Bitter Guard Curry

I like this curry very much. Mixing this curry with rice with a tsp of melted butter - MMMM its delicious. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Bitter guard - 3 or a cup (chopped into small cubes)
   
2. Oil - 2 tbsp
3. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
4. Salt to taste
5. Curry Powder - 1/2 tsp
6. Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
7. Urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
8. Asafoetida powder - a pinch
   

Take a pan, pre heat 1 tbsp oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters add urad dhall and asafoetida powder and fry it to golden brown. Now add the chopped bitterguard to it. Add required amount of water, salt, turmeric powder and curry powder and let it cook for 15 mts. If the bitter guard is fully cooked (do not mash), turn off the stove and drain the excess water. Now turn the stove to low and add the remaining oil and let it fry in the low flame for another 10 mts. maximumm. This will become crispier. This is also a side dish. Bitter guard is good for diabetic patients.

Vaazhapoo Curry - Banana Flower Curry

The process of making recipes with banana flower takes long time. This is another curry we make in our mom's place. This is basically a kerala Iyer recipe. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Banana Flower - 1
2. Coconut - 3 tbsp
3. Green chillies - 3
4. Coconut Oil - 2 tbsp
5. Mustard Seeds - 1/4 tsp
6. Urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
7. Curry leaves - few
   
8. Salt to taste
9. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Peel the banana flower layer by layer and take the black stem inside each tendril. Cut the tendrils into small pieces. Cook it with required amount of water, salt and turmeric powder and drain it after cooking. Keep it aside. Now grind the coconut and green chillies into fine paste without adding water. Keep it aside. Take a wide pan, pre heat the oil, add mustard seeds, urad dhall and curry leaves and fry it till golden brown. Now add the cooked banana flower to it and saute for a minute. Now add the coconut+chillies mixture to it and mix it thoroughly. Turn off the stove. This is also a side dish.

Sweet Potato Curry

Sweet potato is rich in fibre. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Sweet Potato - 2(chopped into small cubes)
   
2. Oil - 2 tsp
3. Mustard Seeds - 1/4 tsp
4. Urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
5. Green chillies - 1
   
6. Coconut - 1 tbsp
7. Asafoetida powder - a pinch
   
8. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
9. Salt to taste

Take a pan, pre heat the oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters add urad dhall, green chillies and asafoetida powder to it and fry it till golden brown. Now add the chopped sweet potato to it and add required amount of water, salt and turmeric powder and let it cook. When it is tender and fully cooked, turn off the stove. This is also a side dish.

Vazhapoo Paruppu Usli - Banana Flower Paruppu Usli

This is another vegetable we use to make paruppu usli. The process of making this usli is time consuming. But banana flower is very good for utreus. My father in law being a doctor, usually encourages us to eat banana flower once a week. This will also helps to get regular periods. Here is the recipe...

Ingredients:-

1. Banana Flower (vazhapoo) - 1
2. Channa dhall - 1/2 cup
3. Toor dhall - 1/2 cup
4. Urad dhall - 2 tsp
5. Red chillies - 2
6. Green chillies - 1
7. Asafoetida powder - a pinch
8. Salt to taste
9. Oil - 2 tbsp
10. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
    
11. Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
12. Curry leaves - few

As I said earlier, This recipe includes a long process. First, banana flower needs to be peeled layer by layer and in each tendril, there is a black stem (called as Kallan in Tamil), remove it and cut the tendrils into small pieces. Soak it in water with few drops of buttermilk in it. Also soak channa dhall, toor dhall, urad dhall , red chillies and green chillies for one hour. Grind it adding turmeric powder and salt (required for dhall only) into a fine paste. Steam cook it in a idly pan, for 15 mts. Allow it cool and scramble them. Keep it aside.


In the mean time, drain the banana flower, cook it with a pinch of tumeric powder, salt(required only for banana flower) and 1/4 cup of water. Cook until it is half done. Drain it and keep it aside. Now take a pan, pre heat oil, add mustard seeds when it splutters add curry leaves and asafoetida powder and fry it till golden brown. Now add the steam cooked dhall to it. Fry it till the dhall becomes softer and add banana flower to it and saute until moisture leaves. Now banana flower paruppu usli is ready to serve. This is also a side dish.

