Cauliflower Fry

Quick and simple Cauliflower fry which is cooked with refreshing saunf. Onion and chili powder for the flavour and spiciness. It is best accompaniment for steamed rice with sambar, dal, rasam or curd.

Ingredients :

• Cauliflower - 1 medium-sized
• Onion - 1 medium-sized
• Saunf - 1/2 tsp
• Curry leaves - 1 sprig
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Chili Powder - 1 tsp
• Coriander leaves for garnishing
• Salt to taste
• Oil - 2 tbsp

Method :

• Cut the cauliflower into florets. Immerse them in hot water for 10 mins. Drain and rinse.
• In a thick bottomed kadai, heat oil. Splutter saunf and then add sliced onion and curry leaves. When onions are transparent add turmeric powder and mix well.

• Add cleaned cauliflower florets and mix well. Cover with lid and cook till it is half cooked.

• Add salt and chili powder. Mix well and continue cooking till its cooked well. Finally add coriander leaves and mix well.

• Serve cauliflower fry as a side dish with steamed rice.

Coconut Chutney

Coconut Chutney is a great accompaniment for most of the South Indian breakfast items such as variety of idli, dosa, uttapam, vada, upma, seasoned rice. You cant imagine these dishes served with out accompanying coconut chutney. There are lot of varieties of coconut chutney. Here is one of them which is made with coconut, roasted chana dal flavoured with ginger, curry leaves, coriander leaves and green chili for spiciness. It is then seasoned to give crunch and aroma to the chutney.

Ingredients :

• Grated Coconut - 1 cup
• Roasted Chana Dal - 1/3 cup
• Green Chili - 2
• Ginger - 1/2 inch
• Curry Leaves - 1 sprig
• Coriander leaves - 4 sprig
• Salt to taste
• For Seasoning :
• Oil - 1 tbsp
• Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Urad Dal - 1 tsp
• Curry Leaves - 5 to 6
• Red Chili - 1
• Hing a pinch

Method : 

• In a chutney grinder jar take grated coconut, roasted chana dal with curry leaves, roughly chopped green chili and ginger, salt.

• Add lil water and grind all the ingredients to a smooth consistency. Add coriander leaves and grind it again.

• Transfer to a bowl. 

• For seasoning heat oil in a small frying pan/kadai on low flame. Splutter mustard seeds and add urad dal, curry leaves, red chili and pinch of hing. Fry till urad dal are golden.

• Immediately pour the seasoning on the coconut chutney and mix well.

• Serve it with any south Indian breakfast like Idli, Rava Idli, Ven Pongal, Set Dosa etc.

Rava Idli

Rava Idli is a variation of South Indian breakfast, Idli. Rava Idli is quick and simple to make without the process of grinding and fermenting. It is prepared with rava/ semolina which is wheat rava or cream of wheat. This is one of the simple and healthy recipe which combines the goodness of dals and spices with healthy carrot. You can use fresh/ sour curd and Eno Fruit Salt/ Baking Soda.

For serving 2 person approx. 8 idlis

Ingredients :

• Rava / Suji / Semolina - 1 cup
• Mustard Seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Chana Dal - 1 tbsp
• Urad Dal - 1 tsp
• Cashewnuts broken - 1/8 cup
• Curry Leaves chopped - 1 sprig 
• Thick Curd / Yoghurt - 1/3 cup
• Grated Carrot - 1/3 cup
• Grated ginger - 2 tsp
• Chopped Coriander Leaves - 2 tbsp
• Salt to taste
• Eno Salt - 1 tsp
• Oil - 2 tbsp oil + for greasing
• Water as required

Method :

• In a heavy based pan heat oil on medium flame. Add mustard seeds and let it splutter. Then add chana dal, urad dal, cashewnuts, curry leaves and fry till they are crispy.

• Add rava. Mix well and roast on medium flame till it changes color by stirring continously with out letting it get burnt. Switch off the flame and let it cool.

• In a bowl take rava mix, curd, grated ginger and carrot, chopped coriander leaves, salt and mix well by adding water as required. (Batter should not be very thin, slightly thicker than the normal idli batter). Keep the batter aside to rest for 15 minutes.

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• Pour water to steamer and put it on medium flame and let it come to a boil.

• Meanwhile, if the batter is very thick, add lil water as rava would absorb the water. Mix well and add Eno Salt. (If you don't have Eno salt, you can still make spongy idli's with baking soda). Stir well for a minute. You will notice bubbles on the surface of batter.

• Pour batter into greased idli moulds and place it in the steamer when water is boiling.

