Brinjal Coriander leaves curry

I used Thai eggplants/brinjals to prepare this delicious no onion curry. Want to add cilantro/coriander leaves to your diet? here is a wonderful curry that goes well with white rice or even rotis. Infact, I used it as a bread spread too. Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:

Brinjals - 6 - preferably green brinjals (Thai green egglplant)

Oil - 1 teaspoon

Grind together the following adding half cup water

Coriander leaves - 1 bunch

green chillies - 2

Ginger - half inch

Salt

Asafoetida powder

Coconut - dry or fresh - 1 tablespoon (I used the desiccated coconut)

Method:

Dice the brinjal and add it to water as and when you cut.

Heat oil in a kadai.

Drain water from the eggplant, (leave away the seeds that are in the water) and add the diced brinjal and fry until half cooked stirring occasionally.

Add the ground coriander paste and mix well.

Cook covered until the all the moisture is absorbed. Stir occasionally to avoid sticking to the kadai.

That's it. The curry is ready. Serve with white rice and ghee.

(Thai Eggplant Photo from Wiki)

This is my entry to Vegetable of the Week hosted by Pooja of Creative Pooja

CA bay area Indian food bloggers meet

Yes, we have a get-together coming up on Feb 16, 2008. If you are an Indian food blogger and you reside in and around the bay area, California, or if you reside elsewhere and you think you can make it, please join us. Details HERE. The venue is in Sunnyvale and the Agenda is 'Meet fellow bloggers - Eat Food & talk food and nothing more!'.

Idichu Pizhinja Payasam / 'Rice in coconut milk' dessert

Idichu Pizhinja Payasam is no more a difficult payasam when we have readymade coconut milk available in the store. I know tamil, so, I can somewhat guess what's idichu pizhinja in malayalam means. I think it's a process of extracting the milk from the coconut. If you love coconut, here's a treat for you. This is my entry to RCI Kerala hosted by Jyothsna of Currybazaar Thanks Jyotsna, for hosting this event. I got this recipe from here. I did not extract the milk from the coconut, instead, bought the readymade coconut milk. So, the payasam was ready in minutes. Here is how I prepared.


Ingredients:

Cooked rice - 1 cup

Jaggery - half cup

Sugar - half cup

Coconut milk - 1 can (400 ml)

Cardomom powder - 1 teaspoon

Method:

Melt the jaggery and sugar in a kadai adding just a teaspoon of water.

When it melts, add the cooked rice and mix well.

When the content heats up, empty one full can (400 ml) of coconut milk.

Mix well and add the cardamom powder.

Wait until one boil comes. Then, remove from heat.

This payasam is just fantastic, and very easy to prepare.

Paneer Capsicum Tikka

I have been wanting to try this recipe for a long long time. After having seen many recipes for Tikka, I made a list of the most important ingredients, shopped for colorful capsicums and my favorite nanak brand paneer, set off to try this excellent colorful Tikka. This is my entry for Pooja's Theme of the week event. This time she has selected the tri color of the Indian flag - Orange, White and Green, in connection with the Indian Republic day (Jan 26th). Thanks Pooja for hosting this event. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

Paneer (cottage cheese) - 7 oz
(I used half packet nanak paneer)

Bell Pepper (Capsicum)- 2
(select different colors)

Red Onion - 1 (small size)

Lemon - 2

Wooden or steel skewers - 10 to 12 numbers

For the marinade

Yogurt (Thick curds) - 3/4th cup

Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon

Turmeric Powder - half teaspoon

Garam Masala - 1 teaspoon

Ground pepper - 1/2 teaspoon

Salt as required

Cumin Powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Tandoori masala - 1/2 teaspoon - (optional)

Ginger garlic paste - 1 teaspoon

(Red Tandoori Color - optional)

Method:

Chop the bell peppers into 3/4th inch squares.

Chop the Onions take out the layers.

Cube the paneer.

Transfer the vegetables and paneer into a large bowl.

Take a small bowl and mix the ingredients listed for the Marinade.

Pour it over the chopped vegetable mixture.

Mix well so that each vegetable and paneer is coated with the marinade.

Allow it to marinate for half an hour.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Carefully thread the vegetables and paneer in the skewer and place 4 to 5 skewers in the oven.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until a golden brown crust forms around the paneer and the vegetable. (Make sure you place a plate underneath, because the marinade will drip while the Tikka is getting cooked)

Squeeze the Lemon on the Tikka and serve immediately.

