Allam Rasam and Arvi Baingan

My mom used to make "Chaaru" which was a simple dish made of tamarind juice and some basic spices. I and my mom used to love it. I loved to just drink it like soup. But my brother never liked it. He always used to say "oh! if only you would just throw in some tomatoes for some taste in there" . I never understood him. I just loved the Chaaru my mom used to make.

Today, I made this Allam Rasam/Chaaru. Seriously I am not sure what the difference between Rasam and Chaaru is.

Anyway, the rasam I made today has a generous dose of Ginger in it and just a little bit of Toor dal or lentils in it to make the dish just a bit thicker . I served it with Arvi Baingan and plain white rice.

Arvi Baingan (Taro Root with Eggplant Curry)

Arvi Baingan

Ingredients:

1. 1/2-3/4 lb Arvi or Taro root cooked in the pressure cooker for 1-2 whistles. Peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
2. 1 lb egg plant chopped into big pieces
3. 1 medium tomato chopped into pieces or 1/2 cup tomato paste
4. 1 medium small onion chopped
5. 1 tablespoon oil
6. 1/2 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste
7. 1/4 teaspoon cumin
8. 1/2 teaspoon each of turmeric, coriander powder,chilly powder
9. 3/4 teaspoon salt

In a non stick pan heat the oil and fry the cumin till they start to splutter. Add the onions and fry till they become translucent. Add ginger garlic paste and fry for a minute. Add tomatoes and eggplant and stir to combine. Add the rest of the ingredients and cover and cook for 15 minutes. Add the boiled arvi pieces and 1/2 cup water and stir to combine. Simmer for 6-8 minutes. Garnish with cilantro and serve with Roti or rice and rasam

Allam Rasam (Tamarind soup with Ginger)

Allam Rasam

Ingredients:

1. 1 in x 1 in x 1 in piece of ginger grated (heaped teaspoon of grated ginger)
2. 1 tablespoon toor dal (cooked with 1/4 cup water in the microwave for 5-6 minutes. Mash them)
3. 1 garlic pod grated
4. 1 teaspoon rasam powder
5. 4 cups juice from tamarind the size of a small lemon
6. 1 large tomato chopped fine
7. 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin, mustard seeds, urad dal
8. 1/2 tablespoon oil
9. 1 teaspoon salt
10. 1 green chilly chopped
11. 2 red chillies broken
12. few curry leaves

In a heavy bottomed pan heat the oil and add cumin, mustard seeds, urad dal red and green chillies and curry leaves and fry till the seeds start to splutter. Add ginger and garlic and fry for 30-60 seconds. Add tomatoes and fry till they become mushy. Add the mashed toor dal. Add the tamarind juice and bring to a boil. Add rasam powder and salt and simmer for 15 minutes. Garnish with Cilantro and serve with steamed rice

Thotakura Poopu and Maamidi Rasam

The one thing I missed a lot after coming to the US were the green leafy vegetables we used to eat in India. I am from a small town In Southern India from the state of Andhra Pradesh. When I was little, we used to get such fresh leafy vegetables and I loved them. And one of my neighbors actually used to go to the nearby fields and buy these leafys from the farmers. And sometimes they used to take me with them. So they were that fresh.
              I used to miss the Thotakura (Amaranth leaves) and Gongura (Sorrel leaves). After almost 4 years I found Sorrel leaves in one of the Indian stores heres and imagine the look on my face. Oh man, there was genuine pleasure on my face.

Amarnath leaves

              This time around I found these Amaranth (Thotakura) leaves in one of those Chinese grocery stores. So I found out our neighbors, the Chinese, also use them. Anyway I got them yesterday, but they were monsters compared to what we used to get back in India. But still I love them and I made the Poopu or Poriyal with these leaves and Rasam with dried mango instead of Tamarind

Thotakura Poopu (Amaranth leaves tempered)

Thotakura Poopu

Ingredients:

1. About 3-4 cups of Amarnath leaves cleaned and chopped (along with the stems)
2. 2 tablespoons oil
3. 1/2 teaspoon each of turmeric, mustard seeds, cumin, chana dal(soaked in water for 10 minutes)
4. 1 teaspoon urad dal, salt
5. 4 dried red chillies broken into pieces
6. few curry leaves
7. 2 ginger cloves chopped

