This is one more for the Viki's Side Dish for Chappathi event.

Ingredients:

Cauliflower florets - 1 cup

Potatoes cubed - 1 cup

Green Peas - 1/2 cup

Paneer - 1/2 cup

Capsicum - 1

Onion - 1 big

tomato - 1 medium

Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1 pinch

Chilli Powder - 1 tsp

Coriander Powder - 1 1/2 tsp

Garam masala - 1/2 tsp

Saunf Powder - 1/4 tsp

Cumin Powder - 1/2 tsp

Coconut Paste - 2 tbsp

Cinnamon - 1 piece

Mint Leaves for garnishing

Method:

In a kadai add some oil and fry the cubed paneer. Drain them and put in a bowl containing water.

In the remaining oil, add the cinnamon and then onion. Then add the ginger garlic paste.

When the raw smell goes off, add the tomato and all the vegetables except capsicum & paneer.

Now add the turmeric, chilly powder, saunf powder, coriander powder and salt. Mix well and close with a lid. Once the vegetables are cooked, add the capsicum, garam masala and the coconut paste.

Cook it for 2 more mins and garnish with mint leaves.

Serve with hot chappathi.

My husband really loved this gravy and it was a great happiness for me.

For all these years, people have kept on inventing new dishes out of all possible veggies. This dish is one such kind and I have wondered so many times, who would have invented this and how come they could have got such a thought ;) Coming to the recipe, its a delicious vada you can have. It goes well with Mor Kulambu and also with sambar. If you have patience(to sort the veggie), you deserve a great treat.

Ingredients:

Vazhaipoo(Plaintain Flower) - 1 sorted

Bengal Gram Dhal - 2 cups 

Red Chillies - 6

Raw Rice - 1 tbsp

Green Chillies - 2

Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp

Fennel Seeds - 2 tsp

Garlic - 4 pods

Ginger - 1/2 inch piece

Aesfoetida - 1/4 tsp

Salt

Onion - 1 

Green Chillies - 2 minced finely

Curry Leaves and Coriander Leaves - minced finely

Method

Soak the dhal and rice seperately for an hour. 

Sort out the plaintain flower, wash it and cut it roughly to grind. 

In a mixer, add the rice, chillies, cumin seeds, fennel seeds garlic and ginger. Girnd it to a smooth paste by adding little water. 

Then add the flower and grind it coarsely. Finally add the dhal and grind it coarsely(as you do for masal vada)

Add the minced onion, chillies, leaves and salt. Mix well. 

In a kadai, heat required oil for frying. 

Take a small ball of batter, flatten it and fry it in oil. 

This vada wont be too crispy as masal vada. It will be soft only and crispier outside alone. 

Serve hot with rice and curry. Or if you are serving as a evening snack, serve it with pudhina chutney. 

Greens are very cheap and you can make much varieties out of it like kootu, poriyal, thuvattal, kadaiyal, keerai vadai and so many. The cooking time is very less. Only time consuming process is to sort out the keerai and cleaning it. If somebody does it for me, I will prepare keerai even everyday ;) 

Ingredients for keerai kootu

Arai Keerai - 2 cups (washed, cleaned and chopped finely)

Pearl Onion - 10 minced

Green Chillies - 3 split

Tomato - 1 minced

Green Gram Dhal (Paasiparuppu) - 1/2 cup

For Seasoning

Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp

Split Urad Dhal - 1/2 tsp

cumin seeds  - 1 tsp

Red Chillies - 3

Aesfoetida- 1 pinch

Method:

For this recipe the dhal should be less and the keerai should be more. Its good on both the health and taste front. 

In kadai, cook the dhal (don't pressure cook it). Once it is half cooked add all the ingredients to it and close it with a lid. Let it cook for some time. 

That's all season the kootu with the seasoning items. 

Serve hot with rice and potato fry. 

This is my kid's favourite during lunch time and hence I am sending this for Monthly Mingle -Kids Lunches hosted by Srivalli and originated by Meeta. I truly had a lovely lunch. 

