Cauliflower Gravy

by Deerga // July 5, 2015 // No Comments

Today, I have given you a recipe that I learned from my MIL. It is the Cauliflower Gravy. This is my third recipe with cauliflower as the main ingredient (the other two are Cauliflower Crust Bread and Cauliflower Fry). I have heard about this dish often from my HB. He always says that it tastes like chicken gravy but I did not get a chance to taste it until recently. And I totally agree with my HB’s assumption. It does taste like Chicken gravy!

Cauliflower Gravy is a very easy dish to make and one of the main ingredients in preparing this dish, other than cauliflower, is raw rice water (further explanation about it can be found here) and roasted gram dal powder. Cauliflower Gravy can be had with almost all main entree dishes. It can be had with just rice, as a side dish for chappati or eat as is :). No wonder it is one of the most favorite dishes of my HB.

Try this wonderful and very tasty dish in your kitchen and do let me know your thoughts. 🙂

Cauliflower Gravy

Recipe type: Main

Cuisine: Indian

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 15 mins

Total time: 20 mins

Serves: 20

Ingredients

Oil – 1 tbsp
Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
Curry leaves – 6 nos
Shallots, finely chopped – 6 nos
Sambar powder or veetu milagai podi – 1 ½ tbsp
Raw rice water or kalani thanni – 2 to 3 cups
Cauliflower, medium, blanched – 1 no or 2 cups
Salt as required
Roasted gram dal powder or pottu kadalai podi – 1 tbsp

Instructions

Boil enough water with salt and turmeric powder and blanche the cauliflower florets for couple of minutes. Strain the florets and set aside.
Heat oil in a tawa and season with cumin seeds. Add curry leaves.
Add onions when the curry leaves start to sizzle. Sauté until the onions turn translucent.
Add in sambar powder and salt. Give a quick stir.
Add raw rice water and bring it to boil or until the gravy gets thick.
Add the blanched florets to the gravy and cook until all the water is absorbed and florets are well cooked.
Finish it off with roasted gram dal powder and give a quick stir. Switch off the flame when the roasted gram dal powder is well blended with the gravy. Enjoy! 🙂

Vegetarian liver fry

by Deerga // February 23, 2015 // 3 Comments

Today I am going to give you one of the most unusual and tastiest dishes that I (or my husband to be precise) have ever had. It is the vegetarian liver fry. Sounds unusual, right? It is totally vegetarian and is made of Moong Dal.

I personally love liver fry and when I came across this recipe, I was skeptical. How would you compare a vegetarian dish to the awesome liver fry? But I was stumped when I tasted it. It was so good that my husband emphatically declared that it was one among my top 3 dishes that I have ever cooked 😉

Vegetarian liver fry is nutritional and very healthy. I would even say that it can be included in your diet routine. For those who miss non vegetarian dishes due to fasting or for health reasons, vegetarian liver fry will really be a welcome addition to the menu.
I thing I have said enough about vegetarian liver fry and it is time for you guys to try it in your kitchen and let me know your opinions 🙂

5.0 from 2 reviews

Vegan liver fry

Recipe type: side dish

Cuisine: Indian

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 15 mins

Total time: 30 mins

Serves: 2

Ingredients

Moong dal – ½ cup
Oil – 4 tbsp
Cumin seeds – ¼ tsp
Onion, medium, finely chopped – 1 no
Curry leaves – a sprig
Tomato, big, finely chopped – 1 no
Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
Red chilli powder – ¼ to ½ tsp
Coriander powder – 1 tbsp
Garam masala powder – ¼ tsp
Sakthi biriyani masala – ¼ tsp (optional)
Salt as required
Coconut milk – ½ cup
Black pepper powder – ¼ tsp
Cilantro, finely chopped – 1 tbsp

