Food Map of India

I found this food map of India through a chain mail. Very interesting...Click on the map to enlarge

Asparagus Paruppu Usili (Asparagus with Crumbled Lentils)

Paruppu usili is a side dish popular in Tamil Nadu where lentils (toor dal and chana dal) and vegetables are served together. Dal is soaked and then ground coarsely with spices. It is then made into round balls and cooked by steaming and then crumbled along with cooked vegetables. Here, instead of steaming, dal is cooked by stir-frying in oil, after seasoning with mustard, cumin seeds, chana dal, urad dal and curry leaves. When dal is half done, chopped asparagus is added and then both are cooked together.
Recipe Courtesy: Food for 7 Stages of Life

Potato Egg Curry

I took a short break from blogging. Eventhough I was not posting anything, I still was cooking and taking pictures. I usually make egg curry with potaoes in it so that I can use it for more than one day. Potatoes and eggs get along well in this versatile egg curry. To fried onion, garlic and ginger, add masala powders and saute for few minutes. Then add potatoes and tomatoes and cook till tender. Stir in boiled eggs and home made garam masala towards the end. It could be served with chapathi, appam, puttu or idiyappam.
Recipe Courtesy: Sarah's Vazhayila

Best Blogger Award

Thanks to Ammu of Rasi's Veg Bites for sharing this award with me. Ammu has a beautiful blog with  a variety of vegetarian recipes, especially Tamil recipes.

Malabar Chicken Fry Masala

A chicken dry curry recipe from Malabar. Marinated chicken is shallow fried in oil first. For the masala, onion, garlic, green chilli, tomatoes and spices are fried in oil. Fried chicken is then added to the masala and slow cooked for a few more minutes. Serve with rice or any Indian bread.
Recipe Courtesy: Aysha's Life Today

Aloo Palak (Uttar Pradesh Style) / Potato Spinach Dry Curry

This is how I usually make aloo palak, which could be served with both rice and roti. Here onion, garlic and green chilli are lightly fried, then potatoes are added and cooked. When potatoes are half done spinach and other spices are added and cooked and then finally stir fried for a few minutes. The other type is the Punjabi style aloo palak where cooked potatoes are simmered in a pureed spinach gravy.
Recipe Courtesy: A Mad Tea Party

Goan Fish Fry

A delicious fish fry recipe from Goa. Turmeric, salt, chilli, cumin and coriander powders are made into a paste with kokum pulp to marinate the fish. Marinated fish is then rolled in semolina (sooji or rava) and shallow fried in oil. Goan fish recipes often use kokum as the souring agent, while in Kerala, gambooge (kudampuli or malabar tamarind) is used for the pupose. They both belong to the same family, with the difference (in layman's terms) that ripe kokum fruit is dark red in color where as gambooge is yellow in color.
Recipe Courtesy: Denufood

Banana Flower Stir-fry (Vazha Koombu Thoran)

A delicious banana heart (flower) stir-fry which is usually served as side dish with rice. I found some refrigerated banana flowers in the Indian grocery store and dared to buy it once again eventhough last time it turned out to be slightly bitter. It tasted great this time! After removing the outer loose bracts (petals), the flower is finely chopped and washed in water with a pinch of turmeric and salt to avoid further browning. My mom usually add some oil to it and mix with hand to remove fibers (if any). To lightly fried onion, garlic and green chilli, the chopped flower and other spices are added and cooked. Then grated coconut is added and stir-fried for a few more minutes.
Recipe Courtesy: Vrinda's Sankeerthanam

Green Beans Mezhukkupuratti (French Beans Stir-fry)

A simple green beans stir-fry to serve with rice. Onion, shallot, garlic, green chilli and curry leaves are fried in oil, then chopped beans, red chilli powder and turmeric are added and cooked. After cooking, lid is removed and stir-fried for a few more minutes.
Recipe Courtesy: Nags' Edible Garden

Capsicum Egg Bhurji (Scrambled Eggs with Bell Pepper)

