BEANS PARIPPU USLI

Beans pariuppu usli is a dry subzi made with beans, chana dal and tur dal.  It is very tasty and can be served with sambhar rice, rasam rice, I prefer to have it with.

Normally, the dals are soaked and ground to a paste with red and green chilli, steamed and crumbled and added to the cooked beans with tadka.  But I made it in a different way.  

The same can be prepared with Vazhapoo, cluster beans, carrot, cabbage, broad beans  etc.  Maharashtrians make watli dal with raw mango.  

POTATO STEW

Potato stew is a simple side dish recipe which can be served with puttu, idiyappam etc.  But my daughter loves to have it with Bhakri (any kind of bhakri) hence I make this for her.

It is a mild dish prepared in coconut milk.  If not coconut milk, I use fresh cream also, but the taste differs.  I never use the ready made coconut milk as I prefer to take the pain of making the coconut milk at home.

It is a kerala special dish with puttu, idiyappam which they serve steaming hot  in banana leaf which I love to eat.  If you prefer, you can use the ready made coconut milk.

Let us look at the recipe now:

RAW BANANA SUBZI

Banana raw or ripe can be used for making varieties of food apart from eating the same as a fruit.  We can make chips,subzi etc. out of the raw bananas and the ripe one can be used for making milk shakes,  pan cakes, curries, jams etc.  They can be baked or steamed or wrapped in banana leaves and cooked.

related posts:

banana stem bhajia
 banana flower thoran, 
nentran pazham pulissery,  
banana skin thoran,   
banana stem sambhar ,
 banana flower sambar, 
 banana stem kofta sambar,
 banana stem soup, 
raw banana paratha, 
 banana flower raita,  
banana stem kofta kadhi,   
ripe banana halva,  
 raw banan cutlet,  
 chikoo, banana, apple milk shake, 
pazham pori, banana fritters,   
banana puliyitta kootu
panchamrutham

Banana are high in anti oxidants.  They are known to reduce swelling, protect against developing type 2 diabetes, aid in weight loss, strengthen the nervous system and in production of white blood cells due to the high level of Vitamin B6 that it contains.

All the parts of the plant is useful to us right from the flower to the stem (thandu), leaves etc.  Bananas are sliced and sun dried to make powder out of it which is cooked with milk and fed to the babies.  This is quite healthy comparing to the baby foods available now a days. In Kerala, Pazham pori, chips and Nurukku is famous.  Pachadi is also made out of the banana.

Bananas are good for  heart. They are packed with potassium.  Bananas' high potassium and low sodium content may also help protect your cardiovascular system against high  blood pressure.  When you are very tired and exhausted, hava a banana which will keep you energised.  It is high in fiber,  and Vitamin B6 help protect against type 2 diabetes and in weight loss.

Coming back to the recipe normally in our house, we make chips or mezhukupuratti or dry subzi out of this along with dal for chapati.  Since I was lazy to make dal, I thought of making this subzi with tomato and onion for the chapati.

Let us look at the recipe now:

IDICHAKKA PUZHUKU, TENDER JACKFRUIT SUBZI

Summer started and we get lot of mangoes, jackfruits during this season.  We make pickles out of tender mangoes called vadu mangai and with the matured mangoes also pickles are  made.  Similarly, we make Idichaka thoran with tender jackfruit and puzhuku.  With the jackfruit bulbs also we make puzhku, pulinkari etc.  

Jam is prepared with the ripe jackfruit bulb and chips are made with raw jackfruit.  We had several trees in our house and varieties which I cannot express now as they all were very sweet and tasty.  

During our childhood, we really enjoyed this fruit.   My servant had gone to native place and yesterday she gave me  the tender jackfruit, tamarind etc.   I wanted to make the puzhuku as I realised that I have not posted the puzhuku.  Hence I decided to make the puzhuku with the tender jackfruit which I served along with Phulka.  It tastes very good with rice actually.

It is made with karamani and a simple preparation which goes well withe Chapati, Phulka and rice also.

Let us look at the recipe now:

IDICHAKA PUZHUKU

MANATHAKALI THEEYAL

Theeyal is a Kerala dish.  It is somewhat similar to Sambar, another popular dish of South India.  Theeyal can be prepared with mix  vegetables or a particular vegetable like pavakka, bitter gourd or Ulli (known as kunjulli or shallots, potato, egg plant, bhindi, raw mango etc.

