Subz Hyderabadi

Hi Readers,

I am back again with another Indian recipe. This is a mix vegetable curry cooked in curd based gravy and sprinkled with a spice mixture that gives its authentic aroma. I tried this recipe for the first time on Christmas eve. Well, my husband(one who tastes everything that I make and is best critic for me) liked it very much. Winter is best season for this curry as all ingredients are available fresh in this season.

Lets now have a look at the recipe.

Ingredients :- 

Carrots - 2 medium size- chopped roughly

10 -15 french beans - Chopped 

1 medium long brinjal or eggplant  - slit in middle and then cut into 1/2 inch size

1 medium size potato - cubed

1 cup green peas

10 -15 florets of cauliflower

Gravy :- 

3 medium onions finely chopped

1 tbsp ginger paste

1 tbsp garlic paste

1 cup Curd whisked

1 tbsp turmeric powder

1/2 tbsp red chili powder

2 dry red chili 

2 bay leafs

Oil for frying

salt to taste

Powdered Ingredient :- 

2 Cardamom or Chhoti elaichi

3 to 4 clove or Laung

1 inch Cinnamon or Dalchini

1 tbsp Saha Jeera or Big Cumin seeds

Method :- 

Heat Oil in a pan. Fry all the vegetables( potatoes at a time, similarly other vegetables one by one) except peas and keep aside. Boil peas and keep aside. Now in a pan take 1 tbsp oil. Add bay leaf & dry red chili, when it starts to change colour, add Onions and fry till it turns pink. Add ginger and garlic paste and cook for 2 to 3 mins. Add turmeric powder, red chili powder and mix it well, sprinkle little water if it sticks to bottom. Make a paste. Add fried vegetables, 1 cup whisked curd and cook over medium low flame. Add water if required. Add salt and cook till all vegetables are done. Sprinkle powdered spices and serve hot with Chapati, nan or steamed rice.

Note :- In above recipe I have added about 50 gm of Paneer cubes. The authentic recipe do not have paneers,however, adding paneer do not make in changes to the aroma and flavor of recipe. 

South Indian style cabbage curry

Hi Readers,

Today, its time again to provide you one easy and less time consuming recipe of Cabbage. In Odisha curry is generally made with lots of spice and potato. However, down south cabbage is just stir fried with other vegetables and tampered with curry leaves, coconut. Well, this is not an authentic South Indian cabbage curry as I have skipped coconut, chana dal in it. Why I did is, I do not prefer coconut and chana dal combination. However, the flavour of curry leaves, asafoetida, red chili tamper is something that I like very much.

Since, this recipe contains less spice and oil, I try to make this instead of Odia style cabbage curry. When I went home for the first time after I started working, I had made this dish and my father and brothers liked it very much. So, lets have a look at it. Next time, I will make the Odia style cabbage curry and provide you the recipe.

Ingredients :- 

1 cabbage head shredded

2 carrot chopped 

1 green chili chopped

1 tbsp mustard and fenugreek seeds

8 to 10 curry leaves

1/4 tbsp asafoetida

1/2 tbsp turmeric powder

salt as per taste

Note:- You can use  1/2 cup soaked chana dal and 1/2 cup shredded coconut along with the dish to make it authentic south Indian. You can also add green peas or french beans. 

In the second picture I have used beans and carrots but other pictures do not have beans.

Method :-

 Heat a pan, add little oil. Add turmeric to oil. Then add green chili, carrot and cook in medium flame till carrot turns light brown. Add shredded cabbage, salt and cook till cabbage is properly cooked. This will take around 15 mins, cook in medium flame and occasionally stir so that it does not stick at the bottom. 

For Tampering - Heat a tampering vessel, add 1 tbsp oil, when oil is hot, add mustard and fenugreek seeds. When it starts to splutter add red chili, curry leaves and asafoetida. Now, add this tampering mixture to cabbage curry. 

Note :- When we add turmeric to oil and later add vegetables it will give a light yellowish colour to dish and when we add same quantity of turmeric to the vegetables instead of oil, the colour will be bright yellow. 

