Beans Cauliflower Curry

One of the simple curries which can be made regularly can home without any hiccups is this. I love both the veggies and here is the simple recipe for it. Go ahead and try it for simple dinner.

Ingredients
Beans - chopped
Cauliflower florest
Tomatos
Oil
Mustard seeds
Jeera
Red chilli powder
Turmeric
Salt
Coriander to garnish

Method of preparation
Add oil in a pan(kadai), and let it heat. Add mustard seeds after oil is heated. Let them splutter. Add jeera and then add the veggies (beans and cauliflower). Add red chilli powder, turmeric to it. Mix it and cover and cook for some time until veggies are almost cooked. Once they are cooked, add salt and tomatos. Cook until tomatos are done and serve after garnishing with the coriander leaves. Enjoy !!!

Bhendi Tomato fry curry

Ingredients
Bhendi - I used one frozen packet
Tomato - 1 chopped finely
Red chilli powder
Salt to taste (I used 1 spoon)
Oil - 5 spoons
Mustard seeds - 1/4 teaspoon
Jeera - 1/4 teaspoon

Method of preparation
This is a simple curry. Can be done by even bachelors also. Add oil to kadai and after the oil is heated then add mustard seeds and let  it splutter. Add jeera to it. Add bhendi and let it fry nicely. Add salt to it (around 1 tea spoon). Once the tangleness of bhendi goes, add the tomato and then red chilli powder also. Your curry is ready.

Note: Add some yogurt like 1 or 2 spoons to make the bhendi detangle fast.

Dondakaya Kandipodi kura/Tindora Chutney powder Curry

Ingredients
Tindora - 1 packet from frozen or lengthwise cut fresh tindora's
Red chilli powder - 1/2 spoon or depending upon your chilli powder and your spice levels
Salt to taste
Oil - 4 spoons
Mustard seeds - 1/2 spoon
Jeera - 1/2 spoon
Chutney powder - enough to cover all the tindora's or 4 spoons

Method of preparation
Add oil in kadai. Add mustard seeds and let it splutter. Add jeera and then tindora. Add turmeric and salt to it and let it cook. Once it is almost cooked add red chilli powder to it. When it is almost time to turn off the stove, add the chutney powder and mix it thoroughly so that the tindora's are covered with chutney powder. Remove from stove and transfer to a serving bowl.

Aloo broccoli curry

Ingredients
Potatos - 3 potatos
Broccoli - 2 cup
Tomato - 1/2 chopped
Oil - 2 spoons (Use olive oil for healthy reasons)
Mustard seeds - 1 spoon
Jeera /Cumin seeds - 1 spoon
Chana dal - 2 spoons
Turmeric - 1/4 spoon
Red chilli powder - 1 and 1/2 spoon (depending on the spice level of yours and your powder)
Salt - 1 spoon

Method of preparation
Take a kadai and add oil to it. Once the oil is hot, add mustard seeds and let it splutter. Add jeera and chana dal after it. Add the chopped potato and broccoli to it. cover and cook for 5 minutes. Broccoli and potatos both cook fast so check in between so that they do not stick to the pan. When the potatos and broccoli are  almost done add rest of the ingredients. Add dhania powder also (optional). Your simple curry is ready to serve.

Capsisum Paneer (No onion or No garlic)

I am trying to avoid onion or garlic or any garam masala's on Friday's (if I cook). Whenever I have guests that will be a problem (for me) on having that constraint. So last week when I had guests I experimented this dish and turned out to be good one. Hopefully you will like it too.....

Ingredients
Paneer (scrambled)
Green capsicum
Orange capsicum

Tomatos
Cumin powder
Coriander powder
Red chilli powder
Salt
Oil
Cumin seeds

Method of preparation
Take a kadai and add oil to it. once the oil is heated add cumin seeds. Add onions and stir until they become translucent. Add both capsicums, Tomato's and Salt and cook for couple of minutes until they are done. Add also the remaining masala's (coriander powder, cumin powder, red chilli powder, tumeric - optional). Once the veggies are almost cooked add the scrambled paneer and mix properly. Transfer it to the serving bowl and garnish with coriander leaves.

