Bitter melon (gourd) Coconut Curry - Pavakkai Kurma

Traditionally in Tamil Nadu, India, bitter gourd/melon (pavaakai/karela) is used to make Puli Kulambu ( a tangy tamarind based curry), but my husband is not a big fan it so I decided to make a Kurma out of it. I used Chinese bitter melon, which is softer and less bitter than the Indian variety. This Kurma tastes great with plain white rice, idly, dosai and chapathi

Ingredients:

• Bitter gourd - 1 or 2, chopped into small pieces 
• Oil - 2 Tblspn
• Onion - 1, chopped
• Tomato - 1 Chopped
• Cinnamon stick - 2
• Cloves - 5
• Ginger garlic paste - 1 1/2 Tsp
• Salt - to taste
• Chili Powder - to taste
• Coriander powder - 2 Tblspn
• Tamarind extract - 1 tblspn (or more if you like it to be more tangy)
• Coconut milk - 1 cup 

Steps:

• Prepare the bitter gourd - Cut them length wise and scrape off the seeds in the middle. Discard the seeds and chop the bitter gourd into small pieces. Soak them in salted water until ready to cook. This step helps reduce the bitterness of the gourd.

• Heat oil in a wok or sauce pan.
• When hot, add the cinnamon stick, cloves, onions and half of the salt and sauté well.
• When the onion is slightly cooked, add the ginger garlic paste and sauté until the raw smell of the ginger garlic paste is gone.
• Now add the chopped tomatoes and sauté well. 
• When the tomatoes are half cooked, add the bitter gourd and sauté well (Just the bitter gourd, not the salted water it was soaking in). 
• When the tomatoes are fully cooked, add the chili powder, coriander powder and rest of the salt and sauté well. Add in splash of water, if it starts sticking to the bottom or if the mixture is too dry and thick.
• Sauté till the raw smell of the spices are gone. 
• Now add the tamarind extract. Add half cup or more of water to cover all the bitter gourd. Let it boil well and then simmer for 10 mins or until the bitter gourd is fully cooked.
• Now add the coconut milk or ground coconut, stir well, and let it boil for 2 mins. At this point you can add more water, if the Kurma is too thick.
• Switch off heat and garnish with coriander leaves.

Chicken and Spinach Tortilla Pizza

When your kid is a picky eater, you got to come up with creative ways to get them to eat meat and veggies. And this recipe is one of them. I started out with just plain chicken an cheese, once my son was eating that well, I experimented with spinach and it was a success too. This is a very convenient recipe and a go-to one for me when I don’t have time to cook; cause you can make the chicken ahead and store in the fridge or use any left over cooked chicken. And spinach takes just few seconds to cook. I hope your children/family likes it too.

Ingredients:

• whole wheat Tortilla - 1
• Yogurt or yogurt based dressing : 1 tblspn (can use Mayo too)
• Spinach - 1 hand full, chopped
• Cooked/baked chicken - Chopped, enough to cover the tortilla
• Cheese - your choice, grated, enough to cover the top
• Salt - as needed
• Oil - 1tsp

Steps:

• In a pan (large enough to fit the whole tortilla) add oil, when hot, added the chopped spinach and sauté. Sprinkle some salt on it while cooking. when the spinach wilts, remove from the pan.
• In the same pan, place the tortilla, reduce the heat to medium high. Spread yogurt on the tortilla.
• Next, spread the cooked spinach with a spoon all over.
• Then add the chopped chicken on top.
• Next add the shredded cheese on top.
• Turn off heat. Slide the tortilla on to a baking sheet and broil on high until the cheese melts (keep watching while broiling to avoid charring).
• Cut and serve.

Bok Choy Stir fry - Indian Style

Thanks to my mom's awesome cooking skills, I am one of those few people who say 'I love greens'. And in South India, you get a whole variety of greens, which means, a whole different variety of dishes and different tastes. Here in Canada, you don't get any of the Indian greens, and those that are available at the Indian groceries stores are not fresh enough to eat.  So I turned to what is available and fresh. Bok Choy is a variety of Chinese Cabbage, mostly used in soups and stir frys. So I decided to give it a try the Indian way. 