Egg bhurji is the scrambled egg preparation from North India. Here egg bhurji is made more nutritional and colorful by adding capsicum. Onion, green chilli and capsicum are stir-fried and then beaten eggs and milk is added. Milk is used in the recipe to make bhurji softer. Serve with rice or roti.
Recipe Courtesy: Roochis

Vellarikka Curry (Yellow Cucumber in Coconut Gravy)

My mom usually make vellarikka (yellow cucumber) curry this way with slight difference. Cucumber is skinned, cut into cubes and then cooked with turmeric and red chilli powder.  Ground paste of coconut, cumin seeds and shallots (pearl onions) and crushed mustard are added and finally seasoned with oil, mustard, whole red chilli and curry leaves. Note that butter milk or yogurt is not added to this curry. Serve with rice.
Recipe Courtesy: Simply Spicy

Mackerel / Ayala Fry (Kerala Style)

Guess what I found in the grocery store the other day - 'fresh, cleaned' mackerel (ayala)!!! It was not Indian mackerel but Atlantic mackerel (aka Boston mackerel), which differ in appearance from the former. I was very surprised to find fresh mackerel here but it was not as fresh as the mackerel sold by the local fish sellers in Kerala who go from house to house to sell their latest catch. Or, maybe it's just that I don't want to admit that anything I get here is as good as what I used to get back home! Anyways, I fried them and it brought back good old memories. My son loved it too and he said he want more of the lobster! I didn't try to correct him for the moment because a mere name change can make say "I don't like it"...
Recipe Courtesy: Veena's Curry World

Palak / Saag Chicken (Chicken in Spinach Gravy)

Going green on St. Patrick's Day! Yesterday we had chapathi and palak chicken for dinner. I didn't make it with St. Paddy's day in mind; it just happened that way. My son came to the conclusion that he had 'green water' and 'green cupcake' at school, so we are having 'green chicken' for dinner. For the gravy, spinach leaves are immersed in boiling water for a few minutes, then immersed in cold water to retain its color and then pureed in a blender. Marinated chicken is cooked with onion, garlic, ginger, green chilli, tomatoes and other spices and then mixed with the spinach gravy. Kasoori methi and butter or cream could be added towards the end to get the restaurant taste.
Recipe Courtesy: Sangeetha's Kothiyavunu

Bitter Gourd Red Chilli Chutney (Pavakka Mulaku Chammanthi)

Another interesting bitter gourd recipe. Bitter gourd is cooked with onion and crushed red chilli and then tamarind juice is added. If you are a bitter gourd lover you will definitely like it. I think I added too much bitter gourd compared to the original recipe. Next time I'll exactly follow the recipe.
Recipe Courtesy: Tina's Kaipunyam

Vegetable Hakka Noodles (Indo-Chinese style)

An Indian Chinese style spicy and delicious vegetable hakka noodles. Boil the noodles as per the instructions on the package (I used Ching's hakka noodles). Wash in cold water and pour some oil over it so that the noodles won't get overcooked and stick to each other. Fry onions, garlic, ginger and vegetables and spice it up with soya sauce, chilli sauce, ketchup, chilli flakes, pepper and salt. Add the cooked noodles and mix well. Serve with any spicy or sweet or sour sauce of your choice.
Recipe Courtesy: Raaga's The Singing Chef

Ethakka Aviyal (Green Plantain in Coconut Gravy)

Although the word 'aviyal' denotes mixture of vegetables, this side dish is made with green (raw) plantain alone. Plantain is cooked with green chilli, kudampuli (malabar tamarind or gambooge), turmeric, curry leaves and salt. Grinded mixture of coconut, cumin seeds and pearl onions (shallot) are added and cooked. The dish is finished off with a dash of oil and curry leaves. Kudampuli can be removed from the dish after cooking to avoid too much sourness in localized areas since it is a dry curry.
Recipe Courtesy: Yummy O Yummy

Boiled Tapioca with Green Chilli Chutney (Kappa Chendamurian with Mulaku Chammanthi)