In a pressure cooker, cook the washed chopped Amaranth leaves with 1/4 cup of water and turmeric for 2 whistles (Skip this step if the stems were not that think )
In a pan heat the oil and fry the mustard seeds, urad dal, chana dal and cumin for a couple of minutes. Now add garlic, red chillies and curry leaves and fry for 5 minutes. Add the leaves either from cooker or washed and stir to combine. Cover and cook till the leaves are cooked (for about 10-20 minutes) and all the excess water has evaporated. Serve with hot rice, dal or rasam

Mamidi rasam(Dried mango powder soup)

Mamidi Rasam

Ingredients:

1. 1/2 cup dried mango pieces soaked in a cup of water for 1 hour
2. 1 teaspoon salt (or less), rasam powder
3. 1 green chilly sliced
4. 2 red chillies broken
5. 1 tablespoon oil
6. 1/2 teaspoon asafoetida, cumin, mustard seeds, turmeric

Grind the soaked dried mango pieces (or if you have fresh sour mango, grind it into paste) to a paste and boil it with 3 cups of water and turmeric and green chilly for about 15 minutes. In a pan heat the oil and fry the cumin and mustard seeds for 3 minutes. Add asafoetida, red chillies and curry leaves and fry for few more minutes. Add this tempering to the mango liquid and the rasam powder and bring to a boil. garnish with cilantro and let it boil for 5 more minutes. Serve

Aalu baingan and Tomato rasam

This is my all time favourite recipes and I love it love it love it. Baingan or eggplant is such a vegetable which either someone just love it or don't eat it at all. I have never met anyone who is just "ok" with it. I have known many people who just hated it when they were kids but love it as adults
            But anyway, this is my favorite recipe. Potatoes and eggplant and Rasam or chaaru. But the rasam I made is also  special. It is Tomato Rasam and it was pretty yummy
        
Aalu baingan (Potato and eggplant curry)

Aalu baingan

Ingredients:

1. 1 lb Indian purple eggplants chopped into 6-8 pieces
2. 1/2 ln onions peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
3. 1 large onion sliced thin
4. 3 tablespoons oil
5. 1 or 2 green chillies slices
6. 1/2 teaspoon each of salt, chilly powder, turmeric

In a pan heat the oil and fry the onions till tender, add the green chillies and fry for a minute. Add the rest of the ingredients and add 1 cup water. Cover and cook till the eggplant and potatoes get tender. About 20 minutes . (Or cook in a pressure cooker for 2 whistles) Simmer till the excess water evaporates and gravy thickens. Garnish with cilantro and enjoy

Tomato Rasam (Tomato and tamarind soup with spices)

Tomato Rasam

Ingredients:

1. 3 cups juice from a small lime sized tamarind
2. 1 big ripe tomato chopped fine
3. 1 green onion chopped fine
4. 1/2 teaspoon each of salt, turmeric, coriander powder
5. 1/4 teaspoon cumin, mustard seeds
6. 1 tablespoon oil
7. 3 dried red chillies broken, few curry leaves

In a pot bring to boil the tamarind juice along with tomatoes, green chilly pieces, salt, turmeric and coriander powder. Boil for 10 minutes. In a pan heat the oil fry the cumin and mustard seeds for a couple of minutes. Add curry leaves and red chillies and fry till they start spluttering. Add this to the tamarind juice and some chopped cilantro and keep boiling for 10 more minutes. Serve

Variety Egg Curry and Rasam

This recipe has been a staple in my house for as long as I remember. I don't know who made it for the very first time but my people in my own extended family don't know how to make it. This is a variation of hard boiled egg curry but I like this curry better than the hard boiled version
          And to go with it I made a simple rasam. There are a million versions of this rasam but this one I am giving here is again my house recipe

Variety Egg Curry (Simple egg curry with a variation)

Amazing egg curry

Ingredients:

