Padla upkeri

Coriander leaf Upkari

Dhudhiye Elchikeri (Yellow pumpkin Curry)

Kappa Curry

Valval (Pumpkin Curry in Cocunut gravy)

Lady's finger (Bhendya Upkeri)

 



Bread Upma - Easy-to-Make

Instead of eating bread simply, kids will love this bread upma which is a little spicy too. Very easy to make, it makes a good dish.

Ingredients

Bread - 6 - 7 slices

Onion - two small ones

Green Chilli - 1 

Coriander Leaves - little 

Recipe 

Cut Bread it to small pieces 

In a pan, fry onions till brown. Add Green chillis and fry it for a min .

Add Salt to taste. 

Add bread pieces and mix well .. Spread Coriander leaves for garnishing

Serve hot  

Potato Curry (Kukka Ghessi)

"Ghessi" is a very famous curry in Konkani families ..We prepare different varieties of ghessi ..This is made from roasted cocunut.

Of all the ghessi's, my favourite is "Kooka Ghessi " (Potato Ghessi) which is made with Potato.  Updating the recipe today 

Ingredients

Potato - 2 Big ones

Toor Dal - 1/2 Cup

Grated Cocunut  - 1/2 cup

Dried Red chillies - 5 Nos

Salt to Taste

Recipe

Peel the potato skin, Cut it in cubes and boil it with Toor dal for 5 -6 whistles. In a frying pan, add the garted cocunut, Red chillies and fry it till cocunut turns brown.  Grind it in a mixer. In the curry pan, take the boiled potato and dal. Add the grinded cocunut and salt and boil for 2 min. 

Note : 

1.  For finer taste, you can add 1/2 Tsp of oil after taking it from the stove. Curry leaves can also be added.

2. You can prepare the same ghessi with different things   - Instead of potato, you can put Elephant Yam, Green Peas, Black Chana, Raw Jack fruit etc

Sprouted Moong curry

 

Sprouted pulses are always good to eat than their normal counterparts.. In our house, we usually will have one or the other pulses sprouted.

It is very easy to make Sprouted pulses. Just soak it overnight within a bowl full of water. Morning drain the water and keep it in a container. The container should be kept a little open so that air can circulate. If the pulses are becoming dry, sprinkle some water on to the container. In 24 hours, sprouts starts coming.

Today, we will see a curry which can be made with sprouted moong bean.

Ingredients

Sprouted Moong Beans - 2 Cups

Grated Cocunut - 1/2 cup

Chilli Powder - 2 Tsp

Oil - 1 Tsp

Mustard Seeds - 1/2 Tsp

Salt to taste

Recipe

Boil sprouted beans in water till it becomes soft. In the mixer, grind grated cocunut and chilli powder to a fine paste.  Add this to the boiled sprouts and boil for two min.  Season it by adding oil in a pan and spluttering mustard seeds and curry leaves



Elephant Yam Pickle - Ready to Eat

Sprouted Moong

Elephant Yam Upperi

Coriander Leaves Chutney

Will you belive me if I say that I started eating Corainder leaves some 5 - 6 years back ..I hated this leaf like anything .. I was not able to stand the smell of that .. But now, I dont know why, I simply love this leaf .. And I try to put it in each possible dish what I make .. (and shh .. I feel my family now started hating Corainder leaves because of this )

Coriander Leaves Chutney is very easy to prepare and goes well with hot Dosa/ Idli ..

Ingredients

Grated Cocunut - 1/2 Cup

Green Chilli - 3 Nos 

Corainder leaves - 1/2 Cup

Salt to taste

Recipe

Grind all the ingredients together in a mixer until it grinds well.

Very easy ,isnt it ??  :) 

Hot hot steaming idli's and Corainder Leaves Chutney .. Yummy ...

Ulli Theeyal

Will write the recipe sooon :)  

Butter Milk - Easy-to-make version

Tripunithura Poornathrayeesa temple is very near to my house .. The main attraction during the festival is the Sheeveli which is a procession of elepants with Gods Idol 

During this procession in the morning hours, Butter milk supplied to all the devotees in front of the temple .. We used to go to temple only to drink that. Never used to stop with one glass of water ..  Oh ..So tasty it is .. Even though it will be full of water, it used to be soo tasty ..

 

And once in Palghat, near to my aunt's house , i had tasted butter milk from a maami's house. She prepared Butter milk for me .. I saw her preparing it .. With fresh chilli and curry leaves and all, and mixing it in the normal "ara kallu" , and making butter milk .. Oh ..that was the next tastiest one which I had tasted in my whole life ..

