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!!!!

Aval Usili

Aval, called poha in Hindi and flattened rice in English, is very easy to cook and aval usili is even more easier to make. If you like aval and if you have it at home, then you can make this dish in 5 minutes. No great masalas are used here, but the flavor is great (and so is the taste :-)).

Ingredients (2 servings):

Aval (thick) - 2 cups (using a measuring cup)
Black pepper powder - 1.5 teaspoons
Cumin powder - 1.5 teaspoons
Cooking oil - 1 tablespoon
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
Urad dhal - 1 teaspoon
Asafoetida - 1/4 teaspoon
Dried red chilli - 1 cut into half
Curry leaves - a few
Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. In a bowl, wash and soak the aval with just enough HOT water to cover it and set it aside for about 5 - 7 minutes, after which the aval would have become soft (but not mashed... if you add more water while soaking, it gets mashed).
2. Take a small pan, heat some cooking oil, add mustard seeds and wait for them to splutter. After the mustard splutters, add asafoetida, urad dhal, dried red chilli and curry leaves and fry until the urad dhal turns light golden brown in color.
3. To the contents of the pan, add the softened aval, black pepper powder, cumin powder and salt, mix everything well and turn off the stove after 2 minutes. Aval usili is ready in 5 minutes.

Note:
1. If you have whole black pepper and cumin seeds, you can make a freshly ground powder out of it and use that in the usili. Anything fresh is always better, ain't it????
2. I use thick aval as opposed to thin aval as the latter gets mashed very easily.

This makes for a really quick snack (like I said before, only if you have aval at hand ;-)). Often, I make this for breakfast because, by the time I get up, soak the aval and get ready to go to work, it would have become soft and I can make the usili in 5 minutes and have a tasty, hot breakfast :-). I like it with plain yogurt, but it is good as is.

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.

Jeera Rasam

Another rasam variety made with jeera (cumin seeds). Nothing can beat my grandmother's jeera rasam. Even my Mom's doesn't taste as good. Every time I visit my grandparents, jeera rasam will definitely be on the menu, sort of my grandmom's specialty. I miss her and her rasam!!!! :-( Anyhow, here is the recipe.

Ingredients (about 2 - 3 servings):

Tamarind soaked in water - about the size of a 1/2 inch ball
(If using tamarind paste, about 3/4 teaspoon of it)
Sambar powder - 2 full teaspoons
Asafoetida - 1/4 teaspoon
Salt to taste

To grind to a coarse paste (not very coarse but not fine either):

Toor dhal - 2 tablespoons
Cumin seeds - 1 tablespoon

For seasoning:

Cooking oil - 2 teaspoons
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
Curry leaves (a must) - a few

Procedure:

1. Soak toor dhal and cumin seeds in little warm water (enough to cover them) for about 15 minutes, grind to a coarse paste and set aside.
2. In a deep vessel, extract about 2 cups (using a measuring cup) of the juice of soaked tamarind or dilute the tamarind paste with 2 cups of water.
3. Add sambar powder, asafoetida and salt to the contents from step 2 and bring the mixture to a boil. Boil for about 15 minutes on medium heat or until the raw smell of sambar powder and tamarind goes off.
4. Now add the paste from step 1 to step 3, 1.5 cups of water, mix everything well and heat the contents until you see a froth like layer forming on the top. That is the indication that you should turn off the stove. Boiling anything with jeera in it will add a slight bitterness to the dish, or so says my Mom.
5. In a pan, heat some cooking oil, add mustard seeds and wait for them to splutter. Transfer the contents of the pan to the rasam in step 4 immediately after the mustard splutters.
6. Garnish with curry leaves. Flavorful jeera rasam is ready!!!!

Jeera rasam and paruppu usili go hand in hand. Whenever there is jeera rasam in the menu in our family, we can be sure that paruppu usili is also in the menu :-).

Gottu Rasam

The title may sound funny to some (or many) of you (in fact, my boyfriend calls it "goat rasam" ;-)) but this is supposed to be a ready-to-make rasam, as most of the time, people in India seem to have all the ingredients handy for this. Hot rasam and rice on a cold, rainy day (or night) is certainly comforting.

Ingredients (about 2 - 3 servings):

Tamarind soaked in water - about the size of a 1/2 inch ball
(If using tamarind paste, about 1/2 teaspoon of it)
Tomato - 1 medium sized cut into big chunks or just crush it by hand
(You can also chop the tomato if you would like it in every mouthful)
Toor dhal - 2 tablespoons
Asafoetida - 1/4 teaspoon
Sambar powder (or rasam powder) - 1.5 teaspoons
Black pepper powder - 1/2 teaspoon (you can add a bit more if you would like the pepper flavor to dominate)
Cumin powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Jaggery (optional, but I strongly recommend it :-)) - 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon
(You can use sugar if you don't have jaggery)
Salt to taste

For seasoning:

Cooking oil ( or ghee) - 2 teaspoons
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
Cumin seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Cilantro - 3 teaspoons finely chopped
Curry leaves - a few

Procedure:

1. In a deep vessel, extract about 2 cups (using a measuring cup) of the juice of soaked tamarind or dilute the tamarind paste with 2 cups of water.
2. Add raw toor dhal, asafoetida, sambar powder, little salt and tomatoes to step 1 and boil the mixture until the raw smell of tamarind and sambar powder go away and the tomatoes get cooked. This roughly takes about 15 - 20 minutes on medium heat.
3. After step 2, add pepper powder, cumin powder and jaggery and about 1 cup of water to the mixture, heat for about 5 more minutes and turn off the stove. My Mom says that boiling the rasam after adding pepper and jeera will introduce slight bitterness in it. We don't want that, do we??? So, we turn it off before it starts boiling.
4. In a pan, heat some cooking oil or ghee (clarified butter), add mustard seeds and wait for them to splutter. After the mustard splutters, add jeera, mix everything well and pour the contents into the rasam from step 3.
5. Garnish with chopped cilantro and fresh curry leaves.