1. 6 eggs
2. 1 large red onion chopped fine
3. 2 green chillies slit
4. 1/2 teaspoon each of ginger-garlic paste, salt, chilly powder, turmeric
5. 1 cup water
6. Cilantro for Garnishing
7. 2 tablespoons oil

In a pressure cooker (else use a pan with a tight fitting lid) heat the oil and fry the onions till they become golden brown. Add green chillies and ginger-garlic paste and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add salt, chilly powder and turmeric and stir to combine. Add water and reduce the heat. carefully break the eggs over the dish, slide the onions and make space for the egg and drop it into the pan or the pressure cooker. Add all the eggs 1 inch apart. Close the pressure cooker and cook for 2 whistles or cover the pan and cook for 20 minutes on medium heat. DO NOT TOUCH THE CURRY. After the steam escapes, open the cooker garnish with cilantro and simmer till all the water escapes. Again don't touch the eggs. carefully dish the eggs onto a platter and serve with rice

Rasam (Tamarind juice with spices)

Rasam

Ingredients:

1. 1 lime sized tamarind
2. 4 cups of water
3. 1/2 teaspoon each of salt, coriander powder
4. 1/4 teaspoon each of turmeric, cumin, mustard seeds
5. 1 teaspoon sliced onions
6. Few curry leaves and 3 red chillies broken
7. 1 tablespoon oil
8. 1 teaspoon decicated coconut (optional)
9. Cilantro for garnishing

In a pan add the tamarind along with water, salt, turmeric and coriander powder and bring to a boil. Let it boil on medium heat for 10 minutes. In a pan heat the oil and fry the cumin and mustard seeds for a minute. Add red chillies and curry leaves and fry for 3-4 minutes. Cut the heat, add the coconut if using and stir for 1/2 a minute. Add this temepring to the tamarind water and bring to a boil. Boil again for 5 minutes, garnish with cilantro and serve

Rajma paneer with Onion rasam

Its been a long time since I made something with chickpeas and I wanted to make it. But a thorough search of my pantry reveled that I didn't have any garbanzo beans at hand. So I started seaching for some other legumes and found the kidneys beans calling my attention.
               Then, I started seaching for some Indian recipe with kidney beans and all I could find is Rajma...kidney beans in tomato gravy (Will make it and post it some other day) and I didn't want to make it. Then I thought why I can't make Kidney beans along with Paneer (Indian Cottage Cheese) and let me tell you it turned out Deeelicious.
              And to go with it, I am making Onion Chaaru from the Vegetarian recipe book my mom gave me when I got married. This is so nice and spicy, I can just sip it all by itself

Rajma Paneer (Kidney beans and cottage cheese curry)

Rajma Paneer

Ingredients:

1. 1 can kidney beans (I used red kidney beans in chilli gravy)
2. 1 cup paneer rectangles 3/4 cm x 3/4 inch (Basically trying to keep the paneer the same size as the kidney beans)
3. 1 medium onion
4. 1 inch ginger piece
5. 1 medium tomato chopped
6. 1/2 teaspoon each of chilly powder, salt, cumin, coriander powder, turmeric
7. 3 tablespoons oil divided
8. 1/2 cup water

Here is How to make fresh Paneer
Grind the onions and ginger to a fine paste and set aside. Fry the paneer pieces in oil till they turn golden brown. Drain and set aside. Add the cumin to the oil and let them crackle. Add the onion paste and fry till it starts changing color. Add chopped tomatoes and cook covered for 5 minutes. Add kidney bean to it and all the other ingredients except paneer, stir to combine and simmer for 10 minutes. Add paneer stir well and simmer for 5 more minutes. Garnish with cilantro and enjoy with Zeera rice or white rice and onion rasam

Onion Rasam (Onions and tomato in Tamarind juice)

Onion Rasam

Ingredients:

1. 2 tablespoons each of chopped onions, chopped tomato
2. 1 teaspoon grated jaggery or brown sugar
3. 1 big or 2 small green chillies sliced
4. 4 cups of water
5. 1 cup thick juice from a lime sized tamarind
6. 1/2 tablespoons oil
7. 1/2-3/4 teaspoon salt
8. 1/2 teaspoon asafoetida(Hing)