If you are using chana dal and coconut. Then add chana dal when you are adding cabbage to the pan. Cook it properly till both chana dal and cabbage is done. Now, add coconut to it cook for another 2 mins and remove from heat add tampering and serve hot. 

Madras Sambar

Hi Readers,

When I was not married and used to stay with friends, we had a cook. Her hand made Sambar was delicious. I remember, we never had got Sambar Masala in our room, but she would manage to make it delicious and with same smell & taste without it. However, I never got a chance to see how she made it. She used to prepare food when we were out in Office.

Post marriage, I thought of preparing this dish several times, but my dear husband would turn down my request, may be he thought I can't make it good. Lol... Last Saturday, I made my mind, though my husband had same response , I somehow managed to get his acknowledgement. I had a pack of Madras Sambar Masala sitting in my cup-board. You know what..my husband completed all the sambar that I made for Lunch. It was no doubt with same taste, same smell as my cook used to make though I had to use the masala. I made thick gravy as is available in Chennai. After, staying for more than five years in various parts of South India, I now know the difference in taste of Sambar from various places. :)

Lets now have a look at the recipe.

Ingredients 

Oil - 1 tsp

Ghee - 2 tsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Asafoetida - a pinch

Curry leaf - 10 leaves

Coriander leaves - 3 springs

Madras Sambar Powder - 2 tbsp

Toor dal - 1 cup

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Tamarind - a lime sized bal

Sambar Onion - 1 cup

Any vegetable - 2 cups(I have used drumsticks, Bhindi, Pumpkin & carrot)

Salt as per taste

Wash toor dal, add 2 cups of water and turmeric powder. Pressure cook until 3 whistle.

soak tamarind in 1 cup of water and extract the juice filtering the skin. Keep aside.

Heat 4 cups of water in a deep pan, when it comes to boil add whole onion, vegetable, sambar powder, cooked dal and salt. cover it up and let it cook for 5 min in medium flame, then add tamarind juice, when it boils cover up and cook for 10 min. Now add the grounded powder and cook for 5 min and turn off the flame.

Heat oil in a separate pan, add mustard seeds when it done popped switch off the flame, add asafoetida powder curry leaf, coriander leaf and ghee. Pour it on top of the cooked sambar. Stir well and serve hot with rice.

Vegetable Sevai or Semiya(vermicelli) upma

Hi Readers,

Today,  had prepared Semiya Upma as breakfast. This is easy recipe and can be prepared when you are quite busy. It uses not much spices and is healthy vegetable recipe for breakfast. Here, is the recipe for you.

Ingredients
3 ½ Cup - Vegetables, chopped (I used carrots, peas)
1 ½ Cup - Vermicelli / Semiya, roasted
3 Cups - Water
1 - Onion
1 ½ Tsp – Garlic, grated
½ Tsp – Ginger, grated
1 Tsp - Black Mustard Seeds
2 pinch – Asafetida
1 sprig – Curry Leaves
3 – Green Chilly
¼ Tsp – Turmeric powder
½ Tsp – Jeera / Cumin powder
½ Cup – Coriander leaves/ Cilantro, chopped(optional)
1/2 Tsp – Chat Masala (optional)
2 Tsp – Lemon Juice
10 - Cashew nuts, roasted (optional)
Salt
Oil or Ghee (Clarified butter)

Method :- 
Roast the vermicelli and add 1 tbsp ghee when almost done. Turn off flame and keep aside.
Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan and add mustard seed and allow them to splutter.
Add asafetida followed by onions, curry leaves, green chilly, ginger and garlic and sauté until the onions are translucent
Mix in turmeric powder, jeera powder and chat masala
Stir in the vegetables, roasted vermicelli and water and season with salt
Cook until all the water has been absorbed.
Take off the heat and add lemon juice and garnish with roasted cashew nuts and fresh chopped coriander leaves (cilantro).
Notes and Tips
Add 2 Tsp of ghee (clarified butter) to the vegetable mixture along with the water and vermicelli. This imparts a great flavor and will avoid vermicelli from being sticky
This is a great dish for kids who like noodles. It is healthy as it has a lot of vegetables. You can add other vegetables like broclli, spinach, corn etc.
Mix the cooked vermicelli with fork.
Make sure you use roasted vermicelli for this dish.

