Ivy Gourd - 1

Dondakaya Noopindi karam

Serves: 2
Preparation time: 20 mins

Ingredients :

Ivy gourd : 20 in number
Sesame seeds : 2-3 tbsp
Red chili : 1 or 2
Tamarind paste: 1tbsp
mustard seeds : pinch
urad dal : 1/2 tsp
Jeera : 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
oil : 1tbsp

Method :

1. Slit ivy gourds( Either two slits or one slit)
Cook ivy gourd by adding little salt.
(Either in pressure cooker or in a pan)
2. Dry roast sesame seeds and red chili.
Take a blender add roasted sesame seeds, red chili, tamarind paste and salt.
Blend them into a fine paste ( Add little water if necessary)
3. Take a pan add oil
add mustard seeds ,jeera, urad dal, ground paste saute for a min and then add cooked ivy gourd , fry for a min.

Serve it with rice.

Tomato Soup

Serves : 2
Preparation time : 15 mins

Ingredients:

Tomatoes : 2 large
Corn flour : 2-3 tsp
Ajinomoto : 1 tbsp
Pepper powder : 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Water : 1 1/2 cup
Eggs : 2 ( optional )

Method:

Pressure cook the tomatoes.
When they are cool Grind them to a fine paste with 1/2 cup of water.
Take a pan and heat it.
Add this tomato paste.
Add water, ajinomoto, salt, pepper.
when it starts boiling break the eggs into it -- wait for 30sec and then mix it.
If you mix immediately you wont get the nice texture of egg when eating the soup.
let it boil for 2 mins ( you want the egg to be cooked)
Now mix cornflour with water and pour this mixture into the pan slowly while mixing the soup.
And boil it for 2 more mins.
Serve the hot soup with fried bread or crisps.

If you are a strict vegetarian you can skip adding eggs.

Coconut Chutney

Serves : 2
Preparation time : 2mins

Ingredients:

Grated Coconut : 3 tbsp
Fried chanadal : 3 tbsp
Green chili : 1 or 2
Salt to taste
For tampering
mustard seed : 1/4 tsp
Jeera : 1/4 tsp
urad dal : 1/2 tsp
Red chili : 1
Curry leaves : 6
Oil : 1tsp

Method:
Take a pan.Add oil.
When oil is hot add the items in tampering.
Grind all other ingredients and then add salt & tampering to it.

This is the basic coconut chutney.
There are lots of variations to this chutney.
if you want you can add ginger,hing
and instead of fried chanadal you can use roasted peanuts or chana dal

khatta meetha chutney

This is sweet and sour in taste (hence khatta and meetha)
For sweetness we use jaggary and dates
Sourness is from Tamarind

Ingredients :

Tamarind Paste : 4 tbsp
jaggary : 6 tbsp
Dates : 10
Salt : pinch
Cumin powder : 1 tsp
Chili powder : 1/4 tsp
Black salt : 1/2 tsp

Method :

Heat a pan.
add tamarind paste and jaggary.
Grind dates to a fine paste and add it to the above mixture.
Add in all spices.
Let it boil for 3 mins.
switch off flame.
When it is in room temperature use it.
you can keep this in refrigerator for 2 months and you can freeze this also.

This is used in all kinds of chat's and mixtures.

Brinjal Chutney

Serves : 2
Preparation time : 15 to 20 mins

Ingredients :

Brinjal : 1
Onion : 1 finely chopped
Tomato : 1 finely chopped
Tamarind Puree : 4 to 5 tbsp
Mustard seed : 1/2 tsp
Urad dal : 1/2 tsp
Jeera : 1/2 tsp
Green chilli's : 2 to 3
Hing : 1/4 tsp
Turmeric : pinch
Water : 1 cup
Salt to taste

Method :

Clean the brinjal with water.
you need to fire roast this brinjal and we are going to use the mashed roasted brinjal in our dish.
You can Roast brinjal on charcoal or on stove top.
Apply oil to brinjal before roasting it.
(Do not apply oil when you are using an electric stove)

I am using an electric stove so i dint apply oil.

Keep brinjal on stove and Roast it on all sides by turning it.
The skin of brinjal turns to dark black.
After it is Roasted all sides take it off the stove and allow it to cool.

once cool Remove the skin and cut open to see any insect are there.
Mash the brinjal.

Once you have this making of Chutney will take only 5 mins.
So if you want to prepare you can do all this thing before hand and it will stay for one day.

Now
Take pan add oil.
Add mustard seeds, jeera, urad dal, green chillies, hing, turmeric saute it.
Add onions , when they are transparent add tomatoes and saute them.
Add tamarind paste ,Saute for one minute.
Now add mashed Brinjal and salt.
Add water and mix it.
When it start to boil take it off from the stove.

You can serve this with Rice, Pulagam or Roti

Potato Fry

One of the easy curry to prepare.
we call this as a bachelor's curry ;)

Serves - 2
Preparation time - 15 to 20 mins

Ingredients :

Potatoes : 2 large
Chili powder to taste
Salt to taste
Oil : 3 tsp

Method:

Heat pan.
Add 2tsp of oil to it.
Peel the potatoes and cut them into cubes.
when oil is hot add potatoes.
mix well cover and cook for 5 mins.
Keep the flame in medium.
(don't add any water)
After 5 mins add salt,mix and keep the lid back
(water will come from potatoes after adding salt, that water is enough for the potatoes to be cooked)
Cook it for 10 mins stirring in between.
Remove the lid add chili powder.
Increase flame to high add remaining 1 tsp of oil and cook it for 5 more mins -- this step is to get the crispy coating for the potatoes.

You can serve this with Rice or Roti :)

Pulagam

This is an authentic dish and prepared in festivals .....
One more important thing about this dish is it is a very healthy dish.
I learnt this from my Mother-in-law.

Serves : 2
Preparation time : 20 mins

Ingredients :
Rice : 1 1/2 cups
yellow moong dal : 1/3 cup
Salt : 1/2 tsp
Turmeric : 1/4 tsp
water : 3 1/4 cups (3cups for rice and 1/4cup for dal)

(The amount of water may varies depending on the quality of rice and dal
Generally i use 1:2 for rice and 1:1 for dal.)

Method :
Wash Rice and dal.
keep rice,dal,water in a vessel add salt and turmeric powder.
cook it in cooker for 2 whistles.

There is a combination for this dish.
Generally this dish is served with Ghee, Potato Fry, brinjal chutney with a munching of coconut pieces and you can have it with Curd too.