south indian recipe

Cauliflower Gravy

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033c

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!

034cCauliflower 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.  🙂

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Cauliflower Gravy
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
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
  1. Boil enough water with salt and turmeric powder and blanche the cauliflower florets for couple of minutes. Strain the florets and set aside.
  2. Heat oil in a tawa and season with cumin seeds. Add curry leaves.
  4. Add onions when the curry leaves start to sizzle. Sauté until the onions turn translucent.
  6. Add in sambar powder and salt. Give a quick stir.
  8. Add raw rice water and bring it to boil or until the gravy gets thick.
  10. Add the blanched florets to the gravy and cook until all the water is absorbed and florets are well cooked.
  12. 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! 🙂

 036c

MUNIYANDI VILAS CHICKEN KUZHAMBU

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Muniyandi Vilas chicken kuzhambu, as the name suggests, is a variety of chicken kuzhambu that is served in Muniyandi Vilas restaurants in Tamilnadu. It has a unique flavor and is spicy as well. Muniyandi Vilas chicken kuzhambu when served with hot rice and some chicken or mutton side dish will surely fill your appetite (it sure does mine!)
MUNIYANDI VILAS CHICKEN KUZHAMBUMuniyandi Vilas is a very popular restaurant name in Tamilnadu. There are numerous non vegetarian restaurants with this name, in fact you can find at least one restaurant with this name in all major towns and cities in Tamilnadu. To my knowledge there is no Muniyandi Vilas chain of restaurants (but I might wrong; though I haven’t heard about one) but surprisingly the chicken kuzhambu served in restaurants named Muniyandi Vilas tend to have a similarity in their taste 🙂 So, when I say Muniyandi Vilas chicken kuzhambu, it is that generalized version that I am talking about.
MADURAI MUNIYANDI VILAS KUZHAMBUMuniyandi Vilas chicken kuzhambu is easy to make and is a dish with a variety of spices serving as ingredients. This kuzhambu goes well with chapatti, dosa and idli as well (along with rice which I had mentioned in the first paragraph). So try this authentic tamil recipe at your home and let me know your thoughts 🙂
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MUNIYANDI VILAS CHICKEN KUZHAMBU
Recipe type: Lunch
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4
 
Muniyandi Vilas chicken kuzhambu, as the name suggests, is a variety of chicken kuzhambu that is served in Muniyandi Vilas restaurants in Tamilnadu. It has a unique flavor and is spicy as well. Muniyandi Vilas chicken kuzhambu when served with hot rice and some chicken or mutton side dish will surely fill your appetite
Ingredients
To dry roast and grind:
  • Red chillies – 6 nos
  • Coriander seeds – 2 tbsp
  • Raw rice – 1 tsp
  • Black peppercorns - 1 tsp
  • Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
  • Fennel seeds – ½ tsp
  • Poppy seeds –1 tsp
  • Split roasted gram – 1 tsp
  • Cinnamon sticks – 1”
  • Cloves – 2 nos
  • Cardamom – 1
  • Grated coconut - 1 tsp
Other ingredients:
  • Big onion, finely chopped – 1 no
  • Tomato, chopped – 1 no
  • Green chillies, finely chopped – 1 no
  • Ginger, crushed – 1”
  • Garlic, crushed – 3 to 4 cloves
  • Chicken – ½ kg or 1 pound
  • Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
  • Fresh ground coconut paste or coconut milk – 1 tbsp
  • Bay leaf – 2 nos
  • Dry red chilli – 2 nos
  • Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
  • Sesame oil – 3 tbsp
  • Salt as required
  • Cilantro, chopped – for garnishing
  • Curry leaves – a sprig
Instructions
  1. Cut the chicken to desired sizes and wash it thoroughly in running water.
  2. Heat a pan and dry roast the above ingredients until slightly brown. Let it cool and make a powder.
  3. Heat sesame oil in a pan and season with bay leaves, mustard seeds, red chillies and curry leaves. When they start to sizzle add chopped onions and green chillies. Sauté until the onions are translucent.
  4. Now add in crushed ginger and garlic. Sauté until the raw smell disappears.
  5. Add in the chopped tomatoes and sauté until they turn mushy.
  6. Add the chicken pieces, give it a stir and cook for about 3 minutes covered.
  7. When the chicken pieces turn white add turmeric powder,salt and ground masala paste. Sauté until the masalas are well combined with the chicken and leaves oil.
  8. Now add the ground coconut paste along with a cup of water. Cover and cook the gravy in a low flame for about 10 minutes or until the oil separates.
  9. Garnish with cilantro.
  10. Enjoy with hot rice or biriyani or go traditional with parathas.