Okra Curry

"Vendakkai" or "ladies finger" this is how we call this vegetable.This is something which everyone should know. We can use frozen Okra or fresh okra. This is how I do this curry. The main ingredients are as follows...
Ingredients:-

1. Okra - 3 cups
2. Tomato - 1 (big)
3. Onion - 1
4. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
5. Curry powder - 1 tsp
6. Salt to taste

For seasoning :-

1. Oil - 1 1/2 tbsp
2. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
3. Urid dal - 1/2 tsp
4. Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
5. Curry leaves - 10 nos.

First cut the okra into small cubes. Wash it before chopping. All cut the tomato and onion into small cubes. Take a microwave safe vessel and put the okra in it and put it in the microwave for first 3 mts. take it out and stir it and again keep it for another 3 mts. By then, okra will be cooked. In the mean time, take a wide pan, preheat the oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters add urid dal, cumin seeds asafoetida powder and curry leaves and fry it till it turns into golden brown. Now add the onion to it and saute for a minute. Add tomato pieces and again stir it for another 2 mts. Add turmeric powder, curry powder and salt it and mix it will. Finally add the okra to the above said ingredients and mix it thoroughly so that it mixes well with onion and tomato. Careful while using a spoon or spatula. do not mash or cut the okra pieces. Now okra curry is ready to serve.

Cauliflower Rice

I have never tried this before. Thought of trying this yesterday for dinner. It came out really well. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Basmati Rice - 1 cup (wash it and soak it for 10 mts. before cooking)
2. Cauliflower florets - 1 cup
3. Onion - 1 (finely chopped)
   
4. Unsalted butter - 1 tbsp
5. Oil - 1 tbsp
6. Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
7. Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
8. Coriander leaves - 1 tbsp
9. Cashew nuts - 5
10. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Masala Powder:-

1. Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp
2. Channa dhall - 1/2 tbsp
3. Urad dhall - 1/4 tbsp
4. Red chillies - 2
5. Coconut - 2 tbsp
6. Cardamom - 1
7. Cloves - 1

First take a small pan, pre heat a drop of oil, fry all the ingredients given for masala powder, to golden brwon and grind it into a fine powder. Keep it aside. Now cook the cauliflower florets in the microwave for 5 mts. with a pinch of turmeric powder. When it is half-cooked keep it aside. Now take a wide pan, pre heat the remaining oil and butter, add mustard seeds when it splutters add cumin seeds and chopped onion to it and fry it till golden brown. Add the half cooked cauliflower to it and saute' for a minute. Now take a pressure cooker, put the rice (drain it after soaking it for 10 mts), add the fried ingredients, turmeric powder, salt and 2 1/2 tbsp (or acc to taste) of masala powder and pressure cook it upto 2 whistles. Make sure to turn off the stove after 2 whistles. Do not over cook the rice. When its ready to open, garnish it with coriander leaves. Serve it hot with raita and chips.

Malayala Kozhambu

My mother in law call this kozhambu as pathiya kozhambu. I don't know why she calls this as pathiya kozhambu but I like this kozhambu a lot. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Coriander seeds - 2 tbsp
2. Channa dhall - 1 tbsp
3. Toor dhall - 1/2 tbsp
4. Urad dhall - 1/4 tbsp
5. Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tsp
6. Red chillies - 1
7. Black pepper - 1/2 tbsp
8. Coconut - 5 tbsp
9. Sesame oil - 1/4 cup
10. Tamarind - 3 tbsp paste or a medium lemon sized.
11. Jaggery - 1 tbsp
12. Turmeric powder
13. Salt to taste
    
14. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
15. Urad dhall - 1/4 tsp
16. Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
17. Curry leaves - few
    

Take a pan, pour a drop of oil, fry the ingredients from 1 to 7 to golden brown. Turn off the stove. Add the coconut and stir it with the fried ingredients. Let it cool and grind it into a fine paste. Now take a wide pan, pre heat the remaining oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters add urad dhall and fenugreek seeds and fry it till golden brown. Now add the tamarind paste (or extract juice from the lemon sized raw tamarind) with 1 1/2 cup of water. Add turmeric powder and salt and let it boil for 3 mts. Now add the coconut paste we made before to this and let it boil for 10 under medium flame. Now add jaggery to it and let it boil for another 5 mts. If necessary add 1/4 cup water before adding jaggery. It will come to a thicker consistency. Now turn off the stove and add curry leaves and serve it with hot rice.