Again am sending this to FIC Red+Green hosted by Neha(don't know whether it fits her tricky guidelines ;)) originated by Sunshinemom

Also when I am alone at home, I will prepare this for me and not much of cooking involved, hence sending this to  Single Serving Recipes hosted by Spicyrasam

This is a sweet tangy combo side dish. This is healthy at the same time as we are using jaggery for that. This will serve as a good side dish with sambar rice.

Ingredients:

Raw Mango - 1

Jaggery - 1 cup (Depends on how sweet you want)

Green Chillies - 2

Red Chillies - 4

Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp

Urad dhal - 1/2 Tsp

Curry Leaves

Method:

Remove the skin of the mango using a peeler. Make rough pieces of mango. I use peeler only for that.

In a kadai, add 1 tsp of oil and add the seasoning items.

Add the cut chillies and saute for a minute.

Add this mango pieces and saute for some time.

Add 1/2 cup of water, 1/2 tsp of salt and close with a lid.

Once the mango is cooked well add the crushed jaggery and mix well.

Cook it for five more minutes till the jaggery is completely melted down and mixed well with the mango.

Switch off the stove and serve hot with sambar rice.

I am reposting it for the Mango Mela conducted by Srivalli.

Bitter guard , a veggie which most people don't like. My whole family is against this veggie, but I love this veggie so much. It will be delicious to have bitter guard fry with sambar. Coz of my husband, i am not at all preparing this nowadays. This time i forced him to get this and tried it in a different way as my friend suggested. I liked this way too...but still it was rejected by both my mom and hubby. I am posting it here to know how many of the world likes it. I don't know how many of you know this tip about bitter guard...when you buy bitter guard, buy the ones which are light green in colour. Those ones will have less bitterness in them. 

Ingredients:

Bitter guard - 1/4kg

Onion - 1

Tomato - 1

Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tsp

Chilly Powder - 1 tsp

Mustard and urad dhal for seasoning

Method:

Mince all the veggies. In a kadai, add 1 tsp of oil and season it with mustard and urad dhal.

Add the onion and saute till it becomes soft. Then add the ginger garlic paste and saute till the raw smell goes off. 

Now add the tomatoes and bitter guard and mix well. Add the chilly powder, salt and sprinkle some water over it. Close it with a lid and allow it to cook for 5 mins. 

Garnish with curry leaves and coriander leaves. Serve hot with sambar rice/rasam rice/curd rice. 

Tell me if you like it.  

Ingredients:

Cabbage - 300 gms

Peas - 1 cup

Onion - 1

Red Chillies - 2

Curry Leaves

Mustard seeds and urad dhal for seasoning

Aesfoetida - 1 pinch

To Grind:

Coconut - 2 tbsp

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Green Chillies - 4

Method:

Grind the items to grind without adding water. 

Mince the cabbage to very small pieces. Cook the cabbage and peas together with 1/2 Glass of water, turmeric powder and salt. 

In the kadai add 1 tsp of oil and season the curry with mustard seeds, urad dhal, Aesfoetida, curry leaves and Red chllies. 

Add the cooked cabbage and peas and saute well. 

Now add the grounded items and mix well. close with a lid and cook it for 5 mins. That's it done, serve hot with sambar rice. 

This is my First post on new year and am expecting to post a lot and lot more. 

First of all I wish everyone a VERY HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR 2009 and also thanks everyone for visiting my blog. A special thanks to Spice Club Cham who always visits my site and leave a comment for each of my post, which is an energy tonic for my site. I celebrated my new year by visiting so many temples in and around Thanjavur. My Trip Details are updated in Kayalsworld. 

OK lets get into work, after new year when I checked my mail, there was a mail from Srivalli regarding the MLLA Seventh Helping event. I thought my first post in this new year should go for an event and am proudly sending this for Srivalli's event(You know my first ever entry for an event was also for this MLLA only!!!).

Everyone will be knowing Toor Dhal, but many of you wouldn't be knowing the bean version of 

it. Because this is the first time I saw it. It looks like a bean family and we got to use the dhal inside, which is similar to green peas. These peas will be dried up, processed and packed as toor dhal, which we use for sambar. My MIL got this and its her recipe, but I prepared and posting it here. 