Bring the water to a boil and add chopped onions and boil for a couple of minutes. Add all the rest of the ingredients and boil for 10 minutes. In a pan heat the oil and add hing to it. Let it cook for 2 minutes. Add it to the rasam and boil for 5 more minutes. Garnish with cilantro and enjoy

Lamb curry (Khurma Gosht) with Coriander Rasam

There are a million ways or recipes when you search for Lamb khurma or curry recipes. This is my family's recipe and I am serving it with rice and a variation of Rasam today aka the Coriander Rasam. These curries go very well with Chapati or Roti or Indian bread
Lamb Curry 1(Lamb cooked with Indian Spices)

Lamb

Ingredients:

1. 1 lb lamb cut into bite size pieces
2. 1 medium large onion sliced fine
3. 1 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste
4. 2-3 tablespoons oil
5. 1 teaspoon each of chilly powder, coriander powder
6. 1/2 teaspoon each of salt, turmeric, garam masala powder, cumin powder
7. Use 2-3 cloves and 1-2 inch cinnamon stick if you don't have garam-masala powder

Wash the lamb pieces till water runs clear and then marinate with all the powder ingredients for 1/2 hour to 2 hours. In a pressure cooker heat the oil and fry the onions till they start to turn darm brown. Add spices and ginger-garlic paste and fry for 3-4 minutes. Add meat and fry for 5 minutes. Add 1/4 cup water and cover the cooker and cook for 3 whistles. Once the steam escapes, open the cooker and simmer till the excess water evaporates. Serve with rice or roti

Khurma Gosht (Spicy Lamb curry)
Ingredients:

1. 1 lb lamb cut into bite size pieces
2. 1 medium large onion sliced fine
3. 1 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste
4. 2-3 tablespoons oil
5. 1 teaspoon coriander powder
6. 1/2 teaspoon each of salt, turmeric, garam masala powder, cumin powder
7. Use 2-3 cloves and 1-2 inch cinnamon stick if you don't have garam-masala powder
8. 1/2 cup yogurt
9. 4-6 green chillies slit

Wash the lamb pieces till water runs clear and then marinate with all the powder ingredients and yogurt for 1/2 hour to 2 hours. In a pressure cooker heat the oil and fry the onions till they start to turn darm brown. Add spices and ginger-garlic paste and slit green chillies and fry for 3-4 minutes. Add meat and fry for 5 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons water and cover the cooker and cook for 3 whistles. Once the steam escapes, open the cooker and simmer till the excess water evaporates. Serve with rice or roti

Coriander Rasam (Tamarind soup with Coriander Powder)

Kothimeera Chaaru

Ingredients:

1. 1 lime sized tamarind
2. 4 cups of water
3. 1 tablespoon coriander powder
4. 1/2 teaspoon of salt
5. 1/4 teaspoon each of turmeric, cumin, mustard seeds
6. Few curry leaves and 3 red chillies broken
7. 1 tablespoon oil  
8. Cilantro for garnishing

In a pot add the tamarind along with water, salt, turmeric and coriander powder and bring to a boil. Let it boil on medium heat for 10 minutes. In a pan heat the oil and fry the cumin and mustard seeds for a minute. Add red chillies and curry leaves and fry for 3-4 minutes. Cut the heat, and add this temepring to the tamarind water and bring to a boil. Boil again for 5 minutes, garnish with cilantro and serve

Baingan macchi and Rasam

I got Tilapia the other day and I love fish along with eggplant. Personally I am not a big fan of seafood but this curry is one of my favourite fish recipes
Baingan Macchi (Fish curry with eggplant)

Fish with Eggplant

Ingredients:

1. 1 medium sized Tilapia cut into 3/4 inch thick steaks
2. 1 medium small eggplant cut vertically into 3 or 4 pieces and then sliced
3. 2 green chillies
4. 1 medium small onion sliced
5. 3 tablespoons oil
6. 1 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste
7. Handful of cilantro roughly chopped
8.  1/2 teaspoon each of salt, chilly powder, turmeric and coriander powder