This kozhambu can be made without turmeric powder. It will look more darker, thats why I add turmeric powder. Also the recipe sounds more like milagu kozhambu, but we are adding coconut in this which we wont add in milagu kozhambu. This kozhambu can be used for one week keeping it in the fridge.

Lemon Rasam

This is another variety of Rasam. This is very simple to make. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Tomato - 1 1/2
2. Green chillies - 3
   
3. Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
4. Toor dhall - 3 tbsp (pressure cook it adding a pinch of turmeric powder)
   
5. Salt to taste
   
6. Ghee - 1/2 tsp
7. Oil - 1/2 tsp
8. Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
9. Fenugreek Seeds- 1/4 tsp
10. Asafoetida Powder - a pinch
11. Red chillies - 1
12. Lemon Juice - 3 tbsp (acc to taste)
13. Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp

Take a pan, chop the tomatoes, add a cup of water, 2 green chillies, turmeric powder and salt and let it cook for 10 mts. When the tomato is fully cooked add the cooked toor dhall with one or 1 1/2 cup of water and turn off the stove when the foam forms from it. Now take a small pan, pre heat oil and ghee, add mustard seeds when it splutters add fenugreek seeds, asafoetida powder, red chillies and the remaining green chilly and fry it till golden brown. Pour it on top of Rasam. Garnish it with coriander leaves. Let it cool for 10 to 15 mts. When it has come to the room temperature, add the lemon juice to it and mix it.

This goes to CMT-Dhall/kadi/sambar/rasam hosting by Priya, an event by Jagruti

Mixed Vegetable Curry

After coming back from our short vacation, a few weeks back, vegetable box in my frige had 1/2 raddish, 1/2 turnip, 1 tomato, 1 onion and 2 potato. I made this curry with these vegetables and it came out really well. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Raddish - 1/2 (chop it into whatever size you want)
   
2. Tomato - 1 (chop accordingly to match raddish)
   
3. Onion - 1 (chop accordingly to match raddish)
   
4. Potato - 2 (chop accordingly to match raddish)
5. Turnip - 1/2 (chop accordingly to match raddish)
6. Oil - 1 tsp
7. Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
8. Cumin seeds- 1/4 tsp
9. Red chillies - 1
10. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
11. Garam Masala Powder - 1/4 tsp (can also be avoided if we use Curry powder)
12. Salt to taste
13. Curry leaves - few
14. Corainder leaves - 1 tbsp

Take a wide pan, pre heat oil, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves and red chillies and fry it till golden brown. Now add onion first and saute it for a minute. Add raddish, turnip, potato and tomato one by one and mix everything well. Add required amount of water. Also add turmeric powder and salt and let it cook for 15 mts. Raddish and turnip might take longer to cook than all the other vegetables. Now add garam masala powder and mix it well. Let it cook for another 5 mts. When water is fully absorbed and all the vegetables are fully cooked, turn off the stove and garnish it with coriander leaves.

Actually, we used this curry as a side dish for chapathis. I think this will go well with sambar and rasam rice too. Try this and lemme know your comments

Taro Root Curry - Chepangkezhangu curry

We usually use this taro root (chepankezhangu in tamil) to make sambar, more kozhambu and spicy curry. This recipe is for curry. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Taro root - 3 cups (chopped into cubes)
2. Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
3. Curry Powder - 1/2 tsp (acc to taste)
4. Salt to taste
5. Oil - 2 tbsp
6. Mustard Seeds - 1/4 tsp
7. Urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
8. Asafoetida Powder - a pinch
   

First peel off the skin from taro root and make sure there is no sand on it. Take a wide pan, add a table spoon oil, heat it. Add mustard seeds, when it splutters add urad dhall, Asafoetida Powder and fry it till golden brown. Now add the vegetable, required amount of water, Turmeric powder, salt and curry powder to it and let it cook for 10 15 mts. This is the time, it takes to cook. If we do this curry in a iron pan, it will become more crispy than if we do it in a non-stick pan. When it is 3/4th done add the remaining oil and reduce the flame. Let it cook for another 5 mts. This is another side, we make for sambar rice or rasam rice. Try this and lemme know your comments.