Now , I prepare it at home .. My version .. As i had told earlier, I want everythign to be done fast ..So this is a easy-to-make version of Butter milk

Ingredients

Curd - 1 glass

Green Chilli - 2 nos
Ginger - One small piece
Curry leaves - 1 strand
Lemon - 1

Recipe

Take curd in a deep bottom bowl, add the chilli, ginger and simply mix it with a blender. Why I am suggesting blender is because the blender will chop the chillis and ginger and will bring in the taste. Add some water and curry leaves. Pour the lemon juice to this.

Salt can be added as per your taste.

(If you dont have blender, grind the Chillis and Ginger in a mixer and filter the juice and pour it in the buttermilk)

Tomato Soup

Heavy rain outside .. Nothing to do ..  Sandwiched at home .. And a hot tomato sauce to sip ..

Oh ..Heaven ..

I always prefer making soup at home as we can give it to kids without any guilty feeling of any added preservatives which could harm them .. So this tomato soup is made out of tomatos at home with love 

I got this recipe from my co-sister .. She prepares it very good .. How much ever I try, it is not coming to that level of taste .. :) However, here goes the recipe of Tomato Soup 

Ingredients

Tomato - 6 Big ones

Potato - 1 medium sized one (peeled)

Carrot - 1 medium sized one  (peeled)

Onion chopped - 1 cup

Ginger chopped  - 1 Tsp

Garlic cloves chopped - 5 nos

Ghee - 1 Tsp

Salt to taste

Recipe

In a pressure cooker, boil tomato,potato and carrot for 5 -6 whistles. In a frying pan, add ghee and fry onions till it becomes brown. Add chopped ginger and chopped garlic and fry it till it changes color. 

In the mixer, add all the above and grind it finely.. Add water  if  required. When done, boil it in a vessel and add salt to taste..

While serving can add Black Pepper powder or Tomato Sause as per your liking. We can add bread crumps or some boiled peas.   

Simple Moru Curry

Moru Curry .. This is not the traditional moru curry (Curd curry) which we make in kerala. This is my version of that .I prepare this when I am running short of time  and want a curry immediately ..So this is a fast-to-cook recipe of mine. 

Kerala red boiled rice added with this moru curry and one pickle to taste .. Yummy ...  :) 

Ingredients 

Beaten Curd  - 2 Cups 

Green chillies  - 4 nos

Mustard Seeds  - 1/4 Tsp
Methi Seeds - 1/ Tsps

Oil  - 1 Tsp

Ginger chopped  - 1/4 Tsp

Salt to taste

Curry Leaves

Recipe

Heat oil in the pan and splutter mustard seeds and methi seeds.  Add green chillies and chopped ginger and fry for a minute. Pour the beaten curd and remove from flame. Add salt to taste and curry leaves

PS : Photo to be uploded later

Curd Aloo

An easy to make side dish from Potato and Curd, which is familiar in many of the konkani house hold. Different varieties of this dish is prevailing .. I usually keep boild potato in the freezer ..In case of time crunch, just mix all the things and make this .. As curd is also there, it makes a wonderful side dish, especially to be eaten together with a spicy heavy lunch

Ingredients

Boiled aalo - 4 small ones
Green chilli  - 3 nos

Curd - 1 cup

Ginger (chopped) - 1 Tsp
Oil - 1 Tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 Tsp
Cumin Seeds - 1/2 Tsp
Curry leaves
Salt to Taste

Recipe

Crush the boiled potatos so that lumps are not formed. Mix it with Curd and make it a little watery. In a pan, heat oil and splutter Mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Add chopped ginger and fry for a while. Add this mixture to the potato curd mixture. Add salt to taste and curry leaves.

PS : Photo to be uploaded soon

Carrot Salad

An easy-to-make dish from fresh carrots .. Preparation time is very less. The dish is very colourful making it a good presenter in the dining table ... Healthy too , as it doesnt have any added fat  ..

Ingredients

Grated Carrots - 5-6

Medium sized onion -1 chopped finely
Medium sized green chili -2
Grated coconut -1/2 cup
Lemon juice  - 3 Tsp
Salt to taste

Recipe

Combine all the ingredients with your hands in a bowl and leave it in the refrigerator for 1/2 -1 hour before use. You can alter the recipe by adding some tomatoes or cucumber that is not watery.

PS : Photo to be posted soon

Garlic Chutney (Fried version)

A chutney with a difference with Garlic ..My husband simply loves it .. I learned it from my mother in law .. of course to please my husband ;) 

Ingredients

Garlic cloves :  1 Cup

Grated Cocunut :  1 Cup

Dried Red chilli :  5 Nos  

Oil - 1 Tsp

Salt to Taste

Recipe  

Heat oil in a frying pan and add Garlic cloves. Heat it till the cloves turn pink. Add grated cocunut , Red chillis and fry till the cocunut starts becoming brown.

