KOHLRABI WHITE GRAVY ( NOOKAL KURUMA)

Kohlrabi, is called as nookal in south India. Kohlrabi is commonly used in sambhar, curries and in kuruma.  Its a fiber rich food enriched with full of vitamins and other vital nutrients. Its a winter season vegetable. Its stems are also edible, if they are cooked properly.  I tried making a white gravy with kohlrabi as a side dish for roti with a fusion of kuruma's flavour. Even though the colour is plain, it was full of flavour. Hope you too will try it for a change escaping from red, yellow, orange colour gravies for a day. 


Ingredients:


1. Kohlrabi - 2 medium size ( chopped into chunks)
2. Onion - 1 ( thinly sliced)
3. Milk - 1 cup


To grind:


1. Fresh coconut - 1 tbs
2. Fried gram dhal - 1 tbs (pottukadalai / chutney dhal)
3. Green chillies - 1 or 2 (according to taste)
4. Fennel seeds - 2 tsp ( sombu / saunf)
5. White poppy seeds - 3 tsp ( kas kas)
6. Ginger - 1 inch piece
7. Garlic - 6-7 cloves 


Seasoning :


1. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
2. Bay leaf - 2
3. Chopped coriander leaves - 1 tbs 


Method:


1.  Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and bay leaf. Once the mustard seeds got popped, add thinly sliced onions to the pan, add fry for 1 or 2 minutes. No need to fry onions to brown, as we are making white gravy, it will appear odd.


2. Add kohlrabi pieces, fry for 2 -3 minutes. Add 2 cups of waters to the vessel. Add salt, and cook with closed lid. Cook until it becomes soft. Its better if the water in the pan is almost absorbed by the vegetable. 


3. Add the grind paste to the cooked vegetable and keep stirring for few minutes. Slow the flame, add 1/2 cup of cold water and 1 cup of milk  simultaneously . Keep stirring without leaving your hands to avoid curdling of milk. 


4. 3-4 minutes later you can raise the flame to medium,  the gravy will start thickening.   You can sprinkle chopped coriander leaves on top of the gravy and transfer to a serving bowl. It goes well with roti etc.


Alternative :- To reduce the fat content, I have reduced the amount of coconut and substituted fried gram dhal. The other option is you can use cashew nuts instead of fried gram dhal . 2) you can use just coconuts alone . 3)  And also you can substitute coconut milk, but the total version of the gravy gets change to stew.


  

CAULIFLOWER MASALA

All would have tried cauliflower as a side dish  in the way of gopi manchurian, gopi mutter, aloo gopi, and  also gopi khuruma. This is my own fusion cauliflower masala. It came out well and we enjoyed with our family. It needs few simple ingredients, so everyone can try it at home when cauliflower is available at your kitchen.


Ingredients:


1. Onion - 2, thinly sliced
2. Tomato - 3, finely chopped
3. Cauliflower pieces - 2 cups ( cleaned in hot water)
4. Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
5. Red chilli powder - 2 tsp
6. Green peas - 1 tbs ( optional)
7. Salt - as required


To Grind:


1. freshly grated Coconut - 2 tbs
2. Coriander seeds - 2 tsp
3. Ginger - a small piece
4. Garlic - 4 cloves


Seasoning:


1. Jeera (cumin) - 1 tsp
2. Oil - for cooking
3. finely chopped coriander leaves - 1 tsp


Method:


1. Heat oil in a pan, add jeera for seasoning.  


2. Once the jeera gets brown colour, add thinly sliced onions and finely chopped tomatoes.


3. Keep frying until the tomatoes gets well smashed. 


4. Add salt, turmeric power, red chilli powder and give a stir for 1 more minute. Add  a tsp of oil if it sticks to the pan. 


5. Add 1 cup of water to the pan, add the cleaned cauliflower florets and close the pan with a lid. Allow to cook for a minimum of 5 minutes or until the cauliflower is well cooked absorbing all flavours.