Andhra style Poached egg curry

This is my first non-veg recipe that I am going to post. My husband do not like eating chicken and meat. Though he likes fish and egg. And I am not very fond of fish and I am allergic to egg . My allergy is as such that it only occurs when I have cold. So, I avoid having egg quite often. This is main reason why even though I like chicken I do not cook it as my husband would complain of the smell. Today, after a span of about 1 and 1/2 years I cooked non-veg at home. I was suppose to make egg curry and my husband wanted me to make Egg omelet curry but I tried a new variation of it. The egg poach curry has its origin in Andhra. It uses traditional curry leaves and coconut. But, I have tried a little different variation without coconut we are not fond coconut in this curry.

In this curry the egg poach is directly made in curry itself, letting egg poach in curry gravy, but I was scared to try this technique as this could mix the egg in gravy. I have poached egg separately and then added it to the gravy. Well, if you have the egg poach vessel, then your gravy would look even better.  Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:

Eggs-4
Onions-2(big)
Tomato-1
Green chillies-2(chopped)
Ginger Garlic Paste-1 tsp
Curry leaves few
Salt to taste
Chilli powder-1 tsp
Jeera Coriander powder-1 tsp
Garam Masala-1/2 tsp
Turmeric litttle pinch
Oil-2 tsp
Mustard seeds-1/2 tsp
Jeera-1/2 tsp
Coriander chopped-1/2 cup

Method:

Poach egg in poach vessel or separately as convenient for you and keep aside.
Take wide pan and heat it.When it gets heat add the oil,mustard seeds,jeera  when the mustards start to pop add the chopped green chillies and curry leaves.

To this add the chopped onions and turmeric and cook until the onions turns transparant.
Now add the ginger garlic paste and fry it until the raw smell goes. Add curry leaves.
Add the chopped tomatoes to this cover with lid and cook in low flame for 2 to 3 minutes.

After that remove the cover and add all the spices garam masala,jeera dhaniya powder,Chilli powder and salt mix it well and add 1 cup or more cups of water and cook this for 5 minutes. When the gravy is almost done add the poached egg, cover and cook for 5 to 7 mins. Serve hot with steamed rice.

Kerala Style Pumpkin curry

Hi Readers,

This is my first trial with Kerala style dish. I was bit excited to try this dish after finding the recipe online. But, I feared if it would really taste good. I must say this dish turned out beautifully. I have modified the original Kerala dish a little bit. Hope, you would try my version and would like it.

Ingredients :- 250 gm yellow pumpkin
                     100 ml coconut milk
                     1 potato
                     1 tsp cumin seeds
                     1 tsp mustard seeds
                     1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
                     10- 15 curry leaves
                     2 red chili
                     1 tsp oil
                     1 cup water
                     1/2 tsp turmeric powder
                      salt to taste
                     1/2 tsp asafoetida

Method :- Was, and peel & remove pumpkin skin and potato skin. Cut into cubes. In a pan heat water and add the pumpkin and potato cubes on to it. Cover and cook till it starts boiling. Cook in medium flame. Uncover and smash a few cubes of pumpkin and potato using the back of spatula. Add coconut milk, salt and turmeric powder to the mixture and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from flame. In another pan, heat oil, add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds. When it starts to splutter, add red chili, curry leaves and asafoetida to it. Add this splutter mixture to the curry, mix and serve hot with plain rice.

Vegetable Upma

Hi,

This is South Indian breakfast, easy to make and healthy.

