Simple Carrot Fry

Carrot fry/curry is of the easiest ways to make something totally yummy out of carrots. Normally, I add carrots to almost all the mixed vegetable dishes I make as they add a little sweetness to the dish, but don't make anything just out of carrots itself. But this curry has a great flavor that it makes me forget that I'm eating carrots :-).

Ingredients (2 - 3 servings):

Fresh carrots - 4 to 5 washed, peeled and chopped
Cooking oil - a couple of teaspoons
Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Urad dhal - 1/2 teaspoon
Asafoetida - a couple of pinches
Dried red chillies - a couple of them broken by hand
Grated/powdered coconut (optional) - about 2 teaspoons
Red chilli powder (optional) - 1 teaspoon (vary this to suit your taste)
Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. In a pan, heat some cooking oil, pop mustard seeds, add the urad dhal, asafoetida and dried red chillies and fry until the urad dhal turns light golden brown in color.
2. Add the chopped carrots to step 1, mix well, cover and cook on low heat for about 10 - 15 minutes or until the carrots get cooked.
3. Add some red chilli powder and salt to step 2 and fry the carrots on medium heat for another 5 - 7 minutes and turn off the stove. You can add some grated/powdered coconut now, but otherwise the carrot fry is ready to go.

This goes great with rice and sambar or rasam.

Simple Cauliflower Fry

This is one of the easiest dishes to make except for the time to clean and cut cauliflower.

Ingredients (about 2 - 3 servings):

Cauliflower - 1 big, washed and cut into small florets
Cooking oil - 1.5 tablespoons
Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Urad dhal - 1 teaspoon
Asafoetida - a couple of pinches
Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon (vary this to suit your taste)
Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. In a wide pan, heat some cooking oil, pop mustard seeds, add the urad dhal and asafoetida and fry until the urad dhal turns light golden brown in color.
2. To step 1, add the cut cauliflower florets, mix everything well and fry on medium high heat for about 3 - 4 minutes with constant stirring.
3. Once the cauliflower starts browning, add some red chilli powder and salt and fry until it gets cooked and turns nice and crispy. Turn off the stove.

A good variation would be to add about a handful of chopped onions to step 1 and fry them until golden brown before moving on to step 2. You can also add some chopped potatoes along with the cauliflower florets.

Tip:
I have noticed that separating the florets by hand instead of chopping them using a knife keeps them intact during the cooking process and that way I can cut them to the size I desire.

This goes a side dish with rice and sambar/rasam/plain yogurt. I even have it as a snack sometimes.

Stuffed Italian Peppers

When I first saw the Italian peppers at the grocers, the first thing that came to my mind was bajjis (an appetizer made by dipping the veggies in a spiced up batter and deep frying them). A while ago, I noticed a friend of mine using them to make stuffed pepper dishes. I thought it was a good way of using up the left over curries and turn them into a totally new and tasty dish. Btw, those peppers are no where close to hot. In fact, they have a slight sweetness to them and will be great for bajjis as well.

Ingredients (about 2 servings):

Italian peppers - 4 to 5
Any left over dry curry - about 3/4 to 1 cup (using a measuring cup)
(I make this often with left over potato curry, but you can use any dry curry that you have)
Cooking oil - a couple of teaspoons
Black pepper powder - a few pinches
Salt to sprinkle

Procedure:

1. Wash the peppers, slit around the cap and take the cap and seeds off. If you are filled with patience, you can use a small knife and take away the veins too and make more room for your curry filling :-).
2. Fill each pepper with the left over curry and set aside.
3. In a wide pan, heat a couple of teaspoons of cooking oil, place the peppers when the oil gets hot and sprinkle some salt and pepper. Now, turn and cook them uniformly until you see that nice brown char on them. This doesn't even take long since your stuffing inside is already cooked. Isn't it a really sweet makeover of leftovers??!! :-)

These taste great with chappathis and also parathas. Needless to say, you can also have them with rice dishes.