6. In the meanwhile, grind coconut, coriander seeds, ginger and garlic in a blender to a fine paste adding required amount of water. 


7. Add the grind paste to the gravy, stir well. Allow to cook for 3-4 more minutes or until the raw smell goes. This particular cauliflower masala tastes good if it is in semi -gravy consistency. So if you required the gravy to be thinner, you can add water at this stage and cook.


8. Once the masala is ready, transfer to a serving bowl. Sprinkle coriander leaves on top.  Serve hot with roti, pulka, white rice or jeera rice.

MUSHROOM GRAVY - CHINESE STYLE

This is very simple and tasty chinese style side dish, which can be done in few minutes with lesser preperations. A nice peppery taste which crunch you all.....while having this dish.

Ingredients:

1. Fresh button mushrooms - 200 gms
2. Onion - 1 medium size
3. Spring onions - 1/2 bunch
4. Crushed ginger garlic - 1 tbs ( 2 garlic cloves & 1 inch ginger)
5. Crushed pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
6. Green chillies - 1 or 2 according to taste
7. Corn flour - 1/2 tbs
8. Ajinomoto - 1/4 pinch (optional)

Method:

1. Chop the mushrooms into quarters.  Heat a tbs of oil in the pan. Add the chopped mushrooms, keep frying without removing your hands in high flame. Its enough to fry for 4-5 minutes. Its not necessarry to reduce the size of the mushroom pieces. Less cooking is enough for mushroom to retain its water content.

2. Transfer the fried mushrooms to a seperate bowl.

3. Chop the onions and  spring onions. While chopping the spring onions, keep the chopped shallots and the greens seperately.

4. Heat oil in the pan, add the fried onions and the shallots. Fry for 1 minute. Add crushed ginger, garlic paste and pepper powder. Add chopped green chillies also. Fry for 2 more minutes. If you are adding ajinomoto salt, you can add in this stage.

5. Add the fried mushroom to the pan, add 1 cup of water. Add required amount of the salt to the gravy and allow to cook. Add the chopped greens from the spring onions to the gravy.

6. In the mean while, mix the corn flour with a 1/4 glass of water without any lumps.

7. Add the mixed corn flour mixture to the gravy and keep stirring. After adding the corn flour mixture , the gravy gives you a thick  and shiny texture.

8. The gravy is done, you can transfer to a serving bowl. You can serve it with chinese fried rice, butter naan and roti. 

SWEET CORN PANEER MASALA

This is a rich and tasty side dish goes well with roti and chappathi. All the kids will love to have sweet corn and paneer, and also it looks very colourful and tastes rich. So no doubt, it will be a successfull dish for you to serve your family.

Ingredients:

1. Sweet corn kernels - from 1 full cob or 3/4 cup
2. Fresh paneer - 1/2 cup (crumbled)
3. Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
4. Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp or 2 pinch
5.  Red chilli powder - 2 tsp ( less or more as required)
6. Butter - 2 tsp for cooking
7. Oil - for cooking

To grind:

1. mint leaves - 1 handful
2. Coriander leaves - 1 handful
3. tomato - 2
4. Onion - 1

Seasoning:

1. Cloves - 2
2. Cinamon stick - 1 small piece

Method:

1. Clean and wash fresh mint and coriander leaves and keep it aside.
2. Chop tomatoes and onion. Heat oil in a pan. Add chopped onions and tomatoes, fry for 2 minutes. Add chopped coriander leaves and mint leaves to the fried onion, tomato mixture. Saute for 2 more minutes.

3. Once the fried items comes to room temperature, grind it to a fine paste and keep it aside.

4. Heat a tsp of oil and a 2 tsp of butter to the pan.  Once they got heated, add cloves and cinamon stic. Once they got roasted, add the grind paste and keep frying without leaving hands to avoid sticking. Its better if you do it in the non-stick pan.  Add red chilli powder, a pinch of garam masala powder and salt. Fry for a minute.