In a pan heat the oil and fry the onions till tender. Add the eggplant pieces and fry for 6-8 minutes. Add all the other ingredients except fish and stir to combine. Add a cup of water reduce heat and add fish. Simmer for 10 minutes, covered. Stir and simmer without cover for 5 more minutes. Serve hot with rice and rasam

Garlic Rasam (Thin lentil soup)

Rasam

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup toor dal pressure cooked for 3-4 whistles
2. 3 cups juice from a small lime sized tamarind
3. 1 teaspoon tomato puree, grated coconut
4. 1/2 teaspoon salt, grated garlic, coriander powder, cumin powder, mustard seeds
5. 1 tablespoon oil
6. 2 red chillies, few curry leaves

Grind the toor dal to a fine paste after it gets cooled. In a heavy bottomed pan heat the oil and add the mustard seeds to crackle. Add the grated garlic and coconut and fry for a couple of minutes. Add all the powders and fry for a minute. Add the tamarind juice and tomato puree and boil on a medium flame for 10 minutes. Reduce heat and add the ground toor dal. Simmer for 5-8 minutes. Garnish with cilantro and serve hot

Cabbage with lamb and Rasam

Today is sunday evening and we are all kinda full. But still I need to make dinner. So I asked my dear hubby what he wants to eat. He said he wants RASAM. Can you believe it. Can you just eat rice with rasam. So I made Cabbage with lamb and I was craving some chinese so I also made some sweet and sour mushroom.
              In India people who eat meat also do not eat it as much as people eat here in the US of A. People eat more vegetables there and making only meat dishes is once or twice a week maximum. Other days meat is added to ingredients mainly vegetables and let me tell you a little bit of meat definitely enhances the whole dishes's flavor.

Cabbage with Lamb (Pieces of lamb are cooked along with shredded cabbage)

Gobi Gosht

Ingredients:

1. 1 medium sized cabbage shredded
2. 1/2 lb lamb cut into cubes
3. 1/2 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste, salt, chilly powder, turmeric
4. 2 tablespoons oil
5. 1/2-1 cup of sliced onions
6. 2 green chillies

In a pressure cooker add the oil and fry the onions till they start changing color. Add ginger-garlic paste and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the lamb pieces and fry for 5 minutes. Add all the other ingredients except cabbage and 1/2 cup of water and close the cooker and cook for 2 whistles. Let all the steam escape, open the cooker and add the cabbage to it and cover and cook for 1 whistle. Let the steam escape, open the cooker and simmer till all the excess water evaporates. Garnish with cilantro and enjoy with hot rice and RASAM

maamidi kaaya charu

Charu as Rasam is caaled in Telugu sometimes, is one of those things South Indian eat quite a bit with rice. And it is delicious...full of vitamin C as it is mostly made with tamarind juice. But this one is made with green mango. And it is super delicious and for people like me who love sour foods, it is a taste of heaven. Serve with hot steamed rice and yum yum yum

maamidi kaaya charu (Green Mango accompaniment for rice) 

Maamidi kaaya rasam

Ingredients:

1. 1 medium sized green mango peeled and chopped into pieces
2. 3/4 teaspoon each salt, urad dal, cumin, mustard seeds, finely chopped ginger, finely chopped garlic, turmeric
3. 3 dried red chillies broken
4. few curry leaves
5. 1 tablespoon oil

In a pressure cooker cook the mangos for 3-4 whistles with 1 cup water and salt and turmeric. After the steam escapes, let it cool a bit and grind it to a smooth paste.

In a pan heat the oil and fry the cumin, mustard seeds, urad dal, dried chillies and curry leaves till they start to splatter. Add ginger and garlic and fry for 30-45 seconds. Add the ground mango paste and 2 more cups of water. Bring to boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Garnish with cilantro and serve with hot steamed rice

Drumsticks eggs curry with Rasam

Drumsticks are such a wierd vegetable. I wonder how man would have thought it is edible. I bet many people don't know what to do with it except make music :D
         Back in the old days when I was a little kid we used to have this mulaga kaada or monge phalli or drumsticks tree. I used to love them. but the only problem is, in the season when the tree used to have loads of these sticks it also used to have lots of caterpillars. YAK!!!
         There are just so many wonderful dishes you can make with them. Here is one of my favourite. Drumsticks and eggs curry