Koththavarangaai (Cluster Beans) Fry

Cluster beans, called koththavarangaai in Tamil, is one of my favorites. Frankly, I like this beans better than the other varieties. Here is one very simple fry with koththavarangaai.

Ingredients (about 2 servings):

Cluster beans - about 1/4 lb cut into about 1 inch pieces
Cooking oil - 2 tablespoons
Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Urad dhal - 1 teaspoon
Asafoetida - a couple of pinches
Red chilli powder (optional) - 1 teaspoon (vary this to suit your taste)
Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. Wash, trim the edges, remove the veins from the sides and cut cluster beans into 1 inch pieces and set aside.
2. In a wide pan, heat some cooking oil, pop mustard seeds, add urad dhal and asafoetida and fry until the urad dhal turns light golden brown in color.
3. To step 2, add the cut cluster beans from step 1, mix everything well, put a lid on and cook on low heat for about 5 - 7 minutes until the beans becomes slighlty tender.
4. To step 3, add some salt and red chilli powder (if you need that little extra kick :-)) and fry it on medium heat until the beans gets cooked thoroughly. It roughly takes about 15 - 20 minutes.
5. Serve as a side dish with rice and sambar/rasam.

If you add a little chilli powder, you can have this even with chappathis.

Simple Eggplant Fry

I love eggplant fry when it is made from the small/baby eggplants. Personally, I feel that the big eggplants do not have as much flavor and taste. Whenever I go to the Indian grocery store, I would definitely grab some of the small eggplants and make this dish.

Ingredients (about 2 servings):

Small/baby eggplants - 1 lb cut into bite sized pieces
(Soak the cut eggplants in water so that they don't turn black)
Cooking oil - 1.5 tablespoons
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
Urad dhal - 1 teaspoon
Asafoetida - a pinch
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Salt to taste

To fry in a drop of oil and grind into a coarse powder:

Channa dhal - 1.5 teaspoons
Dried red chillies - 1 or 2 (vary this to suit your taste)
Coriander seeds - 1 teaspoon

Procedure:

1. Fry channa dhal, dried red chillies and coriander seeds in a drop of oil, grind into a coarse powder and set aside.
2. In a wide pan, heat some cooking oil, pop mustard seeds, add the urad dhal, assfoetida and turmeric powder and fry until the urad dhal turns light golden brown in color.
3. To step 2, add the cut eggplant, mix the contents well, put on a lid and let it cook until the eggplant gets soft.
4. To step 3, add some salt and the spice powder mix from step 1 and keep frying until it cooks thoroughly and turns crispy and turn off the stove.

If you feel lazy to make the spice powder, you can add just a little (or more) chilli powder to step 4 or can do without any spices too. Alternately, you could even make large quantities of that spice powder and store it for later use. When I was little, my Mom and Grandma used to set aside a portion of this curry for me before adding the spice powder and I got so used to that taste that they still do it for me till date :-)

You can serve this as a side dish with rice.

I'm sending this to Sanghi's Fall in Love (FIL) - Brinjal event. Once again, I'm dedicating this to my boyfriend who learned it from me and actually makes it quite often these days :-).

Kovakkaai Fry

Kovakkaai, also called Ivy Gourd in English, was an unknown vegetable to me until a few years back when I had it at a friend's place. My Mom never used kovakkaai in her cooking and I didn't know how great it tasted. As a matter of fact, I made kovakkaai fry when my Mom visited me last summer and now she is making it on a regular basis. How sweet is that????!!!!! Anyway, getting back to business, this fry was the simplest that I've ever made (except for the cutting part, which takes too long), with very little variety of spices that go into it. Because of the limited spices, the flavor and taste of kovakkaai is well preserved.

