing this for the past two weeks.Though I haven’t seen any major change in my health, i have contented feeling of eating something good.

For Salad:

Iceberg Lettuce
Carrot (grated)
Red Onion – thinly sliced
Cherry tomato

You can add any other vegetable of your choice, like cucumber, broccoli etc.

Dressing:
This week i tried a rich almond dressing.
First grind 5-6 almonds to powder, then gradually add olive oil , honey ,salt, little crushed black pepper, lime juice and orange juice.

Mix this dressing to salad and enjoyyyy…

Moong Dal Curry – Paasi paruppu Kuzhambu

Ingredients:

Moong Dal /Paasi Paruppu- 1/2 Cup
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Vegetable chopped – 1 cup
(You may use bottle guard, ridge guard or eggplant, here i have used ridge guard)
Sambar powder – 1tbs
Onion – 1 small size
Jeera/Cumin seeds – 1/2 tsp
Green Chilies – 4-5
Curry Leaves
Cilantro
Oil
Salt

Method:
1) Half cook  moong dal with turmeric powder, for 1/2 cup dal you can use around 2 cups of water.Keep this aside

2) In a pan cook the vegetable with sambar powder, salt and water.

3) Once the vegetable is well cooked, add it to half cooked dal and cook for some more time, till the dal is fully cooked.

4) In a pan, heat the oil.Add Cumin seeds , curry leaves, green chilies, onion.Saute till the onion is golden brown.

5) Add the sauteed items to dal. Garnish with Cilantro.

Serves: 2

Moong Dal curry is ready to be served.