Add salt and grind it to a fine paste. Garlic chutney is ready

PS : Photo to be uploaded later

Peas Masala

Peas Masala is a repeating dish at my home as my kids like it very much . It goes well with Chappathi / Poori.. 

 

Ingredients

Green Peas (Fresh frozen peas or Peas which is soaked overnight)

Cut Onion - 1 big cup

Tomato puree - 1 small cup

Ginger - 1 Tsp

Cloves - 3 nos 

Chilli Powder - 2 Tsp

Methi Powder  - 2 Tsp

Haldi Powder - 1/4 Tsp

Black Pepper Powder  - 1/2 Tsp

Curry Leaves 

Oil  - 2 Tsp

Salt  to Taste

Recipe

If the Green peas is the dry ones which is soaked overnight, Pressure cook it. If it is frozen peas or fresh peas, just boil it with water for 10 min.

In a frying pan, heat oil and add Cut onions and Cloves and fry till it becomes brown. Take half of the Onion and grind it to a paste in a mixer. Add it back to the frying pan and let it fry for 2 more min. Add tomato puree and fry it till tomato changes color. Add Chilli powder, Methi powder, Haldi powder and Black pepper powder and fry till oil seperates.

Add the boiled peas to this , Salt to taste and Curry leaves. 

Note :  If you like cocunut taste, you can add Cocunut milk powder to this, which will give it a good aroma. The cocunut milk should be added ust before taking the curry from the stove.

Vellarikka Kootan (Cucumber Curry)

Vellarikka is a form of Cucumber ..  Keralities are very much familiar with this vegetables .. We keep it during Vishu Kani  

Today's recipe is Vellarikka Kootan (Cucumber Curry).

Here goes the recipe

Ingredients

Cucumber 

Grated Cocunut  - 1/2 cup

Green Chilllies  - 2  nos

Oil - 1 Tsp

Mustard Seeds  - 1/2 Tsp

Cumin Seeds  - 1/2 Tsp

Curd - 3 Tsp

Curry Leaves - as per your choice 
Salt 

Recipe

Cut cucumber in to small pieces and  boil it with a cut chillies and pinch of salt .  Grind the cocunut in to fine paste and add it to the above when the cucumber is boiled. Boil it for 3 more min. Add salt to taste.

Heat oil in a pan. Splutter Mustard seeds and then Cumin Seeds and add it to the curry. Add curd and curry leaves.

Cucumber Curry is ready  !!!

Aalo Bonda

I got really inspired by the following food blogs :) 

1.  Aayi's Recipe 

2. Maria's Menu  

If people like these maintain blogs like this, who not will be interested in browsing and trying out different differen things ..My god, I appreciate the patience of Shilpa and Maria and the n number of others who maintain food blogs .. How they take the pics and write in detail about the preparation ..Some even post photos of each and every step ..

I am somehow not of that type ..I want to finsih cooking fast .. Tick tick tick .. I want things to be done ..because i feel I am wasting too much of my time in kitchen , while I would be doing some productive things outside ..

But for the past few days, (as I was on leave and didnt had much work to do) I spend so much of time in the kitchen.. So this idea of food blog was in my mind .. I tried out diffrerent recipes ..But no, didnt had the patience to take photos, upload it and write it ..

Today somehow got enough time, so prepared Aalo Bhonda .. And thank god, was able to take a snap ..So here goes my first food post .. 

Aalo Bonda 

Oh ..I should write the recipe also ..See now I am becoming a little lazy .. mm .. But a blog wont be complete without that .. I will write short 

Boil Potato..  and take off the skin ..

Cut onion in to small pieces

Cut Ginger and Chilli in to small pieces

In a frying pan, Pour some oil and splutter mustard seeds

Put cut onions and let it fry till brown.

Add the ginger and chilli pieces and fry it till that good smell comes :) .. You are getting the smell .. haa ..good :)

Add salt to taste ..

Now smash the potatoes and add that too ..   Mix well and keep aside ..

It will look like this 

Now take some Besan powder, add some chilli powder, little salt, and Hing powder and mix it well with water .. Let the thickness remain

Another frying pan, boil oil for frying this..

Make small balls of the above potato mix,  Dip it in the besan syrup and put it in the oil and fry well .. Aalo bonda  ready .. Mine looked like this ..  (photo not good .. i took it in a haste, as my kids were waitng to grab it and run  ) 

How is it ??  Tasty ?? 

Serve it hot and eat it hot .. Goes well with some spicy mango pickle ..Try it out and let me know how it was ..  :)