Simple Veg. Biryani

Tried and tasted by Nivedita,

Hi All,

A very simple and easy rice for lunch box. 

Without much introduction or back ground, I am coming to the recipe,

Long grain rice - 200 gm

All vegetables of your choice - 200gm, wash and cut into cubes

(I used Potato, beans, carrot and peas)

Onion - 1 small thinly sliced

Green chilly - 1cut into long slit (if making for kids or 2 for elders)

Tomato - 1 medium, chopped

Ghee - 1 tbsp

Oil - 1 tbsp

Tej Patta or bay leaf - 1

Fresh cream - 1 tbsp

Salt to taste

For Biryani dry masala,

Fennel seeds -1/2 tsp

Cumin seeds / Jeera -1/2 tsp

Shahjeera/Caraway seeds – 1/2 tsp

Cloves - 4

Cardamom -1

Cinnamon (1” inch length) - 1

Grated nutmeg -1/4 tsp (optional)

Grind everything into fine powder.

Taken from this and originally from this.

Wash the rice. Remove water and keep it to dry for half an hour or at least for 15 minutes.

Heat oil and ghee in a kadai. Add Onion and bay leaf. Fry till golden brown. Add tomato, green chilly and 1/2 tsp of ground masala.

Add all the vegetables and fry for a minute. Now goes the rice. Mix the rice with all the vegetables. Add salt, a table spoon of ready masala powder. Mix and add cream. Fry for a minute

Add hot water till the rice is covered. Close the lid and give just one whistle.

When done, serve hot with curd and onion raita or send it to lunch box for kids.(It is in my daughter's menu) 

This is flying to silpa of Anita' s Kitchen  APS- Rice Event.

Keep smiling,

Sindhi Curry(Veg curry with Gramflour)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

One more healthy traditional food, with lot of vegetables in to it!!!! It is very good in winter and rainy season, as one can just drink it or sip it sitting beside the window and watching rain drops and enjoying the hot soup with cold breeze(At least this is what I do whenever I get chance!!!) or can enjoy with Brown rice or Bhooga chawar.

It takes time to cut all the vegetables and it takes time to cook the curry also, but the result is very tasty that you will forget the pain of cutting the vegetables and waiting for it to cook.!!!

When I was in UAE, I learnt it from my Co-Sister and Sister In Law. And I love it to have any time of day or night!!

Coming to the recipe,

Potato - 2 big, washed, and cubed in to big pieces.

Carrot - 1 big, chopped length wise

Beans - 8 to 10, cleaned and cut in to two.

Cluster beans - 10 to 12 cleaned and cut into two

Brinjal - 1 medium, cut into lengthwise

Drum stick - 2 washed, cleaned and chopped in to 3 to 4 pieces

Ladies finger(Bhindi) - 4 to 6, washed, cleaned and dried. Cut in to 2 pieces and shallow fry in little oil. Keep it aside.

Oil - 1/4 cup

Methi Seeds - 1 tsp

Jeera - 1 tsp

Green Chilly - 2 slit 

Ginger - 1/4" crushed(optional)

Gramflour(Besan atta) - 4 tbsp

Curry leaves - 1 line.

Tomato - 2 medium (or tomato paste or puree - 1/4 cup)

Red chilly powder - 2 tbsp

Amsol - 4 to 6

Salt to taste

Haldi - 1/2 tsp

Dhania or coriander powder - 1 tbsp

The vegetables are optional and you can replace or skip few. But more vegetables really make the curry tasty and healthy.

Add oil in a thick bottomed kadai or cooker. Keep on a medium flame, when oil is hot, add jeera, green chilly, ginger and methi seeds. Fry for few seconds. Now be careful before adding Gram flour. Keep on stirring or else it gets burnt. When good fried aroma starts coming, put hard vegetables like potato, drumsticks, beans and cluster beans. Keep on stirring for a minute. Now add Tomato or tomato puree. Mix and let it cook for a minute. Time is to add red chilly powder, dhania powder and haldi. Again mix and add cook for one more minute. All should happen over medium flame. Add at least 3 cups of water and close the lid and cook for 10 minutes. Now add other soft vegetables like carrot, brinjal and salt. Again boil it for 10 more minutes. And then comes the chance of Bhindi or okra or lady finger to get boiled. Cook it for 2 minutes adjust the seasoning. Add Amsol and curry leaves. Cook for 5 minutes. 

The curry is ready in the cooker and will be waiting for you to take it in a bowl and taste it.

