Cabbage Curry

Ingredients:
Cabbage -1 cut into medium shreds.
Potatoes-2
Tomatoes- 1/2
Coriander Pdr - 1.5 tsp
Cumin Pdr-1.5 tsp
Turmeric Pdr - 1.5 Tsp
Green chillies- 0-2
Ginger- 1 inch, smashed/minced
Garam masala ( clove+cardamom+cinnamon) Pdr= 1tsp
Cumin seeds (Jeera) - 1 tsp
Salt
Sugar - 1tsp

Method:

Heat oil. Put cumin seeds. When fragrant, add the potatoes and saute it for couple of minutes. Add the cabbage, tomatoes and stir. Add the ginger and green chillies. Dissolve all the spices and salt in a little warm water and add to the cabbage. Cover and let it cook in medium to low flame, stirring once in a while. Add the sugar and garam masala and stir one last time before serving.

Sambar in 15 minutes

This recipe is from mother of a friend from who is from Tamil Nadu; so don't doubt about it's authenticity :). Even though it can be made very easily it tastes very similar to the real thing. The trick is to replace the daal with gram flour ( which is made from daal anyway). Here it is:

Ingredients:
Whatever Vegetables you can your hand on. I used
1 Chinese eggplant, half a bag of frozen mixed veg (broccoli,cabbage, peas, carrots), okra (cut frozen), drumstick(1/2 frozen pack).

Onion - 1/2 chopped
Tomatoes - 2 cut into medium pieces
Sambar powder - 3 tblsp
tamarind paste - 1 tsp dissolved in little warm water
Lime- 1
Turmeric powder
Besan (Gram flour) - 1 cup dissolved in warm water.
optional ( if craving spicy) : additional tsp of coriander, cumin, chilli pdr
Water - 1 glass
Salt

Method:
Heat oil, Add onion, saute till light brown. Add rest of the veggie and stir. Add the sambar pdr, salt and tomatoes and stir. Add the water, cover and let it cook. When veggie is cooked, add the besan flour water while stirring. Let this simmer for a while. Adjust spices if required at this stage. Add the tamarind water and squeeze lime juice. And you are done!

Dhokla

Gajar Halwa

Mung dal Khichuri/Khichri

Ingredients
long grained rice- 1 cup
Mung Dal - 2 cups
Potatoes - 1 cubed
Cauliflower,peas, carrots - I used half bag of frozen
Coconut pieces - 1/2 cup thawed
Ginger paste - 1 tsp
Bay leaves (Tej Patta) - 3
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin Pdr - 2 tsp
Coriander Pdr -2 tsp
Turmeric Pdr - 2 tsp
Chilli Pdr - 1 tsp
Salt
Oil- 1 Tblsp
Ghee - 1 tsp

Method
Roast the mung dal till it is light brown and you get the aroma.

In a big vessel with wide top, heat oil, add bay leaves, cumin (whole grain). Wait till it crackles. Add the rice and the toasted dal and add about 9 cups of water. Add the vegetables and the coconut pieces, salt and add turmeric, cumin pdr, coriander pdr , chilli pdr, ginger paste and cook in medium flame till everything is soft and all the water is gone. Sprinkle ghee on top.


Serve this with fried potato slices: ( Cut 2 potatoes into circular discs. Boil/microwave them till they are almost cooked. Add oil in a pan, add 2 tsp cumin seeds,; when they crackle add the potatoes with salt and turmeric and cook till they are soft but retain their shape )

Appam and priya's Kadala Curry

When I went to Kerala, I was bowled over by Puttu and Kadala curry. I made Kadala curry (black gram ?) with the help of Priya's recipe. It was really yummy. I paired it with the Appam the white fluffy pancake in the picture; it is made from rice flour and coconut milk.

Appam (makes about 15)
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Ingredients
Rice powder - 3 cups
yeast -1/4 tsp
sugar - 1 tsp
rava (semolina) -1 tsp
coconut milk - 1 can
salt

Method
Mix in once glass of water yeast and sugar. Keep for one hour.

In 1 glass of water, mix one spoon rava, and make it into paste by heating up.(make sure no lump)

Once cold, mix rice powder,coconut milk, yeast (Let it ferment for min of 2 hours )
Don't add too much water to this batter, because the mixture gets diluted after fermentation.

Add salt just before making Appam.

Heat a tiny bit of oil in a small flat frying pan. Pour a ladleful of the batter and cover. After a few minutes turn the appam to the other side.

Palak Paneer

This a modified version of my grandma's palak paneer, that was handed down to mom and then to me. I modified it in terms of its oil/cream content, and tried to quicken various processes. And I should mention that I had cooked this before the spinach-scare. Please use the spinach only if you are absolutely sure of its quality, and don't forget to wash it thoroughly.

This palak paneer is different because it is spiced mainly by clove, cinnamon and cardamom instead of by garlic which is more common. Addition of sugar might seem shocking to some, but a little bit of it brings out the taste of the clove, cinnamon and cardamom, and also balances the taste.


Ingredients:

Palak (Spinach) - 1 big bag; I think I used 32oz bag.
Paneer - 1 pouch from indian store.
Ginger- about 2 in. piece
Green Chillies/Cayenne chilli - 2-3
Onion - 1
Cloves- 4
Cardamom -4 (broken open)
Cinnamon sticks - 2 big ones broken to smaller pieces.
Coriander Powder - 2-3 tsp
Salt
Sugar - 1-2 tsp
Garam Masala( Preground clove, cardamom, cinnamon) - 1 tsp

optional:
Ghee and cream

Method:
Microwave the paneer for about 2 minutes. Cut it into cubes. Optional: For better taste I fry the paneer until they are reddish on both sides using a little oil, like this:


Now microwave spinach with a some salt so that it is soft. Put this palak in a blender along with ginger, and green chillies and blend it.

In a pan, heat some oil, fry cloves, cardomoms and cinnamon sticks. Fry till u get the aroma ( but careful not to burn them).
Put slices of onion and fry till golden.
Put the blended mixture.
Add salt, sugar, coriander powder.
When it starts to boil, add to paneer pieces and boil some more.
Add garam masala.
Adjust salt and sugar.

Sprinkle ghee on top and serve.
Enjoy