Ingredients :-         

        One cup Rava

  One cup mixed vegetable

  Water 3 Cup (16 tbs)

  Vegetable oil 2 Teaspoon

  1 tsp arahra dal

  Mustard seeds 1 Teaspoon

  Onion 1 Medium, chopped

  Green chillies 2 , chopped

  Some Curry leaves

  Lemon juice

Method:- 

Take the pan and cook the rava (without oil) until it gets brown. Stir continuously. Take it out from the pan. Take a pan and warm the oil in it. Pop the mustard seeds in the oil and then put the green pepper, arhar dal, curry leaves and chopped onion in it. Cook these things until onion become brown. Put the vegetables in the pan and add three cups of water, salt, lemon juice and cover the pan for 2 minutes. Now add cooked rava in the pan and mix it well. Turn off the flame, cover the pan and put aside for 1 minute.

Onion dosha

Hi Readers,

This is healthy breakfast option. 

Ingredients :- 1- rice and urad dal batter. This is made with 3 portion rice and 1 portion urad soaked overnight. Then grind it to make a thick batter. Add salt to it before making dosha.

3- 1 onion chopped

4- coriander chopped

5-1 green chili chopped

6- oil

Method ;- In a pan add little oil and add the batter, spread the batter in round shape. Add the onion , chilli and coriander as shown in picture. And cook it till one side is done, over turn and cook till other side is also cooked. Serve hot with chutney.

Beet root Dal fry

Hi Readers,

As we all know beet root is very nutritious , but having beet root in only salad is not adequate. So, this is a dish that not only provides the healthy beet root in your dish , but also blends flavor to it. There are some common beet root dishes that is usually made in South India. This is one among them which I like the most.

Ingredients :-  1- 1 beet root chopped thinly
2- 100 gm Masoor dal/ red lentils
3- 1 onion chopped
4- 3 flakes of garlic chopped
5- 1 tomato chopped
6- 1 green chili chopped
7- pinch of asfoetida
8- pinch of turmeric
9- 1 tbsp oil
10- salt to taste
11- cumin seeds, mustard seeds - 1 tbsp

Method :-  In a pressure cooker add the lentil, beet root, turmeric, salt and water. Cook over low flame till 2 whistles. Remove from flame. In another pan, add oil, add cumin and mustard seeds. When it stars cracking add onion, garlic, tomato and asfoetida. Cook till onion is translucent and add the dal to it. Serve hot with rice.

Tricolor Idli

Today with India's 66th independence day, I had prepared tricolor idli for this occasion. This is really very easy to make .

Ingredients :- 1- 1 cup rice
                     2 - 1/2 cup urad dal
                     3 -  1/2 cup carrot puree
                     4 - 1/2 cup spinach puree
                      5 - salt to taste
Method :- Soak rice and urad over night and then grind it. Let it ferment for another 6 hrs, then the batter is ready to make idli.

To make safforn idli add carrot puree to one portion of the batter. Similarly, to make green idli add spinach puree to one portion of batter and the third portion remains as it is for the plain idli.

Then set these batter in idli maker and prepare idli.

Hope you would have liked the idea f making tricolor idli.

Curd rice

This is one traditional dish served in every lunch and dinner buffet in South India. The importance of this dish is that it helps in digestion and also helps in lowering the body temperature. This is good serving specially in Summer months.

Ingredients:-

1 cup rice.

1cup curd

2 tsp of groundnuts

4 curry leaves

1 tsp pomegranate seeds.

1 tsp garlic finely chopped

1 tsp green chilli chopped

1/4tsp ginger finely chopped

1/4 tsp toor dal/arhar dal

2tsp oil

1tsp cumin and mustard seeds

salt to taste

Procedure:- Cook the rice and keep it aside to cool down. Once when it is in room temperature add the curd and make sure the level of curd reaches more than the level of rice. Keep it  for more than 5 hrs. In a pan heat 2tsp of oil. Add cumin and mustard seeds when its hot. Then add green chilli followed by garlic and ginger. Add groundnuts and arhar dal when ginger and garlic turns brown in color. When groundnut starts turning redish brown add curry leaves. Then let the oil and mixture cool down to room temperature. Mix requisite amount of salt to the curd and rice mixture. Finally, when the oil and mixture are cooled then mix it in curd and rice mixture. Decorate it with pomegranate seeds and serve.