An instant and fastest way to cook is,

After you add gram flour, add all other ingredients except curry leaves and amsol, add water and give 4 to 6 whistles. When cool, add curry leaves and amsol and boil it directly on medium flame for 2 minutes. 

But the first method tastes better even though takes lot of time.

Moral of the cooking is 

"Slow and steady wins the race!!!"

Keep Smiling,

Many and more Veg. Sambhar

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

I Love Vegetables and more vegetables, in any form. But my favorite is Veg. sambhar with hot rice and ghee.

And as I need to give nutritious food to my kids, I prefer to mix more than one food and give them in one time.

I am giving here two recipes for sambhar, only difference in both is the masala. First sambhar is without any masala, and the second one is with Godha masala. You can use any vegetables for both the sambhar.

I always prefer to mix maximum vegetables.

Recipe for  Plain Veg Sambhar

Vegetables : Any vegetables(you can see in the photo) or as per your taste.(wash, clean and cut the vegetables and keep aside)

Toor dal or moong dal -1/2 cup (boiled)

Tomato - 2 big chopped

Oil - 2 tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Jeera - 1 tsp

Methi seeds - 1 tsp

Curry leaves - few

Tamarind paste - 1 tbsp

Chilly powder - 1 to 2 tbsp
Jaggery - 1 tbsp

Dhania (coriander) powder - 1 tbsp

Salt to taste

Haldi - 1 tsp

Water for sambhar

Veg Sambhar without masala

Heat oil in thick bottomed vessel. Add Methi seeds, when they change the color, add mustard seeds. When splutter, add jeera, curry leaves. Now go on adding, the harder vegetables(which takes more time to cook) and cook for sometime. Then add the softer vegetables. Add chopped tomatoes. After a minute, go on adding all the dry powders, jaggery  and tamarind paste. When vegetables are 3/4th cooked, add boiled dal. Mix properly and add water as per your requirement and taste. Boil it for 5 minutes. Adjust the seasoning.

Veg. Sambhar is ready to serve with hot rice and ghee.

Recipe for Veg Sambhar with Godha masala

You can choose any available vegetables.
The only difference in this recipe is add Godha masala 2 tbsp instead of Coriander powder and reduce the qty of red chilly powder to 1 tbsp.

 

Godha masala is mainly used in Maharashtra. It is having strong smell as more spices are used to make this powder. But when you add in any gravy or sabji or sambhar, the taste is really very tasty and the aroma will attract any one to the kitchen to check what's cooking???

Veg. Sambhar using Godha masala

Keep smiling,

Mix Veg Poha

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

A very easy, simple and healthy breakfast for a family. I will not go into the detail about this recipe, as it is very common all over India. Only difference is the way we prepare it and using ingredients according to our taste.

But I would like to say about poha or beaten rice or flattened rice. It is very healthy food and can be prepared in many ways. It is used in many other food preparations also. It is famous for Lord Krishna and Sudama's friendship also. It turned Sudama from beggar to the richest person, with Lord Krishna's blessings.(In Bhagvat Purana).

Poha is available in 3 sizes usually. One is Thin poha which is used to make chewda or ghee poha or curd poha. Other is Medium Poha,which is used to make soaked poha like the one I have given or again one can make with curds or cucumber. And the last one is very Thick Poha, which is deep fried in oil to make chewda.

Here is the recipe for Mix veg poha,

Poha (medium) - 2 big cups or 200 gms

Oil - 3 to 5 tbsp

Onion- 1 big, chopped

Green chilly - 4 to 6 according to the taste and how strong the chillies are.

Curry leaves - few

Jeera - 1 tbsp

Urad dal - 1 tbsp

Chana dal - 1 tbsp

Peanut - 2 tbsp

Ginger - 1 tbsp chopped finely

Potato - 1 big (peeled and cubed)

Tomato - 1 medium chopped

Capsicum - 1 small chopped

Carrot - 1 medium chopped

Green peas - 1/4 cup(boiled or frozen)

(I did not put as I did not had when I prepared this)

Lime juice - 2 tbsp

Salt to taste

Haldi -1/2 tsp

Sugar - 1 tbsp

Fresh coriander to garnish

Soak poha in water only for 30 seconds. Be careful to remove it immediately from water, or else the poha will turn into paste. Keep it aside till all the water goes.

Heat oil in kadai, add jeera, curry leaves, urad dal, chana dal and peanut. Let the dals turn into little golden colour. Go on adding, ginger, green chilly, onion, potato and carrot. Saute for 2 minutes. Now add green peas, capsicum. Again saute for 2 minutes. Now goes, tomato and salt.