Drumsticks and eggs curry (Indian egg curry with drumsticks)

Boiled eggs

Drumstick and its leaves

Ingredients:

1. 4 hard boiled eggs peeled
2. 3 medium sized drumsticks peeled and cut into 2-3 inch pieces
3. 1 medium red onion sliced thin
4. 2 green chillies slit
5. 2 tablespoons oil
6. 1/2 teaspoon each of salt, chilly powder and turmeric, ginger-garlic paste

In a pressure cooker at the oil and fry the onions till tender. Add green chillies and ginger-garlic paste and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the drumsticks and all the other ingredients except eggs. Cook for 2 whistles and open the cooker immediately by let it steam. Else the drumsticks will just become pulp.
In a pan heat 1 tablespoon oil and make slits in the eggs and fry them for 5-6 minutes. Add the drumstick curry to it and simmer till the gravy thickens. Garnish with cilantro and enjoy you amazing drumstick and egg curry with white rice or roti

With white rice make some Rasam or Chaaru

Methi Gosht with Rasam

Methi or Fenugreek leave are not one of my favourite leafy vegetables since it has a bitter taste to it. But this curry I made with lamb and mehi leaves turned out to be super yummy. I just think if you know the proper way to cook anything, you can take even the bad tasting things into the most mouth watering recipes.
            For vegetarians, the same curry can me made by replacing mutton with potato

Methi Gosht (Lamb cooked with fenugreek leaves)

Methi Gosht

Ingredients:

1. 11/2 to 2 cups frozen mehi leaves
2. 3/4-1 lb mutton (lamb or goat whatever you prefer)
3. 1/2 teaspoon each of ginger-garlic paste, chilly powder, turmeric, coriander powder, cumin powder
4. 1 teaspoon salt divided
5. 1 medium onion sliced
6. 1 green chilly sliced
7. 2 tablespoons oil

Spinkle 1/2 teaspoon salt on the frozen Fenugreek leavs and set aside 30 minutes. (This process removes the bitterness of the leaves). I am not sure how you can do this process with fresh leaves.
                After 30 minutes squeeze out as much water as you do.
In a pressure cooker heat the oil and fry the onions till golden brown. Add giner-garlic paste and green chilly and fry for a couple of minutes. Add all the powder and stir. Add mutton and fry for 5 minutes. Add methi and 1/2 cup water and cook for 3 whistles. After the steam escapes open the cooker and simmer until excess water evaporates. Enjoy with Rasam and white rice or with Roti

Sem ki phalli Baingan

I can't believe how long it has been that I had this curry. Long ago when I was a little kid my Daadi Ammi used to plant this in my backyard and in the season we ould have loads of Sem ki Phalli or Chikudu kaaya in Telugu i.e Indian Broad beans and its seeds or the "beeng" were me and my father's favourite.

              Even later on when we moved to another city my mom would make this curry with brinjal and it used to be my favourite. But after coming to USA finding fresh Sem ki Phalli in the Indian stores is a rarity. And this time I did and even though they costed like 4 times that of frozen sem I still got it and definetely there is no surpassing the taste of a fresh veggie over frozen

Sem ki Phalli Baingan (Indian broad beans with eggplant curry)

Ingredients:

1. 1/2-3/4 lb Sem ki Phalli ends removed and cut into 1 inch pieces
2. 4-5 indian eggplants or about 2 cups cut any eggplant
3. 1 medium tomato (optional)
4. 1 medium small onion sliced thin
5. 2 green chillies slit
6. 2 tablespoons oil
7. 3/4 teaspoon each of salt, chilly powder, turmeric

In a pressure cooker heat the oil and fry the onions till tender. Add green chillies and fry for a couple of minutes. Add brinjal or eggplant and tomato if using and fry for 5 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients, 1/4 cup water and cook for 2 whistles or cook in a covered pot for 15-20 minutes until the veggies get cooked. Open the cooker and simmer till excess water evaporates and garnish with cilantro and serve with Any Indian Roti

or serve with Rice and Tomato Rasam

Aalo bhujia with Soupy aam dal

Aalo bhujia is one of the olest and the most popular curry in my house when I was a kid. In those good old days when we used to have only one channel on TV, and there used to be a Hindi movie telecasted every Sunday. So my mom used to cook this curry early and then be ready for the movie. I used to get hungry early on those Sundays cause I loved this curry
                My mom used to serve it with Chaaru or Rasam but I am making a Soupy dal with raw mango

