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.

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. 

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.

Mango-Chickpeas Salad

I like chickpeas, so the other day I cooked some chickpeas for evening tea and wanted to do something other than the usual Chickpeas sundal. As I was gazing through my refrigerator looking for inspiration to add to my chickpeas, a bag of frozen mangoes caught my eyes. The poor thing has been sitting in the freezer since last summer and I decided to give it a try with my chickpeas. The result was great. Hope you like this simple, healthy and refreshing salad. 

Ingredients:

• Mango - 1 cup, diced. (Fresh or frozen. Thaw frozen mango before using)
• Chickpeas - 1 1/2 cups cooked (Add a little salt while cooking the chickpeas)
• Onion - 1/2, diced
• Red pepper (capsicum) - 1/2 diced
• lemon juice - from 1/2
• Salt -1/2 tsp or to taste. 
• Dry red chili flakes - to taste

Steps:

• Combine all the ingredients together.
• Add salt carefully as the cooked chickpeas has salt already added. 
• Refrigerate for a while before serving.
• You can always add more or less of each ingredient to your liking.

Peerkangai Poriyal (Ridge gourd Stir fry)

Like I mentioned in my previous post on Peerkangai Thol Chutney, peerkangai or ridge gourd is a versatile vegetable where the peel and the flesh can be used separately to make different dishes. Since the peel is kinda tough we need to remove it before making a stir fry. You can use the peels to make a chutney, for which you can find the recipe here. The stir fry or poriyal is very simple and quick. You can make it dry to go with rice or a little soggy to go with rotis.

Some things you may want to know about the vegetable are

• They let out a lot of water, so watch out.
• Once cooked the vegetable shrinks a lot, so if your cooking for large number of people you may want to buy more.
• You can use the seeds in the middle if they are tender, if not remove them before cooking.
• Save the skin (peel) to make a chutney (Dip). Recipe here

Ingredients:

• Ridge gourd/ Peerkangai - 2 large ones, peel and chop them.
• Onion - 1, finely chopped
• Garlic - 3 or 4, chopped
• Oil - 2 tblspn
• Mustard seeds - 1tspn
• Urad dal - 1tsp
• Channa Dal - 1 tsp
• Dry red chillies - 2 or 3, broken
• Coriander powder - 1 tspn
• Curry leaves - 1 strand
• Salt - to taste
• Chilli powder - 1/2 tspn
• Coconut,shredded - 2 tblspn

Steps: 

• Add oil in a pan, when hot add the mustard seeds, when they crackle, add the urad dal,channa dal, dry red chillies and the curry leaves.
• Immediately add the chopped onion and garlic and sauté till the onion changes colour lightly.
• Turn heat to medium high and add the coriander powder and chilli powder and sauté well till the raw smell of the coriander is gone.
• Then add the chopped ridge gourd and sauté. Add salt to taste.
• Sprinkle some water to start the cooking process and cover.
• In about 5 mins the gourd would have let out a lot of water, so remove the cover and cook it for another 5 mins. 
• If you like it to be soggy to go with rotis, add shredded coconut now, stir it in well and turn off heat.
• Or raise the heat to high and let the water evaporate, stir occasionally. Then add the shredded coconut, stir it in well and turn off heat. 

Peerkangai Thol (Ridge Gourd Peel) Chutney

This is a versatile vegetable I should say, you get two dishes out of 1 vegetable. The skin is bit tough, so you can peel it off and make a chutney (dip) with it and a poriyal (stir-fry) with the rest, for which you can find the recipe here, Peerkangai poriyal. So lets get started with the chutney for now. 

Ingredients:

• Peekangai thol (Peel of ridge gourd) -  from 2
• Coconut meat - 2 inches, chopped
• Dry red chillies - 2 or 3, to taste
• Ginger - 1/4 inch, chopped
• Urad dal - 2 tsp
• Gram dal - 1tsp
• Asafoetida - A pinch
• Tamarind - 1/2 inch
• Oil - 1 tblspn
• Salt - 1 tsp, or to taste

For tempering

• Oil - 2tspn
• Mustard seeds - 1tspn
• Urad dal - 1 tspn
• Dry red chillies - 1, broken.

Steps:

• Heat oil in a pan, when hot, add ural dal, gram dal, red chillies, asafoetida, and ginger and sauté for a minute.
• Then add the peel, coconut, tamarind and salt and sauté well for couple of mins.
  
• Cover and cook for 5 mins.
• Turn off heat. Cool and grind to a paste by adding water. Grind to desired consistency.
• Tempering: In a pan, add oil, when oil is hot, add mustard seeds, once it crackles add the rest of the ingredients. Add this hot oil mixture to the ground chutney. It will sizzle. Mix well. 
• Serve with idly, dosa or mix with plain white rice. 

Vegetable (Soup) Rasam

I came up with this recipe when my son fell sick 2 weeks ago, with fever and throat infection... long story short, he refused to eat anything. Tried making soups for him and he did not like them.. then since he likes rasam, I thought OK, rasam might be soothing to his throat and be nice to taste while sick. But  had to come up with a healthy alternate to Rasam; to make it a little nutritious for him. Rasam is tasty and good for digestion, but in the end its just tamarind water. So, I incorporated the vegetable soup I had made for him in the rasam and he liked the tangy taste and ate a little. This will be a good way to incorporate veggies into children's and adult's  diet too.