Mix the masala properly and cook it till the potato is cooked properly. Keep on low flame. Add lime juice, haldi and sugar. Off the heat. Mix the soaked poha in the masala and garnish with fresh coriander. The mix veg poha is ready to serve with papad.

OR

another way is, after you take the soaked poha from water, mix it with salt, sugar and lime juice. Keep it aside for some time. And while preparing masala, drop these ingredients. Then while mixing the poha garnish it with fresh coriander and mix the masala. This is the way I like to do. The taste also is little different.

Try either way!!!

Keep smiling,

Kaarchi Kai(Mini bitter gourd) Sabji

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

I do not know the English name of the vegetable in the photo, but in North Karnataka, we call it "Kaarchi kai"(Kannada). It tastes like bitter gourd. It is available only in the rainy season. It is having crunchy seeds. Its having tails on both the sides, need to be removed before we cook. One more thing to keep in mind is, if it is exposed to direct sun, it will open and split and the seeds will come out. Then you can not cook it.

"IF ANY ONE KNOWS ANY INFORMATION ABOUT IT, PLEASE SHARE WITH ME AND OTHERS, WHO WANTS TO KNOW ABOUT THIS"

Now, here is the recipe,

Kaarchi kai - 250 gms

Onion - 1 big chopped

Curry leaves - few

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Jeera - 1 tsp

Chilly powder - 1 tbsp

Haldi - a pinch

Fresh coconut - 1/4 cup

Salt to taste

Lime juice - 1 tbsp

Sugar or jaggery - 1 tbsp

Oil - 2 tbsp to fry

and 1 tbsp to prepare the masala

Wash the kaarchi kai, cut the tails and keep in closed bag, if you are not cooling immidiately. Keep in mind to cook as early as possible and not to expose it to the sun.

Heat oil in the kadai, fry the vegetable till slightly brown. Keep it aside in a plate. In the same kadai, add 1 tbsp oil. Add mustard seeds, jeera, curry leaves and onion. Fry for some time. Add kaarchi kai, salt, chilly powder, haldi, fresh coconut. Mix it properly and Cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Off the heat. Add lemon juice and mix properly again. The vegetable is ready to serve.

It tastes good with Jowar rotti.

Keep smiling,

Karela fry salad(Bitter gourd salad)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Bitter gourd or karela or (ಹಾಗಲ ಕಾಯಿ) is a vegetable, I can eat any time, with anything.

I love to experiment with bitter gourd, as I like it. I have tried making chutneys, pickles, stir fries, simple gravies. I will try to post the recipes in the future.

Now, here is the salad, which I love to eat any time with anything or just like that.

Bitter gourd - 2 to 3

Onion - 1 medium

Tomato - 1 big

Lime juice - 2 to 3 tbsp

Chilly powder - 1 tbsp or as per taste

Salt to taste

Sugar 1/2 tsp

Oil - 3 tbsp

Fresh coriander or Parsley(or both) - 1 handful chopped

(General tip to wash the bitter gourd to remove its bitterness

Wash the bitter gourd. Without peeling the skin, cut in to half length wise. Remove the seeds and apply salt both sides and keep for half an hour. Clean with water 2 times. The bitter gourd is ready to cook.)

(If you do not have time to keep it with salt, you can just peel the skin and wash it with saltwater.)

Cut the bitter gourd in to thin slices. Heat oil in kadai, add the cut slices and fry till brown. Keep on stirring other wise it will get burn. Before serving mix all other ingredients in a bowl. Add the fried bitter gourd at the end, mix it well and serve as a side dish.

Keep smiling,

Cabbage poriyal

Tried and tasted by Nivedita
Hi all,

It is so easy to cook when you have the guide in front of you!! When I checked the event Tried and Tasted by "My Diverse Kitchen", I visited Lisa's Vegetarian Kitchen and was explored to so many vegetarian dishes, so many, which I never heard before. I wanted to start form easier one, as I have less time to experiment this month but I wanted to participate also.
So I tried her cabbage poriyal and liked it so much that I had it without anything.
Here is the link for the same,
http://foodandspice.blogspot.com/2009/02/cabbage-poriyal.html
I stayed 100% true to the recipe.

I am sending this recipe to Announcing Tried and Tasted, April 2009 – Lisa's Vegetarian Kitchen from My Diverse Kitchen, which originally started by Zlamushka's original event announcement.

Keep smiling,