This dish is made with the mixture of spices  like roasted coconut, coriander seeds, dried red chillies, fenugreek etc. and tamarind pulp is also used.

Theeyal means "burnt dish" here the coconut is roasted till golden brown in colour  as good as burnt the same.  This dish goes well with rice and included in a traditional sadya menu too.

But I am using the fresh Manathakali which I plucked from my balcony garden.  Let us look at the recipe now:

MANATHAKALI THEEYAL

MANATHAKALI VATHAL KUZHAMBU, BLACK NIGHT SHADE KUZHAMBU

Manathakali keerai, sukuti keerai or black night shades in english is very good healing stomach related ailments.    It is also known as Sunberry and Wonderberry.

The fruit as well as the leaves are having the medicinal values.  The raw fruit is soaked in curd and salt and sun dried for storing.  it remains for a longer period.  whenever you want can fry it and serve with rice, curd rice etc. or can use for vathal kuzhambu.

During our childhood, we used to pluck the fruit and pop it in our mouth though it does not have any kind of particular taste.  After moving to Mumbai, I used to see this plant on the compound wall or in the backyard of our office building.  Whenever, I get a chance to see this plant, I somehow remove it and bring home to replant the same in my balcony garden.  Same case, goes with sundakkai also.

Once I gave the ripe fruit to my son and he loved it.  Still he remembers  though he is 24 year old, eats it and tell his sister that you do not know the taste of it as she refuses to eat it.  When we were  very small, we used to call it chinna thakali (means small tomatoes).  I have seen an light orange variety during my childhood, but now a days, cannot see them.  We also had a purple colour chilli plant in our garden when we were small and used to wonder from where the seeds come from.

Coming back to the manathakali, after plucking the raw fruit from the plant, always put in salt water for washing as there could be some small insects in it.  If you put in salt water, it dies and can be removed after straining in the poori jaara.

We make poriyal, kootu, molagootal  etc.with the leaves but you need a sizeable quantity of leaves.  We make soup out of this and is excellent with coconut milk.  Even you can feed the children too as it will have mild sweet flavour because of the coconut milk which is again good for the stomach.

 I have posted  the photographs of the plant, raw fruit and the ripe fruit below.

click here: video

MURINGAPOO MOLAGOOTAL, DRUMSTICK FLOWER MOLAGOOTAL

I am a nature lover and wherever I go, I always bring one plant, seed or a branch to plant it either in my balcony garden or in the society.  Today, as I was coming  from Happy Street from Upvan Lake, I happened to see the drumstick tree with full of flowers.  I could not resist myself from plucking one branch of the drusmtick plant and brought home.  I used the flowers with leaves  for making molagootal and planted the branch in my society which I was longing for quite some time.

Molagootal is a mild spicy dish with any vegetables or leafy vegetables with either moong, masoor or tur dal with coconut, roasted urid dal, fried red chilli and cumin seed paste added to the vegetables or leafy vegetables.    We can serve it along with phulkas, chapatis and rice.

Let us look at the recipe now:

GREENS RASAM

You tube: Greens rasam, the name itself indicates the ingredients used in this is greens viz. tulsi, basil, fresh garlic with greens, coriander leaves, curry leaves, green chilli, ginger etc.  the other day, i tried gooseberry, pudina, garlic rasam and was awesome.

since all the ingredients i used is having the medicinal value and helps in digestion, and contains the vitamins in it, once in a week or twice in a month this can be served to your family members.

Rasam can be served in place of soup as an appetizer or can be served along with rice.

GOOSEBERRY, PUDINA, GARLIC RASAM

Rasam can be served along with rice or as a soup.  When the ingredients are having medicinal properties, it is also more beneficial.  Rasam is a watery dish served along with rice normally.  When you are having cough and cold, it is the best to bring taste in  your mouth.

MURINGA ILA MOR KUZHAMBU, SHEVGA KADHI, MURINGA ILA MORU CURRY

Drumstick leaves are easily available, very cheap and grows abundantly in India.  It has got medicinal values which are  given after the recipe and worth reading.  It is worth making dish out of this once in a week for health benefits.