5. Now add the fresh sweet corn kernels (make sure it is not dry. If it is so,  soften it by boiling it in hot water before adding it to the gravy). Keep frying for 2-3 minutes. Add 1 cup of water to the gravy.

6. Allow to boil for few minutes. Add the crumbled paneer to the gravy. If it is required you can add few water to the gravy.  Allow to boil the gravy for 3-4 minutes.

7. Once the gravy got ready, transfer it to a serving bowl and serve it.

CHANNA MASALA

Channa masala is an all time favorite for almost everyone and have become a must in hotel buffets and in wedding receptions. Now a days, lots of branded channa masla powders are available in the market. Still,  sometimes we will run out of that in our kitchen. Should we stop doing channa masala until we  get the masala powders.  Not necessariry, this is the following recipe for you people to make channa masala without having channa masala powder with the ingredients available in the house. 


Ingredients:


1. 1 cup -  soaked channa ( soaked over night or a minimum of 6 hrs and pressure cooked)


To grind:

1. Boiled channa - 1/4 cup
2. Big onions - 1 1/2
3. Tomato - 2
4. Green chillies - 2
5. Red chillies or red chilli powder - 2 or as required
6. Fresh coraider leaves - 1/2 cup
7. Turmeric powder - 2 tsp
8.Ginger - 2 inch or as required
6. garlic - 4-5 cloves
7. Cloves - 3-4
8. Cinnamon stic - 1 inch

Seasoning:

1. Jeera - 1 1/2 tsp
2. Bay leaves - 2
3. Chopped corinder - 1 tbs
4. Lemon juice - 1 tbs or according to the taste

Method:


1. Take a small piece of white cloth, tie bay leaf, cinnamon and cloves tightly with a thread and drop it in the vessel you are going to pressure cook, channa.


2. Grind the ingredients mentioned for grinding to a smooth paste and keep it separate in a bowl.


3. Heat oil in a pan, add jeera and bay leaves. Once they got popped, add the grind masala to the pan. Fry for 2 minutes.

4. Add 1 1/2 cups of water. Add the cooked channa to the the pan and allow to cook for 7-10 minutes. Keep the lid closed, stir once or twice to avoid sticking.

5. Add the lemon juice and the chopped coriander over the cooked channa masala and transfer it to a sering bowl.

6. Serve hot with white rice, jeera rice, pulav, chappathi, roti, pulka, bread and your choice goes on........and on.

SIMPLE SHAHI ALOO

This is a simple and a quick way to do the tasty shahi aloo. Its a mouth watering recipe, still its done in few minutes.

 Ingredients:

1. Boiled potatoes - baby potatoes or big potatoes cut into bigger chunks
2. Little bit tangy yogurt - 3/4 cup
3. Red chilli powder - 3 tsp ( less or more as required)
4. Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
5. Salt - as required
6. Subzi masala powder of any brands - 4 tsp
7.Any cooking or refined oil - 1/2 cup

To Grind:

1. Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbs (or)
    ginger - 1 inch & garlic - 5 cloves
2. Onion - 1 medium size

Method:

1. Pressure cook the potatoes. The texture of the potatoes should be firm but not too soft. Otherwise it may get smashed into your gravy. Keep it in a seperate bowl, draining all the water.


2.  Heat 1/4 of oil in a pan, add the drained potatoes to the oil, and give a nice fry 3-4 minutes. Keep stirring without smashing it and to avoid potatoes sticking to the pan.

3. In the mean while, mix  yogurt, subzi masla powder, salt, turmeric powder, red chilli powder together and beat well. Keep it seperately.


4.  Add ginger, garlic and onion and grind to a  paste. Add the grind paste to the same pan, with fried potatos and fry for 2 more minutes. Keep stirring to avoid sticking, because potatoes had the nature of easy sticking.


