Health for life

If i make rotis for our dinner, i usually goes for a quick chutney or else ill serve the rotis simply with a gravy i prepared for our lunch. When i choosed puffed lotus seeds as the main ingredient for this weeks blogging marathons theme, i really want to give a try to an easy matar makhana, i know my family wont be very happy with this dish but i really want to give a try and finally cooked this gravy. As a mom, i have to break my head everytime to feed my kids with some healthy stuffs atleast twice a day. When i came know about the health values of this seeds, i really want to add them in a gravy to serve along with the rotis so that they wont notice the addition of these seeds if they are cooked along with their favourite vegetable the famous green peas.

Seriously i never cooked these puffed lotus seeds aka fox nuts in a gravy also i never had a chance to taste them, obviously i was waiting eagerly to taste this curry with some rotis. Thanks god,we just loved it, this gravy turned out extremely creamy,delicious and nutty, everyone at home simply enjoyed thoroughly this matar makhana with their rotis for their dinner.This gravy is my second day post for this weeks blogging marathon.Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#26.

After potatoes, raw bananas are one of my favourite veggies, i never failed to get them from Indian groceries even sometimes its really very hard to get super fresh raw bananas. My last trip to Indian groceries was simply awesome, i brought back home super fresh  veggies especially raw bananas and immediately cooked one of my favourite kootu with this veggies. When the weather is too chilled and if you feel like having something comforting, this rawa banana kootu will definitely satsify your tastebuds.

This tangy gravy goes awesome with rice and fried papads, i can survive for many days with this fingerlicking gravy. They tastes even more better after a day and this gravy goes for lentils,raw banana and spices.This gravy is usually made either with toor dal or channa dal but my choice is channadal here. This kootu goes grated coconut while tempering which gives a wonderful flavour to this dish. Since this gravy will turn thick, you can serve them very well as side dish to curd rice. Sending this gravy to my own event CWS-Channadal.


1/4cup Channadal
2nos Raw banana (cubed)
1no Tamarind (gooseberry size)
1tsp Sambhar powder
1/4tsp Turmeric powder
Salt
Water
1/2tsp Mustard seeds
1/2tsp Urad dal
1/2tsp Channadal
1/4tsp Asafoetida powder
1tbsp Grated coconut
Few curry leaves

Pressure cook the channadal with enough water and keep aside.

Cook the cubed raw banana pieces with sambhar powde,turmeric powder and salt with enough water.

Meanwhile extract the tamarind juice from the tamarind piece.

Add this tamarind extract,cooked and mashed channa dal to the cooked raw banana pieces,cook everything in simmer until the gravy turns thick.

Lets splutters the mustard seeds,urad dal,channadal,hing,add the grated coconut and curry leaves,fry until they turns brown.

Add this tempered spiced to the kootu and bring it to boil.

Serve hot with rice or as side dish with curd rice.

My grandma prepares wonderful eggplant curry with peanuts, obviously we never failed to make eggplant curries with peanuts. For a change,i tried my hands in making a wonderful,flavourful gravy with peanuts and coconut paste. Serve this gravy with rice, you can have an extra plate of rice with this nutty,delicious gravy. Also this gravy works out wonder even along with simple phulkas or parathas.We get eggplants easily here thats why i usually skip our usual Indian variety brinjals if the recipe asks for brinjals.

Since i used eggplants i didnt stuffed them and this gravy goes for small eggplant chunks. Seriously i love small cubes of eggplants than the stuffed brinjals in my curry,if you want to replace the eggplants obviously you can go for the small brinjals.Sending to my event CWS-Peanuts hosted by me.


1no Medium eggplant (cubed)
1no Tamarind (lemon sized)
2nos Garlic (chopped)
1no Onion (chopped)
2tsp Coriander powder
1/2tsp Turmeric powder
1tsp Garam masala powder
1/2tsp Mustard seeds
3tbsp Peanuts
4nos Dry red chillies
1/4tsp Asafoetida powder
1/4cup Coconut (grated)
Salt
Oil

Soak the tamarind in warm water and extract the juice from it.

Heat enough oil in a pan, add the onions,garlic,peanuts,dry red chillies,coconut and fry everything in simmer until a nice aroma comes from.

Once cooled,grind them together as smooth paste.

In the same pan, add enough oil again, let splutters the mustard seeds,asafoetida powder, add the cubed eggplant chunks, turmeric and fry for few minutes.

Add the grounded paste and saute for few more minutes.

Now add the tamarind juice,coriander powder, garam masala powder,salt,water (if needed) and cook in simmer.

Cook everything until the oil gets separates from the gravy.

Garnish the gravy with coriander leaves and serve with rice.

If you would have gone through my previous post, you might know very well that am running my third week of blogging marathon with a super duper interesting theme called Meatless dishes. Coming to todays post, its going to be a Chettinad Special, this dish is well known in chettinad cuisine and this vegetarian fish gravy or curry goes for a legume based vegetarian fish. For making this vegetarian fish, we need some crotons plant leaf or banana leaf for steaming the legume mixture which is supposed to be the vegetarian fish.But here in Paris,its a hard task for me to get those both leaves,so i used a greased baking sheet for steaming which turned out the vegetarian fish prefectly as much as like those leaves.