Grape Tomato Besan Curry

I love cooking with Tomatos. If tomatos are not at home then it is hard for me to decide what to cook. Although I do not use them daily, but I just need there for my personal satisfaction. This tomato's I am talking about are Grape tomato's (smaller version of tomato's). I made this curry as an experiment to go with the plain rice and dal and it came out tasty. This recipe sounds like pitlai but tastes yummy and sour because of the tomatos. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients
Grape Tomatos - Chopped into half
Onions (I prefer red onions) - 2 chopped finely
Besan (senagapindi)
Red chilli powder
Salt to taste ( 1 and 1/2 spoon)
Oil - 2-3 spoons
Cumin seeds -  1/2 tea spoon
Chana dal - 1 spoon (can add more if you want crunchiness in between)

Method of preparation
Take a kadai and add oil to it. Once the oil is hot, add cumin seeds and chana dal. Now add onion pieces. Once onion pieces are nicely fried add tomatos to it. Do not mix more because it can crush the small tomatos. Gently mix in between until you feel the tomatos are cooked (this might take 2-3 minutes). Now add turmeric, red chilli powder, salt to taste. Mix all of them. Add besan slowly to it. because of the water in the tomatos this will immediately become like the curry shown below. But if you feel that the water in tomatos has evoparated, then add 2-3 spoons of water also. Add coriander leaves at the end and transfer it to the serving bowl. Serve hot with rice and dal or just rice or roti too.

Paneer Bhurji/ Crumbled Paneer

After an unsucessful attempt to get this, I attempted it this week and it was successful. It was too tempting that I made this for two days (first day - just small quantity along with regular menu and next day with roti's). When I made this the first time, it came out too dry and the paneer was almost coming out like dried coconut (flaky) kind of. So this time I added tomatos and a couple of spoons of water and that made all the difference and tasted good. I have added this to both the simple and special curries because it does not take much effort to cook it as a regular cooking to be part of simple cooking and even for special occasions it tastes good too. I want to try this recipe with grated potatos and see how it turns out. So wait and see for that trial of mine. I know most of you already know the recipe of paneer bhurji but here is how I did it:

Ingredients
Paneer - I bought store one and grated almost 3/4 of it
Onions - 1 or 2 chopped finely (depends on your liking on onions)
Tomatos - 1 big chopped finely
Red chilli powder - 1 table spoon
Garam Masala - 1 table spoon
Salt - 1 and 1/2 table spoon
Oil - 3 table spoons
Jeera (Cumin Seeds) - 1/2 tea spoon
Coriander leaves (kothimeeru, hara dhania) - small cup - Optional

Method of preparation
1) Take a kadai and add oil to it. Once the oil is heated add jeera and then add chopped onions to it.
2) After onions turns translucent or pink then add the tomatos and rest of ingredients except paneer and kothimeeru (Coriander leaves).
3) After the mixture is cooked well add a couple of table spoons of water to it, for not drying out paneer. This step is optional if you feel that paneer is good or if you want the curry to be dry.
4) Add the crumbled/grated paneer to it and coriander leaves too. Mix thoroughly and then turn off stove after couple of minutes.

As mentioned you can have this with rice or roti. 

Tindora Coconut curry/ Dondakaya Kobbari Kura

Sometimes we feel like eating the food, which we make at home and we won't generally find it at hotels. Well this is one of the perfect dish for those times.
One more favourite curry of my whole family. Although it is simiar to Dondakaya/Tindora Fry curry, but it consumes less oil and a touch of coconut sweetens the high spice of fry curry. So have it along with rice and sambar or rasam, I bet you won't be disappointed. It feels like a plain, simple, yummy homemade food.

Ingredients
Tindora/Dondakaya - Cut into desired shapes (I prefer small round for this curry)
Coconut shredded - 1/2 cup or even less is also fine
Oil
Salt to taste
Red chilli powder
Jeera/Cumin Seeds - 1/2 table spoon
Chana dal - 1 table spoon (Adds crunchiness to the curry. Can avoid it if you have any dietery restrictions)
Fresh Coriander leaves - chopped - 1-2 table spoons
Turmeric - 1/2 table spoon

Method of preparation
Take a kadai and add oil to it. Add Jeera and chana dal to it. Now add the chopped tindora pieces, turmeric  and salt to it. let it tindora pieces cook properly. Mix it in between so that the tindora pieces are not burnt. Once the tindora is more than half cooked, add red chilli powder (kaaram) to it. Finally add the scraped coconut to it. let it stand for a minute or two and then remove it off the heat after adding the fresh chopped coriander (kothimeeru). Your curry is ready.