5. Reduce the flame, add the yogurt mixture to the pan and keep stirring by adding the rest of oil.


6. Keep stirring without smashing the potatoes. Add 1/2 cup of water to the gravy, once the oil started to float on top.  switch off the stove. Transfer it to a serving bowl. If you want you can sprinkle, finely chopped green chillies and coriander leaves for extra punch. The texture of the gravy should be thick.


7. Serve hot with roti or chappathi or with jeera rice or any other pulav. 


Its a bit oily gravy, but taking once in a while does not makes any harm to diet chart.  Finish  this quick gravy and have a nice chat with your friends and family.

MIXED VEGETABLE- CASHEW GRAVY WITH YOGURT

This is a little variation to the navarathna kuruma, try it out and enjoy the flavour.


Ingredients:


1. Mixed vegetables - 3/4 cup ( carrot, beans, capsicum, potato - finely chopped)
2. Red chilli powder - as required
3. Salt - as required
4. Garam masala powder or any subzi masala powder - 2 tsp


To Fry & grind 1:


1. Tomato - 2 chopped
2. Onion - 1 chopped
3. Red Chillies - 4 or as required
4. Ginger - 1 inch
5. Garlic - 4 cloves


To Grind 2:


1. Cashews - 6 
2. Freshly grated coconut - 1/ 4 cup
3. Fresh Yogurt - 1/2 cup


Method:


1.  Heat oil in a pan, add chopped red chillies, ginger, garlic. Fry for few minutes. Add chopped tomatoes and onions. Fry for few minutes and allow to cool in a plate. 


2. Add cashew pieces, grated coconut  and grind it to a smooth paste with yogurt and transfer it to a bowl.


3. Heat oil in a pan, add chopped vegetables and cook the vegetables in slow flame without adding water. Keep the pan closed with a lid. Stir then and there to avoid turning black and sticking. 


4. In the mean while, grind the tomato, onion mixture to a fine paste. Once the vegetables are cooked, add the grind tomato mixture and keep stirring without adding any water. Add 2 tbs of oil or as required to the pan and fry nicely for 2 more minutes.


5. Now add the grind cashew, coconut, yogurt mixture to the pan. Add required amount of water, garam masala powder, salt and red chilli powder to the pan and allow to cook until the gravy becomes thick. 


6. Sprinkle chopped coriander leaves.


7. Transfer the cooked gravy to the serving bowl, serve it hot with roti and chappathi. 


variation :-  You can add cloves, bay leaves to the gravy while seasoning instead of garam masala powder.  

BRINJAl KOTHSU

This is a very simple, less fat and fast cooking dish. Hope everyone in the family likes too. Even though brinjal is the main item in this recipe, it contains other vegetables too. So it is a healthy diet and you can serve this dish to the person, to whom you like to serve something tasty with less oil or no oil also. 

Ingredients :

1. Chopped brinjal of any variety - 3/4 cup
2. Potato - 1 medium size ( skin peeled and chopped)
3. Carrot - 1 big size ( skin peeled and chopped)
4. Ginger - 1 inch
5. Garlic - 3-4 crushed
6. Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
7. Red chilli powder - 1 tsp or as required
8. Green chillies - 2 or as required
9.  Tomato - 1 medium size
10. Onion - 1 medium size ( finely sliced)


Seasoning :

1. Cloves - 1
2. Cinamon stick - 1 small piece
3. Cardomom - 1 (optional)
4. Garam masala powder - 1 tsp
5. Coriander leaves - 1 tbs, finely chopped

Method:

1. Take a pressure cooker, add chopped brinjal, potato, carrot, ginger, garlic, tomato, onion, green chillies, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, salt with 1/2 cup of water and give 2-3 whistles in the pressure cooker.

2. Heat oil in a pan, add cloves, cinamon stick, cardomom and finally the garam masala powder and remove the pan from the stove. Otherwise the garam masala powder will get blackish.

