Baby Corn Kurma

Baby corn Kurma is a festive dish prepared with baby corns in a thick, spicy and creamy sauce of tomatoes, onions, cashew nuts and coconut. It is a comfort food served with parathas and flavored steamed rice. 

This is an experimental recipe which I tried it for the first time and turned out to be delightful and scrumptious dish. I had bought baby corns for Manchurian which I always make, but this time I wanted to make something different, so I decided to make spicy baby corn gravy for chapathi. The recipe has 2 kinds of masala - first masala is made with onions, tomatoes, green chilies, ginger and garlic. This forms the base for the gravy. Second masala is made with coconut, cashew nut along with different aromatic spices which gives both smooth and creamy text for the base. 

This recipe has many steps, but its worth trying it !!

Ingredients

250 gms Baby corn, cubed

1 Bell pepper, diced

1/4 tsp Turmeric powder

1/2 tsp Coriander powder

1/2 tsp Red chili powder

Salt

3 tsp Oil

For masala 1 -

1 Onion, diced

1 Tomato, diced

3 Green Chilies

2-3 cloves of garlic

small piece of ginger

For Masala 2 -

10 - 15 Cashew nuts, soaked in water for 30 minutes

1/2 cup Coconut

1 tsp Fennel seeds

1 small piece of cinnamon

2 Cloves

Method

• For Masala 1 - In a pan, heat a tsp of oil, add onions. Saute until it turns transparent. Then make a paste of fried onions, tomato, ginger, garlic and green chilies

• For Masala 2- Make a fine paste of cashew nuts, coconut, fennel seeds, cloves and cinnamon. Add water if required. 

• In a pot, heat 2 tsp of oil. Add onion-tomato-chili paste. Saute until raw smell goes out

• Add turmeric powder, coriander powder and red chili powder. Mix well

                                       

• Add baby corns and bell pepper. Evenly spread masala over baby corn. Saute for 2 minutes

• Add coconut-cashew nut paste and add 1 cup of water (you can always adjust amount of water depending up on how much gravy is required)
• Adjust salt as per taste and simmer for 5- 8 minutes

• Serve hot with chapathi or steamed rice or paratha

Tip-

• Instead of baby corn, paneer can be substituted

Drumstick Sambhar | Murungakkai Sambar

"Drumstick sambhar" is the most common household recipe in South India. Drumstick sambhar and  potato fry served with steamed rice drizzled with ghee is a vintage combination. Other combinations are  Drumstick sambhar with idly , dosa, and pongal.

Drumstick are inexpensive and sometimes you will even find this tree in backyard.
Both the leaves and drumstick is highly nutritious. Its a good source of Vitamin A.  

Ingredients

2 Drumstick, cut into 4'' pieces

1 cup of Toor Dal

1 tsp Mustard seeds

1 tsp Cumin seeds

1/4 tsp Asafoetida | Hing

1 sprig of Curry Leaves

1 Tomato, diced

Small piece of Tamarind

2 tsp Sambhar Powder

Salt

2 tsp Ghee | Oil

Method

• In a pressure cooker, cook toor dal with 3 cups of water up to 4 to 5 whistles. After cooker has cooled, mash dal  using a laddle

• Meanwhile, when dal is cooking,  boil little water with tamarind. After it has cooled, mash tamaring and squeese out pulp. Discard if there are any fibers or skin

• In a heavy bottom vessel, heat ghee | oil, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, asafoetida, curry leaves

• Add tomatoes and saute for 2 minutes until tomatoes are partially cooked

• Add drumstick and saute for 2 minutes

• Add  sambhar powder and tamarind pulp. Cook for 2 minutes

• Pour the contents over dal. Adjust salt as per taste. If dal is very thick add water if required. Don't add too much water, otherwise consistency of dal will be very thin
• Pressure cook for 1 or 2 whistles. After cooker has cooled serve hot with steamed rice 

                             

Vegetable Saagu

"Saagu" is a stew made with different kinds of vegetables like carrots, beans, cabbage, potato, bell peppers or cauliflower and seasoned with mustard seeds, cumin seeds, red chili powder and coriander powder.
This stew tastes best when served with puri. Other combinations include chapathi or roti.

This recipe is my maternal grandmother's recipe. This is one of her recipes that I have included it in my recipe book. It very simple to make and one pot recipe too!!

