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.

When I prepared this dish, I didn't get a name to call. This curry is prepared using a mixture of spices of sambar and kaalan. Hence the name sambar kaalan.. :D This is a No Onion , No Garlic preparation and is a very thick curry which is good with rice..



Ingredients
Brinjal 4
turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
chilli powder 1 tsp
asafoetida / kayam 1 small piece
kadala parippu / gram dal 2 tsps
uluva / fenugreek seeds 1/4 tsp
coconut grated 1 cup
curd 1 cup
mustard seeds
curry leaves few
coconut oil
water
salt



Method
Heat one spoon oil in a pan. Roast kadalapparippu and kayam in that until slightly red and take it out.
Cut, clean and cook brinjals with salt, water , chilli and turmeric powders.
Blend coconut with curd and roasted kadalapparippu and kayam. Blend until you get a smooth mixture. Pour this into the cooked brinjals. Mix well, check salt.and heat it. When it begins to boil switch off fire.
Heat coconut oil, splutter uluva and mustards , fry curry leaves and pour this seasoning into the curry. You can adjust the thickness by adding water according to your taste.

How to prepare Chena Muthira erissery
Chena / elephant yam 2 1/2 cups
horse gram 3/4 cup
coconut grated 1 cup
small onions/ chuvannulli 4
cumin seeds / jeerakam 1/2 tsp
turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
pepper powder or chilli powder 1 tsp
curry leaves few
dried red chillies 1 or 2
mustard seeds
coconut grated 1 tbsp
coconut oil
salt

You can cook this in two methods.
Boil horse gram with little salt until half cooked.
Cut and clean yam. Add to the half cooked horse gram with turmeric and chilli powders and enough salt. Cook until done.

Heat little coconut oil. Roast the grated coconut with chopped small onions , cumin seeds until the coconut is slightly brown. Don't roast for too long. Blend this with little water and pour to the cooked yam - horse gram mixture. When it begins to boil remove from fire.

Heat coconut oil, splutter mustard seeds, saute curry leaves and dried red chillies and 1 tbsp grated coconut. Do this for a while until the coconut changes color and pour the mixture into the curry.

You can do this without roasting coconut. For that recipe follow the Pumpkin/red cow peas - Mathanga payar Erissery recipe..

This is an addition to the peel and stem recipes here! Don't think I have nothing to throwaway once a vegetable is used for cooking..:D But I can surely say, a mallu can survive without veggies if he is lucky to live in his own country.I have seen an aunty of mine who prepared spinach / cheera dishes in seven days of the week. If she didn't get spinach from the near by shops she heads to the surrounding land or the neighbour's house to pluck some cheerayila / spinach leaves..Those leaves are not the same which we get in shops. They are different and pure locals who grow with the grass! One more cheera type we have at home is known as Malaysian cheera, with dark green leaves, that we often use for cooking. I think many of you might have the same in your home courtyards.
And this cheerathandu sambar is my MIL's version and she is the another person who uses lots of leaves or stems for cooking..You can use the green spinach stems also for this..

Cheerathandu sambar ingredients and preparation
Cheerathandu / spinach stems 1 bunch
coriander powder 1 tablespoon
chilly powder 1 tsp or as desired
turmeric 1/2 tsp
masoor dal / red lentils 1/2 cup
puli / tamarind 1 goose berry size
water 2 cups or as required
onion 1
tomato 1
potato 1
garlic cloves 2
cumin 1/4 tsp
fenugreek / uluva 1/4 tsp
kayam / asafoetida / hing 1/4 tsp powder- I used 1 small piece
curry leaves few
mustard seeds
salt
coconut oil



Take the stems of spinach / cheera remained when once you removed leaves. Peel them like we do for removing the skin of drumsticks / muringakkai. Cheerathandu will have very thin skin which should be removed.
Cut them in the desired size but not too small. Wash and keep them aside. If the stems are very thick, cut them length wise into two pieces.
Peel potato and chop into big pieces.Chop onion and tomato too.Crush garlic.
Soak tamarind in water and take about 1 cup tamarind water.(Or take according to the sourness you desire)
Wash and cook dal / parippu with onion, tomato, garlic, potato, all the powders, asafoetida and salt in the tamarind water. When it is half done, add 1 cup water and the chopped spinach stems. (Or add enough water required for cooking.) Cook till done.
Heat oil, let the mustard seeds, cumin seeds and fenugreek seeds to splutter.
Fry curry leaves, and pour this solution into the curry. Add dry red chillies too for seasoning if you like. Sprinkle chopped coriander leaves on top.

