Friday, July 29, 2016

Mushroom Kurma | Mushroom in flavorful coconut masala | Kalan Kurma

Mushroom Kurma, a flavorful coconut gravy made with the mushrooms.  It's one of our family favourites and it goes well with idli, dosai and chapati or any types of Indian rotis. 

In the past, usually with mushrooms, i made either chettinad mushroom masala or mushroom pepper masala for chapathi as side dishes. But one day, i was  in the mood of some kitchen experiment and  tried out this mushroom kurma. 

This mushroom kurma base is the basic veg kurma masala . Adding mushroom gives a extra ordinary taste and flavor and  turned  out absolutely delicious. 

Initially i was hesitant to try mushroom with coconut base, but the kurma  turned out way better than i had expected. So ever since it's been a regular in our kitchen. So if you like coconut flavor, then definitely give this kurma a try  and i'm sure that i wont disappoint you.


Tips to make delicious Mushroom Kurma 

  • Over the years, i have found that the brown mushrooms are better than the white mushrooms for this kurma. So i highly recommend to use the brown mushrooms in this recipe if it's available in your place.
  • Though i mentioned the capsicum in the ingredients list, many time i have tried this recipe without capsicum and it tastes equally good.
  • You can make this curry as thick like kurma or as thin like salna. Either way it's amazing.
Now let's check out on how to make this delicious mushroom kurma. 



Mushroom Kurma

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 15 minsServes :
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: India
Mushroom Kurma, Mushroom Salna, Kalan Salna, Kalan Kurma Mushroom Kurma, a flavorful coconut gravy made with the mushrooms.
Ingredients
Mushroom - 250 gms
Onion -1(small) 
Tomato -1(small) 
Capsicum - 1/2 of medium size(optional)
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - to taste
Coconut oil - 1 tsp
Cinnamon - 1 inch piece
Cardamom - 1
Cloves - 2
Curry leaves -few
Coriander leaves - few
To grind
Coconut - 1/4 cup
Cashew - 5 
Fennel seed - 1/4 tsp

Procedure
Cut the onion, capsicum & mushroom into thin slices and tomato into small pieces. Grind the ingredients listed under "To grind" into smooth paste.Heat the kadai with oil,add the cinnamon,cloves and cardamom, fry it for 30 secs.
Add the onions & curry leaves, saute till it becomes translucent, add the ginger garlic paste and saute till the raw smell leaves,then add mushroom & capsicum.
Give a quick stir and add the tomatoes, mix well and close the kadai with lid, the moisture from the mushroom and tomatoes is enough to cook the mushroom.
Add the turmeric , red chili powder & salt, mix well and then add the coconut paste .
Add enough water(i used the mixie jar washed water), bring into boil and keep it in low smell until the raw smell of the masala leaves. (At this stage, you can transfer the whole mixture in to the pressure cooker(or you can start the cooking with the pressure cooker too) and cook it for one whistle, it would help to speed up the process)  Switch off the flame and finally garnish with coriander leaves.
That's it, Delicious Mushroom kurma is ready to serve.
Notes:
  • If you prefer extra flavor, add the 1/2 tsp of garam masala at the end.
  • Instead of ginger garlic paste, add the finely chopped ginger & garlic .
  • Mushroom itself leaves lot of water, so add water as needed
  • Coconut oil gives great flavor, but you can use normal vegetable oil too.





Continue Reading »

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Mutton Kuzhambu | Lamb Curry | Mutton Kulambu in pressure cooker

This is the frist recipe with Mutton/Lamb in my space.It's very simple yet delicious kulambu taste great with rice or even with idly,dosa,idiyappam or appam.My mom usually make this kulambu on Sunday morning along with idiyappam and it's really a finger licking dish.
My mom always use gingelly oil and pearl onion for any type of mutton dish.Gingelly oil flavors suites well with mutton,similarly pearl onions gives great taste to any mutton dish.Next time, while making mutton, use gingelly oil and pearl onion, definitely you will get it better.