Tastes best when grilled instead of keeping in the oven. But oven method is perfect for winter days.

Aama vadai / Dal or Paruppu Vadai

Aama vadai is a south indian speciality snack that is prepared on every single occasion. Aama vadai, payasam, and obbattu are the traditional trio for all festivals including Diwali and Pongal. There are a lot of variations in preparing these vadais. It depends on the proportion of dals used. This is my entry to 'My legume love affair - event' hosted by Susan of 'The well seasoned cook'. Thanks to Susan for hosting this event. This aama vadai is my mom's recipe. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

Toor dal - 3 cups

Channa dal - 1 cup

dry Red chillis - 5 to 6

Asafoetida powder - quarter teaspoon

Curry leaves - from 2 to 3 strands

Salt - as required

chopped Coriander leaves/Cilantro

Oil for deep frying

Method:

Soak Toor dal and Channa dal together in water for 3 hours.

In a grinder/food processor, add the red chillis, asafoetida powder, salt and curry leaves. Grind for 5 to 6 seconds and add the soaked dal. Use less than half cup water and required amount of salt and grind everything together for less than a minute. The dal should be partially ground. (i.e, half the dal is should be just broken and the remaining dal remains whole.)

Add chopped coriander leaves/cilantro and mix dal well. Make small balls and press to flatten a little. Deep fry both sides until it turns golden brown.

Variation: Mix chopped red onion and deep fry the vadai.

Kaara Kuzhambu

This recipe is by Renuka R, a featured "Chef" on Ammas.com. This Kaara Kuzhambu is a typical south Indian delight and is a tasty, spicy dish especially during winter. I altered the recipe a bit, but the base recipe is Renuka's. Thanks to her. This is my entry to JFI Onion hosted by Radhika. Thanks Radhika, for hosting this event.

Ingredients:

Tamarind - 1 big lemon sized ball.

(if using tamarind concentrate, use half teaspoon)

1 Onion

2 small Tomatoes

2 Green chillis slit vertically

1 teaspoon Ginger Garlic Paste

(or use 1 teaspoon grated ginger and 2 to 3 pods garlic)

1 tablespoon Oil (preferably sesame seeds/gingily oil)

1/2 teaspoon Mustard Seeds

1 teaspoon Urud dal

1 teaspoon Cumin seeds/Jeera/Jeeragam

Curry leaves from atleast 4 strands

Turmeric Powder

Red Chilli Powder

Asafoetida Powder

2 teaspoon raw rice

6 whole pepper

A small piece of jaggery

Salt to taste

Grind the following adding very little water

Half onion (chopped)
Raw rice
Whole pepper
Curry leaves from 2 strands

Ginger

Garlic

Method:

Blanch and remove the tomato skin. Chop and keep it aside.

Chop the remaining half onion.

Heat oil in a kadai. Add the mustard seeds. when it sputters, add the urud dal, green chillies, curry leaves, cumin seeds. Add the onion and fry until tender.

Add the tomatoes. Fry for a couple of minutes and add the ground masala, turmeric powder, tamarind, red chilli powder and salt to taste.

Pour 2 cups of water and allow it to boil. Stir occasionally.

After some time, the kuzhambu will start thickening. Add the Jaggery. Stir and turn off the heat.

Serve it with hot white rice. Can also be served with Idlis and Dosas.

Eggless Homemade Mango Ice cream

Here is a cool recipe from my dear friend Priya. With just few ingredients, she perpared delicious creamy mango ice cream. I am sharing the ice cream and the recipe that she gave me.

Ingredients:

Kraft Cool whip - whipped topping - 1 tub

Condensed milk - 1 can

Evaported milk - 1 can

Mango pulp - 1 cup

Method:

Thaw the cool whip to room temperature. Mix all of the above ingredients thoroughly (don't have to use a blender or a mixer, just mix all ingredients) and freeze. Mango ice cream is ready.

variations:

Substitute ground almonds, saffron and elaichi for wonderful kesar pista.

Use rose essence and rose coloring for rose ice-cream.

You can try other flavors using the above method as well.

This is my entry to "Recipes for the rest of us" event hosted by Ramki of One page cookbooks.