Ingredients (about 2 servings):

Kovakkaai - 1/2 a pound cut into thin slices
Cooking oil - 1 tablespoon
Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon (vary this to suit your taste)
Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. Wash kovakkaai, cut into thin slices and set aside.
2. In a wide pan, heat some cooking oil, add the kovakkaai and fry for about 5 minutes or until it gets a little soft, on medium heat.
3. To step 2. add some red chilli powder and salt and keep frying until the kovakkaai cooks thoroughly and becomes crispy.
4. Turn off the stove and serve as as side with rice or rotis.

Tip:
Soaking the cut kovakkaai in salt water for 10 minutes before cooking speeds up the cooking process, or so says my Mom :-).

My Mom's Style Potato Fry

This was the very first item that I learned as a novice cook and my most favorite side dish (actually, I have it as a snack ;-)). It is also the ONLY item that my sister knows to make (she will probably kill me for letting out her little secret). There are 2 different variations here based on how you feel about cutting potatoes ;-).

Ingredients (about 2 - 3 servings):

Potatoes (I use yukon gold) - 4 to 5 medium sized ones cut into small, thin pieces (just like the picture :-))
Cooking oil - 2 tablespoons
Coconut oil (a must) - 2 to 3 teaspoons
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
Urad dhal - 1 to 1.5 teaspoons
Asafoetida - 1/4 teaspoon
Red chilli powder - 1 to 2 teaspoons (vary this to suit your taste)
Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. Heat some cooking oil in a pan, pop mustard seeds, add the urad dhal and asafoetida and fry until the urad dhal turns light golden brown in color.
2. To the above step, add the finely cut potatoes and mix the contents well. Keep frying for a about 5 minutes on medium heat.
3. Add red chilli powder and salt and fry more until the potatoes get cooked and turn a little crunchy and turn off the stove.
4. Add the coconut oil (this is all that does the magic) now and mix everything well once again. That is it!!!!

Note:
1. You can add sambar powder instead of red chilli powder to give it a slightly different flavor, but don't forget the coconut oil at the very end :-).
2. If you don't want to do any cutting work, you can boil and mash the potatoes and follow the above procedure. I normally make the mashed version if I'm traveling and want to take chappathis with me. I simply roll the chappathi with the curry inside and it neatly fits into a ziploc :-). The picture below depicts the mashed version.

Both varieties make for a good snack as well as a side dish and taste extrodinary with curd rice.

Cauliflower (Black)Pepper Fry

I tried this recipe for the first time today and it came out very well. Actually, I was talking to one of my undergrad friends, Hamsika, about two weeks back and she told me about this dish. Since I had not heard of such a simple dish with cauliflower before, I got curious and took the recipe from her to try it out. I would encourage people who like cauliflower to try this and see if you like it.

Ingredients (about 2 - 3 servings):

Cauliflower - 1 small cut into small florets
Butter (if you are not a calorie freak) - 1 tablespoon (or more if you like it buttery)
(You can use the same amount of cooking oil as well)
Cumin seeds - 2 teaspoons
Black pepper powder - 3 teaspoons (vary this to suit your taste)
Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. Cook the cauliflower florets with water and some salt in a vessel until they get a LITTLE soft. You should be able to break them with a spoon, like, it should be tender but not mashed. This should roughly take about 7 - 10 minutes on the stove top on medium heat. Drain the water and set the half cooked florets aside.
2. In a pan, heat some butter (or cooking oil), add cumin seeds and the florets from step 1. Mix the contents well and fry for a minute or so.
3. To step 2, add some black pepper powder and salt, fry until the cauliflower turns light golden brown in color and turn off the stove. This should roughly take about 10 minutes on medium heat. There you go!

You can use freshly ground black pepper instead of the powdered version. I tried this as a side for rice and it was yum. Haven't tried this with chappathis yet, but I have a feeling that it will be good :-). Thanks to Hamsi!!!!