Beerakaya Besan Curry

This is a simple recipe made my me many times at home. Its taste yummy. If you like besan/pitlai, you will also like this recipe. Here goes the recipe:

Ingredients

Onion - 1 small
Beerakaya (Ridge gourd, Turai) - 1 - 2 peeled and chopped. (make sure you taste them to check if they are not bitter
Oil - 3-4 spoons (or less also is ok)
Cumin seeds - Jeera - 1/2 tea spoon
Chickpea flour (Besan) - 1-2 tablespoons
Green chillies/Red chilli powder - use which ever taste you like
Salt to taste
Tomato - small (optional)

Method of preparation

Take a kadai and add oil to it. Once kadai is heated add cumin seeds to it. Add onions to it and fry till translucent. This may take a minute. Add Beerakaya and tomato (optional) to it. Add red chilli powder and salt at this point and cover and cook for couple of minutes. The curry will have some water formed because of beerakaya and tomato. Now add Besan to it. If needed add more besan to remove all the extra water. your curry is ready and garnish with coriander and serve.

Sorakaya Senagala Sprouts Curry

This curry is made similar to the Sorakaya-Moong Sprouts curry. Replace the Moong sprouts with the senagalu and here is the result. You can find the recipe at the following link:
http://myindiancooking.blogspot.com/2010/05/sorakaya-sprouts-curry.html

How to make Sprouts:
Soak the seeds you want to make sprouts (either green whole moong or senagalu in this case), with sufficiant water overnight.
(1) Next day drain the water. Put Sprouts in a cheese cloth or old cotton towel and put some heavy weight on the sprouts. Leave this for a day or two or until the desired length of sprouts is attained.
(2) If you have Sprouts maker, then add the soaked sprouts to it and leave it for a day or two.

Senagalu Sprouts

Sorakaya-Senagalu Curry (Bottle gourd Sprouts Curry - Kaddu Sprouts Curry)

Aloo rasedar/Potato gravy curry

Well I tried this last week. It came out so good that I did not get a chance to take a picture of it before it finished. I made poori's along with the rasedar curry. So here goes the recipe:

Ingredients
Potatos - Boiled, peeled and chopped into chunks - 6 pcs
Onion - 1 large - chopped into very small pieces
Tomatos - 1 large - chopped into small pieces
Cashew/Badam/walnut powder - 1-2 spoons
Oil - 3 spoons
Red chilli powder - 2 spoons(or according to your taste)
Salt - 2 table spoons (or according to your taste)
Cumin seeds - 1/2 spoon
Ginger garlic paste - 1 spoon
Method of preparation
1) Take a kadai and oil to it. Let it heat and then add the cumin seeds to it.
2) Now add onions to it. Once the onions are almost done, add ginger garlic paste to it. Fry until the raw smell is gone for the gg paste. (this may take few seconds or a minute)
3) Now add the cubed potatos along with tomatos also.
4) Add rest of the ingredients along with two cups of water. Mix them all and cover and cook for couple of minutes.
5)  Once the tomatos are also done and the gravy becomes thick, you curry - aloo rasedar is ready. Garnish with coriander and serve hot with Puri or Roti or even with rice.

Let me know how it turns out.

Capsicum curry with peanut powder

Well this curry is really easy to do and nothing much different than doing a regular capsicum curry. So here goes recipe in simple words. Do the tadks by taking one or two spoons of oil in a kadai/pan. Add jeera and then add capsicum pieces chopped. Add 1/4 spoon turmeric, 2 tablespoons red chilli powder (modify this according to your taste). Mix and let it cook for some time. Once the capsicum is almost cooked, add salt and peanut powder. If required add 1/2 cup water to it. cook for another two minutes and your curry is ready. Can have it with Roti or Rice.

Chikkudukaya/Broad beans Cauliflower curry

This one is my favourite simple curry which is delicious and quick to make.

Ingredients
Chikkudukaya - either fresh or frozen
Cauliflower - big florets
Tomatos
Red chilli powder
Oil
Salt to taste
Cumin seeds
Mustard seeds


Method of preparation
Take oil in kadai and let it heat up. Add mustard seeds and after they splitter add cumin seeds. Add cauliflower florets as well as chikkudukaya along with red chillie powder. Now mix and cover it until it almost done. Add tomatos and salt at the end of it. After totmatos are nicely done turn off heat and trasfer to a serving bowl. Have it with rice or roti.