Yam Masiyal - chena masiyal - Suran Masiyal

Chena Masiyal - Tamil name for this recipe. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Yam - 2 cups (randomly chopped)
2. Green chillies - 1 or 2
3. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
4. Oil - 1/2 tsp
5. Mustard Seeds - 1/4 tsp
6. Asafoetida powder - a pinch
7. Urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
8. lemon Juice - 2 tbsp ( or acc to taste)
9. Salt to taste
10. Curry leaves - few
    

First take a wide pan, pre heat oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters add urad dhall, green chillies, asafoetida powder, curry leaves and fry it till it becomes golden brown. Now add the chopped yam to it and pour required amount of water, add turmeric powder and salt and let it cook for 15 mts. The yam should be finely cooked. When its fully cooked mash it with the spatula. Turn off the stove and let it cool for few more mts. After few mts., add the lemon juice to it and mix everything well. This is also another side dish which will go nicely with kootu rice, or molagootal rice. Try this and lemme know your comments

Suran Curry - Yam Curry

Chenakezhangu - This is how we call this ham in tamil. I love this curry very much. After my marriage, whenever I go to my mom's place, my patti make is curry. Chena mezhukkupuratti - this is how she calls it. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Yam (chenakezhangu) - 2 cups (chopped into small cubes)
2. Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
3. Salt to taste
4. Oil - 1 tbsp
5. Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
6. Coconut Oil - 1 1/2tbsp

These are the required ingredients to make this curry. Very important ingredient we need including all the above is "Patience". If we need this curry very very crispier, then we need patience. First take a wide pan, pre heat the oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters add the chopped yam to it. Pour required amount of water, put turmeric powder and salt and let the yam cook for nearly 20 mts. It takes that much time to cook. Make sure it is just cooked. Do not over cook. When it is tender, drain the excess water. Now add the coconut oil to it and mix it thoroughly. Reduce the heat to low and let it cook for more that 20 mts. Because, in order to become crispier, yam needs to be cooked in low flame and we need to stir it occasionally. When it is done, we can hear the crispy sound from the pan. This is also a side dish which goes well with sambar rice, rasam rice.

Now a days people are more health conscious. We can avoid using coconut oil, instead use olive oil or even pam spray will do the trick. I have never tried with olive oil or pam spray. coconut oil gives wonderful aroma of the vegetable we use. Try this and lemme know your comments

Potato podimas - kerala style

As I said earlier, potato is a favourite vegetable for each and everyone of us. This podimas is a famous side dish for kutti onion sambar (kutti vengaaya sambar). This is how we do this podimas in my mom's place. The main ingredients are as follows.....

Ingredients:-

1. Potato - 6
2. Fresh coconut - 4 tbsp
3. Green chillies - 3 or 4 (acc. to taste)
4. Salt to taste
5. Turmeric powder
6. Oil - 2 tbsp
7. Coconut Oil- 1 tbsp
   
8. Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
9. Urid dal - 1/2 tsp
10. Asafoetida powder - a pinch
11. Red chillies - 1 ( can also be avoided)
12. Curry Leaves - 10 Nos.

First, pressure cook the potato adding a pinch of salt and turmeric powder and mash it. Remove the skin. Then grind the fresh coconut and green chillies together without adding water. The mixture should be dry and not like a paste. Take a wide pan, preheat the oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters, add urid dal, red chillies, curry leaves and asafoetida powder. Fry it till it turns into golden brown. Now add the mashed potato to it, add salt and turmeric powder (if necessary, cos we have already added turmeric powder and salt while pressure cooking potato). Also add coconut mixture to it and mix it thoroughly with potato. Turn off the stove. Pour the coconut oil on top of the podimas. Now podimas is ready to serve. As I said before, this is awonderful side dish for pearl onion sambar.

