Spinach Curry

INGREDIENTS

Spinach 1 bunch (chopped)
Medium sized Onion 1 (chopped)
Green Chillies 3
Turmeric 1/4 tbsp
Salt
Garlic cloves 2
Mustard seeds 1/2 tbsp
Cumin Seeds 1/2 tbsp.
Curry leaves
Chana dal 1/2 tbsp
Red Chilli 1



PREPARATION

1. Heat oil in a pan and do seasoning. Add green chilli and onions, cook till they are soft. Then add chopped spinach and salt. Cook it uncovered to retain the greeness of spinach. Once spinach is done add crushed garlic. Serve with hot rice or
chapathi

Tomato Rasam

It s a must item in our everyday meal. Hubby dear loves it and cannot finish his meal by adding some curd into his rasam annam. Thats his signature style of eating. Here is the recipe.

INGREDIENTS

Tomatoes 3(Riped)
Small lemon sized Tamarind.
Cilantro
Turmeric 1/4 tbsp
Rasam Powder 3/4 tbsp
Salt

FOR SEASONING

Mustard seeds 1/2 tbsp
Cumin Seeds 1/2 tbsp
Garlic 3pods(chopped)
Curry leaves
Red Chilli 1

PREPARATION

1. Take Chopped tomatoes, tamarind, turmeric and water in a microwave bowl and microwave it till tomatoes and fully done. When it cools down, grind it into a paste.

2. In an other vessel do the seasoning, add garlic. When the garlic turns brown, add that tomato paste, rosam powder and salt. Add water to adjust the sourness. Bring it to boil and add cilantro. Serve with hot rasam.

Plain Biriyani

Whenever i doesnt feel like cooking but want to eat something tasty, i prepare this simple version of biriyani. Actually my hubby is a great cook. Whatever he cooks turns out delicious. He is the one who taught me this. Alu kurma, egg pulusu, mutton pulusu anything goes with this. As i told you i make this when i dont want to cook anything big. So, my combination for this simple biriyani is raitha...:)

INGREDIENTS

Basmati Rice 2 cups (soak them for 1/2 hr)
Small Onion 1 (chopped lenghwise)
Green Chilli 4 (chopped lenghwise)
Cloves 3
Cinnamon 1 inch stick
Black cardomom
Coconut Powder 2 tbsp
Ginger Garlic paste 1 tbsp
Ghee 3tbsp
Water 4 cups


PREPARATION

1. Switch on your electric rice cooker and put the ghee in the cooker vessel. Add cloves, cinnamon, black cardomom, bay leaves. When they start turning colour add green chilli and onion. Fry for a minute then add ginger garlic paste and coconut powder.

2. Add soaked rice without water. Mix well by adding salt. Then add water, close the lid and let it cook. Serve with any curry or raitha..:)

Cabbage Curry

My hubby used to come home for lunch everyday. But his office was shifted to downtown recently and he cannot come home for lunch. So I prepared cabbage curry for his lunch box. Here is the recipe

INGREDIENTS

Cabbage 2 lb (finely chopped)
Onion 1 (finely chopped)
Toamto 1 (chopped)
green chilli 2
Red Chilli powder 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder 1/4 tbsp
Ginger Garlic paste 1/2 tbsp
Corriander powder 1/2 tbsp
Coconut Powder 1 tbsp
Cumin Powder 1/2 tbsp

SEASONING INGREDIENTS

Oil 2 tbsp
Mustard seeds 1/2 tbsp
Cumin seeds 1/2 tbsp
Chana Dal 1 tbsp
Curry leaves few
Red Chilli 2



PREPARATION

1. Pressure cook the cabbage. You can also cook them by steaming to avoid overcooking.

2. Mean while heat oil in a pan and do the seasoning. Then add onions.Once they are done add chopped tomatoes and turmeric. Let them cook till tomatoes are soft. Add ginger garlic paste. Just fry until the raw smell of ginger garlic goes off.

3. Add red chilli powder, corriander powder, cumin powder, coconut powder and cooked cabbage. Mix well by adding salt. Garnish with cilantro.

Chamadumpa pulusu / Taro Roots

Chamadumpa/Taro roots is my cousins brother and sisters favourite veggie. They are very fond of Chamadumpa fry. They used to live in Chennai at that time.Once when we( me and my younger brother) visited them for summer holidays. My pinni made Chamadumpa fry and served us all. Suddenly these two started fighting for more curry. As we are not much used to that curry at that time, ended up sharing our part of the curry to them equally. This memory brings back a smile on my face..:)

INGREDIENTS

Chamadumpa/Taro roots 6
Onion 1 (finely chopped)
green chilli 2
Red Chilli powder 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder 1/4 tbsp
Tamarind juice 2 tbsp
Ginger Garlic paste 1/2 tbsp
Corriander powder 1/2 tbsp
Cumin Powder 1/2 tbsp
Cumin seeds 1/2 tbsp
Oil 2 tbsp
Curry leaves
Cilantro



PREPARATION

1. Boil Chamadumpa in a pressure cooker, peel and cut them into medium sized pieces. Keep them side

2. In a wide pan, heat oil and add mustard seeds. When they start popping add Cumin seeds, green chilli and curry leaves. Add chopped onions and fry them till golden brown.

3. At this point add Ginger garlic paste, red chilli powder, Cumin powder, Turmeric, corriander powder and salt. Fry it for a minute. Then add Chamadumpa pieces. Mix well.

4. Add Tamarind juice and enough water. Cook for 1o mins. Garnish with Cilantro.

My hubby loves this pulusu with Ragi mudda.