Instructions

Soak moong dal over night. Drain the water and grind them in a blender into thick batter (idli batter consistency). Do not add too much water while grinding. Add quarter tsp of salt (or as required) to the batter and mix well.
Pour the batter on idli plates with a small ladle and steam them for 15 minutes in a cooker.
Meanwhile heat oil in a flat pan and add onions and curry leaves. Cook until onions turn translucent.
Add tomatoes and cook until they become mushy. Meanwhile cut all the idlis i.e vegan liver into an inch cubes or to the desired size pieces.
When the tomatoes are well cooked add all the masala powders (except pepper) and salt and mix well. Add in coconut milk and bring it to boil. It takes very few minutes.
Now add the idli cubes to the gravy and mix well. Close the lid and cook for a minute - For those of you who wants the gravy consistency can stop here.
Cook until the gravy is well absorbed and turns into a semi gravy. You will start noticing the oil in the sides of the pan.
Add pepper powder and stir well. Cook until it forms into a nice dry fry. Garnish with cilantro on top and serve hot! 

Notes

1.This vegan liver fry tastes even more better when it comes to room temperature.
2.Please be careful not to add excess water while grinding the moong dal.

Cauliflower fry

by Deerga // November 18, 2014 // No Comments

Cauliflower is one of those vegetables that is not often found in South Indian palate (especially Tamilnadu). It is a low fat, low in carbohydrates but rich in fiber vegetable. Cauliflower fry is one of the many varieties prepared using this vegetable. I came across this recipe when searching for a supplement to our diet (and yes we start a diet system many times a year, but sticking to one is a different story 🙂 )

The main specialty about this Cauliflower fry is the way it is cooked. Though it is called a fry, I actually use a conventional oven to cook. It is a very tasty dish, trust me. When you are uncertain about what side dish to prepare for Chappati or Naan etc remember this wonderful Cauliflower fry.

For those who don’t have an oven, you can cook this dish using a stove as well. Try this simple, delicious and healthy dish in your kitchen and tell me your experience. 🙂

Cauliflower fry

Recipe type: Main

Cuisine: Indian

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 45 mins

Total time: 55 mins

Serves: 4

Ingredients

To bake:

Cauliflower florets – 2 to 3 cups
Olive oil – 5 tbsp
Tomato paste or puree, thick – 4 tbsp (I used hunt’s)
Garlic cloves, minced – 1 tbsp
Kashmiri red chilli powder – 1 tbsp
Black pepper powder – 1 tsp
Coriander powder – 2 tbsp
Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
Garam masala - ½ tsp
Salt – ½ tsp

For the seasoning:

Oil – 2 tbsp
Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
Curry leaves – a sprig
Green chilli, slits – 4 nos
Ginger, julienned – 1 tbsp
Onion, big, slits – 1 no
Kashmiri red chilli powder – ½ tbsp
Red chilli powder – ½ tsp (optional)
Coriander powder – 1 tbsp
Dry fenugreek leaves or kasthoori methi, crushed – 1 tbsp
Spring onions or scallions – 1 to 2 tbsp

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and mix all the above ingredients in a large aluminium pan given under 'To bake'. Place it inside the oven and cook for 30 to 45 minutes until the cauliflowers are crunchy (stirring in between). For those who do not have conventional oven, just fry it in a pan on the stove until they are nicely done.
Meanwhile heat oil in a flat pan and season with mustard, urad dal, curry leaves and green chillies. When they start to splutter add onions and sauté until they turn translucent.
Add julienned ginger.
Add all the powders (coriander, chilli, salt, turmeric) and kasthoori methi. Add oven baked or stove cooked cauliflower. Sauté well and cook for 10 minutes.
Garnish with scallions and cilantro.

Notes

!To make tomato puree at home:
Roughly chop the tomatoes and sauté with little onion until they leave oil. Blend them to make a thick paste.

Keerai Kootu

by Deerga // October 27, 2014 // No Comments

Keerai (also called as spinach, greens etc) is one of the most healthy foods around. It is a very good source of iron and Vitamin A. Keerai (spinach) is a very popular ingredient and is found in almost all cuisines around the world. Keerai kootu (spinach side dish) is one such item that is popular in south Indian (Tamilian in particular) cuisine. It is a simple and tasty dish that can be eaten as is with rice, or as a side dish to another gravy like sambar etc.