Carrot & Onion Curry

This is another simple curry I make when the vegetable box in my fridge is empty. My husband don't like this curry. He likes to eat carrot with salad. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Carrot - 2 (Big)
2. Onion - 1
3. Oil - 2 tsp
4. Salt to taste
5. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
6. Curry Powder - 1/2 tsp
7. Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
8. Urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
9. Cumin Seeds - 1/4 tsp
10. Asafoetida powder - a pinch

First wash and peel off the skin from carrot and cut it into very small cubes. Chop the onion finely. Take a wide pan, pre heat the oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters add urad dhall, cumin seeds, asafoetida powder and curry leaves and fry it to golden brown. Now add the chopped onion and saute for a minute or two. Then add the chopped carrots to it. Add turmeric powder, curry powder ( See recipe) and salt to it. Add required amount of water and let it cook for 5 to 7 mts. When the carrot is nice and tender, it means curry is ready. If u see still some water in the pan, then drain it off and stir the curry under a low flame for two minutes. Now turn off the stove. This is a side dish for rice and this can be used as a side dish for chapathis and pooris too.

Cabbage & Peas curry

This is another side dish we make in most of our family. It takes less time and water to cook this vegetable. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Cabbage - 2 cups (nicely chopped)
2. Frozen Peas - 3/4 cup
3. salt to taste
4. coconut - 1 tbsp
5. green chillies - 1 or 2
6. oil - 2 tsp
7. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
8. Urad dhall - 1/4 tsp
9. Curry leaves - few

First cook cabbage and frozen peas with required amount of water. These two vegetables requires very little amount of water. Drain it and keep it aside. Now take a pan, pre heat oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters add urad dhall, green chillies and curry leaves and fry it to golden brown. Now add the cooked cabbage and peas to it and saute for a minute. Now add salt and coconut and mix thoroughly. While mixing cabbage, we have to be very careful because cabbage will become mashy. Also we have to drain it fully before seasoning because usually when we add salt it will release some water. This is again a side dish for rice.

Cabbage curry

This is another way of doing Cabbage curry. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Cabbage - 2 cups (washed and chopped)
2. Moong Dhall - 1/4 cup (measuerd in the same cup using cabbage is measured)
3. Oil - 1 tsp
4. Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
5. Urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
6. Asafoetida powder - a pinch
7. Salt to taste
8. Curry Leaves - few
   

Nowadays people are becoming more health conscious. Here in this recipe in order to avoid coconut, we use moong dhall. Now lets go to the recipe. First soak the moong dhall for atleast an hour. Cook the cabbage with required amount of water and keep it aside. Now take a wide pan, preheat oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters add urad dhall, asafoetida powder and curry leaves and fry it to golden brown. Now put the cooked cabbage and add salt to it. Mix it thoroughly and carefully. Now drain the moong dhall fully without a drop of water and mix it with cabbage. Mix everything nicely. Moong dhall compensates the taste of coconut. This is also used as a side dish.

Kothavarangai Curry

In english, we call it Cluster Beans. My mom used to make kothavarangai paruppu usli. I forgot to soak lentils for making usli one day. I finished cutting this kothavarangai already. So I started making this curry and it came out really well. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Kothavarangai - 1 cup (washed and chopped)
2. Onion - 1 finely chopped
3. Moong Dhall - 2 tbsp
4. Oil - 2 tsp
5. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
6. Urad dhall - 1/4 tsp
7. Red chillies - 1
8. Asafoetida powder - a pinch
9. Fresh coconut - 2 tbsp
10. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
11. Salt to taste

First pressure cook the moong dhall with required amount of water adding turmeric powder to it. Do not over cook the dhall. Now cook the kothavarangai adding required amount of water till it becomes tender. Now take a pan, pre heat oil, add mustard seeds when it splutters add urad dhall, red chillies, chopped onion and asafoetida powder to it and fry it till golden brown. Now add the cooked kothavarangai to it. Saute for a minute. Now add just cooked moong dhall and fresh coconut to it. Mix everything well. This curry is a wonderful side dish for sambar rice, rasam rice and of course yogurt rice.

