Curry Leaves Sambhar / Karuvepilai Kozhambu

How about some magic to get some long and healthy hair?!! Want to get rid of hair fall?! 

Then come on, pick up some easy ingredients and head into the kitchen with me. We can make something that sure doesn't taste like medicine! ;) Shhhh that's a promise. No doubts! 

Curry leaves, curry leaves, curry leaves.... they are not for decoration,  they are not just for flavor, they are not to be thrown, they are to do good for us :)

Ingredients:

Curry Leaves - 1 1/2 cups

Coconut - 3 tblsp

Red chillies - 6

Garlic pods - 10

Small onions(Shallots) - 10

Tomato - 2

Saunf - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Oil

Salt

Method:

Take a tsp of oil in a pan and fry saunf, garlic pods and red chilies for two mins and keep it aside until it comes to room temperature. 

Again take a tsp of oil in a frying pan and fry curry leaves for three minutes in medium flame. Now grind it in a mixie along with coconut and the above fried spices together into a smooth paste by adding a little water. 

Now take a tsp of oil in a pan and crackle mustard, now add peeled shallots, chopped tomato, salt, turmeric powder for fry for five minutes. Now add the above ground paste and adequate water to bring it to sambhar consistency. Allow this to boil for five mins and bring it off the stove. 

Serve with hot rice and ghee :)

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here. 

Cashew Fruit Sambhar

Cashew fruit!!! Yes, its the fruit of the cashew tree. This is probably the first time I ever saw it in the fruit form. I loved its look and was pretty excited when I bought it a couple of days back when we drove to Trichy.

My mom made a delicious sambhar with it and said this recipe was a very traditional one her grandma used to make. I loved the taste since it was sweet and hot and the fruit chunks were super juicy too :)

I'm not sure of the availability of this fruit in the city, but by any chance you come across this fruit, grab it for sure to make this sambhar :)

Ingredients:

Cashew fruit - 10
Tamarind paste - 2 cups
Jaggery - 2 tblsp
Chilly powder - 1 tsp
Salt - for taste
Rice flour - 1 tblsp
Curry leaves - 10
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida - a pinch

Method:

Wash and cut 1/4 inch of the cashew fruit from the broader side and discard it. Dice the rest of the fruit into smaller chunks.

Take the tamarind paste in a thick bottomed vessel and add 1 cup of water to it. Drop in the diced cashew fruits and cook on medium flame until the fruit turns soft and well cooked.

Now add chilly powder, salt, asafoetida and jaggery and mix well. Dilute the rice flour in 2 tblsp of water and add it, stirring constantly. Now the sambhar will thicken. Allow it to boil for two more mins and remove from flame.

Season with mustard and curry leaves.

Serve hot with rice and chips. Delicious and rich cashew fruit sambhar is ready. :)

Note:

This sambhar would be sweet and hot and would be a good choice for kids.

The fruit is juicy and has subtle sweet taste so it would be absolutely delicious when you bite the fruit chunks in the sambhar. :)

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Cabbage Kootu / Sambhar

Though I love hogging on dishes from various cuisines, I'm pretty biased towards Indian flavors and enjoy eating home food more than anything. Most of you would agree to me and share the same feeling too!! :)

This cabbage kootu or sambhar is one of my most favorite recipes from my mom's collection and I remember enjoying it since childhood. Not sure if it is a common recipe to all, yet it definitely demands a place in my blog for its amazing taste and flavor.

Ingredients:

Cabbage (shredded) - 2 cups
Carrots - 2
Tomatoes - 2
Onion - 1
Coconut - 1/4 cup
Red chillies - 5
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Thoor dhall - 1/2 cup
Tamarind past - 1/2 cup
Jaggery - 1 tsp
Hing - 1/4 tsp
Salt - for taste
Mustard - for tempering
Curry leaves

Method:

Pressure cook the thoor dhall until soft and mushy.

Chop cabbage, carrot and onion. Dice tomatoes into cubes.

Grind the coconut, red chillies and cumin seeds into a fine paste by adding a little water to it.

Take a pressure pan and drop in the cooked dhall, shredded cabbage, onion, tomato, ground coconut paste, tamarind paste, hing and salt. Pressure cook until two whistles.

Transfer to the serving bowl and temper with mustard seeds and curry leaves.

Hot and yummy cabbage kootu is ready. Serve it with rice and chips. It also goes well with Idly and Dosa.

