Bottlegourd Molagootal

Molagootal is a very common dish in a Kerala Iyer family.  In my mom's house, people prefer molagootal than Sambar or rasam. Even now my mami makes this twice or thrice a week. I like molagootal with some thogayal. This is bottle gourd molagootal I made couple of days before. I started using bottle gourd when we were in Delhi last year. Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Bottle Gourd - 1 1/2 cups (chopped into small cubes)
2. Toor dhall - 1 cup
3. Turmeric powder - 1/2 + 1/4 tsp
4. salt to taste

To Grind:-

1. coconut - 1/4 cup
2. Green Chillies - 4 or 5 (acc to taste
3. Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp

To Temper:-

1. Oil - 2 tsp
2. Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
3. Curry leaves - few
4. Urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
5. Hing -  few pinches
6. Red Chillies - 1 (optional

Pressure cook toor dhall with 1/4 tsp of turmeric powder and keep it aside. In the mean time, take a pan, put the bottle gourd pieces and required amount of water, salt & turmeric powder and let it cook for 5 to 7 minutes. Bottle Gourd usually takes less time to cook.  Grind the ingredients given "To Grind" to a fine paste and keep it aside. When vegetable is half done,  add the grounded paste to it and let it boil for 5 more minutes or till the raw smell of green chillies go away. Now add the cooked toor dhall to the ingredients and add required amount of water to adjust the consistency. Now the molagootal/bottle gourd dhall is ready to serve.  Take a small pan, pre heat oil, splutter mustard seeds, fry urad dhall curry leaves, red chillie & hing to golden brown and pour it on top of the molagootal.  Serve it hot. It goes well with steamy rice or even with rotis/chapathis.

Thamarakezhangu Vathal kozhambu

Thamara kezhangu / Kamal kakdi / Lotus Stem is something i really love. I remember my patti used to make this vathal at home. When we were in Delhi, sabjiwala used to bring the fresh Kamal Kakdi. Even our landlady asked me to try out some sabji she made with kamal kakdi. It tasted pretty good but we were not excited about that.  But I know more about this thamara kezhangu vathal. My husband is not aware of this. But he tried it and liked it too.  Since we make vatha kozhambu with manathakali, sundakka, pagakka vathal, I wanted to try with this thamarakezhangu too.  I got the thamarakezhangu vathal from Ambika appalam, Chennai. It came out pretty good. We both really liked it.

Ingredients:-

1. Thamara kezhangu vathal - 1 cup (divide it to 3/4th & 1/4th)
2. Tamarind - Medium lemon sized ball
3. Sesame oil - 3 tbsp
4. turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
5. Sambar powder - 1 1/2 tsp (acc to taste)
6. Salt to taste
7. Jaggery - 2 tsp (optional)
8. mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp
9. urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
10. Red chillie - 1 or 2 (acc to taste)
11. Oil - To deep fry
12. Hing -  few pinches
13. curry leaves  -  for garnishing.

Soak tamarind in 1 1/2 cups of water. In the mean time, heat oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds, fry urad dhall, red chillies  along with a pinch of hing to golden brown. Now Add 3/4th portion of thamarakezhangu vathal and fry it till it becomes crispy. Do not burn it. In the mean time, squeeze out juice from tamarind and keep it aside. Now add the tamarind water to the fried ingredients adding required amount of salt, turmeric powder & sambar powder and let it boil for 7 to 10 minutes. When the raw smell of tamarind, sambar powder goes, add the crushed jaggery to it and let it boil. Adjust water according to the required consistency.  Turn off the stove. Now in another pan, heat oil given for frying. Deep fry the 1/4th portion of vathal to golden brown and add it to the kozhambu.  Garnish it with curry leaves.  Serve it hot with warm rice and teaspoon of seasame oil.

Oats Pongal

Original Recipe is from Raks Kitchen. I wanted mine squishy mushy. So I added more water than what she mentioned in the original recipe. It was really yummy. thanks Raks for sharing the recipe

Boca Patty Burger

 This is a all time favorite burger of our family. All four us like this burger. We usually buy frozen boca patties from costco and use it. When I first came to US,  I really have no idea about sandwiches or burgers. My husband used to make these burgers before and happily agreed to teach me when I got interest in learning one. Here is how we make this burger.