Tapioca is a staple food of Kerala. The easiest way to have it is by merely boiling it, where tapioca is cooked in boiling water and then served with hot chutney or fish curry. Chutney is made in different ways either with red chilli powder or green chilli. To make geen chilly chutney crush together green chilli, pearl onion (shallot), peanut size tamarind, curry leaves and then add oil and salt. Inji Pennu's blog Ginger and Mango gives a good narration of peeling the skin of tapioca. While cooking tapioca, care should be taken to remove any natural toxins in it by double-boiling it.
Recipe courtesy: Shn's Mishmash

Jaisalmeri Kala Chana (Black Chickpeas in Yogurt Gravy)

A kala chana recipe from Jaisalmer, Rajasthan. Cooked chickpeas is simmered in a yogurt-chickpea flour (gram flour or besan) gravy along with other spices. Serve with roti, naan or chapathi.
Recipe Courtesy: Chitti's Kitchen

Penne with Chicken in Cream Cheese Sauce

My son declared that he don't like cream cheese and this is one way I found to make him eat some left over cream cheese. Cream cheese, milk and parmesan cheese formed a great sauce for pasta. Fried chicken pieces, red bell pepper and green olives blended in well with the sauce.
Recipe Courtesy: CookingWithPhilly.ca

Chicken Ularthiyathu (Kerala Style Chicken Stir-fry)

A delicious chicken fry recipe from Kerala. Chicken is cooked and then stir-fried with onion, ginger, garlic, tomato and other freshly roasted spices. Serve with rice or chapathi.
Recipe Courtesy: Sangeetha's Kothiyavunu

Palak Paneer (Indian Cottage Cheese in Spinach Gravy)

 

A delicious paneer dish in spinach gravy popular in North India. Paneer fried in ghee is cooked in a spinach-tomato-cream gravy along with fried onions, green chilli, ginger, garlic and other spices. Spinach and tomatoes are cooked in boiling water (blanched) and then pureed to get the rich, smooth gravy. Finish off the dish with cream and kasuri methi to get the restaurant like taste. Serve with roti, naan or chapathi.
Recipe Courtesy: Sailu's Kitchen

Chilli Mushroom (Indian Chinese style)

An Indo-Chinese style mushroom dish which is very easy to prepare. Mushrooms are fried with onion, ginger, garlic, green chilli and then cooked in a sauce containing vinegar, soy sauce, chilli sauce and tomato ketchup. Addition of bell pepper augments the taste and aroma of the dish. Serve with fried rice or chapathi.
Recipe Courtesy: Yummy O Yummy

Vermicelli (Semiya) Upma

A South Indian breakfast which is very easy to prepare.Vermicelli is roasted and then cooked with fried onion, ginger, green chilli and vegetables. Adjust vermicelli : water ratio to 1:1.5-2 to avoid sogging of vermicelli. A dash of lemon juice will help to improve the texture of the upma. Topping with butter will give a nice flavor to the upma and will also keep the vermicelli from sticking together.
Recipe Courtesy: Kamala's Cook @ Ease

White Radish (Daikon) Stir-fry

This stir-fry is made from the white Asian radish or mooli (Daikon), although it no longer looks white. I used two 'large' radishes and I never knew that so much water could be retained in radish that it left my stir-fry not that crispy as it was intended to be! Onion, garlic, chilli-cumin-coriander-garam masala powders and a squeeze of lemon juice offset the sharpness of the radish in this somewhat crunchy stir-fry.
Recipe Courtesy: Nags' Edible Garden

Vegetable Fried Rice (Indo-Chinese Style)

I enjoy Chinese food as much as I do Indian food. Indian Chinese cuisine is a popular candidate in Indian restaurants all over the world. This simple vegetable fried rice is very easy to prepare and it left a nice aroma in my kitchen that my son asked if I had brought food from restaurant.
Recipe Courtesy: Shoba's Anubhavati

Cabbage Mor Kootu (Cabbage in Yogurt Gravy)