Ingredients and method
Toor dal / tuvara parippu 1/2 cup
Ash gourd pieces 2 cup
tomato 1
onion 1
green chilly 2
turmeric powder 1 tea spoon
chilly powder 1 teaspoon or more
salt

for seasoning
coconut oil
mustard seeds
curry leaves
red chillies

We can cook this in three ways.For this, first soak dal for 1 or more hours.Chop onion,tomato and green chillies.

method 1
Soak dal for 1 hour. Wash and cook with chopped ash gourd, onion, tomato , green chilly, salt and all powders. Use water just enough to cover the vegetables.When it is done, heat oil, splutter mustard seeds, add red chillies broken, curry leaves , stir, and pour into the curry.

method 2
Cook all the ingredients together as in the method 1. Put 4 table spoons coconut milk powder in this(Or use thick coconut milk approx. 1 cup). Mix well.Then do seasoning.

method 3
Grind 1 cup coconut grated with 4 small onions and 1/2 tea spoon cumin seeds in little water. Cook dal, ash gourd and green chillies with salt and powders. Onion and tomato not needed in this. Pour the blended coconut solution in to this. When it begins to boil, remove from fire. Do the seasoning.

For non vegetarians this curry is very good with rice to take with fish fry or red fish curry.

Submitted to JFI hosted by Linda of Out of the Garden.

Ingredients and Method
small onions / shallots 15 whole peeled
tomato 1
green chillies 2 chopped
coconut oil
tamarind 1 goose berry size

For roasting
coconut grated 1 cup
small onions chopped 3
garlic clove chopped 1
coconut oil 2 tea spoons
curry leaves few
perumjeerakam/ fennel seeds 1 pinch
coriander powder 3 tea spoons
chilly powder 1 or 2 tea spoons
turmeric powder 1 tea spoon

Heat coconut oil. Fry small onions and garlic. when it turns brown, add coconut, fennel seeds and curry leaves. Stir until the coconut turns brown. Then add all powders and stir for few seconds only. Remove from fire. When this cools, blend them with 1/2 cup water.(Or use enough water to make it a thick solution)

Heat 1 table spoon oil. Saute small onions and green chillies. When it begins to transparent, add tamarind water about 1/2 cup. Put salt and tomato chopped and let it boil. Add blended coconut mixture and boil. When oil floats on top, remove from fire.

Heat 2 tea spoons of coconut oil, splutter mustard seeds, fry dry red chily and curry leaves.Pour them into the curry.

You can make this in an easy way.
For this start from the end. Do the seasoning first and saute small onions and green chillies in this and boil with tamarind water, tomato and blended coconut mixture. Add enough salt.

Ingredients and method
chena or yam pieces 1 cup
raw plantain pieces 1 cup
turmeric powder 1 tea spoon
curd 11/2 cup
coconut 1 cup grated
pepper powder 2 tea spoon
green chillies 2 or more
cumin seeds 1 tea spoon
salt

for seasoning
fenugreek/uluva 1/4 tea spoon
mustard 1 tea spoon
coconut oil
red chillies 1 or 2



Cook the vegetables with salt, pepper powder and 2 table spoons curd and little water enough to cook. When it is done, reduce water. Grind coconut with green chillies, cumin and remaining curd until smooth. It should get butter consistency(venna paruvam). Add this to the cooked vegetables and just heat. Don't boil it. Remove from fire, Heat coconut oil , splutter fenugreek, mustards then add red chillies and curry leaves. Pour it over the curry.

This is my favorite vegetable curry. Can eat this even without rice. This is a dry curry and we can keep in fridge up to one or more months. For this have to cook vegetables in the curd or thick butter milk and don't add water while grinding coconut. This should be done on a stone grinder (Ammi ). It is impossible for most of us, thats why I grind coconut with curd, so we can avoid the water content too.

It is better cook this kaalan in an earthern pot, ie, manchatti. So the pot itself will absorb the excessive water from this. If you have thick butter milk, you can boil it too with the coconut. But the ready made products will not work, I think.

Ingredients

Brinjals 3

Onion 1 medium chopped

Tomato 1 chopped

Coconut milk thick 1 cup

Turmeric powder 1 tsp

Chilly powder ½ tsp

Green chillies 2

Salt

Curry leaves

Coconut oil

Mustard seeds

How to prepare
Cut brinjals and cook them with onion, tomato , turmeric powder , chilly powder, and salt. Use water just to cover the contents. Cook and reduce water. Add coconut milk into this. Let it boil. Put curry leaves, green chilies into this. Season with mustard seeds in coconut oil.

Submitted to Foodies hope for RCI Karnataka.

This recipe is by Mrs.Mano Saminathan. She has an experience of 40 years in cooking. You can find many of her recipes here.

Ingredients and Method

Ingredients and method
Ash gourd / yam - 1/2 kg
small onions - 5 peeled,
coconut grated - 1 cup,
turmeric powder - 1/2 tea spoon,
Curd - 1 cup or thick butter milk 1 and 1/2 cup,
green chilly - 2,
mustard seeds - 1/2 tea spoon,
fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tea spoon,
cumin seeds - 1/4 tea spoon,
red chillies - 2,
coconut oil - 1 table spoon,
curry leaves ,
salt.

Peel and cut the vegetables.
Put in a pan and add water just to cover the veg.
Add turmeric powder, salt, green chillies.
Cook till done.
Blend coconut with cumin seeds, small onions and curd.
Blend till smooth.
Add this to cooked vegetables.
Heat and remove from fire when it begin to boil.
Don't boil this.
Heat coconut oil and let mustard seeds splutter.
Add fenugreek seeds.
Then add red chillies cut, curry leaves.
Pour this into curry.
Have with rice.