Actually this vegetarian fish gravy goes for soaked red chori/cowpeas aka thatta payir which is grinded as bit coarse paste with few spices.After going through a steam cook, this cooked red chori mixture will looks almost like steam cooked fish which is later sliced as fish slices. Then they are fried and added to a tamarind based gravy.This is how this vegetarian fish gravy is prepared, however the cooking process goes for bit time consuming, am sure this vegetarian fish gravy is definitely worth to try.A fingerlicking gravy tastes simply awesome and obviously you wont miss the fish here.Serve this gravy with rice topped with ghee and papads, am sure you will have a super filling lunch.Sending to Srivallis Side Dish Mela..



For Vegetarian Fish:
1cup Cow peas/Red chori
2nos Dry red chillies
3nos Garlic cloves
1tsp Fennel seeds
Salt

Soak the cow peas overnite.

Next day, take the soaked cow peas in a mixie jar with dry red chillies, garlic cloves,fennel seeds and salt, grind as bit coarse paste.

Grease a baking sheet, transfer the grounded paste to it, flatten them as thin as possible.

Fold the sheet and steam cook for 5minutes.

Once the steamed mixture is bit warm, cut as medium size pieces.

Shallow fry the vegetarian fish pieces until they turns golden brown, keep aside.

For Gravy:
2cups Tamarind extract
15nos Shallots (diced)
2nos Tomatoes (chopped)
5nos Garlic cloves
1/4cup Gingelly oil
1/2tsp  Mustard seeds
1tsp Fenugreek seeds
Few curry leaves
1tbsp Coriander powder
1tsp Chilly powder
Salt

Heat the gingelly oil, fry the mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and curry leaves.

Add the shallots,garlic cloves and chopped tomatoes and saute everything for few minutes until the shallots gets partially cooked..

Now add the tamarind extract with salt, coriander powder, chilly powder, cook in medium flame for 5 minutes.

Add now the already fried vegetarian fish pieces to cooking gravy, close it with lid and dont disturb it.

Cook the gravy until it turns thick and the oil gets separates..

Serve warm with hot steaming rice and papads.

Chettinade cuisine, one of the famous cuisine i have seen rarely people saying no. This cuisine have so many authentic foods with wonderful flavours,especially my better half fond for their dishes. Being a Pondicherrian,i have been pampered from my younger age with chettinad style cuisine, coz our pondicherry cuisine is a medley of many cuisines and most of our dishes will have a chettinad touch in it. Obviously if am cooking chettinad style foods at home, my family will wait eagerly to taste them.

Coming to this chicken kuzhambu, i prepared it few days back and i thought that i have already posted in my space, thank god i checked my recipe index before a month and i found that am yet to post our family favourite chettinad chicken kuzhambu,when i prepared this time i immediately clicked few pictures and here am posting it today.This gravy goes awesome with any kind of foods, serve it with rice or rotis. Am sure everyone at home will definitely love this delicious curry. A real feast for any chicken lovers like me.Sending this fingerlicking kuzhambu to Lakshmis Tried & Tasted- Chettinad Cuisine.



1kg Chicken
20nos Shallots /big Onion (chopped)
2nos Tomatoes(chopped)
10nos Garlic pods
1tbsp Ginger garlic paste
1tbsp Coriander powder
1tbsp Lemon juice
1/2tsp Turmeric powder
2tbsp Coriander leaves (for garnishing)

Fresh Masala:
2tbsp Coriander seeds
8nos Dry red chillies
1tsp Fennel seeds
1no Cinnamon stick
2nos Cloves
2nos Cardamom seeds

Coconut paste:
1/4cup Coconut (grated)
1tsp Poppy seeds
1tsp Fennel seeds

Seasoning:
2nos Cinnamon sticks
2nos Cloves
2nos Cardamoms
1tsp Fennel seeds
2nos Bay leaves
Few Curry leaves

Heat a cooker and add enough oil, fry all the ingredients from the list for seasoning.

Meanwhile dry roast all the ingredients for masala and grind as fine paste with enough water.

Once the whole spices get ftried,add the ginger garlic paste and stir for few minutes.

Now add the chopped onions, garlic, tomatoes one by one and saute until the veggies get cooked.

Add the chicken pieces with turmeric powder to the cooking veggies and saute for few minutes until the chicken pieces release some water.

Add the freshly grounded paste and coriander powder, mix everything well,add enough water and cook for few minutes..put off the stove.

Grind the ingredients given for making the coconut paste and keep aside..

Open the cooker and add the grinded coconut paste, cook for few minutes.

Add enough water for the gravy, or coriander powder in case the gravy looks watery and cook for few minutes.

Finally put off the stove and add the lemon juice.

Garnish the gravy with coriander leaves..

Enjoy hot with rice or rotis..