Terminology
Chikkudukaya - Broad beans
Cauliflower - phool gobi (hindi)

Tindora with vellipayakaram

I had this vellipaya kaaram which my mom brought last year. But it became very hard that I cannot add it in the rice and eat it. So I remembered somebody saying to me that, hotel people generally add vellipaya kaaram to get nice spicy and tasty tindora fry curry when they offer in buffet or catering. I just tried to follow it in my own way. Since my vellipaya kaaram was hard as rock I did put it in water and microwaved it for 30 seconds then I had to   try to soften it by hand so that it becomes dissolved and form liquid. For others, I would recommend you can add the vellipaya kaaram directly or if you want can add a little water to it, after adding vellipaya kaaram to the curry. So here is how I made it:

Ingredients
Tindora - 1 packet frozen (use fresh if you have, its less time to cook and tastes better with fresh than frozen)
Vellipaya kaaram - 2 big table spoons
Cumin seeds - 1 tea spoon
Oil - 3-5 table spoons (depends on quantity of tindora)
Salt to taste
Red chilli powder


Method of preparation
1. Take a kadai add oil to it.After oil is heated add cumin seeds. Add Onions and tindora at the same time one after other.

2. Now cover and cook for a minute. Now add salt to it and then cook until the tindora is almost done. Stir in between as there are chances that the onion is going to burn off, if you do not keep an eye on it.

3. At last Add the red chilli powder (if desired) and water which has vellipaya kaaram(you can add just vellipaya kaaram only). Stir it nicely so that it gets coated to all the tindora and until the water is evoparated.
Your curry is ready to serve.

Terminology
Tindora - Dondakaya (telugu)
Cumin Seeds - Jeelakarra(telugu), Jeera (hindi)
Vellipaya Kaaram - Powder made with garlic pods. will post the recipe of my mom soon. You can get it in stores also. Tastes good and spicy. People who love the taste of garlic will love this.

Capsicum Kura podi curry

Ingredients
Capsicum - Chopped in cubes
Kura podi - Upon your taste
Oil - 2 table spoons
Salt to taste - Probably 1-2 table spoons
Cumin seeds - 1 tea spoon

Method of preparation
Take a kadai and oil to it. Once the oil is heated add cumin seeds and then capsicum pieces. cover and cook for two minutes. Once the capsicum is little cooked, add the kura podi and salt to it. Mix it. Cover and cook for another minute and then remove from flame. Now the curry is ready to be served with rice or roti.

Terminology
Cumin seeds - Jeera, Jeelakarra
Salt - Uppu, namak
Kura Podi - Curry powder
Capsicum - Shimla mirchi

Palakura Peas Pappu/Spinach Peas Dal

I did this dal last week and my family loved it. So wanted to share this recipe with you all. Hope you try it and like it too. I did not have amchur powder at home so I replaced it with chat powder I had. But you can use amchur powder if you have it.

Ingredients
Spinach - washed and chopped
Peas - 1/2 cup
Tomato (optional) - 2 small
Toor dal - Cooked
Turmeric - 1/2 tea spoon
Cumin seeds - 1 tea spoon
Oil - 1 table spoon
Salt - 1 and 1/2 table spoon (you can add more depending on your taste buds)
Red Chilli powder - 1 and 1/2 table spoon (you can add more depending on your taste buds)
Chat masala - 1 table spoon (alternately you can use amchur/lime for sourness)
Coriander powder - 1 table spoon

Method of Preparation
1) wash and cook dal as you do regularly. Take a kadai, add oil and heat it. Add cumin seeds and then spinach and peas to it.
2) stir for a  minute or until spinach comes close, add tomatos to it. Add rest of the ingredients including salt to it. Add Dal also.
3) At this point make sure you mix in between and then cover the kadai, because it might spil on you. Once everything gets mixed properly and is at a good heat rate, then switch off the stove and take it in a serving bowl.

Your simple dal is ready to serve and eat.

Dondakaya kura podi/Tindora with curry powder

This is another simple recipe which I love doing it.As it takes less time to cook than a fry curry, less oil and tasty as fry curry. So enjoy the recipe.