• Steam it on medium flame for 10 minutes or till a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.

• Turn off the flame and let it stand for 10 minutes. Remove moulds from the steamer and scrape out the ready idli's with a wet spoon.
• Serve it hot with coconut chutney, Bombay Potato Sagu, Mixed vegetable Sagu, Potato Carrot Curry.

Ven Pongal (Ghee Pongal) - Tamilnadu Style

Ven Pongal/ Khara Pongal is one the simplest and traditional breakfast prepared in South India. It is also called as South Indian khichdi. Rice and moong dal are cooked together and seasoned with pepper, other spices and nuts in ghee.

Ingredients :

• Rice - 1 cup
• Moong Dal - 1/2 cup
• Peppercons - 2 tsp
• Jeera - 1 tsp
• Curry Leaves - 2 sprig
• Green Chili - 3
• Cashewnuts - 10 to 15
• Ghee - 2 tbsp + 1 tsp
• Salt to taste
• Hing a pinch

Method :

• Heat a pan and dry roast moong dal till they are aromatic and slightly golden in color.
• In a bowl take rice and moong dal. Wash and soak them for half an hour. (Soaking is optional)
• Pressure cook rice and dal with 4 cups of water, 1tsp ghee and salt for 4-5 whistles on medium flame. The rice has to be cooked in such a way that it should be mushy. (Amount of water and duration of cooking depends on the rice used.)
• Once the pressure subsides, open the lid and mash the contents when it is hot.

• Meanwhile prepare the tempering.
• In a pan/kadai heat  2 tbsp ghee. Add jeera and let it splutter.

• Add broken cashewnuts and fry till they are crispy and golden in color.

• Add crushed ginger, hing, slit green chili, curry leaves and slighlty crushed peppercons. Fry till raw smell of ginger goes away.

• Add the mashed rice to the tempering or vice-versa and mix well. Check for salt.

• Serve hot with coconut chutney or sambar.

Tips & Variations :

• Add whole peppercons if you want spice to be less or serving to kids.
• We should be generous in using ghee for this recipe. The flavor of ghee with pepper is the unique taste of pongal. Hence the name Ghee Pongal.

Potato Carrot curry - Poori curry

Potato Carrot Curry is andhra style curry usually served as an accompaniment with poori. Its a twist to the Bombay potato sagu posted earlier where in potato is pre-cooked and green chili is the only spice element. In this recipe potato and carrot are cooked with the onion-tomato mix and masala powders. Cooking potato and carrot with the masala gives a different texture and taste to the curry. This curry also goes well with rotis, phulkas, rava idli, set dosa.

Ingredients :

• Potatoes - 2 
• Carrot - 1
• Onion - 2 medium-sized
• Tomato - 2 medium-sized
• Ginger - 1 tsp finely chopped
• Green chili - 2
• Curry leaves - 1 sprig
• Mustard Seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Jeera - 1/2 tsp
• Urad Dal - 1 tsp
• Tumeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Masala Powder - 1 tsp
• Garam Masala Powder - 1/2 tsp
• Besan (Gram Flour) - 1 1/2 tbsp
• Oil - 2 tbsp
• Salt to taste
• Coriander leaves for garnishing

Method :

• Peel potatoes and carrot. Wash and chop them into small cubes.
• Heat oil in a pan. When oil is hot enough add jeera, urad dal and fry till they are golden color.

• Add mustard seeds, curry leaves, slit green chilies, chopped ginger and fry till raw smell of ginger goes away.

• Add turmeric and mix. Add chopped onions and fry till they are translucent.

• Add chopped potatoes, carrots, salt and saute for a minute.

• Add chopped tomatoes and saute till they are soft.

• Add masala powder, garam masala and saute for a minute. (Masala Powder is equal amount of chili powder and coriander powder. Add 1/2 tsp each).

• Add water and cook covered on medium flame till the vegetables are cooked approximately for 10 minutes.

• Meanwhile in a bowl take besan, add 1/4 cup water and make a smooth paste with out lumps.

• When the vegetables are cooked, add besan paste and mix well. 

• Let it come to boil and raw smell of besan should disappear.

• Garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Give a stir and switch off the flame.

• Potato and carrot curry is ready to be served.

Tips & Variations :

• Pre-cooking potatoes and carrots and then adding them to the curry gives a different texture. You would lose the starch from the potatoes if they are pre-cooked which will give a different taste and texture. So I would recommend to cook the veggies together in onion-tomato mix.
• You can skip carrot. Or even add fresh or frozen green peas along with potato.