Ingredients

2 Carrots, cubed

250 gms Cabbage, chopped

1 Bell pepper, diced

250 gms Green beans, chopped

1 Potato, cubed

1 tsp Mustard seeds

1 tsp Cumin seeds

2 Green Chilis, chopped (optional)

1 sprig of Curry Leaves (optional)

3/4 tsp Coriander powder

1/2 tsp Red Chili powder

Salt

3 tsp Oil

1/2 cup Freshly Grated coconut (optional)

2 sprigs of Cilantro, chopped (optional)

Procedure

• In a pressure cooker, heat oil, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves, green chilies and saute for few seconds
• Add all vegetables - carrots, cabbage, bell pepper, green beans,  and potato. Saute for 3 minutes

• Add coriander powder and red chili powder

• Add 1/2 cup water and adjust salt as per taste
• Pressure cook for 1 or 2 whistles

                                

• Add freshly grated coconut and cilantro
• Serve with puri, chapathi or roti

Tip--

• Any kind of vegetable can be added in this recipe. If you want to exhaust all veggies from your refrigerator, then this recipe would serve best
• Also, onion can be added. But I have not used in this recipe

Pappu Koora | Spiced Moong dal

Moong dal cooked through perfection. A very light and healthy recipe  served with rice, chapathi or as a lentil soup.

Ingredients

1 cup Moong Dal

1/2 tsp Mustard seeds

1/2 tsp Cumin Seeds

 3 Green chilies, cut length wise

1 Tomato, diced

1 Green bell pepper, diced

1 small bunch of  Spinach, chopped

1 sprig of Curry leaves

Salt

1 tsp Grape seed oil | canola oil | vegetable oil

Method

• Cook moong dal with 3 cups of water in a pressure cooker

• In a pan, heat oil, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, green chilies and curry leaves. Saute for few seconds
• Add tomatoes. Saute for a minute

• Add Spinach and bell peppers. Saute for a minute

• Add it to dal. Adjust salt as per taste. Simmer for 3- 5 minutes

• Serve hot with rice, chapathi or as a soup

Channa Masala | Choley

Chickpeas filled with a blend of different spices like paprika,  turmeric, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom,  ginger and garlic. It is a traditional vegetarian curry in North Indian cuisine.

Ingredients

1 cup Chickpeas, soaked overnight or 1 can of Garbanzo beans

1 Onion

1 Tomato

1 small stick of cinnamon

3 Cloves

1 Cardamom

3 cloves of Garlic, minced

1 small piece of Ginger, ginger

1/4 tsp Turmeric powder

1/2 tsp Coriander powder

1 tsp Spanish paprika or Kashmiri Red chili powder

1 Tea bag (optional)

4 tsp Oil or 2 tsp butter

Salt

Method

• In a pressure cooker, cook chickpeas with a tea bag , 1/2 tsp salt and 3 cups of water. Discard tea bag after chickpeas has cooked, but retain water for further use

• In a heavy bottom pan, heat oil, add cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, minced ginger and garlic. Saute for few seconds and then add onion paste

• Fry until raw smell goes out
  
  
• Add Tomato puree, turmeric powder, coriander powder,  and paprika (or red chili powder), simmer for 5 minutes

                            

• Add boiled chickpeas with water. Adjust salt as per taste. Simmer for 10 minutes until gravy thickens

• Serve hot with Battura , onions and lemon wedges

Tips:

• Use tea bags to cook chickpeas. It helps to give color
• I used paprika because for color and taste. You can also you kashmiri red chili powder
• It tastes best when cooked 2-3 hours before serving. This allows chickpeas to absorb flavors from spices.

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Radish Sambhar | Mullangi Sambhar in Mangalore Style

It brings immense joy when I make this recipe. It brings back memories of my childhood where I spent most of my childhood days in malnad region. I think of FOOD, TEMPLES, and greenery. 

"Mullangi Sambhar" or "Radish Sambhar" is prepared in Mangalore style. This recipe is loosely based on Udupi cuisine.  It is a lentil based stew prepared with radish as main ingredient with coconut and onion as its base.

Ingredients

250 gms Radish, thinly sliced

1 cup Toor dal

1 Tomato, diced

1 tsp Mustard seeds

1 tsp Cumin seeds

2 sprigs of curry leaves

Salt

Oil (Vegetable | Canola | Coconut)

For Masala

1 small piece Cinnamon

1 tsp Cumin seeds

1 Onion

2 Red Chilies

3/4 cup freshly grated coconut | desiccated  coconut

1 tsp Coriander powder

1/2 tsp Red chili powder

Method

• Soak toor dal in water for 10 minutes and pressure cook with 2 cups of water

• Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan, add cinnamon, cumin seeds, red chilies and onions. Fry until onions turns brown

• Grind coconut, red chili powder, coriander powder along with fried onions and spices. Add little water and make a smooth paste

• Now add this masala to the cooked toor dal
• In the same pan, add 2 tsp oil, then add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves.  Add radish and tomato. Saute for 2-5 minutes. Add this to dal. Adjust salt as per taste

• Simmer until radish is completely cooked (fork tender)

• Serve hot with steamed rice

Tips:

• I cook vegetables and toor dal separately because vegetables cook faster than toor dal. Vegetables will be overcooked if they are pressure cooked with toor dal
• In order to save time, vegetables can be cooked separately in boiling water 
• The recipe above can be prepared with different kinds of vegetables like beans, carrot, gourds, or pumpkins