Simple and Delicious !

My friend Latha Jayaprakash sent me this recipe when she saw the peel and stem recipes here.
Latha is my "senior friend" who has much knowledge in various subjects including homeopathy, beauty care etc. She owns a beautiful blog too. Please check her blog, you can find many helping articles there regarding beauty care.

Whenever I cook noodles my son would request me to make it without "orange and green things"... :) My daughter remains silent, but after completing the meal there would be a pile of carrots and beans in her plate. They love only few veggies like cauliflower,brinjals etc. Recently I found they like broccoli very much, my little boy asks now, give me the "the tree-like vegetable" ma please... :) This curry , I prepared using the broccoli and spinach stems. Latha suggested to make it with one vegetable at a time.



Ingredients
Vegetables - 1 cup chopped
grated coconut - 1 1/2 cups
red chillies 4 or 5 or as per taste
tamarind, shredded into small pieces - 1/2 to 1 tsp as desired
Roasted and powdered fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder and salt as needed



How to preapare
Cut the vegetables in to small pieces and cook them in a little water with turmeric and salt.
Grind coconut, red chillies, tamarind ( valan puli not kodum puli ) to a nice smooth paste.

Roast and powder fenugreek seeds. Mix them all together with a little water into a thick paste
add to the boiling vegetables.
Remove from fire when the curry turns frothy.

Temper:
heat coconut oil, add curry leaves some chopped small onion, brown and pour over the curry.

Ingredients
Vazhappindi / banana stem 1
horse gram / muthira or red cow peas 1 cup
dried red chillies 3 or more
small onions / shallots 1/2 cup peeled
garlic cloves 2 big
mustard seeds
curry leaves
coconut oil
salt

Method
Remove the outer coverings of the stem and take out the edible part. Cut them into rings. Then again chop them into small pieces. Remove the fibers (naaru). (You can remove them while cutting into rings.)

Wash and cook vanpayar or muthira. when it is nearly cooked, add chopped pindi pieces. Cook till done. Add salt while cooking.Reduce water.

Crush dry red chillies, small onions, garlic cloves together. Heat coconut oil, splutter mustard seeds, saute the crushed ingredients with few curry leaves. Satue until the raw smell of the ingredients go, and about to get a little brown color. Add the above cooked mixture and check for salt. Mix very well. The banana stem / pindi I used was about a forearm length. You can prepare this using coconut also. Will post it later insha Allah.



A simple and delicious green peas saagu from Asha. Please visit foodies hope for the recipe..

Before going to the recipe, you have a request from my little poetess to visit her blog. Hope you all will encourage her by leaving your valuable comments.

Kondattams / vattals always take me back to the home courtyard. Except in Monsoon season, there would be a kaitholappaya (mat made with the leaves of a plant like pineapple plant which produces a a very pleasant smelling leaf like flower kaithappoovu) or a vattoram / muram ( a flat shallow basket type sieve to winnow grains which is made with bamboo) in the courtyard of every house. The product may be different in each house, it might be spices like coriander, chillies, turmeric, kondattams , paddy, dried coconut etc. If it is mango season, then it would be naturally mango pieces! Can't forget the taste of salted, little bit dried raw mangoes..:) The mat would be moving wherever the sunlight falls until late afternoon! And this is the one my mother used to make while making other kondattams like bitter gourd / pavakka vattal or chilli / mulaku kondattam.
A very tasty one, if dried or not. I prefer the raw peel fries which goes well with or without rice!



Ash gourd Peels Fry/Kumbalanga Tholi Varuthathu

Kumbalanga tholi / ash gourd peels 1 cup
chilli powder 2 teaspoons
turmeric powder 1 teaspoon
salt
oil

Mix everything together except oil. Do shallow fry in oil.



Ash gourd peels / Kumbalanga Tholi Kondattam

Peel ash gourd. Wash and mix the peels with salt. Let it dry in sunlight. You can fry them when it is too dry or not. You can store it when it is very dry.

See the pumpkin peel / mathanga tholi recipe here!

This goes to Currybazar for RCI Kerala Event!

Don't discard your pumpkin peels next time, just cook a delicious side dish..

Ingredients
Pumpkin skin 1 cup
Dry red beans 1 cup
Turmeric powder 1 tsp
Small onions chopped 4
Coconut grated ½ cup
Garlic cloves crushed 2 big
Green chillis 2
Curry leaves
Salt
Coconut oil
Mustard