3. Once the pressure is gone, smash the cooked brinjal mixture nicely and pour that to a pan along with the seasoning and allow to boil for 2-3 minutes. Sprinkle chopped coriander leaves on top of the kothsu and remove it from the fire and transfer it to a serving bowl. If you want you can add even more water to have the required consistency.

4. Serve it hot with chappathi, roti and dosa.

Note: Its optional to add lemon juice finally to the kothsu, before serving.  You can also add green chillies during seasoning time instead of adding it during cooking.

VADAKARI

This is chennai's favorite gravy, a pure tamilnadu masala.  Its more served in marriges now a days with idiyappam.  But a delicious combination with aapam and dosa,. In hotels they are serving it with set dosai or kal dosai  Why can't you try this side dish,  for a change in your house other than chutneys and sambhar  on a special occasion or as a weekend special. My father is going to celeberate his 60th birthday, still this date vadakari is his evergreen favorite, and it passes to me and I have started to prepare for my family, hope you too.

Ingredients for vadai:

1. Channa dhal - 1/4 cup and Toor dhal - 1/4 cup
2. Green chillies - 1 or 2
3. Red chillies - 1 or 2
4. Sombu ( fennel seeds) - 1 tsp
5. Onion - 1 small size ( if availble, use small sambhar onions of 5-6)
6. Salt - as required
7. Asfotedia powder - 1 pinch

Ingredients for curry :

1. Tomato - 3 medium size
2. Onion - 1 big size (finely chopped)
4. Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
5. Red chilli powder - as required

To grind for the curry:

1. Coconut freshly grated - 1/2 cup
2. green chillies - 1
3. Fennel seeds - 2 tsp
4. Ginger, garlic paste - 1/2 tbs

For seasoning:

1. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
2. Jeera - 1 tsp
3. Curry leaves - 1 full twig
4. Coriander leaves - finely chopped to add it finally
5. Cinamonn stic - 2
6. Cloves - 4
7. Bay leaf - 2

Method:

1. Soak channa dhal and toor dhal for minimum of 1 hour - 3 hours and grind it with onions, salt, chillies and fennel seeds with little amount of water to a thick paste. Heat oil in a pan for deep frying the vada. Make small balls out of the grinded paste and deep fry and keep it seperately.

2. Heat oil in  pan for seasoning. Once the oil gets heated, add mustard seeds, jeera and curry leaves. Once they got popped add cinamon sticks, cloves and bay leaves.

3. Add thinly sliced onions, fry for 2-3 minutes. Add chopped tomatoes fry until they get cooked softly.  In the mean while, make all vada into four pieces and keep it ready and grind coconut, green chilles, fennel seeds, ginger and garlic to fine paste in a blender.

4. Add turmeric powder, salt, red chilli powder and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the grind masala to the pan and fry until the oil seperates from it.

5. Once the oil seperates from the gravy, add 1 cup of water to the pan allow to boil for 2-3 minutes. Add the vada pieces and allow to cook until the vada pieces absorbs the water and turns the gravy to a thick consistency.

6. Add the chopped coriander leaves on top and transfer to a serving bowl.

7. Serve hot with dosa, aapam or idiyappam.

SOYA BALLS IN HOT GARLIC SAUCE

Chinese cusine is one of the dominating international cusine all over the world. Its taste attracts  all people. Chinese fried rice, wontons, spring rolls, manuchurian gravies, fortune cookies, dumplings are some of the famous vegetarian items. Soya is one of the important item used in chinese cusine. This soya balls in hot garlic sauce is my inspiration from the veg balls in hot garlic sauce. You can try it with chinese fried rice and enjoy the taste of restaurant style at your house.