Ragi Mudda (Ragi Sankati)

This is the most traditional food in rural areas of south India. It is a very healthy food. My Mom used to make ragi(Finger Millet) flour from the scratch. She used to soak ragulu overnight, drain the excess water and wrap them in a cotton cloth for 10 to 12 hrs. By this time you can see sprouts appearing on ragulu. She used to roast them on low flame and make them into fine powder. This flour is used to make different varieties such as ragi mudda, ragi malt, even ragi rotte too.

This is one of my dad's favourite food. He loves to have it with peanut chutney and ghee. Back home in my parents house, we usually have this for breakfast, but here at inlaws they like to have it for lunch in combination with Chama dumpa pulusu or mutton curry. It can be eaten hot with curries or cold with curd. Both of the combinations tastes heavenly. Our lunch for today is ragi mudda with Chema dumpa pulusu.

INGREDIENTS

Rice 3/4 cup
Ragi flour 1 cup
water 5 cups
salt

PREPARATION





1. In a thick bottomed vessel cook rice with water by adding salt. Cook until rice is soft. Add ragi flour and let it be like that for 10 minutes without mixing. By doing this you can avoid having lumps in your mudda. Then stir the whole mixture by using the stick of pappu guthi or any wodden stick until there are no lumps.


2. Take a small portion of the mixture into a plate and make in into a round shape by using your hand. As the mudda will be very hot, it is done by dipping our hand in cold water to resist the heat. Make a small hole in the middle of the mudda to put ghee. Serve with your favourite curry

Raitha (Perugu Pachadi)

It is a great side dish for biriyani or any rice item. It just takes 10 mins to prepare this.

INGREDIENTS

Curd 2 cups
Small Onion 1(finely chopped)
Green chillies 2(finely chopped)
Small Tomato 1(finely chopped)
Cilanto (finely chopped)
Lime Juice 1 tbsp

PREPARATION

Mix all the ingredients together by adding some salt. Thts it, Raitha is ready

Semya Payasam (Vermicelli Kheer)

It is the most popular south Indian dessert. I usually prepare this when i have to offer prasadam to god. It is very easy and fast to prepare.

INGREDIENTS

Semya 1/2 cup
Milk 3 cups
Sugar 5 tbsp
Cashews 1 tbsp
Raisins 1 tbsp
Cardomom Powder 1/2 tbsp
Ghee 2 tbsp



PREPARATION

1. Heat ghee in a pan, fry cashews and Raisins till golden brown. Keep them aside.

2. In the same pan fry Semya till they become golden brown. Add milk and bring it to boil. Add sugar and cardomom powder, simmer it for 5 t0 8 mins. Garnish with the roasted nuts and raisins. Serve it hot or cold.

Alu curry

This is the most simplest curry. Usually it goes with Lemon rice, Dosa or Poori.



INGREDIENTS

Potatoes 4
Onion 1 (Chopped lengthwise)
Mustard seeds 1/2 tbsp
Cumin Seeds 1/2 tbsp
Chana dal 1 tbsp
Green Chillies 4
Red Chilli 1
Cilantro
Oil 2 tbsp





PREPARATION

1. Boil the Potatoes in a pressure cooker for a whistle and cut them into cubes. Keep aside

2. Heat the oil in a pan, add mustard seeds. When they pops add cumin seeds, chana dal, curry leaves and red chilli. Add onions. Cook till the onions are soft.

3. Grind green chillis and Cilantro in a mixer by adding some salt. Dont make it into a paste. Add this mixture to the cooked onions. Mix it once and let it cook for 5 mins.

4. Add the potato pieces, salt and mix well. Simmer it for 5 mins. Garnish with Cilantro.

Semiya Upma (Vermicelli Upma)

Since my childhood this is one of my all time favourite breakfast. It is my grandmother's favourite too. But my dad hates it. So instead of preparing it as a breakfast my mom used to prepare this as a snack when we get back from school. Now my husband is also not much fond of this breakfast. Eventhough he hates it i prepared it as a breakfast today....:)



INGREDIENTS

Semiya 2 cups

Onion 1

Tomato 1( chopped)

Water 2 cups

Green Chillies 4 (lengthwise chopped)

Chana Dal 1 tbsp

Few Cashews(split)

Mustard Seeds 1/2 tbsp

Cumin Seeds 1/2 tbsp

Few Curry leaves

Half Lemon

Cilantro (chopped)

oil 3 tbsp



PREPARATION

1. Add 1 tbsp of oil in a pan and roast semiya to light golden brown colour. Keep it aside

2. In the same pan, add the remaining oil. Add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, chana dal, cashews. When the mustard pops and cashews are roasted add green chillies and onions. When the onions are soft add tomatoes. Close the lid until tomatoes are done. Add 2 cups of water and salt as required. When the water starts boiling add the roated semiya. Cover the lid for 5 mins. Squeeze half a lemon and mix well. Garnish with Cilantro. Enjoy it with any pickle.

Pesarapappu Pappu (Moong Dal)

Pesarapappu pappu is very easy to cook. Its my saver whenever i want to cook something really fast. This afternoon i prepared it. This dal goes great with hot hot rice. Here is the recipe



INGREDIENTS

yellow Moong dal 1 cup

Small Onion 1

Tomato 1

Green Chillies 4

Turmeric 1/4 tbsp

SEASONING INGREDIENTS

Oil 2tbsp

Mustard Seeds 1/2 tbsp

Cumin Seeds 1/2 tbsp

Red Chiilies 2

Garlic Pods 2(Crushed)

Urad dal 1/2 tbsp

Curry leaves 4



PREPARATION

1. Pressure cook all the ingredients together with 2 cups of water. When the dal is cooked, add salt and mash it well.

2. In a pan heat oil, add mustard seeds. When the seeds starts spluttering add cumin seed, urad dal, red chillies, garlic, curry leaves. When the garlic turns golden brown add the cooked dal and mix well. Garnish with Cilantro.