For a slight variation in flavor, you can throw a couple of crushed garlic cloves in step 2 or even add the garlic in step 4, after the mustard has spluttered.

This tastes somewhat similar to the rasams that they serve at Brahmin weddings back home. The jaggery introduces a very light sweetness in the rasam, which tastes great. Cooked, nicely mashed rice mixed with ghee (clarified butter) and this rasam taste yum!!!! :-)

Lemon Rasam

Rasam comes under the category of comfort food according to me. It is something that is light and can be made in a jiffy. Most Indians (or at least South Indians) think that rasam is something that people eat when someone is down with cold/fever and that it doesn't have any nutritional value, since most varieties of rasam are made with tamarind extract. But, rasam can me made with dhal, which is rich in protein. Lemon rasam does not have any tamarind and it does contain dhal. So, there you go.

Ingredients (about 2 - 3 servings):

Fresh lime/lemon - 1 big one
Toor dhal - 1/4 cup (using a measuring cup)
Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Asafoetida - 1/4 teaspoon
Tomato - 1 small one cut into cubes or you just squeeze it with hand
(You can even chop the tomato if you would like it in every mouthful :-))

To grind with water:

Green chillies - 2 to 3 small ones (depending on how spicy you would like it)
Salt - about a teaspoon

For seasoning:

Cooking oil - 2 teaspoons
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
Cilantro - 2 teaspoons finely chopped

Procedure:

1. Pressure cook toor dhal with turmeric powder, mash the cooked dhal and set aside. I take dhal and water in the ratio 1:3 and cook for 3 whistles.
2. Grind green chillies with salt and set aside.
3. In a vessel, add the ground green chillies, about 2 cups of water, asafoetida and tomatoes and bring it to a boil. Boil on medium heat until the raw chilli smell goes away and the tomatoes have cooked. This takes about 15 minutes.
4. To the mixture from step 3, add the mashed dhal from step 1, about 1 cup of water and bring it to a boil. Boil for 5 more minutes and turn off the stove.
5. In a small pan, heat some cooking oil, add mustard seeds and wait for them to splutter. After the mustard splutters, transfer the contents of the pan to the mixture from step 4.
6. Garnish with chopped cilantro. Squeeze the juice of a fresh lime/lemon and lemon rasam is done! You can add more salt at the end if needed and also more lime/lemon juice if you want it to be tangy.

Note:
1. My Mom says grinding green chillies with salt will grind them properly and that is true, because I once tried to grind them alone and they wouldn't grind well.
2. Please avoid reheating in the microwave as the rasam tends to get bitter because of the lemon juice in it. I usually keep it out about 30 - 45 minutes before eating. Mixing it with hot rice also works. Heat transfer baby!!!!

You can also add about 1/2 teaspoon of sambar powder in step 3 along with the other ingredients. If you do so, please be sure to reduce the green chillies to 1 as sambar powder itself is spicy. That gives it a slightly different flavor :-). This rasam goes very well with rice and ghee (clarified butter). It can also be had like soup.

Mahi's Dum Aloo

I first tried dum aloo after Mahimaa (my undergrad friend) posted the recipe on her blog. I've tried quite a few of her dishes and they were great. Dum aloo was no exception. Today was the second time I tried it and it came out very well once again. I will jot down the recipe from Mahi's blog for my own reference, but for a prettier version, please click here to see Mahi's entry (she is an excellent photographer as well).

Ingredients (about 2 servings):

Potatoes - 3 medium sized ones
Cooking oil - 2 tablespoons
Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon (vary this to suit your taste)
Coriander powder - 1.5 teaspoons
Garam masala powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Kasuri methi (optional) - 1 teaspoon crushed
(Kasuri methi is dried fenugreek leaves)
Cilantro - 2 teaspoons finely chopped
Plain yogurt - 1 teaspoon
Lemon juice (optional) - 1 teaspoon
Salt to taste

To grind to a paste without adding water:

Onion - 1/2 of a medium sized one
Ginger - about an inch
Garlic - about 2 big cloves
Green chilli - 1 or 2

To grind separately to a paste without adding water:

Tomatoes - 2 small

Procedure:

1. Boil, peel and cut potatoes into bite-sized pieces and set aside.
2. Grind onion, ginger, garlic and green chilli to a fine paste without adding water and set aside.
3. Grind tomatoes to a fine paste and set aside.
4. In a pan, heat some cooking oil and add the paste from step 2. Fry the paste for about 5 minutes and then add the paste from step 3. Mix the contents well.
5. To step 4, add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder and salt, mix everything well once again, simmer and cook until the raw smell of the onions and tomatoes vanish. This takes about 25 - 30 minutes.
6. To the contents in step 5, add the potatoes, yogurt, kasuri methi, chopped cilantro and lemon juice, cook for 5 more minutes and turn off the stove.

Dum aloo goes very well with any kind of roti. I tried it with rice as well and it was pretty good I would say. The first time around when I made this dish, I didn't have any kasuri methi at hand and hence didn't know to what extent it would enhance the flavor, but believe me, when I added kasuri methi the second time, it was simply out of the world :-).