Ingredients for soya balls:

1. Soya chunks - 1 cup
2. Soya sauce - 1/2 tbs
3. chilli paste or chilli sauce - as required (you can even add red chilli powder)
4. Salt - as required
5. Ginger paste - 3/4 tbs
6. All purpose flour/ maida/ corn flour - 1 tbs ( just for binding the balls)

Ingredients for Hot garlic sauce:

1. Soya sauce - 1 tbs
2. Tomato sauce - 2 tbs
3. Green chillies - finely chopped as required
4. Spring onions - 2 tbs finely chopped
5. Ginger paste  - 1 tbs
6. White / black Pepper powder - 1 tsp ( as required )
7. Ajinomoto - a pinch (optional)
8. Onion - 1/2 finely chopped
9. Capsicum - 2 tbs finely chopped ( optional)

Method:

1. Soak soya chunks in the warm or hot water for a mininum of 1/2 hour. Once they become twice its size and completely spongy, squeeze out all the water with your hands.

2. Put the soya chunks in a blender and grind it to granules. No need to add water. Transfer to a bowl, add chilli paste, soya sauce, salt, ginger paste and mix it together and allow to marinate for a minimum 30 minutes - 1 hr.

3. After marination,  add flour to the mixture and blend it well. Make balls and keep it seperately in a plate. If you have enough time, you can even refregirate it.

4. Heat oil in a pan, deep fry the soya balls. These balls will have crispy texture. Keep it seperately.

5. Heat oil in a wok, once the oil gets heated add chopped onions and capsicum and fry for 1 minute at a high flame. Add chillies and fry for 10 seconds. Add ginger and garlic paste and fry for 1 minute. Add soya sauce, tomato sauce, ajinomoto and salt. The consistency of this sauce will be like a watery paste. 

6. Mix 1/4 tbs of flour to 1/2 cup of water without any lumps and pour it with the sauce and mix nicely allow to boil for 20 - 30 seconds. Your hot garlic sauce is ready now. Add the fried balls to the sauce. Sprinkle chopped spring onions on top.

7. Serve hot with chinese fried rice or chinese noodles. It will be a wonderful combination.

CHANNA KURUMA

This is my friend's recipe, sounded so simple when I heard . I prepared this dish with little alterations from her recipe,   it taste so nice than i expected.  This ingredients are simple, than what we use for the regular kuruma but tasted new. You too try it, its simple to make and a healthy gravy.

Ingredients:

1. Channa(white) - 1 cup boiled
2. Onion - 1 big size ( finely chopped)
3. Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
4. Salt - as required

To grind:

1. Grated coconut - 2 tbs
2. green chillies - 2
3. Ginger - a very small piece
4. Garlic - 2 cloves
5. Coriander seeds - 3/4 tbs

Seasoning:

1. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
2. Jeera - 1 tsp
3. Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp

Method:

1. Soak channa for 5-6 hours, Pressure cook it softly and keep it seperately.

2. Grind freshly grated coconut, green chillies, ginger, garlic, raw coriander seeds into a fine paste.

3. Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and jeera. Once they got fried, add finely chopped onions and fry until they got golden brown.

4. Add cooked channa and add 1/2 cup of water. Add salt and turmeric powder. Let it boil for 1-2 minutes.

5. Add Grind paste to channa and allow it to boil for 5-6 minutes or until it gets a thicker gravy consistency.

6. Your channa kuruma is ready to serve.

7. Serve hot with dosa or chappathi and puri. 

SMALL BRINJAL CURRY

Brinjal is almost a vegetable we see allover the year, and we are having plenty of brinjal recipes in practice. This curry is a andhra special curry, which tingles your tounge for more and more. Even this gravy recuires more oil than the normal usage, what's harm in tasting this yummy brinjal curry for one day !!