Enjoy having a typical south Indian meal :)

Tips:

You can replace cabbage with snake gourd, raw tomatoes(green ones) and chow chow too.

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.

Capsicum/Bell Pepper Sambhar

Decoration: Used small onions, capsicum and coriander stems to arrange the creeper

Capsicum or bell pepper is one of my most favorite vegetable. Adding a little of it to any curry or sambhar would give an alluring aroma that I am crazy of.

So this is one of my personal on top of the list sambhar always. :)

Ingredients:

Capsicum/bell pepper - 2 nos
Thoor dhall - 1/4 cup
Small onions - 1/2 cup
Sambhar chilly powder - 1 tblsp
Tamarind paste - 2 tblsp
Jaggery - 1 tsp
Asafoetida - a pinch
Curry leaves
Coriander leaves
Salt - for taste

Method:

Cook dhall in pressure cooker and keep it aside. In a pan take a tsp of oil, crackle mustard seeds and then add the capsicum and small onions and saute for a while. Now add the cooked dhall, tamarind paste, jaggery, sambhar chilly powder, asafoetida, salt, coriander leaves and curry leaves to it. Add little water to it if it is too thick. Let this boil for a while.

Capsicum aromatic sambhar is done. :) Enjoy eating. :)

Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

Kerala Special - Aviyal (mixed vitamin sambhar) ;)

Aviyal is one of the best recipes from Kelara. It tastes awesome and is absolutely a healthy mixture of vegetables in a nice coconut and curd gravy.

Wikipedia says it was Bhima(one of the Pandava brothers) who invented this dish. ;)

Whatever be the mythology, according to me, mom invented everything. ha ha ha. She made it and I enjoyed. Now its my turn to try out this delicacy. :) and here you go....

Type 1:

Ingredients:

Pumpkin White - 2 cups diced

Potatoes - 3

Green Beans - few

Carrots - 2 

Drumstick - 1
Colocasia(seppankilangu) - 1/2 cup diced
Plaintain Bananna - 1   

Egg plant - 2

Curry leaves - few

Salt - for taste

Fresh Curds - 3 Cups

Coconut Oil - 2 tbl sp 

Rice flour - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - a pinch

(Add vegetables of your choice) 

For Grinding :

Fresh Coconut - 1 1/2 Cup

Green Chilies - 7 Nos

Poppy seeds - 1 tbl sp

Method:

Dice all the vegetables into 2 inch pieces and cook them and keep it aside. Grind coconut, green chillies and poppy seeds into a smooth paste.

Now in a large vessel put in the cooked vegetables, ground paste and curd. Add salt, coconut oil and curry leaves, turmeric powder and rice flour to it and mix well. You can add little water to it, if it is too thick.Let this cook in low flame for 10 mins.

Aviyal is done :)

Type 2:

Ingredients:

Pumpkin White - 1 cups diced

Potatoes - 1

Green Beans - few

Carrots - 2 

Drumstick - 1
Colocasia(seppankilangu) - 1/4 cup diced
Plaintain Bananna - 1/2   

Egg plant - 2
Yellow pumpkin - 1 cup diced
Yam - 1/4 cup diced
Snake guard - 1/4 cup diced
Cucumber - 1/2 cup diced

Curry leaves - few

Salt - for taste

Fresh Curds - 3 Cups

Coconut Oil - 2 tbl sp 

Rice flour - 1 tsp

(Add vegetables of your choice) 

For Grinding :

Fresh Coconut - 1 1/2 Cup

Green Chilies - 7 Nos

Large onions - 4
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Curry leaves - few strands

Method:

Dice all the vegetables into 2 inch pieces and cook them and keep it aside. Grind coconut, green chillies, turmeric powder, onions, cumin and curry leaves into a smooth paste.

Now in a large vessel put in the cooked vegetables, ground paste and curd. Add salt, coconut oil and rice flour to it and mix well. You can add little water to it, if it is too thick. Let this cook in low flame for 10 mins.

Avial is ready to eat. Serve it with adai or rice. :)

Find Adai recipe here.

Tip: When the aviyal is boiling, place a washed plantain leaf on top. Remove it before serving. This will give it a very interesting and ethnic aroma for the aviyal. Add all the vegetables that you like. Make it as interesting as possible, its all your choice :)

Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

Fresh Field Bean Sambhar/Side dish

Field beans sambar commonly know as Pithigi pappu pulusu is a special dish which originated in the state of Karnataka(India). Its really an authentic recipe that tastes heavenly and is healthy too. :)

Though its time consuming to de husk the beans, I would say its absolutely worth it to try. Its yummm and goes great with rice chapathi.