Ingredients
Dondakaya - 1 frozen packet, Cleaned by running water over it.
Kura podi - add it depending on the taste you like
Oil - 3 table spoons
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tea spoon
Salt - 1 table spoon (or more if you want it)
Turmeric - 2 pinches.

Method of preparation
Add oil in a pan and let it heat. Now add cumin seeds and then the cleaned frozen tindora packet. Cover it and cook for few minutes. Now open the cover, and add salt to it. Mix it. Cover and cook for few minutes until the tindora is tender and stirring in between so that tindora is not totally burnt. Lastly add curry powder to it and then mix it thoroughly. If you want more spicy you can add red chilli powder also at this point. cook for two more minutes and you should be ready to serve it with hot rice and dal.

Terminology:
Tindora - Dondakaya
Curry Powder - Kura podi
Cumin seeds - Jeera, Jeelakara

Beerakaya Sprouts Curry

This curry is an excellent healthy, quick, easy and tasty option to make at home. If you wish to follow manthena satyanarayana raju policy of avoiding oil and salt (he asks us to avoid turmeric too), please do so and add more lemon juice than mentioned. This would compensate the needness of salt.


Ingredients
Beerakaya/Ridge gourd - 2 long ones
Moong dal Sprouts - 1 -2 cups
Tomatos - 2 medium sized
Oil - 2 tablespoons
cumin seeds - 1 tea spoon
Turmeric - 2 small pinches
Red chilli powder - upto your taste ( I added 2 tea spoons)
Dhania/Coriander powder - 1 tablespoon
Salt - to taste (I added 11/2 table spoon)
Lime/lemon juice - 1 table spoon


Method of preparation
1) Peel the skin and chop beerakaya into small pieces. Chop tomatos into small pieces.

2) Take a kadai and add the oil to it. After it is heated, add cumin seeds and then add beerakaya pieces, tomato pieces along with sprouts.

3) Add all the powders to it including salt and cover and cook until the beerakaya is tender. It might take 6-12 minutes depending upon how tender the beerakaya is. Your curry will be ready.

Serve it with hot rice or roti. Garnish with cilantro if desired.

Sorakaya Sprouts Curry

A healthy nutritious and tasty curry to go with either rice or roti. We had it with both.

Ingredients
Sorakaya/bottle gourd - 1 long, peeled, and chopped into small pieces
Moong dal Sprouts - 1 cup
Oil - 1 and 1/2 table spoon
Cumin seeds - 1 tea spoon
Red chilli powder/Green chillis chopped ( I did not have green chillis at home yesterday so went with red chilli powder option)
Dhania powder - 1 table spoon
Salt to taste (I used 1 and 1/2 table spoon, you can use according to your taste)
Lime/lemon juice - 1-2 spoons

Method of preparation
1) Take a kadai or pan and add oil to it.

2) After it is heated, add cumin seeds to it. if you are planning to add green chillis then add it at this point. Add sorakaya pieces and spouts to it. Add a little turmeric and then cover and cook until sorakaya pieces are almost done.

3) At this point, add red chilli powder (if you wish to) along with salt and dhania powder.Optionally you can add tomatos at this point and cook for a minute until they are nicely done.

4) Just before turning it off add lemon juice to it. Your curry is ready to serve and eat.

Kakarakaya curry (Bitter gourd curry)

This one is a simple recipe to make at home. I just tried it and it turned out to be tasty along with the combination of plain dal, tomato rasam and rice. So here it is:

Ingredients
Kakarakaya (bitter gourd) - 5 chopped in small pieces
Onion - 1 big chopped
seseme seeds powder - 4 tbsp
tamarind pulp/juice - 1/2 cup
cumin seeds
oil
red chilli powder
salt to taste ( 2 tbsp)

Method of preparation
1) Add oil to kadai and let it heat.
2) Add cumin seeds and now add kakarakaya(bitter gourd), onions at the same time. (it takes time to fry bitter gourd and in the meantime even the onions gets cooked nicely).
3) Add salt to above and let it fry.
4) once you feel that bitter gourd pieces are fried properly you can add red chilli powder and tamarind pulp to it.
5) after a few minutes add seseme seeds powder to it. If you want to have a little dry curry then leave it as is, if you want to have a grave one then add little water/tamarind pulp according to your taste.

Your bitter gourd curry is ready to serve.