Beans Paruppu usli

Paruppu (in Tamil) means lentils or dhall. Usli is something where we use three kind of lentils i.e., toor dhall, channa dhall and urid dhall. We mix the cooked lentils with green beans. In my mom's place, we usually use this as a side dish for sambar rice and rasam rice. But in my MIL's place, we don't use this as a side dish, instead we use this to mix with rice and the side dish will be more kozhambu. Its basically paruppu usli rice. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Green beans - 1 cup
2. Toor dhall - 1 cup
3. channa dhall - 1/2 cup
4. urad dhall - 1 tbsp
5. Rice - 1 tsp
6. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
7. Oil - 2 tbsp
8. mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
9. curry leaves - few
10. Red chillies -2
11. Green chillies - 1
    
12. Asafoetida powder - apinch
13. Salt to taste

First soak toor dhall, urad dhall, channa dhall, and rice in water for atleast an hour or two. In the mean time, wash the green beans. Cut it into small pieces and cook it. When it is fully cooked, keep it aside. Now grind the soaked dhall and rice mixture adding salt, green chillies and red chillies to it. There are two ways of cooking this recipe

1. Grind the dhall + rice + turmeric powder + chillies + salt in to a fine paste. Steam cook it in a idly pan, for 15 mts. Allow it cool and scramble them. Keep it aside. Take a pan, pre heat oil, add mustard seeds when it splutters add curry leaves and asafoetida powder and fry it till golden brown. Now add the steam cooked dhall to it. Fry it till the dall becomes softer. Now add the cooked green beans to it and mix everything well. Turn off the stove. This is the traditional way of making paruppu usili.
2. Another method is for present days quick cooking. In this method also, we grind all the soaked dhall + rice adding salt, red chillies, green chillies coarsely. Careful while grinding the lentils. We should not mash the lentils. Put it in a microwave safe vessel. Add 3/4 to 1 cup of water, turmeric powder and salt to it and mix everything well. In this step, we can also add a tsp of sesame oil. Microwave it first for 3 mts. Take it out and stir it thoroughly and again microwave it for another 5 mts. By this time the lentils must be cooked. If not, then microwave it for another 3 mts. Now take a pan, pre heat oil, add mustard seeds when it splutters add curry leaves and asafoetida powder and fry it till golden brown. Now add the microwave cooked dhall to it. Fry it till the dall becomes softer. Now add the cooked green beans to it and mix everything well. Turn off the stove.
   

This is a wonderful side dish. In the place of beans, we can also use banana blossom (vazhapoo) and cluster beans (kothavarangai). Try this and lemme know your comments.

Long Beans Curry

Here is the recipe for long beans curry. We call this as Karamani in tamil and Payathangai in malayalam. This is also a side dish. The process is similar to beans curry.

Ingredients:-

1. Long Beans - 2 cups
2. Salt to taste
3. Fresh Coconut - 1 tbsp
   
4. Oil - 1 tsp
5. Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
6. Urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
7. Red chillies - 1
8. Asafoetida Powder - a pinch

First, Wash the raw long beans and chop it into small pieces. Take a microwave safe vessel and put the beans in it and microwave it for 3 mts. first. Take it out and stir it and again keep it for 3 to 5 mts. Make sure beans is fully cooked.



Now take a pan, pre heat oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters, add urad dhall and red chillies and fry it to golden brown. Add asafoetida powder in it and now add the cooked long beans to it. Stir it once and add salt and coconut to it. Mix it thoroughly. Now long beans curry is ready to serve. In our place, we use this as a side dish for sambar rice, rasam rice.

Traditional way of serving food in south India is, first payasam, pachadi, sweet pachadi, kosumalli, curry, kootu, pickle and chips. I am trying to cover everything in this blog.

Beans Curry - 4

Here is another receipe with beans. In order to make the kids eat veggies, we try all the tricks we know and some of them will work and some will not:-(. By the way this is the method my mom used to try with me when I was a kid.

Ingredients:-

1. Green Beans - 2 cups
2. Salt to taste
3. Toor dhall - 2 tbsp (cooked)
4. Fresh coconut
   
5. Oil - 1 tsp
6. Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
7. Urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
8. Red chillies - 1
9. Asafoetida Powder - a pinch

First, Wash the raw beans and chop it into small pieces. Take a microwave safe vessel and put the beans in it and microwave it for 3 mts. first. Take it out and stir it and again keep it for 3 to 5 mts. Make sure beans is fully cooked. In the mean time, pressure cook toor dhall adding 1/2 tsp of turmeric to it. Drain it fully. Now take a pan, pre heat oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters, add urad dhall and red chillies and fry it to golden brown. Add asafoetida powder in it and now add the cooked grean beans to it. Stir it once and add salt to it. Now add the cooked toor dhall and fresh coconut to it and mix everything well. Now Beans curry is ready to eat.
This curry is a wonderful side dish for Sambar rice, Rasam rice.