Ingredients:

Fresh field bean seeds(Mochai) - 1 cup
Small onions peeled - 1/2 cup
Tamarind - medium lemon sized(Soaked and squeezed)
Salt - for taste
Jaggery - little
Curry leaves - few
Urad dhal - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 4 tbl sp

Grind to fine paste - 1:

Grated fresh coconut - 1/4 cup
Poppy seeds - 2 tsp
Saunf(Soambu) - 2 tsp

Paste - 2:

(Fry in a tsp.of oil and then grind)

Coriander seeds - 2 tsp
Cumin seeds - 3/4 tsp
Black pepper - 1/4 tsp
Red chillies - 7 or 8
Grated fresh coconut - 1/4 cup
Onion - 1(roasted over flame)

Field beans/ Anumulu/ Mochai before de husking

Field beans/ Anumulu/ Mochai after de husking

Method:

Soak Field beans(Mochai/Anumulu) in luke warm water for 2 hours. Then de husk the outer skin and keep it aside.

Roast one big onion with skin by keeping on direct flame. Turn carefully using thongs till outer skin becomes dark brown in color. Now remove the skin and grind with other fried ingredients as mentioned under paste 2.

Heat oil in a pressure pan, add mustard, urad dhal, small onions and then dehusked beans. Fry for few minutes, add paste no.2 and keep stirring till good smell comes. Add just enough water and pressure cook for 10 minutes.

Allow it to cool, remove lid and add ground paste1, tamarind extract, salt , jaggery and boil for few minutes.

Serve hot either with rice or rice chapathi, poori, chapathi, curd rice etc.

Goes best with rice chapathi. :)

I am sending this to MLLA event conducted by EC this time. This was an event started by Susan in her lovely blog.

Coming up next is a simple and intersting snack made with the same bean. Keep watching!!!! :)

Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

Vankaya(Brinjal or Eggplant) Bajji

Do you want a dish which is sweet, sour, spicy and also has your favorite brinjal in it????

Then come on hurry up, its here all for you ;)

Fall in love with brinjal :)

Note: I really don't know why it is called as bajji!!! If you know, do tell me too.. :)


Ingredients:

Brinjal - 1 large
Onion - 2 big
Green chillies - 4
Tamarind paste - 1 tbsp
Jaggery - 2 tsp
Mustard - 1/2 tsp
Bengal gram dhal - 1/2 tsp
Urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
Salt - for taste
Curry leaves
Coriander leaves



Method:

Keep the brinjal as such in the cooker and cook it for 3 whistles. Now cut it and remove the skin and seeds and smash it finely with your hands and keep this aside. In a pan take a tsp of oil and season with mustard, bengal gram dhall and urad dhall. Add curry leaves, chilly and chopped onion to it and fry for a while till it turns to golden brown. Once done switch off the flame and pour this into the mashed brinjal. Now add tamarind paste, salt and jaggery to it and mix well. Finally garnish it with coriander leaves. Serve it with hot steamed rice. :) Happy making and enjoy eating :)

"Yepdi Irundha Nan!"

"Ipdi Aiten" :):):):)

I am sending this dish to "Fall In love - Brinjal" event hosted by Sanghi of sanghi-tastybites blog.


This event demands a dedication of the dish: So I would like to dedicate this dish to my lovable dad. This is specially because he is the one who encourages me to cook and enjoys all my disasters and yet praises me for all the efforts I take to bring it out. :) And on top of it he just loves brinjal too much. :)

Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

The Secret Ingredient is.............

Watermelon... :)

The white portion alone is used for making More(Butter milk) kolambu. :)

Melon photo courtesy: http://www.auxiliary.com/AGF/farmmarket/products/nuts/images/Watermelon.jpg

Thanks to all of you who had made their guesses. :) Most of you guessed it as white pumpkin, cucumber, green mango etc.. But then you all missed to see the little red peaks of the pieces. ;)

Preethy Srinivasan was very close by guessing as a variety of melon(fruit). Congrats you were right. :)

So lets not waste the white portions of the melon, lets use it to make more kolambu from now on. ;)

More Kolambu - Guess the secret vegetable???

More(Butter milk) kolambu is a traditional dish which can be made with a lot of vegetable combinations. The fun starts when we try introducing different vegetables into it to make it more interesting and different. Here is one such more kolambu.

Take closer look at the pictures and........