Cabbage Fry With Onions

For a long time, my Mom used to make cabbage curry with coconut, which was mostly sweet and went well as a side dish with rice. Although that style of cooking cabbage tasted good, it was sort of boring. That was the only method that she knew to make a dry cabbage curry and it was always either that or the cabbage koottu. One fine day, she amazed us with this really yummy cabbage fry with onions, which she had learned from a colleague at work. She didn't ask us like she normally does, if we would like to try a new dish with cabbage since she knew we would be reluctant to try any dish with cabbage ;-). Whenever I cook cabbage, my first option would be the fry with onions and only very rarely do I make the other varieties.

Ingredients (about 2 - 3 servings):

Cabbage (any variety) - 1 small cut very finely (it should look like it has been grated into thin pieces)
Onion - 1 small or medium sized sliced into thin pieces
Green chillies - 2 slit into half (vary this to suit your taste)
Cooking oil - 2 tablespoons
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
Asafoetida - 1/4 teaspoon
Urad dhal - 1 teaspoon
Curry leaves - a few
Red chilli powder - 1 full teaspoon (vary this to suit your taste)
Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. In a wide pan, heat some cooking oil, add mustard seeds and wait for them to splutter. After they splutter, add urad dhal, asafoetida, slit green chillies and curry leaves and fry until the urad dhal turns light golden brown in color.
2. Immediately after step 1, add onions and fry until they turn golden brown in color.
3. To step 2, add the cut cabbage, mix everything well, put a lid on and cook the contents on low heat until the cabbage get cooked half way through.
4. When the cabbage is half cooked, take the lid off, add red chilli powder and salt and keep frying the contents until the cabbage cooks well. This roughly takes about 15 minutes and the cabbage will turn light golden brown during the process. Turn off the stove and you have the yummy cabbage fry!

This goes very well with chappathis/rotis. The sweetness of the cabbage and onions together with the spiciness of the green chillies and red chilli powder gives it a great taste. I love it with plain curd rice as well.

Seppankizhangu (Colacasia) Fry

Seppankizhangu, called Colacasia scientifically (I remember the scientific name of it from my VIII standard botany class when we used to collect samples for tubers :-) Also, the way my botany teacher used to say Colacasia would sound really funny since she had a strong Telugu accent), is very tasty when fried. I don't know the Hindi or the common name for this, but I think it is also called taro root (not sure though). Here is a link to its image (Google is great!). It was a long lost dish for me until last summer when my Mom identified seppankizhangu in a local, Asian grocery store. I had been to that store many many times since I came to New Hamsphire but didn't have the faintest idea that that store carried seppankizhangu. So, now that my Mom found seppankizhangu, my happiness knew no bounds. It had been nearly 5 years since I had eaten my Mom's seppankizhangu fry. Ever since, this dish has entered my very own cuisine :-).

Ingredients (about 2 - 3 servings):

Seppankizhangu - 4 - 5 medium sized ones
Coconut oil (a must) - about 1/2 teaspoon
Cooking oil - 2 tablespoons
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
Asafoetida - 1/4 teaspoon
Red chilli powder - 1.5 teaspoons (vary to suit your taste, but you have to be sure to add enough to balance the tamarind)
Tamarind soaked in very little water - about the size of a 1/2 inch ball
(If using tamarind paste, about 1/2 teaspoon of it)
Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. Pressure cook seppankizhangu (I normally cook for 3 whistles), peel, cut into small pieces and set aside.
2. Extract a very thick essence of the soaked tamarind and set aside. You need not worry about this step if using tamarind paste. Sometimes, seppankizhangu has a tendency to cause an itchy sensation on your tongue. Adding tamarind takes that off completely and you can enjoy your fry.
3. In a pan, heat some cooking oil, add mustard seeds and wait for them to splutter. After the mustard splutters, immediately add the asafoetida, cut seppankizhangu, tamarind extract or paste, red chilli powder and salt and mix everything well. Fry for about 15 minutes on medium heat until the seppankizhangu turns crispy. Turn off the stove.
4. Add the coconut oil, mix everything well once again and you are ready to eat!!!!