Aalu Bhujia (Shallow Potato fry with cumin)

Aalo bhujia

Ingredients:

1. 2 big or 3 medium potatoes peeled
2. 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin, chilly powder, turmeric
3. 3 tablespoons oil
4. 3/4 teaspoon salt

Cut the potato length-wise on the broadside.into half. Lay the flat side on the cuttin board cut half again and slice into 1/4 cm thick pieces. Heat the oil in a non stick pan and fry the cumin till they start to become dark. Add potatoes cover and cook for 10-15 minutes till they become tendor. Stir occasionally. Add salt, chilly power and turmeric and stir to combine. Break some of the pieces with the spatula and fry uncovered till the potatoes become a bit crispy. Serve with rice or roti

Soupy Mango Dal (Lentils with raw mango)

Soupy Mango Dal

Ingredients:

1. 1 raw mango peeled and seed removed and flesh cut into pieces
2. 1 cup roasted toor dal
3. 1 tablespoon oil
4. 1/4 teaspoon each of cumin, mustard seeds, turmeric
5. few curry leaves
6. 1 green chilly, few red chillies broken

In a pressure cooker cook the dal along with mango, turmeric and 2 cups of water for 3-4 whistles. Let all the steam escape and grind it into a smooth paste. In a pan heat the oil and fry the cumin and mustard for 3 minutes. Add green chillies, red chillies and curry leaves an fry for a few more minutes. Add it to the dal paste and a cup of water and bring to a boil. Add salt and coriander and simmer till you get the required consistency. Serve with rice or roti

Ulli Kaaram Beerakaaya (Turai Pyaz wali)

I might have mentioned this before but I am mentioning it again...Turai or Beerakaaya or Ridge Gourd is one of my favourite vegetables. But it has so much water content in it, that it actually makes sense to make it into a soup like some of the other Asian cuisines (Other than Indian Ofcourse) make it. But in India we usually simmer it till that point that its almost dry, nonetheless delicious

                The following recipe is from one of the vegetarian cook books I got from my mom. And this recipe is one of the most flavourful ridge gourd recipe I have ever tasted. Serve it with Roti or with Rice and Coriander Rasam

                

Ulli Kaaram Beerakaaya (Ridge gourd curry with onions and spices)

Ingredients:

1. 2 large ridge gourd (about 2 lbs) (the ridge gourd I got was super big...it was 2 feet long and weighed in at a whooping 2.12 lbs)
2. 1 medium onion sliced
3. 1 teaspoon chilly powder (or reduce to reduce the spicyness)
4. 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric
5. 1 teaspoon salt
6. 2 tablespoons oil
7. 1 large garlic pod or about 1/4 teaspoon grated gralic

Peel the ridge gourd (and save the peel to make amazing Chutney or Dal )

Give it a taste test (cut a small piece from the ends and chew it, if it is bitter cut about 1 inch piece and discard and repeat. Spit the chewed piece :D  )

Cut the ridge gourd into 2 inch pieces. Sprinkle with salt and set aside for 30 minutes. Squeeze as much water as possible.

In a pan heat the oil and add the onion and fry till tender. Add garlic and fry for a minute. Add all the spices and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the ridge gourd pieces cover and cook till it gets cooked. Simmer till the gravy thickens to your liking. Garnish with cilantro and serve with roti or rice

Palak gosht

I wanted to eat green vegetables or bhaji. My favorite being thota kura with lamb. But these days you can hardly find any leafy vegetables in the indian stores. So I made my second favorite...spinach with lamb. I used a pound of lamb leg with bones. And everyone just gobbled it. Bone in meat seems to be  much more flavorful to me

Palak gosht (spinach and lamb curry)

Palak Gosht

Ingredients

1. 1 can leaf spinach drained
2. 1 lb lamb cut into 1 inch cubes
3. 1 medium tomato chopped fine
4. 1 medium small onion chopped fine
5. 1/2 cup plain yogurt beaten
6. 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
7. 1 tablespoon oil
8. 1 teaspoon each of salt, coriander powder
9. 1/2 teaspoon each of turmeric, chilly powder

In a pressure cooker cook the lamb with turmeric wi a little bit of water for 3 whistles.