Cleaning and Chopping a Bok Choy:

• Remove each stock or leaf from the base and wash well. There is usually mud inbetween the leaves at the base (in the white portion).
• Cut off the white portion and green portion and chop them seperately, as shown in the pictures.
• The white stem part needs to cook slightly longer than the green leafy part.

Ingredients:

• Bok Choy - 1 bunch, chopped.
• Oil - 1 tblspn
• Mustart seeds - 1 tspn
• Dry Red Chillies - 2 to 3 broken 
• Urad dal - 1 tspn
• Onion - 1 small or 1/2 of big, chopped
• Garlic - 3 cloves, finely chopped
• Coriander Powder - 1 tspn
• Chilli Powder - 1 tsn or to taste
• Salt - 1tspn
• Water - enough to sprinkle
• Coconut (Fresh or dry) - handful, shredded or grated 

Steps:

• In a wok, heat the oil. When oil is hot add the mustard seeds. Once they crack, add the dry red chillies, Urad dal, onion and garlic and saute well. 
• When onions turn color slightly add the chopped white part of the bok choy and stir well. Add salt, coriander powder and chilli powder and saute well till the raw smell of the powders are gone.
• Now sprinkle some water and close the wok with a lid. Lower the heat to medium high and it cook for about 7- 10 mins or until the whit bok choy changes color and is translucent. 
• Remove the lid and add the green leafy part. Saute well and the cover again and cook for 3 - 5mins, till the green leaf wilts.
• Open lid, if there is any water left, let it dry and then add the grated coconut and stir well. Switch off heat. 

Kerala Beef fry

First off let me tell you, this is my version of the Kerala Nadan style beef fry. This is not an authentic recipe, but is simple and tastes great.

Ingredients:

• Stew beef - 400 grams, cut into bite size pieces
• Onion - 1, chopped 
• Garlic - 3 -4 cloves grated
• Ginger - 1/2 inch piece, grated (Or, use 1 tblspn ginger garlic paste)
• Salt - 1tspn
• Coriander powder - 2 tspn
• Turmeric powder - 1 tspn
• Chilli powder - 1 tspn or to taste
• Garam masala Powder - 1 1/2 tblspn
•  Grated coconut - fresh/ dry, 1 handful, I used dry
• Vinegar - 2 tspn
• Water - 2 tblspn
• Black Pepper powder - 1tspn or to taste
• Coconut oil - 1tsp
• Reular cooking oil of your choice - 1 tblspn
• Curry leaves or Coriander leaves

Steps:

• In a small pressure cooker, add little cooking oil to coat the bottom of the pan.
• Then add, half of the chopped onion, grated ginger and garlic, coriander powder, chilli powder, salt, turmeric powder, garam masala,vinegar and the grated coconut. Mix well with a spoon.
• Add the meat and water and mix well, so that all the pieces are coated with  the spice mix.
• Close the pressure cooker and cook till meat is done (I cooked for 20 to 25 mins.  First 10 mins on high and then on medium heat). 

Note: Since its a dry dish, we are using only 2 tbln of water. So, it will catch on the bottom of your pressure cooker. It all adds to the flavour of the dish, if you want to avoid this, you can add more water. If there is any water left, after pressure cooking, boil till the water evaporates.

•  Heat oil in a pan/wok and saute the rest of the onions, till it becomes golden brown. Add the cooked beef, curry leaves and pepper powder and more salt if needed. Mix well and drizzle coconut oil, stir until well roasted.

Cabbage & Coconut Brown Rice

Brown rice is considered to be healthier than white, and that's about all the compliment I can give for it. Taste wise, white rice wins hands down any day. Brown rice is chewy and simply can't be substituted for white rice in all dishes. Trust me, I had the genius idea to make dum biriyani with it - What an epic fail!.. I know, I get over ambitious sometimes. So my next couple of posts are going to be my success stories, how I made brown rice flavourful and delicious. 

I have always enjoyed cabbage poriyal (stir fry) and white rice, I would start eating before my mom poured any curry over my rice.  So I thought, why not improvise and make a one pot dish. A good thing about this recipe is that the rice to cabbage ratio is less, meaning, there is less rice and more cabbage. So you can eat without worrying about your calorie intake, and moreover your getting all the health benefits of brown rice. This recipe turned out really good for me, I hope it does for you too. 