I do not remember when I brought the leaves and kept in fridge wrapped in a paper in the door as I used to do with mint leaves and methi leaves.  Since then I forgot about it and never bothered to open and see while cleaning the fridge.  Today, when I was cleaning the fridge, I wanted to remove the unwanted stuff in the fridge so each and every paper packets I opened and saw the drumstick leaves fully dried like the kasuri methi leaves.  Since I love the kootu, molagootal, adai etc. which I used to make with the leaves, I thought I will try the Kadhi today ie. mor kuzhambu in tamil and morukootan or moru curry  in malayalam.

You can make this kadhi with or without coconut.  I made it like the normal Kadhi we used to make along with Kichadi.  Normally, this is a typical  South Indian curry but I made a twist to this to make it more like the Maharashtrian type  Kadhi.  It is really a tasty dish.

PANEER RASAM, ROSE WATER RASAM

Paneer poo or paneer rose plant I always plant in the pot. The fragrance of the flower is unable to describe as you have to feel it.  You will not believe after leaving my native place, I used to wander to the nurseries for this particular plant and always managed to get one from them.

The season's first flower I had posted in the FB.  One of my friend and distant relative aunty who saw the photo told me to make the rasam with rose water as she knows that I always try to make something extra out of the box.

Though I have not tasted the same anywhere so far, I thought I will try as I had the dried rose petals and the rose water with me.

It is quite tasty like the normal rasams but you must get the original rose water and here is the recipe for you.

CURRY LEAVES MOR KUZHAMBU

curry leaves has so many health benefits and why you should eat curry leaves  can be seen from this link. Normally, people throw away the curry leaves without knowing the health benefits.  Once you come to know the reason why should eat curry leaves, you will never throw this away.  This kuzhambu was very tasty along with rice and wafer even my daughter enjoyed it.  The reason, it helps in growing your hair, removes dandruff and stops hair fall.

It can be grown in our balcony and enjoy the fresh leaves whenever you want.

Now coming back to recipe, you can enjoy this kuzhmabu with rice or just drink like the kadhi as it is good for stomach ailments too.

other recipes of curry leaves:  curry leaves chutney, curry leaves dhokla,  curry patta gun powder,  curry patta idli, curry patta idli fry, curry leaves kuzhambu rice, curry leaves kuzhambu

FRUIT SAMBAR

Sambar is an item prepared by South Indian to serve along with rice, idli, dosa, uttappam, medu vada  etc.  The spicy tangy sambar can be made with various combination of vegetables and with certain fruits also.

You can also make the sambar with jackfruit, pineapple, nendran pazham, mango etc. 

Here I am sharing with you a simple and easy sambar with fruits.  It tasted nice with rice, idli, dosa which I made on the same day.

You must be wondering idli and dosa together. Yes one child wants idli and another wants dosa. I preferred to have it with rice.  So three varieties I had to prepare to relish this fruit sambar.

other fruit recipes:   mambazha sambar, mambazha rasakalan, mambazha pachadi, mango rasam

Let us look at the recipe now:

ARINELLIKKA SAMBAR

Arinellikka or star gooseberry is normaly eaten with salt and bit chilly powder.  you can also eat this as it is.  It is stored in salt water and can be had with curd rice or dal rice or eaten as it is.  Pickle is also make with this.  Today I tried making sambar with it and was yummy with plain steamed rice.  I loved it.  My son is very fond of this nellikka he eats it with bit salt.

METHI LEAVES KARAKUZHAMBU

Fenugreek seeds are good for diabetes, to keep the stomach cool etc.  Methi leaves are used to make methi matar malai, methi thepla,methi paratha, methi subzi etc.  We can also make methi leaves sambar.  Here I have used the methi leaves to make karakuzhambu somewhat similar to vathalkuzhambu.  This curry is made with tamarind pulp, masalas etc. and is really tongue tickling.

This goes well along with plain white rice, along with fried vadam, chips, etc.

KAPPA CURRY, TAPIOCA CURRY

Kappa, poolakizhangu, maracheeni kizhangu, kolli, tapioca , cassava it is known as is root tuber.  When you remove it, there will be lot of mud in it which has to be washed thoroughly.  Then peel the skin and cut them into small pieces.  In the middle, you will get a white string like portion which has to be discarded.