Guess the secret vegetable used in this more kolambu?????

Make your guesses as comments for this post. Shall get back to you with the answer tommorrow. :)


Ingredients:

Secret vegetable(Watermelon - white portion) - 2 cups chopped
Curd - 1 cup
Coconut - 1 tbsp
Thoor dhall - 1 tbsp
Red chillies - 2
Green chilly -2
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Coriander seeds - 2 tsp
Asafoetida - a pinch
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt - for taste
Coriander leaves
Curry leaves




Method:

Cook the secret vegetable(watermelon white portion alone) and keep it aside. Soak thoor dhall in water for 2 hours. Now grind thoor dhall, coconut, red chillies, green chillies, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, asafoetida and turmeric together adding some water to it to make a paste. Now take the curd and churn it adding some water. Add the ground paste to the curd(butter milk) and put in the cooked secret vegetable too. Now boil the contents for a while adding curry leaves to it. Finally season with mustard and garnish with coriander leaves. More kolambu is ready to eat :)

Serve it with hot steamed rice and raw onions. I just love this combi. :) Happy eating :)



Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

Raw Mango Dhall

Raw mango has a super good tangy taste which I really love. And that too a manga looted from the neighbourhood tree is the best in taste.. ;)

Geer up for another simple raw mango tangy treat. ;)

Ingredients:

Raw mango - 1
Thoor Dhall - 4 tbsp
Green chilies - 2
Red Chillies - 2
Garlic - 6 pods
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Mustard - 1/2 tsp
Salt - for taste





Method:

Peel the skin of raw mango and slice it with the slicer. Now in a bowl, cook the sliced raw mango, chopped green chillies, turmeric powder,salt along with little water. Now cook the thoor dhall seperately and add it to the mango mixture. Season it with mustard, cumin, red chillies and chopped garlic. Finally boil it for 5 min.

This goes great with hot steamed rice and rotis. Happy eating :)




I am sending this to 'Mango Mela' conducted by Srivalli.




Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

Chayote or Miriton(Chow Chow) Poricha Kolambu

Ingredients:

Chow Chow -1
Thoor dhall - 3 tbsp
Garlic - 10 pods
Coconut(scrapped) - 2 tbsp
Cashew nuts - 5
Rice flour - 2 tsp
Red chillies - 2
Urad dhall - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Asafoetida - a pinch
Salt - to taste

Method:

Grind coconut, cashew nuts and rice flour smoothly and keep it aside. Now cook thoor dhall and chow chow in the pressure pan. Add the ground mixture, salt and turmeric powder to it. Now season with urad dhall and red chillies. Finally add enough water and let it boil for a while. Keep stirring when it boils. Poricha kolambu is ready. :)

This is a super cool combi with hot steamed rice and mango pickle. Happy cooking :)





Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

Yennai Kathirikka (Brinjal)

Yennai karthirika is one of the most famous south Indian lunch delicacy. The freshly ground masala added to it gives a lovely aroma and spiciness. Seriously yummy. :)


Ingredients:

Small sized Brinjals - 1/2 Kg
Small Onions - 1/2 Kg
Tamarind - lemon sized ball
Channa Dhall(kadala paruppu) - 1 tbsp
Urad Dhall(Ulutham paruppu) - 1 tbsp
Coriander seeds(Dhaniya) - 1 tbsp
Jeera - 1 tsp
Pepper - 1/2 tsp
Fenugreek(Vendhayam) - 1/2 tsp
Red chillies - 8 nos
Coconut(scrapped) - 1 tbsp
Salt - For taste
Jaggery - For taste
Asafortida - Pinch
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Method:

Take one spoon of oil in a pan and fry urad dhall, Channa dhall, Coriander seeds, Jeera, pepper, fenugreek and red chillies till it changes to golden brown. Now after it cools down powder it coarsely adding scrapped coconut. keep this aside.

Chop onions finely. Split brinjals into four leaving the top portion uncut(the pic will give you a hint). Now fry these two in a pan for a while till it turns golden brown.

Now take a vessel and add the fried vegitables, Ground powder, tamarind paste, jaggery, turmeric powder, asafortida and salt. Now pour in enough water to bring it to sambar consistancy and boil it till its done. Now season it gingily oil(nallanai) and mustard seeds. Finally Garnish it with curry leaves and coriander leaves.

Gama Gama yennai kathirika is ready to eat :) Serve it with hot steamed rice and chips. :) Happy eating. :)




Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com