Mutton Kuzhambu

Preparation Time : 15 mins | Cooking Time : 30 minsServes :
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients
Lamb/Mutton - 200 gms
Pearl onion - 7 
Tomato - 1
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Red chili powder - 3/4 to 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 2 1/2 tsp
Salt - to taste
Cinnamon - 1/2 inch piece
Cloves - 3
Cardamom - 2
Curry leaves - few
Coriander leaves - few
Gingelly Oil - 1 tbsp
To Grind
Coconut - 1/4 cup
Cashew - 2
Fennel seed - 1/4 tsp

Procedure
First clean the mutton,chop into medium size piece and wash the mutton with turmeric powder & keep aside. Peel the onion and chopped into quarters, cut the tomato into small pieces.Heat the cooker with oil, add the cinnamon,cloves and cardamom.Fry it for  30 sec.Then add onion & curry leaves ,saute till the onions become translucent,add the mutton pieces,saute the mutton in oil for 1 min,then add the ginger garlic paste, saute till the raw smell leaves.Add the tomatoes, give a quick stir, then add turmeric & chili powder.Add the coriander powder and salt and mix the spices well with mutton.Add enough water, cover the cooker, put on lid and cook till the mutton is well cooked (i cooked it for 3 whistle and then keep the flame in low for 10 mins). In the mean time, grind the ingredients listed under "To Grind" into smooth paste.Once the pressure is automatically released from the cooker, open the lid, keep the cooker in flame again and add the coconut paste. Wash the mixie jar with little water and add it in kulambu.Mix well and bring into boil, keep the flame in low, until the oil floats on the top.Finally garnish with coriander leaves and switch off the flame.Tasty Mutton Kuzhambu is ready to serve.


Notes:

  • Pearl onion and gingelly oil gives great taste to mutton kulambu, highly recommend to use this.
  • If you want more thicker gravy, soak 1 tsp of poppy seed for 30 mins and grind it along with coconut.
  • If you wish, add a tsp of garam masala at the end for extra flavor.





Continue Reading »

Sunday, July 24, 2016

Vendakkai Sambar | Lady's finger Sambar | Okra Sambar | Sambar without coconut

Usually i make mixed vegetable sambar  and it has coconut in it. But in recent times, after moving to US, i started to make sambar without coconut.Here i can find brown coconut only in few stores and it's quite far from our place. So on somedays to avoid store visit especially to buy coconut, i would make this sambar.
I have used the homemade sambar powder and it's recipe is from my favorite chef "Venkatesh Bhat" in one of this recent shows in Vijay TV. It's so flavorful and make the sambar so tasty, will share that recipe when i will make sambar powder next time.


Vendakkai Sambar

Preparation Time :10 mins | Cooking Time : 20 minsServes :
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients
Lady's finger / Vendakkai /Okra- 10 to 12
Pearl onion - 4
Tomato - 1(small)
Tamarind - a gooseberry size
Toor Dal - 1/4 cup
Asafoedita powder - 1/4 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Sambar powder - 1 to 11/2 tsp
Oil - 1/2 tsp
Mustard & urad dal - 1/4 tsp 
Curry leaves - few
Coriander leaves - few
Salt - to taste

Procedure
Wash the toor dal and add it in pressure cooker along with asafoedita powder and enough water. Cook it for 3 whistle or till it mushy.Keep it aside.
In the mean time, soak the tamarind in water for 20 mins.Trim the edges of okra and discard them, cut the remaining  into 1/2 inch pieces.Remove the skin of pearl onion & cut tomato into small pieces.
Heat the oil in a kadai,add mustard & urad dal, let the mustard splutter,add the onions and curry leaves. Saute it for few secs.
Then add the okra, saute the okra in oil till the stickiness from the okra leaves.
Add the tomato, give a quick stir & then add the tamarind juice extracted from the soaked tamarind.
Now add all the spices(turmeric, red chili, sambar powder ) & salt.
Let it comes to boil and keep it in medium flame till the raw smell from the spices leaves. After that, add the cooked dal.
Mix well, again bring to boil & finally add the chopped coriander leaves and switch off the flame.
Tasty & flavorful Vendakkai Sambar is ready.

Notes:

  • Adjust the amount of tomato & tamarind as per your liking.
  • I used homemade sambar powder, it has very little amount of red chili, so add the red chili powder also. If you use store brought ones or you're sambar powder have more chilies, then adjust the chili powder accordingly.
  • Saute the okra in oil till the stickiness is completely gone.  



Continue Reading »

Friday, July 22, 2016

Wheat Parotta | Lachha Paratha

Wheat Parotta/Lachha paratha , a healthy version of parotta made with wheat flour instead of maida(all purpose flour). I used to grow up eating a lot of parottas from various restaurants in our area, Tirunelveli Town. Parotta in each restaurant have their unique taste. In Tirunelveli district, every city (or even every area) has at least one famous parotta stall, so it's kind of routine to have parotta at least once in a week. 

Besides, whenever we visit our periamma's(mom's sisters) place who are living in Shenkottai and Ilanji, we used to get the famous "Border Kadai" Parotta. But here in the US, we still couldn't find any restaurant to satisfy our "Parotta craving", so I used to make it at home. 

