Onion Tomato Salad

I am so tempted so try this at home that I made it twice in a span of two weeks. Well very easy to make, tasty and yet another side dish ready in few seconds. My grandfather used to make this when I was staying with him while studying my bachelor's. So here goes the recipe:    

Ingredients

Onion - 1/2 chopped finely

Tomatos - 2 chopped finely

Oil - 1-2 table spoons

Salt to taste (I used 1 and 1/2 spoon)

Red chilli powder - 1 table spoon (you can adjust this according to your taste buds)

Jeera powder - 1/2 tea spoon (optional)

Coriander leaves - as many as you like (finely chopped)

Method of preparation

1)  Mix onions and tomatos finely chopped. Add red chilli powder, salt (Jeera powder) to above along with coriander leaves and mix thoroughly either with hand  or spatula.

2) Do tadka in a bowl. Add oil to it. Once oil is heated add mustard seeds and then  urad dal to it. You can add some red chillis to this if needed. Add asafoetida and turn off the heat. Cool it and add it to the onion tomato mixture. Your side dish is ready. This goes well with rice but can have it with roti also if you are like me. Enjoy !!   

April 2020 - Made this again recently and here is it. I did not add the Jeera powder this time. 

Dum Aloo (with no Onion or Garlic)

This curry is made by my co-sister on Monday and the credit totally goes to her. The taste was awesome and made in few minutes only. People who love tomatos and potatos will very well love this curry. Another nice thing about this curry is that, it does not have any big masala's and no onion or garlic to it. I loved both parts of it because, I can make this curry on a festival day and offer it to god without compromising on the favor and taste. So god get to have this yummy food too ..... cool isn't it. I am so tempted to add it to blog. OK...No more talking... here goes the recipe

Ingredients
Potatos - 5
Tomatos - 3 - chopped any size
Coriander powder
Oil
Mustard seeds
Jeera (Cumin seeds)
Turmeric
Red chilli powder
Salt

Method of preparation
1)Boil the potatos and chop it into big chunks. Alternatively you can use the baby potatos and use fork to prick it after removing the top layer of them. (I used microwave to boil potatos than traditional way, saved me time/vessel cleaning/stove time). :).
2) Take a kadai on stove top and add little oil to it. Now add mustard seeds (after oil is heated). After mustard seeds splutter add jeera (cumin seeds) to it. Add chopped tomatos and let it cook thoroughly. Mix the tomato in between.
3) Add turmeric, salt and red chilli powder to the above. After tomato is cooked properly, allow it to cool and then grind the mixture in a blender.
4) Take kadai (either same cleaned one or different one) and very little oil (may be 1-2 spoons) and add the tomato paste to it. Add some water to it and let it cook until the mixture thickens a little bit. Now add the boiled potatos to it.
5) cover and cook for 5 mintues or some time until the potatos have the gravy taste to it. Turn off stove and transfer the curry in serving bowl. Garnish with Coriander and it is ready to be served with either chapati or rice. Enjoy!!

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.

Bellam pongali /Gudd ka kheer /Jaggery pudding

This is my favourite now-a-days. After a couple of trials which were not successful, then came this yummy, easy, jhatpat pongal recipe. I have checked several sites for the recipe and tried to attempt to do it from whatever I remember is easiest and out came this one. Hope you enjoy it too. oh by the way, it is healthy too because Gudd/Bellam/Jaggery is rich in Iron.

This rice pudding is ammavaru's favourite. So another reason for me to do it friday's so that Goddess is happy at home :).
Ingredients
Cooked Rice  - 2 cups
Cooked Moong dal - 1/4 cup
Milk - 1 cup
Jaggery - 1-2 cups (depends on your sweet level). I used almost 1 and 1/2 cup
Ghee  - 2-3 table spoons (for frying dry fruits and mixing in pudding)
Cashews/ Golden Raisins - a fistful of both or as you like

Method of preparation

Take a kadai and add cooked rice, moong dal and milk. Keep it on medium heat and let it stay for 5 minutes or until the milk is nicely mixed up with rice. The rice might become a little mushy but it tastes yummy that way. Make sure you keep mixing the rice in between as the milk have tendency to stick to bottom and sides. Add jaggery at this point and mix properly. If you have large pieces of jaggery it might take long time to melt. So I would suggest, either grate it or mash it to small ones, so that you do not need to spend much time in front of stove.

Take a small bowl and add ghee (clarified butter) to it. Fry the cashews and golden raisins. Once the raisins take the ball shape and cashews change the color slightly, add them including the ghee to the rice mixture above. Mix it thoroughly and serve hot.

 

This is a very nice recipe for naivedyam/Prasad for Goddess Laxmi/Lalitha. As you hear in the stotras "Gudanna preetha maanasa". Hope the goddess likes it too.



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.

Mamidikaya/Mango Charu

This is another recipe which I love. Easy to do and yummy to taste. I believe a modified version of this called "aam ka panna" is very famous in Maharastra. So lets see this charu recipe:

Ingredients
Raw Mango (taste it to check if it is sour)
Green chillies
Curry leaves
Water
Salt to taste
Oil
Mustard seeds
Cumin seeds

Method of preparation

1)Peel the mango skin and chop it into small pieces. Add little water to mango pieces and put it on stove. (mango pieecs should be drowned in water. Do not add too much water at this point. We can add more water while making charu.)

2) After it is done try to mash the pieces with hand or masher until it is kind of soft water. If you want you can filter the water.
3) Take a kadai and add oil to it. Add mustard seeds and let it splutter after the oil is heated. Add jeera (cumin seeds) to it.
4) Add asafoetida to it now and also green chillies at this point. Now add the mango mixture and water to it.
5) Add salt to it and boil it for 5 minutes. 

This charu goes well with plain dal or any dal of your choice with rice.