 

KONDAIKADALAI KURMA

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Kondaikadalai kurmaChanna dal is one of the most protein rich gram varieties out there. And black channa is the best among them. It is called as kondaikadalai (kondai – bun, similar to bun hairstyle,  kadalai- dal/gram) in my native tongue, Tamil. Usually this black channa gravy (kondaikadalai kurma) is had with white rice and rasam but is also good side dish for chappati and dosa. People who are in a diet or planning to go on a diet can include this item in their menu.
Kondaikadalai kurmaOne main step in preparing this dish is to leave the kondaikadalai soaked in water overnight. So a certain degree of pre -planning is required. Once this is done, you can prepare this black channa gravy in no time. Also, I prefer this version over the white channa (white garbanzo beans) version any day. 🙂

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BLACK CHANNA GRAVY |KONDAKADALAI KURMA
Recipe type: Lunch/Dinner
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 3
 
Channa dal is one of the most protein rich gram varieties out there. And black channa is the best among them. It is called as kondaikadalai (kondai – bun, similar to bun hairstyle, kadalai- dal/gram) in my native tongue, Tamil. Usually this black channa gravy (kondaikadalai kurma) is had with white rice and rasam but is also good side dish for chappati and dosa. People who are in a diet or planning to go on a diet can include this item in their menu.
Ingredients
  • Onion -1
  • Tomato – 1
  • Black channa – 1 cup
  • Oil – 1 tbs
  • Salt as required
To grind :
  • Grated coconut – 1 tbs
  • Garlic clove – 1
  • Fennel seeds – 1 /2 tbs
  • Sambar powder – 2 tbs
Instructions
  1. Soak black channa or kondakadalai in water for 8 hours or overnight and pressure cook for 5 whistles.
  2. Grind the ingredients given above to fine paste and keep it ready.
  3. Heat oil in a pan, add onion and sauté until the color changes. Add tomato and saute until soft. Add cooked channa followed by the ground mixture and bring it to boil. Switch off the flame when the gravy thickens.
  4. Serve it hot with chapathi or white rice with rasam. Enjoy!

Kondakadalai kurma

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MUTTON GRAVY | MUTTON KUZHAMBU | LAMB CURRY

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002No ginger, no garlic, no tomatoes and yet a delicious dish.
Do any of you know that we could actually make a non vegetarian dish without adding any of those above ingredients? Well here it is!!!
mutton gravyI was not a fan of mutton (besides my mom’s Mutton Chukka) until I tried this delicious mutton gravy at my MIL’s place. She has this traditional cooking style where she uses ammi kal (Flat bed manual grinding stone) to grind all the masalas. This gives an exotic taste which I love. It is a very simple recipe, in fact all you need is mustard seeds, onion and ground masala!
027Here I have used a blender to prepare the masala . My MIL had given me a small ammi kal but I didn’t bring it back with me, which I regret now. Anyways, the outcome was more or less similar to hers and I hope that you enjoy the dish as well.
025Yummy!!!

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MUTTON GRAVY | MUTTON KUZHAMBU | LAMB CURRY
Recipe type: Lunch
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4
 
Simple traditional mutton gravy which you wouldn't have tasted anywhere. Make this lip smacking mutton kuzhambu with the simple steps and enjoy.
Ingredients
  • Mutton / Lamb – 1 kg ( 2.12 lb)
  • Gingelly oil – 1 tbs
  • Coriander seeds - 2 tbs
  • Pepper - 10
  • Cumin seeds - 1 tbs
  • Red chillies - 6
  • Grated Coconut- 1 to 2 tbs
  • Ginger – an inch
  • Shallots - 7
  • Vegetable oil - 1 tbs
  • Salt to taste
Instructions
  1. In a sauté pan, roast coriander seeds, pepper, cumin seeds and red chillies with very little oil.
  2. Wait until the mixture cools down. Then grind the mixture and make it into a paste.
  3. Grind coconut separately.
  4. In a pressure cooker, add gingelly oil and sauté the mutton until it turns white color.
  5. Then add crushed ginger along with enough water (2 cups) and pressure cook the mutton for 6 whistles (it takes 15 whistles in India)
  6. Drain the mutton and save the drained water. Add the ground mixtures (coconut & coriander) to the drained water and mix well.
  7. Finally in a sauce pan, add vegetable oil and season it with mustard and onion.
  8. Add the above drained water mixture and allow it to boil.
  9. Then add the cooked mutton along with salt and bring it to boil.

 

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