Ingredients:-

1. Burger Bun - 1
2. Butter - to spread
3. Fat Free Mayo - 1 tsp (just enough to spread)
4. Tomato Ketchup -  enough to spread
5. Yellow Mustard - 1/2 tsp (my kids dont like this taste)
6. Cheese singles -1
7. Boca patty - 1
8. Tomato - couple of sliced pieces
9. Onion - thinly sliced couple of pieces
10. Lettuce - 3 leaves (optional)
11. Pickle pepper - 1 or 2 (optional)

Thaw the frozen patty for few  minutes before you cook them. Take a non-stick skillet and cook the patty, both sides in low flame. in the mean time, half toast the bun (optional), spread butter, mayo, ketchup and mustard, one by one and spread it evenly on both the buns. Arrange the vegetables, lettuce & pickle pepper (if you have one), cheese slice and wait for the patty to be done. when the patty is fully cooked, place it on one side and cover it with other half of the bun. Leave it for few seconds so that the cheese gets melted. Now boca patty burger is ready to serve.

This is my last entry for Srivalli's Sandwich Mela.

Gobi Parathas

I made this Gobi Parathas using the leftover cauliflower masala curry I made for yesterday's dinner. It came out pretty good.  Here goes the recipe.

For dough:-

1. Whole grain wheat flour - 2 cups
2. salt to taste
3. Water - Just enough to knead the dough
4. Oil - 1/2 tsp

For Filling :-

Cauliflower Masala Curry - 1 tbsp (for 1 paratha).

Prepare the dough first and keep it aside. Add required amount of salt and water and knead the dough. Spread oil on top and cover it with a lid or a cloth. Keep it aside. Make a small ball with the cauliflower curry (Scramble it if necessary).   Now make a small poori sized roti, keep the cauliflower curry balls and cover it just like how we do for making kozhakattai.  Keep it till you roll all the curry balls (the recipe asks for keeping it some time). Now start rolling the stuffed rolls in to paranthas of 6 to 7 inches sized.  Cook it in a hot tawa (iron skilled preferably). Coat it with some oil/ghee of your choice (I skipped it).

CauliflowerMasala Curry

I made this curry last week along with drumstick sambar. It came out pretty good. My girls felt it was little bit spicy. Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Cauliflower Florets - 2 cups 
2. Onion - 1 medium sized chopped
3. Tomato - 1 medium sized chopped
4. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
5. Rasam Powder - 1/2 tsp
6. Red chillies - 1/4 tsp
7. Salt to taste
8. Oil - 1 tbsp
9. mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
10. urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
11. curry leaves - for garnishing
12. Hing - few pinches

Take the cauliflower florets in a microwave safe bowl, add required amount of salt & turmeric powder and microwave it adding required amount of water, for about 5 to 7 minutes. In the mean time, pre heat oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds, fry urad dhall to golden brown. Add chopped onion along with curry leaves and saute till it becomes transparent. Now add the chopped tomato to it. Add required amount of salt it along with turmeric powder to it and saute for couple of minutes. Now add the cooked cauliflower to it along with rasam powder, red chilli powder to it and let it cook till the excess water evaporates. Cauliflower curry is ready to serve with hot steaming rice.

Lemon Sevai

This  was our yesterday's evening tiffin. My girls used to give trouble for eating this sevai. But this time, they liked it. This is one of my favorite tiffin too. Here is the recipe for making lemon sevai.

Ingredients:-

1. Rice sevai - 1 cup
2. Turmeric powder - 3/4 tsp
3. Salt to taste
4. Lemon - 1
5. Green chillies - 1 or 2 (acc to taste)
6. Ginger - a small piece
   
7. Cahsews - few
8. Curry leaves - few
9. mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
10. urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
11. Channa dhall - 1/2 tsp
12. Sesame Oil - 2 tbsp
13. Coriander leaves - 1 tbsp
    

Take a wide vessel, put the sevai in it. Add the required amount of salt and pour required amount of hot boiling water on top it (just required amount to cover the noodles). Cover it with a lid and keep it aside. Drain it after 10 to 15 mts. Keep it aside. In the mean time, squeeze the juice from lemon and keep it aside.

Take a pan, pre heat oil, add mustard seeds, urad dhall, channa dhall, curry leaves, cashew nuts, green chillies, ginger, turmeric powder and fry it till it becomes golden brown. Now add the drained noodles to it and mix it well. Turn off the stove. Remove the pan from the stove top. Add the lemon juice to it and mix it well. Just add required amount of lemon juice. Taste it before adding extra juice. Mix it well and garnish it with coriander leaves. Serve it hot with coconut chutney.

Paruppu Usli Sandwich :)

Yesterday I made Vaazhapoo Paruppu Usli & Sepagezhangu More kozhambu for dinner. My girls generally like to take beans paruppu usli. Whenever I feed them, I make sure they take vaazhapoo usli too. But now a days they have started eating by themselves. So yesterday, no luck with vaazhapoo paruppu Usli :(. Now I have two full cups of this usi in my fridge. Wanted to make use of it in a good way. So I had it as sandwich spreading it in between two bread slices. It may be sound wierd but it was really yummy surprisingly!! Here goes the recipe..