Mor kootu is a Tamil Nadu style preparation where vegetables are cooked in a coconut-yogurt gravy. Sounds very similar to Kerala's kichadi aka pachadi, huh? I never made kichadi with cabbage though. I gave it a try and loved this crunchy cabbage side dish with rice.
Recipe Courtesy: Suganya's Tasty Palettes

Celery Dal (Pappu)

Yet another side dish with celery. This time I made this delicious dal flavored with celery to go with either rice or roti. You can adjust the amount of celery in the dal depending on how much of the celery flavor you want in your dal. As you all know, a cup chopped celery can go a long way.
Recipe Courtesy: Uma's Trendy Relish

Tindora (Ivy Gourd) Potato Stir-fry

I have been combining potato with different vegetable for making stir-fry. This time it is potato with ivy gourd. Both of them complemented each other and the stir-fry turned out great. This could be served with both rice and roti.
Recipe Courtesy: Divya's Recipes

Whole Moong Curry (Green Gram Curry)

This simple whole moong curry comes to your rescue when you are in a hurry and don't have any vegetables left in the refrigerator, which was my case. Here cooked mung beans is prepared in a gravy form along with onion, ginger, green chilli and other spices. It could be served with both rice and roti.
Recipe Courtesy: Nandita's Saffron Trail

Baked Penne with Chicken and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

This was our Valentine's day dinner with creamy strawberry crepe as dessert. The pasta turned out great. To melted butter, garlic, all purpose flour, milk, mushrooms, tomatoes, fried chicken pieces, provolone, parmesan and cooked pasta are added. It is then baked for 25 minutes at 400F. I got the sun-dried tomatoes from a colleague. It was very finely chopped and disappeared into pasta giving it a brown color.
Recipe Courtesy: MarthaStewart.com

Creamy Strawberry Crepes

Hope you all had a great Valentine's Day. These creamy strawberry crepes could be an easy to prepare Valentine's day breakfast or dessert. Crepes, which are of French origin, could be made with either sweet fillings or savory fillings. Crepes are made from wheat flour or all purpose flour and it resembles Indian dosa. The filling that I used here consists of strawberry slices, cream cheese, heavy cream, confectioners sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla extract.
Recipe Courtesy: AllRecipes.com

Rava Idli (Semolina Idli)

Rava Idli, originated in the MTR restaurants in Bangalore during WWII, is a popular breakfast item in South India. It could be made either plain or with nuts and vegetables. I used grated carrot here and hence the color. It is very easy to make compared to idli since overnight fermenting is not required. Roast rava in oil along with mustards seeds, chana dal, urad dal, ginger, green chilli etc. Then add yogurt, vegetables, nuts, grated coconut, baking soda etc.  Add water for the required consistency and let the batter sit for a while before making this delicious idlis. Serve hot with coconut chutney. Some recipes call for adding eno fruit salt for getting softer idlis. I used baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) + yogurt instead, since eno was not available.
Recipe Courtesy: Sailu's Kitchen

Green Beans Carrot Stir-fry (Thoran)

In Kerala we make a thoran out of any vegetable by adding grated coconut to it. Thorans are very easy to make and are served as a side dish with rice . Thoran could be made with green beans alone, carrot alone or a mixture of both. The spices added to thoran vary in different households.
Recipe courtesy: Marias Menu

Cabbage Vepudu (Stir-fry)

A simple Andhra style cabbage stir-fry where cabbage and onion are stir fried with garlic, red chilli, coriander and cumin powders.
Recipe Courtesy: Sailu's Kitchen

Celery Moong Stir-fry (Celery Cherupayar Thoran)

Celery and mung bean made a great combination for this stir fry. Whole moong is cooked first and then stir fried with onion, celery and other spices.
Recipe Courtesy: Liz David at Pachakam.com

Cauliflower Korma (Gobi Kurma)

A snow storm is no longer a big event here as it is happening more often these days. Meteorologists seem to be the only people excited about it as this winter is very close to getting into record books. I tried to keep myself  happy in this chilly wintry weather by making this cauliflower korma. This delicious korma is prepared by cooking cauliflower in a coconut-cashew gravy along with other spices. This goes well with both rice and roti.
Recipe Courtesy: Seena's Simple and Delicious

