Thursday, May 14, 2009

Makki Palak Curry (Baby corn palak masala)

Serves: 4 people

Ingredients:

Palak - 1 bunch
Baby Corn - 1/2 kg
Onions - 5/6
Tomato - 1
Turmeric powder - 1/2 spoon
Chilli powder - 1 spoon
Jeera powder - 1/2 spoon
Dhania powder - 1/2 spoon
Saunf (sombu) powder - 1/2 spoon
Asefotedia (perungayam) - 1/4 spoon
Kasoori Methi (dried methi) - 1 spoon
Cashews - 6/7
Salt - to taste
Butter - 1/2 spoon
Oil - to saute

Method:

- In a pan, when the oil is hot, add the perungayam, and 3 of the cut onions and saute till brownish pink.
- Add the cut tomato and saute till both the onion and tomato gets cooked.
- Add cashews soaked in water to this and grind it to a fine paste.
- In a fresh pan, add little butter, and first saute the finely chopped remaining onions till brownish pink.
- Add the required salt, jeera powder, dhania powder, turmeric powder, chilli powder and saunf powderand cook till the raw smell is gone.
- Add finely chopped palak and saute till the palak gets cooked.
- Add the ground paste and water if necessary to get a gravy consistency and cook for 4-5 minutes.
- Add the cut and boiled baby corn pieces (small slices) into the gravy and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Nutirition Check:

http://www.foodmarketexchange.com/datacenter/product/vegetables/babycorn/detail/dc_pi_ft_babycorn1101.htm

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Tomato Rice

Ranju, this one is specially for u :)

Serves: 4 people

Ingredients:
Onions - 4/5
Tomato - 1/4 kg (4/5)
Dhania - 2 spoon
Bengal gram (kadalai paruppu) - 1 spoon
Asefotedia (Perungaayam) - a pinch for seasoning
Red chilli - 5/6
Coriander - to garnish
Cooked rice
Turmeric powder - 1/2 spoon
Oil - to saute
Ghee - 2 spoons
Salt - to taste

Method:
- Add oil to a kadai and add perungaayam when the oil is hot, add raw dhania, bengal gram and red chilli and saute for couple of minutes. Let it cool and then grind it to a coarse powder.
- Grind the tomatoes into a juice consistency.
- In a fresh pan, add little oil and fry the onions till brownish pink
- Add turmeric powder and salt.
- Add the ground tomato juice and cook till the gravy thickens.
- Add the ground powder and cook for couple of minutes.
- Add the cooked rice and ghee and mix well.
- Garnish with coriander leaves.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Vegetable Kurma

Serves: 4 people

Ingredients:

Onions: 5/6
Coconut - 2/3 small pieces
Carrot - 2
(Vegetables depends on individual preferences)
Beans - 10/15
Green Peas - one small cup
Cauliflower - few small cut pieces
Green Chillies - 4
Clove - 2
Cardomom -2
Ginger - a small piece (1 inch)
Coriander leaves - for garnishing
Cashews - 6/8
Dhania - 1 spoon
Chilli powder - 1/2 spoon
Turmeric powder - 1/2 spoon
Jeera powder - 1/2 spoon
Saunf powder (sombu) - 1/2 spoon
Ginger garlic paste - 1/2 spoon
Salt - to taste
Milk - roughly 50 ml
Curd - 1 spoon
Butter - 1 spoon

Method:

- Cut all the vegetables and boil them.
- Grind together the cashews, 2 of the onions, coconut pieces, green chillies, cardamom, cloves, dhania, ginger, into a fine paste
- In a fresh pan, add 1 spoon butter, and add the chopped onions and ginger garlic paste and fry till the onions turn brownish pink.
- Add the chilli powder, turmeric powder, jeera powder, saunf powder and salt and fry till the mixture loses the raw smell.
- Add the ground paste to it, and little water to give a gravy consistency and fry till the mixture gets fully cooked and the raw smell wears out.
- Add the boiled vegetables and cook for 4-5 minutes.
- Add the milk, stir well, add the curd, stri well and cook just for 2-3 minutes.
- Garnish with coriander leaves :)

Goes well with Rotis, Dosas, Aappam, Poori and Idiyappam

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Palak Paneer

Serves: 4 people

Ingredients:

Palak - 2 bunches
Paneer - one packet
Onions - 5/6 big ones
Tomato - 1 big one
Red Chilli - 4
Cloves - 2
Cardomom - 2
Pepper - 4/6
Pattai (in Tamil) - a small piece, roughly 0.5 cms long
Jeera - 1 tbl spoon
Dhaniya - 1 tbl spoon
Cashews - 6/8
Ginger Garlic paste - 1 tbl spoon
Chilli powder - 1/2 tbl spoon
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tbl spoon
Salt - to taste
Butter / Oil - to saute/ shallow fry

Method:

-Soak the cashews in water
-Saute the red chillies, cloves, cardomom, pepper, pattai, jeera, dhaniya over very little oil
-Cut 3 of the onions and add it to the fried masala items and fry till the onion turns brownish pink
-Add the cut tomato and fry till the tomato gets almost cooked
-Wash the palak, cut the leaves out, and add to the mixture, and fry till the palak gets cooked. Palak gets cooked very easily and hardly takes any time at all
-Allow the mixture to cool down to room temperature, and then grind it to a smooth paste along with the soaked cashews(chutney consistency)

-Cut the paneer as required, and on a fresh pan, shallow fry it in oil, till it loses the raw smell and turns slightly yellow. Keep it aside.
-Add little butter or oil to a fresh pan, when hot, add finely chopped onions(the remaining ones) and ginger garlic paste and fry till the onions turn brownish pink in colour
-Add the chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt required and cook till the raw smell vanishes
-Add the ground paste and little water to get the gravy consistency and cook till they mix well (just till a boil)
-Add the fried paneer and let it mix well with the gravy
-Serve it hot with rotis /rice

This might jus help:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinach
http://www.doctorndtv.com/FAQ/detailfaq.asp?id=8353

Disclaimers

1. The recipes are tried out and tested at home. I love them. Trust me, am a foodie :).

2. The ingredients are mentioned in quantities as available in Chennai/India. Others find out what they are otherwise called or how they are available through other resources.

3. Ingredients will be in English primarily, and in cases where I don't know the English name, I would have used the Tamil or Hindi equivalent. Again its upto you to figure it out in the language you follow (Utmost, I might get some contacts to help you).

4. Those with alternate recipes, send in your recipes or suggestions through the comments section.

5. The language used might be very casual or colloquial, thats the way I discuss recipes with friends :)

6. Recipe specific disclaimers will be added then and there :P.

Dedications!!!

A blog where am gonna share recipes??? only that?? why that?? whats new in recipes, whats new in sharing it online? and more whats, whys and hows...

"The best cooks in the world are Moms" - Firstly, i thank my mom, the one who made me love food, who taught me cooking, who volunteered to be my guinea pig, who encouraged me and who made me find a new passion in cooking...

I dedicate this blog primarily to my best friend "Ranjani" who makes the very lazy me type recipes of all my preparations, its for her that I type these down...

I also dedicate this to other beloved friends, who have been inside the kitchen jus to eat, or check on moms as to whether the food is ready, or accidently landed there for nothing. For those lovely souls, when one fine day when they want to burn their fingers and try out something, here's a small help form my end...

I also extend this to fellow food lovers and chefs who are probably better than me, to them I would like to say they might be better, and comments, suggestions and discussions are most welcome...

Disclaimer: All copyrights for my recipes rest with me :)