Ingredients:

• Brown rice -1 cup ( I used brown basmati rice) 
• Water - 2.5 cups for cooking the rice and little more for cooking cabbage
• Cabbage - 1 (small sized), chopped (about 2-3cups chopped) 
• Onion - 1, chopped
• Garlic - 4 pods, finely chopped
• Green chillies -3, slit 
• Oil - 1 tblspn 
• Mustard seeds -1 tsp
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Coriander powder - 1 tsp
• Biriyani masala - 1 tsp
• Chilli powder - to taste
• Salt - to taste
• Desiccated or shredded coconut - 2 handfuls 

Steps:

• Wash the brown rice and cook it in 2.5 cups of water (or as directed in the package). 
• Heat the oil in a pan, when oil is hot, add mustard seeds and let it crackle.
• Slightly lower the heat and add the cumin seeds, chopped onion, garlic and green chillies and sauté.
• Once the onion turns colour, add the coriander powder, biriyani masala powder  chilli powder and salt (some biriyani masala powder has salt added, so taste and add the necessary amount of salt).  Sauté well. Add little extra oil if you feel the mixture is too dry.
• Now add the cabbage and mix well with the onion and spice mixture. 
• Sprinkle about 1/4 cup of water and close the pan. Let the cabbage cook on medium heat. Stir occasionally.
• Once the cabbage is cooked, add the coconut and stir well. Cover for a minute.
• Open the lid, turn the heat up and add the cooked brown rice and mix well.
• Taste, add salt if needed. Turn off the heat, cover with lid.  Wait for few minutes before serving. 

Apple Banana Cake

What do you do when you have over ripe bananas, not fit to eat?  - You bake a Banana Bread. And in Fall here in Canada, apples are galore everywhere, so I decided to bake an Apple- Banana cake. I combined couple of recipes i found online to make it real simple. 

Ingredients

• Grated Apples - 4 cups of peeled n cored
• Bananas - 2 mashed
• Vanilla extract- 1 teaspoon
• Oil - 1/2 cup 
• Eggs - 2
• All purpose flour - 1 cup
• Whole wheat flour - 1Cup
• Brown sugar - 1.5 cups
• Baking Soda - 1 1/2 teaspoons
• Salt -1/2 teaspoon 
• Cinnamon powder - 1  teaspoon
• Powdered sugar - For dusting on top (Optional)

Steps

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

• Beat the oil, egg, vanilla and sugar together in a bowl. Mix in the grated apples and mashed banana. 
• Sift the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl and mix well.

• Add the dry mixture to wet ingredients and mix thoroughly.

• Pour into a pan and bake for 50 min or until tooth pick inserted comes out clean.

Garlic Parmesan Roasted Potatoes

I browse through the DIY section of Pinterest when I cannot fall asleep at night, sometimes I come across recipes too in the DIY section, and tell myself, one day I will try them. Well, finally I got around to trying one, and am glad I did. I tweaked the recipe a little to suit my needs. Garlic- Parmesan roasted potatoes are super easy and delicious, they are a perfect snack or a side to any entrée.

Ingredients:

• Small Red Potatoes (or any kind) - 10, cut into halves or quarters
• Salt - 1/2 tsp or more, to taste
• Black Pepper, ground - 1/2 tspn or more,  to taste
• Garlic - 5 pods, finely chopped
• Olive oil - 1 1/2 tblspn 
• Dry Basil - 1/2tspn
• Dry Thyme - 1/2 tspn
• Dry Rosemary - 1/4 tspn
• Parmesan cheese - 1/3 cup, grated or finely chopped
• Coriander leaves - a handful, finely chopped 

You may wanna try the Easy Roast Potatoes, if you do not have the herbs or cheese at home.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400F.
• In a bowl mix all the ingredients together, except the potatoes and coriander leaves. 
• Taste the mix to see if it needs more salt or pepper. Once you're happy with the taste, add the potatoes and toss them well, until all the pieces are coated with the mixture.
• Line a baking sheet with aluminium foil. Empty the contents on it and place the potatoes pieces skin side down.  
• Bake for 25-30 mins or until potatoes are golden brown. A knife put through a piece will go through smoothly when cooked.
• Remove from oven, place in a serving dish and sprinkle the coriander leaves. Viola! 

You may wanna try the Easy Roast Potatoes, if you do not have the herbs or cheese at home.