Grind the spinach end into paste

In a pan heat the oil and fry the onions till they start changing color. Add ginger garlic paste and fry for a minute. Add the tomatoes salt, chilly powder and coriander and cook till the tomatoes turn pulpy. Add spinach stir well and cook for 5 minutes. Add the lamb and beaten yogurt and stir to combine. Simmer for 10 minutes. Serve with rice and rasam or roti

Achari Murgh

Its been pretty busy lately and I haven't been blogging anything recipes. Forget about blogging them, I am not even taking photos of them for later use. It's been crazy busy

Anyway, long time ago I made a dish with lamb called "Achari gosht". And the vegetarian version of the dish with eggplant called "Achari baingan" which was soooooo delicious. So today I had a whole chicken cut into 12 pieces and I made "Achari murgh"

So...what is "Achari" ? Achar is nothing bu pickle in Hindi/Urdu. And the spices which are used in making the pickles are the ones which are used in these dishes. Hence the name. So here goes

Achari Murgh (chicken cooked in pickling spices)

Achari Murgh

Ingredients for roasting

1. 1 teaspoon each of mustard seeds, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, coriander seeds, onion seeds (kalonji)
2. 1/2 teaspoon methi or fenugreek seeds
3. 3 dried red chillies

Ingredients

1. 1 chicken cut into 12-16 pieces
2. 1 big onion sliced thin (about 11/2-2 cups)
3. 2 medium onions sliced
4. 1-2 green chillies
5. 1 teaspoon salt
6. 1 tablespoon oil
7. 1 heaped teaspoon ginger- garlic paste
8. 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
9. 1/2 cup plain yogurt beaten
10. 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Roast all the ingredients under " ingredients for roasting". Let them cool and grind to powder

In a heavy bottomed pan heat the oil and fry the onions till they starting turning brown. Add the ginger -garlic paste and fry for a minute. Add the tomatoes and cook till pulpy. Add the chicken and salt and turmeric and stir to combine. Add the yogurt and stir again. Cover and cook for 15 minutes. Add the ground spices mixed with lemon juice, add a cup of water and simmer till chicken gets cooked. About 15 minutes.  Wait 30 minutes or more before serving. That will help all the spices mix together.
This curry is even better the next day

Serve it with white rice and Rasam

Boiled Egg Curry

Long time ago, a certain person name "Hussain" worked as a cook for my dad. And he introduced us to some of the delicious curries of all time. He was a very mellow person and hard working too. At that time my dad used to work in another city from where our family was actually based. So I think we went there to spend two summers and I still remember those lazy afternoons mainly because my dad didn't have TV there and so we kids had to make our imagination work to pass time. I can never forget those days!!!
                But anyway, this is one of his recipes and my all time favorite egg curry recipes. I hope you will like it too

Hussain's Egg Curry (Boiled egg curry with tomato gravy)

Boiled Egg Curry

Ingredients:

1. 6 hard boiled eggs, shelled
2. 1 medium onion chopped
3. 3-4 large ripe tomatoes chopped
4. 1 teaspoon black gram (Urad dal with skin)
5. 3/4 teaspoon each of salt, cumin, chilly powder
6. 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
7. 1 tablespoon oil+ oil for frying the eggs

In a wok or pan heat about 1-2 tablespoons oil and fry the eggs (make some slits in the boiled eggs else they will splutter in your face!) and fry for 5 minutes stirring often. Drain and set aside.

If there is not enough oil, add some more. Add urad dal and cumin and fry till an aroma starts emanating. Add onions and cook till tender. Add tomatoes and cover and cook till pulpy. Add all the ingredients and tomatoes and stir to combine. Cover and simmer for 5-7 minutes. Garnish with cilantro and serve with roti or rice and Rasam