Beans curry - 3

Here is another recipe for beans.

Ingredients:-

1. Green Beans - 2 cups
2. Onion - 1 (finely chopped)
3. Carrot - 1 (optional)
   
4. Salt to taste
5. Oil - 1 tsp
6. coconut- 1 tbsp
   
7. Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
8. Urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
9. Red chillies - 1
10. Asafoetida Powder - a pinch

First, Wash the raw beans and chop it into small pieces. Take a microwave safe vessel and put the beans in it and microwave it for 3 mts. first. Take it out and stir it and again keep it for 3 to 5 mts. Make sure beans is fully cooked. Wash and cut the carrot in the same size of beans. Some carrots will cook easily in microwave. Others need to cooked on stove top. Cook the carrots along with beans and keep it aside. Take a pan, pre heat the oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters add urad dhall and red chillies and asafoetida powder and stir it once. Now add the chopped onions to it and fry it to golden brown. Do not burn the onions. Now add beans + Carrot to it and add salt it. Stir it thoroughly. Sprinkle the coconut on top of it. Beans curry is ready to serve.

Beans Curry - 2

This is another way of making Beans curry. Here is the receipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Green Beans - 2 cups
2. Coconut - 1 tbsp
3. Green chillies - 2 (acc to taste)
   
4. Salt to taste
5. Oil - 1 tsp
6. Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
7. Urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
8. Red chillies - 1
9. Asafoetida Powder - a pinch

First, Wash the raw beans and chop it into small pieces. Take a microwave safe vessel and put the beans in it and microwave it for 3 mts. first. Take it out and stir it and again keep it for 3 to 5 mts. Make sure beans is fully cooked. Now grind coconut and green chillies together. Do not add water while adding. Now take a pan, pre heat the oil, add mustard seeds when it splutters add urad dhall, red chillies andasafoetida powder and fry it to golden brown. Now add the beans to it. Stir it once and add salt, coconut+chillies mixture to beans and mix it thoroughly. Do not mash the beans. Try this and lemme know your comments

Beans Curry - 1

This is a common receipe which everyone of you know very well. Might be wondering, then why this receipe? Its for the beginners. When I was a new cook few years back, I used to spoil this curry every time, atleast for 10 or 20 times. But now I am doing good with this one. Here is the receipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Green Beans - 2 cups
2. Salt to taste
3. Oil - 1 tsp
4. Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
5. Urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
6. Red chillies - 1
7. Asafoetida Powder - a pinch

First, Wash the raw beans and chop it into small pieces. Take a microwave safe vessel and put the beans in it and microwave it for 3 mts. first. Take it out and stir it and again keep it for 3 to 5 mts. Make sure beans is fully cooked. Now take a pan, pre heat oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters, add urad dhall and red chillies and fry it to golden brown. Add asafoetida powder in it and now add the cooked grean beans to it. Stir it once and add salt to it. Mix it thoroughly and do not mash it. Turn off the stove. Now green beans curry is ready to serve.

Potato podimas - Thanjavur style

Again the same potato Podimas in a different style. This is we do Potato podimas in my In laws place. The main ingredients are as follows...
Ingredients:-

1. Potato - 4
2. salt to taste
3. Oil - 2 tbsp
4. Green chillies - 3
5. Ginger - a small piece
6. Lemon juice - 1 tbsp
7. coconut - 1 tsp
8. urid dal - 1/2 tsp
9. mustard - 1/4 tsp
10. asafoetida - a pinch
11. curry leaves - 10 nos
12. red chillies - 1 (Optional)
    

First pressure cook the potato adding salt to it and mash it. Take a pan, pre heat the oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters, add urid dal, asafoetida, green chillies, ginger and red chillies(Optional) to it. Fry it till it turns into golden brown. Now add the mashed potato to it and mix everything thoroughly. Turn off the stove when everything is mixed. Let it cool for 10 to 15 mts. Now pour the lemon juice on top of it and mix it. Sprinkle the coconut. Now podimas is ready to serve.

In my in-laws place, they dont add turmeric powder to it. But I add turmeric powder also. Try this and lemme know your comments.