Ingredients:

1. Small size purple colour brinjal - 4
2. Big onion - 1 finely chopped
3. Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
4. Red chilli powder  - 1 tbs

To grind:

1. Urud dhal - 1 tbs
2. Channa dhal - 1 1/2 tbs
3. Coriander seeds - 2  1/2 tbs
4. Ginger - a small piecs
5. Garlic - 2 cloves
6. Peanuts - 4 tbs
7. Tamarind - as required
8. Jeera - 1/2 tbs
9. Methi seeds - 1 tsp
10. Cloves - 1
11. Cinamon stic - 1 small stic
12. Onion - 1 small size

Seasoning:

1. Mustard seeds  - 1 tsp
2. Jeera - 1 tsp

Method:

1.  Heat oil in a pan, add all the ingredients to be grind one by one. Roast all the ingredients for 4-5 minutes.

2. Transfer all the ingredients to a bowl and allow to cool. Once they got cooled, grind it fnely by adding required amount of water. The consistency should be in paste form.

3. Halve brinjal into 4 leaving with it stems.  Stuff the grind paste into the brinjal as much as you can. Keep rest of the paste aside for the curry.

4. Heat oil in a pan, add 1/2 cup of oil.  Drop the stuffed brinjals into the oil and close the lid. Open the lid after 3-4 minutes and turn the sides of the brinjal to get cooked evenly. Repeat this process until the brinjal gets cooked softly and evenly on all the sides without turning into black. Once it gets cooked keep it seperately.

5. Heat oil in another pan, add mustard seeds, jeera and curry leaves for seasoning.
 Add the chopped onions fry until it turns brown. Add the rest of the curry paste to the pan. Add turmeric powder, Red chilli powder and fry until the oil gets seperate and the paste turns dark brown. Add the cooked brinjals to the gravy, keep the stove in low heat and close the pan with the lid and cook for 3-4 minutes.

6. Serve hot with white rice, roti or chappathi.

ALOO SAAG

This is one of the healthiest and tastiest food, which you love to taste at the first bite with the golden fried crispy pototoes on the spinach curry.

Ingredients:

1. Spinach - 100gms
2. potatoes - 3 medium size (boiled hard)
3. Red chilli powder - 2 tsp or according to your taste
4. Garam masala powder - 1 tsp
5. Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
6. Oil  for cooking
7. Salt - as required

To Grind:

1. Tomato - 1 chopped
2. Onion - 1/2 chopped
3. Ginger - 1/2 inch
4. Garlic - 3 cloves

Seasoning :

1. Jeera - 1 tsp

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan, add chopped onions, tomato, ginger and garlic. Fry until it becomes soft. Transfer to a bowl and allow to cool.
2. Clean the spinach without any dirt. Take 2 cups of water in a vessel and allow to boil nicely. Add the spinach into the boiling water. Allow the spinach to boil for 3-4 minutes. Then remove the spinach from the water and allow to cool, draining all the water.

3. Chopped the boiled potatoes into bigger cubes.  Heat oil in a pan , deep fry the potatoes to golden brown on all the sides, turning all the sides then and there.

4. Grind the tomato, onion, ginger, garlic and the spinach  to a fine paste.( you can grind spinach seperately also). You can add little water while grinding if required.

5. Heat oil in a pan, add jeera. Add the ground paste to the pan, keep stirring without adding any water. Add red chilli powder, garam masala and salt and turmeric powder one by one. Fry until the oil gets seperated from it. 

6. Transfer to a serving bowl. Add the crunchy golden fried potatoes to the saag before serving to retain its crispiness.

7. Serve hot with chappathis and rotis.

KARAMANI MASALA (black eye beans)

This is a pure south indian flovaoured gravy, which taste equivalent to hotel served side dishes. You can enrich the gravy by adding cream or butter as you wish.  This is a simple gravy cooks without much efforts in lesser time.