Ingredients:

• Tamarind - Soak a small lemon sized ball of tamarind in 1/2 cup of warm water
• Cumin seeds - 2 Tsp
• Pepper Corns - 1 Tsp
• Garlic - 2 cloves
• Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp
• Tomato - 1
• Mustard seeds - 1Tsp
• Dry red chilis - 1
• Curry leaves - 1 Strand
• Coriander leaves - Finely chopped, handful or less

For Vegetable soup:

• Vegetables : Whatever you have at home, except bitter ones. Here is a list of what I use, I had these at home, nothing specific.
• 1/2 Onion
• 1/2 tomato
• 1 Potato
• 1/2 Zucchini
• Handful of Spinach leaves
• 5 florets of Broccoli
• 1 stick of Celery
• 1 Carrot

• Tumeric - 1/2 tsp
• Salt - To taste
• Cumin Seeds- 1Tsp
• Ginger - Small piece, chopped roughly
• Garlic - 3 or 4 cloves
• Water -3 or 4 cups

Steps:

The steps are easy. First make soup, then use the soup to make rasam.

•  Make the soup: In a Presuure cooker, put all the ingredients listed under 'For Vegetable soup:' and add enough water to cover all the vegetables.
• Cook on medium high until you hear 3 - 4 whistles. We want to all the vegetables to cook and disintegrate in the water.
• Switch off cooker and wait for pressure to release. 
• Then open the cooker and strain the contents, into a big vessel. Nicely press and mash them thru the strainer and get all the water out of the cooked vegetables. Don't throw the mashed vegetables just yet. 
• Put it back in the pressure cooker and add just a cup or 2 of water and pressure cook it once more for 1 or 2 whistles.
• Repeat the whole straining process. This way we have not left any valuable nutrients in the vegetables.

•  Prepare for rasam: In a mixer grinder, grind together cumin seeds, pepper corns, garlic and asafoetida into a course paste.
• Heat oil in a wok. When hot add mustard seeds. When they crackle add Dry red chilli and the ground mixture and saute.
•  Then add the tamarind pulp (Squeeze the tamarind soaked in water to get pulp, use the soup to dissolve the tamarind a second time and squeeze again, repeat until all the flavor is extracted from the tamarind). 
•  Now add the soup into the wok and stir well. Cut the tomato into big chunks and add into the rasam. You can squeeze the juices into the rasam as you add it. Add salt as required.
• Add rasam powder if you like, I did not. 
• Bring the contents to boil.
• Now add the curry leaves and coriander leaves. Let boil for a min and switch off. I like to add curry leaves in the end as it gives out more aroma than when adding first. 
• Your done.

Okra - Chickpeas Stir fry (Vendakai - Kondai kadalai poriyal)

This is a simple and tasty dish. My MIL saw it on a cooking show aired in India and shared it with me couple of years a go. I have not made for a long time now, so the other day I had made some cooked chickpeas left over from making Sundal, and thought this is the chance to make it finally. Hope you like it.

Ingredients:

• Chick peas (cooked) - 1 Cup
• Okra (Ladies finger) - 400 to 500 gms chopped.
• Onion - 1, finely chopped
• Dry red chillis - 2
• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• Urad dal - 1 tsp
• Coriander powder - 2 1/2 tsp
• Salt - To taste
• Chilli powder - To taste
• Oil - 1 or 2 Tblsp
• Grated coconut - 1 Tblspn

Steps:

• Add oil to a pan and when hot add mustard seeds. When seeds crackle, add dry red chillies and Urad dal.
• Add chopped onions and saute. When slightly cooked add coriander powder and saute. Add little oil if too dry.
• Add chopped okra and saute well, so that the coriander sticks to all the pieces of okra.
• Add salt and Chilli powder to taste.
• Slightly reduce the heat, cover the pan with a lid and cook for 5 mins. Add a dash of water if you feel the dish is drying up too fast.
• Once the okra is 3/4th cooked. Add the cooked chickpeas and stir well. Cover and cook okra fully.
• Then open lid and add grated coconut and saute till all the moisture is evaporated. 

 

Easy Roast Potatoes

This is an easy and healthy way of making roast potatoes. It needs only half or even less than half the amount of oil usually used to make roast potatoes on the skillet. I  used a herb called Rosemary (seen in the photos like small twigs), just cause I had some. Its not required if you don't have it. It has a very strong taste, but smells good.

Ingredients:

• Potatoes - Chopped into chucks (about 1 inch) How many ever u need.
• Salt - 1 Tsp or to taste
• Chili powder - 1 1tsp or to taste
• Rosemary - 1/2 tsp (optional) 
• Oil - 1 tblsp

Steps:

Step 1 - Brown potatoes in pan.

Step 2- Transfer to baking tray and bake for 10mins, at 375 & 400 degs

• Preheat oven to 375 deg.
• In a wide pan, heat 3/4th of the oil. When hot add potatoes and stir well till oil adheres to all the chunks.
• Add salt and chili powder and stir well, again till all the potato chunks are coated well. with your finger, touch a chunk and taste the seasoning, if u feel you need more salt or chili powder add some. Add dry rosemary.
• Stir ocassionally, let the potatoes brown at least on 2 sides.
• Once ready transfer to an oiled baking tray. Cover with foil and bake for 5-7 mins.
• Carefully remove the foil, it will let out a lot of steam. You can see if the potaoes are cooked by putting a knife thru it. If you want to cook it more, replace the foil and cook for few more mins.
• When cooked, crank up the heat of the oven to 400 deg and place the tray back inside uncovered this time, for 5-7 mins. It will dry any moisture and make a a tasty roast.
• Take it out and sprinkle some salt.