Recently, I figured that seppankizhangu fry goes well with chappathis, but once again, curd rice and seppankizhangu fry are an unbeatable combo (Btw, I know the picture doesn't look like this is a fry type side, but with the seppankizhangu that I get near my place, I HAVE to pressure cook them for a long time and they get mashed. Anyway, the taste is all that matters, at least to me ;-)). Try it and you will also love it :-).

Paagarkkaai (Bitter Gourd) Fry

Paagarkkaai a.k.a karella a.k.a bitter gourd, is very good for health. Most people don't like it because, like its English name says, it IS bitter. My Mom makes paagarkkaai in such a way that the bitterness doesn't show. She deep fries paagarkkaai and also makes something called "pitlai" with it, which is somewhat similar to sambar (but paagarkkaai pitlai is a whole new post by itself). It is very easy to make paagarkkaai fry and here is the recipe :-).

Ingredients (about 2 - 3 servings):

Paagarkkaai - 4 medium sized ones cut into small pieces
(You can take the seeds out if they are too hard. Tender paagarkkaai seeds can be retained though)
Tamarind soaked in very little water - about the size of a small lemon
(If using tamarind paste, about 1/2 teaspoon of it)
Red chilli powder - 2 teaspoons (vary this to suit your taste, but be sure to add enough to balance the tamarind)
Asafoetida - 1/4 teaspoon
Cooking oil - 2 tablespoons
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. Take a bowl, add the cut paagarkkaai, asafoetida, red chilli powder, salt, the thick extract of the tamarind soaked in water (Yes, this time, the tamarind extract from the soaked tamarind should be very thick) or the tamarind paste, mix everything well and marinate the paagarkkaai in the mixture for about 30 minutes. You can finish the rest of the cooking during this time ;-). Marinating the mixture in tamarind extract/paste and salt is to take the bitterness from the paagarkkaai.
2. Heat some oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and wait for them to splutter. After the mustard splutters, add the marinated paagarkkaai and cook on low heat for about 10 minutes. You can throw the lid on during this time.
3. After the paagarkkaai has softened, deep fry it on medium heat and turn off the stove. It rougly takes about 20 more minutes.

I simply love this paagarkkaai fry with curd rice. That is an unbeatable combo :-).

Potato Fry With Onions - My Maami's Style

Who would not like potatoes??? Potato is one vegetable that people of all ages like. And, almost all the time, any dish with potatoes tastes good and also comes out well the very first time it is made. During my childhood days, our family used to go to Rukku Maami's (my Maami's name is Rukmani) place for lunch parties and the highlight of the lunch would be her potato fry with onions. I just love it. Even when my Mom tries to make it my Maami's way, we used to feel that it doesn't taste as good ;-).

Ingredients (about 3 servings):

Potatoes - 3 to 4 medium sized ones
Onion - 1 medium sized or 1/2 big one thinly sliced
Green chillies - 2 slit
Curry leaves - a few
Cooking oil - 2 table spoons
Coconut oil - 1.5 teaspoons
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
Urad dhal - 1 teaspoon
Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon (vary this to suit your taste)
Asafoetida - 1/4 teaspoon
Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. Boil, peel and cut potatoes into small cubes and set aside.
2. In a pan, heat some cooking coil, add mustard seeds and wait for them to splutter. After the mustard seeds splutter, add urad dhal, green chillies, curry leaves and asafoetida and fry until the urad dhal turns light golden brown in color.
3. To step 2, add the onions and fry until they turn light golden brown in color. To the fried onions, add some red chilli powder and salt and fry for 2 more minutes.
4. Add the boiled potato cubes to the onions and shallow fry the mixture from step 3 on medium heat. This takes about 5 - 10 minutes.
5. Just about 30 seconds before turning off the stove, add the coconut oil and mix everything well. Coconut oil gives it all the flavor and it is my Maami's potato only then.

I personally feel that potato fry of any kind goes very well with any rice variety and also roti variety. It is one universal dish that can pair up with anything ;-).