Ingredients:

1.karamani, (soaked over night and boiled) - 1/2 cup
2.big onion - 1 chopped finely
3.garlic cloves - 2
4.tomoato - 1 chopped
5..turmeric powder - 1 tsp
6. fresh coriander  - chopped

For Seasoning:
1.mustard
2.jeera
3.fennel seeds (sombu) - 1 tsp


Grind Together:
1.onion - 1
2.garlic cloves - 2
3.fennel seeds - 1 tsp
4.red chiilies - 4-5 ( according to your taste)

Method
1.Heat oil in a pan.
2.Add mustard and jeera.
3.After the mustard splitters add jeera, add one chopped onion, fry till golden brown.
4.Add grounded masala, fry until the raw smell goes.
5.Add turmeric powder and salt, fry for a minute.
6.Add the boiled karamani to the gravy. the karamani should be smashed 3/4th.
7.Add water according to the gravy consistency you required.
8.When the water starts to boil, add chopped tomoatoes.
9.Add chopped coriander, close the lid and let it boil for 2-3 minutes.
10.Serve hot with roti or chappathi or ghee rice as a side dish.

INDONESIAN MIXED VEGETABLE CURRY

This is one of my favorite recipe i got through some indonesian cooking books. For a change, try this curry with a mixed flavour.

Ingredients:

1. Small onions(shallots) - 5
2. Garlic Cloves - 3
3. ginger - 4cm
4. Lemon grass - 2 stalks( if available)
5. turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
5. cumin powder - 2 tsp
6. coriander powder - 2 tsp
7. ground black pepper- 1 tsp
8. palm sugar - 2 tsp
9. green beans - 300gms
10. potatoes- 300 gms
11. cabbage - 300 gms
12- coconut milk - 600ml
13. curry leaves, bay leaves - for seasoning
14. red chillies - for decoration

method:

1. peel and finely chop the shallots and garlic. peel and finely grate the ginger. trim and wash the lemon grass and finely chop the thick, lower ends.

2. Put the shallots, garlic, ginger, lemon grass in a bowl with turmeric, cumin powder, coriander powder, salt and pepper powder and palm sugar.

3. Stir together to form a thick paste.

4. Wash and trim the beans, then cut diagonally into 4 cm pieces. pell the potatoes and cut them into samll cubes. Trim and wash the cabbage, removing the stalks and tough ribs. Cut the leaves into strips about 1 cm wide.

5. Heat the oil in a pan. Stir fry the curry paste over a medium heat for 3-5 minutes.

6. Add the beans and continue to fry for a further 5 minutes.

7. Stir in the diced potatoes and shredded cabbage.

8. Pour the coconut milk, add the curry and baby leaves, then cover the pan and cook over a medium heat for about 30 to 35 minutes.

9. Stirring from time to time.

10. Garnish with red chilles and serve with indonesian fried rice or with white rice.

continental veggie gravy with south indian spices

This is a tasty, rich and a fusion gravy of english vegetables with south indian spices, cooking in less time.

Ingredients:
1. broccoli - 1/2 cup, chopped
2. carrots - 2 medium size, chopped bigger in length wise
3.baby corn-  5, chopped bigger in length wise
4. Any cooking oil.
to be grind as a fine paste:
1.fennel seeds - 2 tsp
2.coconut - 2 tbs(grated)
3.ginger - 1/2 inch
4.garlic-2
5.cloves-2
6.green chillies - 1
7.turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
8.red chilli powder - 1 tsp
9.coriander seeds- 1 1/2 tsp
Seasoning:
mustard seeds - 1 tsp
jeera - 1 tsp

Method:
1. Once the pan get heated add mustard seeds and jeera for seasoning.
2. Add 1/2 cup of water to the pan, once the water gets started to boil, add the chopped vegetables. Allow the vegetables to cook.
3. Once the the vegetable gets cooked, add the ground mixture to the pan.
4. Allow sometime  for the gravy to blend together with the vegetables. add required salt at this time.
5. The gravy consistency should be in kuruma consistency. The gravy goes well with roti, chappathi and best with coconut milk rice.
note:- add the coconut, chilles and salt according to your own taste buds.