We can make papadam, subzi, chips etc. out of this.  Kappa Puttu is also made with it.  When we were small, we used to cut them into two to three pieces, boil it with salt and turmeric powder and serve with "Ulli Chammandi" means shallot chutney with little coconut oil.  It is known as kappa puzhungiyathu.   The taste is YUM.

Today, I made this curry for chapati and my husband who never tasted this liked it very much, even though it was a very simple preparation.

CHUKKU, MILAGU, THIPPALI RASAM

This recipe  is lying in my draft for a long time and could not publish it3 Chuku, milagu, Kandan thippali rasam my mother used to make when we are down with cough, cold and fever.  In fact, the grandma's recipes are quite healthy and good to try before we run to the doctor now a days.

Thippali, when my brother went to native place, asked him to get it from there as I was not knowing where will I get here and no time to go around and find out.

Since I am down with fever and cold, I thought I will make this.  Frankly speaking, rasam is always favourite of mine and my elder brother.  Nothing like rasam rice, any time, we love it.

Some people think rasam is made only when you are sick.  But that is wrong.  It can be served as an appetizer, just have it as soup and of course with  steaming hot rice.

It is known as kanda thippali, thipli, pipli, long pepper etc. 

PAPAD, MANATHAKALI, CHUNDAKKA VATHALKUZHAMBU

Papad, manathakali,chundakka vathalkuzhambu I made because there were little of each ingredients left out in the container.  the papad was in small pieces,  manathakali and chundakka got over, hardly two  tbs each was left.  So decided to make the vathalkuzhambu with these and made rice.  loved it with chapati too.

MANATHAKALI ELAI DAL

Manathakkali or Milagu thakkali or wonder berry is a tiny juicy berry, and its leaves is called  Manathakkali keerai.  This is used mostly  in  South Indian homes.  It is called as Manathakkali in Malayalam, Kamanchi Chettu in Telugu, Makoy in Hindi, Kakkesappu in Kannada, and Black Nightshade in English.

The raw berries are used for making vatha kuzhambu and  ripe berries can be washed and eaten directly. The ripe Manathakkali has a sweet taste and helps alleviate stomach pains and mouth ulcers.

It helps cure liver disorders, chronic skin ailments (psoriasis and ringworm), inflammatory conditions, painful periods, fevers, diarrhoea , eye diseases, and hydrophobia. It is also recommended as a home remedy for mouth ulcers.


I have got a plant in the pot in my balcony.  The plant I saw it in one of the walls outside was picked by me and planted in the pot as I was sure that it will get destroyed over there.  Since it has got medicinal value, I thought I should not miss the chance to bring home.



Coming back to the recipe, I made dal with the greens.

ORANGE PEEL VATHA KUZHAMBU (ORANGE PEEL CURRY)

Orange peel vathakuzhambhu recipe is shared by my friend Shubha.  I have posted orange peel chutney , orange rasam which are  also very tasty.  coming back to the vathakuzhambu, it is a simple preparation and can go well with chapati and rice too.

Let us look at the recipe now:      
orange peel lvathakuzhambu on you tube

Ingredients:
 
1/2 cup orange peel chopped
1/2 cup onion chopped
1/2 cup tamarind pulp (a very small gooseberry size)
salt
turmeric powder
a small piece of jaggery or 1 tsp sugar

Masala:

2 tsp sambar powder
1/2 tsp rice flour

Tempering:

3 tsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp chana dal
1/4 tsp methi seeds
2-3 red chilli pieces
a generous pinch of asafoetida
curry leaves

Method:

Heat oil in kadai.  add the mustard seeds, chana dal, methi seeds, chilli when it is done, add the curry leaves and asafoetida.  add the onion and orange peel and saute for 7-8 minutes.  Now add the tamarind pulp, 1 cup water, turmeric powder, salt and cook the same till the orange peel becomes very soft and the raw taste of tamarind goes.  In a small cup, mix the rice flour and sambar powder with little water and add to the kuzhambu. add the jaggery or sugar.  bring to boil.  When it cools down, the gravy becomes thick.  hence adjust the consistency by adding water,if required.  serve hot with chapati, rice.

If you want bit spicy, add more sambar powder or chilli powder.

Tamarind Pulp:  Soak the tamarind in 1/2 cup hot water and extract the pulp