Vazhakka Vanpayar Curry (Raw Banana Red Chori Curry)

This Kerala style curry is made with raw banana and red chori (azuki beans) in a ground coconut-spices gravy. It is usually served as a side dish with rice.
Recipe courtesy: Kaipunyam

Celery Carrot Stir-fry (Thoran)

Celery and carrot complemented each other in this delicious stir-fry. Celery gave a nice flavor to the thoran eventhough its strong flavor was toned down by carrot.
Recipe Courtesy: Pazham Pappadam Payasam

Cherupayar Thoran (Whole Moong / Green Gram Coconut Stir-fry)

One of my favorite thorans ever! Green gram thoran is usually served as a side dish with rice or kanji (plain rice porridge). This highly nutritious dish can be served alone as a snack too.
 Recipe Courtesy: Sarah's Vazhayila

Carrot Potato Stir-fry with Sesame

This is a simple carrot-potato stir-fry along with crunchy sesame seeds. It could be served with both rice and roti.
Recipe Courtesy: Priti's Indian Khana

Pavakka Kichadi / Pachadi (Bitter Gourd in Coconut n Yogurt Gravy)

This is a traditional kichadi/pachadi from Kerala with regional variations in recipe. Here fried bitter gourd is cooked in a coconut and yogurt gravy along with other spices. Frying of bitter gourd and the addtion of yogurt help to reduce the bitterness of the gourd to some extent. I am a die-hard fan of pavakka and this is one of my favorite dishes.
Recipe Courtesy: Live.to.eat

Beetroot Coconut Stir-fry (Thoran)

This is a simple beetroot stir-fry. I didn't want to bite into big pieces of beetroot in my thoran. My food processor came to the rescue, to grate the beet and then to coarsely grind coconut and other spices. Loved it with rice.
Recipe Courtesy: Malabar Spices

Kadai Paneer (Paneer n Bell Pepper in Tomato Gravy)

This is a famous Punjabi dish popular in North India. Paneer and capsicum are cooked in a tomato based gravy along with other spices. Traditionally the dish is prepared in a kadai (a deep cooking pot similar to wok) and hence the name. To make the dish restaurant-style, add cream (or whole mik) and kasuri methi towards the end.
Recipe Courtesy: Sushma's Savi-Ruchi

Bengali Fish Fry - Anglo-Bangla Style

This is not the traditional bengali fish fry (mach bhaja), but the anglicised version of it. Here mildly marinated fish is coated with all pupose flour, then with egg and finally with bread crumbs and then fried in oil. This mouthwatering crunchy fry can be served as an appetizer or as a side dish.
Recipe Courtesy: Bong Mom's CookBook

Sweet Potato Paratha / Flat-bread

Unlike the traditional parathas, this paratha is not made by stuffing sweet potato. Instead, steam-cooked sweet potato is mashed and blended well with the flour while kneading the dough. The orange-fleshed sweet potato gets blended well with the flour since it becomes soft and mushy when cooked. Enjoy the paratha with pickle n yogurt or spicy chutney or sauce or any other side dish of your choice.
Recipe Courtesy: Padma's Recipes

Yard Long Beans Sabzi

A variation from the usual thoran and stir-fry that I make with yardlong beans. The sabzi is made by cooking the beans with onion, ginger and other spices.
Recipe Courtesy: Shreya's Mom's Cooking

Bottle Gourd Ambat (Bottle Gourd n Toor Dal in Coconut Gravy)

I'm not a big fan of bottle gourd (dudhi, lauki or churakka in malayalam) and here I'm making an effort to like the vegetable. Ambat is a konkani dish with coconut based gravy and tamarind or kokum or bilimbi (irumban puli) is added for sourness. Addtion of cooked toor dal and coconut gravy made bottle gourd more appealing to the palate. It tasted like a distant cousin of sambar because of the addition of toor dal and tamarind pulp. Loved it with both rice and chapathi.
Recipe Courtesy: The Indian Food Court