Ingredients:

Green Toordhal Peas - 1 cup

Tamarind - lemon sized

Pearl Onion - 10

Garlic - 10 pods

Aesfoetida - 1 pinch

Salt to taste

To Grind:

Red Chillies - 20

Coriander seeds - 2 table spoon

Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp

Pepper Corns - 1 tsp

Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tsp

Method:

Soak the tamarind in 1 cup of water for 1/2 hr and get a thick extract. Dry roast all the items mentioned to grind one by one. Grind it to a smooth paste. 

In the kadai, add 2 tbsp of Gingelly oil, add the seasoning items and then the onion and garlic and saute well. 

Add the Thoor Peas and saute well. Now add the ground paste and tamarind extract. Add turmeric powder and salt. Close it with a lid and cook till the required consistency. This peas will take only less time to cook. 

If you like you can also add 1/2 cup of coconut milk at the end. But the taste will be different. Both the ways it will be delicious.

Serve this curry with hot rice, vegetable kootu and pappad. Now am sending this to Susan  Srivalli's MLLA Seventh Helping and

I am sending this to Grammathu Kaimanam/Village Special Recipe Event hosted by Shama. 

This is also one very simple and easy to prepare recipes. Actually its a true recipe from Kerela, but almost all tamilians will prepare it (anyway in their own form). This is truly a healthy recipe which includes all the possible veggies and taste will be heaven. You can have it as a side dish for sambar or curd rice, or also as a main dish and also as a sidedish with Adai. This is good dish which can be served for children or elders. 

To this you can add any vegetable in this world. Only suggestion is don't add any veg which may change the color of the dish (Ex: Beetroot) or texture of the dish (Ex: Lady's finger). Also you should be aware of the cooking time required for each veggie. For example, Capsicum will cook very fast when compared to Elephant Yam. Accordingly you should add them while cooking. I think I am explaining too much...lets get rid of advices and go to the kitchen.

Ingredients:

Vegetables - Yam, Vazhaikkai, Colaesia, Beans, Carrot, Potato, Cauliflower, Green Peas, Brinjal, Cluster Beans, Chaote, Turnip, onion and tomato. This is what I had that time. I didn't get Drumstick that time. So didn't add, felt bad for that. 

Coconut - 5 tbsp

Green Chillies - 5 (Depends on how spicy you want)

Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp

Coconut Oil - 1 tbsp (optional)

Curd - 1/2 cup

Firstly wash and cut all the vegetables you have. You can also add peas, mochai and double beans. Cook all these vegetables in a pan in 1 glass of water, turmeric(1/2 tsp) and salt. 

If you add Drumstick, it will give a good flavour but add it at the last. Cook the Yam separately for 5 mins and add it at last. 

All the vegetables should be cooked well, yet they should be firm. 

Grind together coconut, cumin seeds and green chillies to a smooth paste. Add the ground paste to the cooked vegetables and cook for 5 more mins. 

Switch off the stove and add curd stir well and then add the coconut oil. If you don't like it you can skip the coconut oil also. 

That's all its done. Serve it in a plantain leaf with rice, sambar and curry for a grand treat. 

A very simple dish from me. I love this veggie from my childhood, thats why may be I am so intellect ( ;) LOL). I will buy this vegetable only when it is so tender, there will be no compromise on this. This time I got a good tender vendaikkai, hence I thought of posting this fry. 

Ingredients:

Okra - 500 gms

Curd - 2 tbsp

Chilly Powder - 1 tbsp

Coriander Powder - 2 tbsp

Salt to taste

Method:

Wash the Okra and clean it with a towel to remove the water. 

Cut it into small pieces, mix it with chilly and coriander powder and marinate it dry for half an hour. 

In the kadai add 1 tbsp oil and season it with mustard seeds and urad dhal. Then add the marinated okra. 

Saute once and then add the curd. The okra will stick to each other once we start frying, so inorder to seperate them we are using curd. 

Dont add any water and close it with a lid. Okra will get cooked in that moisture itself. 

Saute well often so that it will not stick to the kadai. After switching off the stove, you add the salt and mix well, so that the salt spreads everywhere. For a better fry, add the salt at the end. 

Serve hot with Rice and Sambar.