Now on a bit healthier side, i used to make parottas with wheat flour, though it doesn't matches the taste of original parotta, we still like the layer in the wheat parotta and also recently i came to know that it's called as "Lachha Paratha" in North India.  

Related : How to make Soft Chapati 

What's lachha Paratha ? 

Lachha paratha is a layered paratha made from the whole wheat flour/ aata flour. In India, most of the rotis and parathas are made from wheat flour. Based on the stuffing or how it rolled, it has various names !

Compared to the regular roti/chapati, this lachha paratha takes more time to roll. But because of the layers, it's so soft and tastes fabulous. So it is really worth the time and efforts ! 

Now let's check out on how to make these super soft lachha paratha.



Wheat Parotta| Lachha Paratha

Preparation Time :30 mins | Cooking Time : 20 minsMakes :
Recipe Category: Flat Bread | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Lachha Paratha,Wheat Paratha,Wheat Parotta, Aata Paratha,Layered Paratha,Layered Parotta,Parotta, Healthy Parotta Lachha Paratha, a healthy indian flat bread/parotta made with whole wheat flour instead of all purpose flour.
Ingredients
Wheat flour - 2 cups
Salt - to taste
Oil - 2 tsp + 1 tbsp
Water - required to make soft dough

Procedure 

Take the flour in a bowl, add salt & 2 tsp of oil , mix it well with your hands and then add water slowly to make pliable dough. Keep it aside for 20 mins.
Now make 8 equal balls from the dough, take one dough, rolled into thin sheets (if needed use dusted flour).Spread the oil on the thin sheets.
Sprinkle little flour on the thin sheets, spread it on all sides with your hands,then take one end of the sheet and pleat like saree as shown below.
Once you pleat the dough till it reaches the other end, stretch the pleated dough a little by pulling the pleated dough with your hands and roll into circles as shown below.
Similarly do it for all the dough,at the time of making parotta, take the rolled dough, dusted with flour on both sides and roll gently into required size of parotta.Heat the tawa, apply some oil on tawa , place the rolled parotta.
Cook the parotta on both sides on medium flame until brown spots appear on both sides.
That's it, tasty wheat parotta/Lachha Parotta is ready.Stack the parotta and place in between your palms and beat them well, so that the layers show up nicely. Serve it with your favorite curry.

Related : How to make Ragi chapati 

Related: How to make Spinach Chapati

Notes:
  • Be gentle while rolling the parotta, otherwise the layers get merged.
  • Make sure that the dough should be easily pliable, neither so soft nor too firm.
  • Like all purpose flour, the wheat flour dough is not easily stretchable.
See those lovely layers in the parotta


  

Continue Reading »

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Kondakadalai Sundal | Black Channa Sundal | Karuppu Kondakadalai Sundal | Evening Snacks

Kondakadalai Sundal, an easy and healthy snack made from the black channa. I makes this sundal frequently as evening snack or as an  offering to god on any auspicious day.

Here i do simple tempering and added grated coconut to enhance the taste. 


Kondakadalai Sundal

Preparation Time : 10 to 12 hrs | Cooking Time : 20 minsServes: 3
Recipe Category: Snack | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Kondakadalai Sundal, Black Channa Sundal,Karuppu Kondakadalai Sundal Kondakadalai Sundal, an easy and healthy snack made from the black channa.
Ingredients
Kondakadalai / Black channa / Kala channa - 3/4 cup
Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard & urad dal - 1/4 tsp each
Curry leaves - few
Red chili - 1 
Grated Coconut - 3 tbsp 

Procedure
Soak the kondakadalai for 10 to 12 hrs. Drain the soaked water, add it it in pressure cooker along with water(just enough to cover the kondakadalai).
Add salt to taste,cover the cooker with lid, put on weight and cook it for 3 whistle.
Kondakadalai should be soft when press it with fingers.Heat the kadai with oil, add mustard, let it splutter, then add urad dal, red chili(break into half) & curry leaves one by one.
Saute it, till the urad dal slightly changes its color, then add the cooked channa along with cooked water.
Let it be in high flame for few mins, till the added water gets evaporated, then reduce the flame, add the grated coconut, give a good mix and switch off the flame.

Tasty and healthy Kondakadalai Sundal is ready.

Related : How to make Verkadalai Sundal / Peanut Sundal 

Notes:
  • Black chana requires more soaking time than normal chana.
  • Salt will not be absorbed by chana after cooking,so add salt, while cooking the chana itself.
  • I left with 11/2 to 2 tbsp of cooked water of chana, so i added it along with chana while tempering.If you have more cooked water,add the enough & discard the remaining.
  • Adding the cooked water while tempering helps the chana to avoid dry easily and also it helps channa to absorb the spiciness from chili.



Continue Reading »