When ever I think of Keerai, my childhood comes to my mind. I was not a big fan of spinach (as do most other kids I would say) and would always make my mom to cook another side dish whenever Keerai kootu is made. My hate relationship with spinach continued during my college days as well and there my friends made sure that I had some just because it is healthy (thank you dears!).

In general, when you cook spinach, make sure not to cover the pot since they lose color and I believe loses some of its nutrients as well. As I had said earlier, Keerai kootu is very easy to make that it literally takes 15 minutes to prepare. Try this wonderful, healthy, simple, tasty (I am running out of adjectives here!) dish in your home and let me know your comments.

Keerai Kootu

Recipe type: Main

Cuisine: Indian

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 15 mins

Total time: 25 mins

Serves: 3

Ingredients

Green leaves – a bunch
Moong dal – ¼ cup
Sambar powder – 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder – a pinch
Salt as required
Grated coconut – 2 tbsp

To temper :

Oil – 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
Urad dal – ½ tsp
Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
Shallots, finely chopped – 2 nos
Curry leaves – 5 nos

Instructions

Wash the leaves thoroughly and chop them.
Pressure cook the moong dal for 5 whistles. When done mash the dal and keep it aside.
Grind the coconut to fine paste adding very little water.
Boil enough water (2 cups) in a sauce pan and add sambar powder, turmeric powder,salt and green leaves. Allow them to cook for 5 to 10 minutes.
Add the cooked dal and mix well. Add the ground coconut paste and bring them to boil.
When done, finish it off with tempering. Serve hot with white rice.

MUSHROOM PEPPER FRY

by Deerga // June 23, 2014 // 2 Comments

Mushroom is a popular ingredient found in Asian cuisine, especially, Korean, Indian and Japanese. It is a popular item in up-scale vegetarian restaurants back home. Do you know that mushroom is actually a type of fungus?! Mushroom pepper fry is a relatively new dish in my cook book. I learned it from a recipe that I found online. Mushroom pepper fry is one of those recipes that goes well with almost all main dishes, namely, rice, chappati, dosa, poori etc.

Mushroom pepper fry is what I call the vegetarian equivalent of mutton fry and trust me, it does taste similar. It is easy to cook and can be recycled to some type of gravy as well.

Do try this recipe in your home and let me know of your thoughts, including any new variations that you had tried or any suggestions!

5.0 from 1 reviews

MUSHROOM PEPPER FRY

Recipe type: Lunch

Cuisine: Indian

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 30 mins

Total time: 35 mins

Serves: 2

Ingredients

Oil – 2 tbsp
Whole spices – 1 bay leaf, 2 green cardamom, 2 cloves, 1 “ cinnamon stick
Cumin seeds – 1 tsp, divided
Onion, chopped – 1 no
Ginger-garlic paste – 1 tbsp
Curry leaves – a sprig
Green chilli, chopped – 2 nos
Tomato, chopped – 1 no
Turmeric powder – a pinch
Mushroom – 150 grams
Salt as required
Cilantro – to ganish
Lemon juice – 1 tbsp

To crush

Black pepper – 1 tsp
Garlic – ½ tsp
Cumin seeds – ½ tsp

For the seasoning

Butter – ½ tbsp
Crushed items
Coriander powder – ½ tbsp
Cumin power – ½ tbsp
Red chilli powder - ½ tbsp
Cilantro – ½ tbsp

Instructions

Heat oil in a wide open pan and add the whole spices. Add in half a tsp of cumin seeds, followed by chopped onion. When they turn translucent, add turmeric powder and ginger garlic paste.
When the raw aroma disappears add curry leaves. Add green chillies followed by tomatoes. Sauté well and simmer. Meanwhile wash and cut the mushrooms.
After the tomatoes are well cooked add the mushrooms and sauté well. Add in half a cup of water. Cover and cook for couple of minutes.
While the mushrooms are getting cooked, heat a seasoning ladle (or a small pan), add butter and season with crushed garlic, pepper and cumin seeds. Also, add all the powders and cilantro to the seasoning. Give a quick stir and add to the mushroom gravy. Add salt. Cook until all the water is evaporated and you get the nice and dry mushroom fry (or make it as a semi gravy according to your choice)