Ingredients:-

1. Wheat Bread slices - 2
2. Paruppu Usli  - 2 tbsp
3. More kozhambu - 1 tsp
4. Butter - to spread

Toast the bread, spread the butter on both the bread slices and spread the usli on one of the bread slices and spread the more kozhambu on the other one. Cover it on top of the other slice and cut it into two halves. It tastes really good by itself with out anything to dip.

This sandwich also goes to Srivalli's Sandwich Mela.

Aloo Bindi

I made this yesterday as a side dish for our dinner. It was really good and my girls loved. I had to combine potatoes with okra because the available quantity of okra in my fridge was not enough for four of us..It was so simple to make. Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1.  Potato - 1 cup (chopped into cubes)
2. Okra - 1 cup (chopped into 1" sized)
3. Onion - 1 medium sized chopped
4. tomato - 1 chopped
5. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tso
6. Chilli powder - 3/4 tsp (acc to taste)
7. salt to taste
8. Oil - 1 tsp
9. Ajwain - few pinches
10. Coriander leaves & curry leaves - to garnish

Microwave potato cubes adding required amount of water,salt(enough for potato) & turmeric powder, in a microwave safe bowl, for 3 to 5 minutes or till its done.  In the mean time, preheat oil in a pan, splutter ajwain seeds, add chopped onion, saute for a minute. Add chopped tomato and mix it and let it cook in low flame for couple of minutes. Now add the chopped Okra/vendakkai/bindi pieces to the ingredients along with turmeric powder, chilli powder and required amount of salt and sprinkle a hand full of water and let it cook for 3 to 5 minutes. When the Okra is 3/4th done, add the cooked potato to it and mix it well and sprinkle  few spoons of water and let everything cook well for couple of more minutes or till its fully done. Garnish it with coriander leaves. 

We can always add garam masala powder to it if we need to.

Strawberry Sandwich

If you love to eat strawberry, then you should be loving this sandwich. I came across this sandwich recipe while reading a magazine. Forgot the name of the author. But its from family circle magazine couple of years old edition..  One of my twin loves to eat strawberries in any form. After seeing that recipe, I wanted to try it with my girlie. She really liked it too.  Its one of the easiest recipe I have ever made and the taste was awesome...Here goes the recipe...



Ingredients:-

1. Whole wheat Bread Slices - 2
2. Butter - to Spread
3. Strawberries - 2 or 3 (depending upon the size)

Toast the bread to light brown. Cut the strawberries to small pieces. Spread the butter on the both the breads.  Keep the strawberry pieces on top of one and cover it with other bread.

I am sending this to Srivalli 's Sandwich Mela.

Zuchini Mixed Vegetables Kootu

I made this kootu last week. It came out pretty good and it went well with rice an also with Roti. Here goes the recipe.


Ingreients:-

1. Zuchini - 1 cup (chopped)
2. tomato - 1 (chopped into cubes)
3. Mixed Vegetables - 1 cup (frozen)
4. Moong dhall - 1/2 cup
5. Toor Dhall - 2 tbsp
6. Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
7. Salt to taste
8. Oil -1 tsp
9. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
10. Urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
11. Hing -  a pinch
12. curry leaves - for garnishing

To grind :-

1. Coriander seeds - 3/4 tsp
2. channa dhall - 1/2 tsp
3. red chillies - 2 or 3 (acc to taste)
4. Coconut - 2 tsp (shredded) **
5. fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp

Pressure cook moong dhall & toor dhall adding required amount of turmeric powder.  Keep it aside. Thaw the frozen vegetables and keep it aside.  In the mean time, fry the ingredients given for grinding, to golden brown and let it cool. Grind it into a fine paste and keep it aside. In a wide pan, put the zuchini pieces and chopped tomato pieces, add required amount of water & turmeric powder and let it cook for about 5 to 7 minutes. If both the veggies are 3/4th cooked, add the thawed frozen veggies & salt to it and let it boil for another 3 to 5 minutes. Now add the coconut paste to it and boil it for another 3 minutes. Add the cooked dhall to it. Let it boil for another 3 to 5 minutes.  Now kootu is ready. In a small pan, pre heat oil, splutter mustard seeds, fry urad dhall to golden brown, add hing and pour it on top of the kootu. Garnish it with curry leaves.

** - If you are allergic to coconut, then try using almonds in the place of coconut. For 2 tsp of shredded coconut, you can use 4 almonds.

vaazhakka podimas

The original recipe is from Lataji's Flavours & Tastes. Instead of shredding the vazhakkai, I just scrambled it. It tastes super good.