One Lovely Blog Award

Vasavi Suresh of Vasavi's Recipes, Hasna of Kachuss Delights and Neenu of My Experiments with Cooking shared this One Lovely Blog Award with me. Thanks Vasavi, Hasna and Neenu. They all have fabulous blogs with a good collection of innovative recipes.

I would like to pass this award to 15 fellow bloggers: Yummy team, Kairali sisters, Sarah, Nitha, Satya, Priya, Nithu, Aipi, Akila, Sree, Sangeetha, Soumya, Santoshji, Suja and Sameena

Aloo Gobi (Potato Cauliflower Stir-fry)

Aloo gobi is a simple side dish from North India which could be made in the curry or dry form. It could be served with rice, roti or parathas.

Recipe Courtesy: Ahaar

Potato

Palak Moong Dal (Moong Dal with Spinach)

I love spinach and moong dal with spinach is a very healthy and delicious side dish which could be served along with both rice and roti.
Recipe Courtesy: A2Z Vegetarian Cuisine

Pavakka Thoran (Bittergourd stir-fry with coconut)

Me and my husband loves bitter gourd in any form. This is a simple stir fry recipe that I makes often to serve as a side dish with rice. This time I sauteed it a little bit more in the oil to reduce the bitterness of the 'really bitter' gourd that we get here.
Recipe courtesy: Tina's Kaipunyam

Beef Lasagna

I still remember the first time I went to an Italian restaurant. I totally hated pasta then. Years passed and now I crave for Italian food (American version of Italian food, to be precise). I heard authentic Italian food tastes different from those served in Italian restaurants in US. The other day I asked my husband to buy some beef to make curry and he brought home a pound of ground beef! My next thought process was, what should I make, beef cutlet or lasagna? Finally I gave in to my Italian craving. Apparently, my son also loved the lasagna, but he doesn't seem like a fan of ricotta cheese. I made some minor changes to the original recipe by adding some Indian spices to the beef.

Recipe Courtesy: Good Things Catered

Mathanga Erissery (Pumpkin / Squash in Coconut Gravy)

Finally fall is here and pumpkins are in abundance now. This erissery could be made either with pumpkins or with any other squash varieties. Erissery is a part of traditional Kerala sadya (feast). I added some crushed black peppercorns to reduce the sweetness of the dish.
Recipe courtesy: Sarah's Vazhayila

Chilli Gobi (Chilli Cauliflower)

I was in the mood to make something spicy and decided to make this delicious Indo-Chinese dish. It brings back memories of good old hostel days and the grand feast we had once every month. This is the second time I'm trying this recipe. The first time I didn't get the red color which may be due to the chilli sauce that I used (it tasted good though!). This time I used home-made red chilli paste with vinegar and Kashmiri chilli powder as instructed in the recipe and this way I could control the spice level of the dish.
Recipe Courtesy: Marias Menu

Capsicum / Bell Pepper Egg Curry

My son loves egg and I'm looking for egg recipes these days. Whenever I make egg curry he gets the egg and I get the gravy. Adding bell pepper gives a nice flavor to the curry. I made slight variations to the recipe, adding chilli and coriander powders and reduced the amount of cumin powder.
Recipe Courtesy: Sunita's world

Paal Payasam (Rice Kheer / Rice Pudding)

It was my husband's birthday and I made paal payasam over the weekend. Actually birthday was just a pretext to make this delicious dessert. Usually, raw rice with bran (red rice or unakkalari) is used for making the payasam, giving the payasam a light pink color. Traditionally, the payasam is made in an uruli (a flat thick bottomed vessel made of bell metal). In modern kitchen, the payasam could be made in a thick bottom pot or in a pressure cooker. I used my pressure cooker as the thick bottom pot and used a fusion of the two methods.
Recipe Courtesy: Collaborative Curry

Red Chori Sprout Usli (Salad / Sundal / Guggillu)

Usli (Konkani) or Sundal (Tamil) or Guggillu (Telugu) is a bean-lentil salad popular in South India. Different kinds of salads are prepared with different varieties of beans and lentils. Here I made usli with sprouted red chori (red cowpeas or azuki beans). It could be served as a snack or as a side dish with rice. Sprouting of red chori could be done easily in 1-3 days depending on the weather.
Recipe Courtesy: Veggie Platter

Green Beans Thoran (French Beans Stir-fry with Coconut)

Beans thoran is a common side dish served with rice in Kerala. Green beans is cooked with coconut and other spices to make this protein packed thoran. The beans variety that we get in Kerala is different from the green beans / french beans that I used here.
Recipe courtesy: Nisha's Kitchen

Okra / Lady's Finger Coconut Milk Curry

Okra is rich in nutrition, but that's not the only reason I resort to okra dishes these days. It is one of the vegetables that is available fresh in the Indian grocery stores throughout the year. The curry was not at all slimy. The moment I added the tamarind juice, the sliminess disappeared. The curry tasted delicious too.
Recipe Courtesy: PranisKitchen

Ethakka / Pachakka Thoran (Plantain / Raw Banana Stir-Fry with Coconut)

This is another traditional thoran dish from Kerala where green plantain or raw banana is cooked and then stir-fried with coconut and other spices.
Recipe Courtesy: Nags' Edible Garden

Capsicum Kairas / Bell Pepper Potato n Peanuts with Fried Coconut

This is a Konkani side dish popular in Northern Karnataka. Capsicum, potato and peanuts are cooked with tamarind and jaggery along with freshly roasted masala. I used only very little jaggery not wanting to make it too sweet. It tasted similar to the Kerala theeyal because of the fried coconut factor.
Recipe courtesy: The Indian Food Court

Puttu and Kadala curry (Steamed Rice Flour and Chickpea curry)

Puttu with kadala curry is a traditional breakfast of Kerala. Puttu is made by steaming rice flour with grated coconut in a puttu maker. Usually black chickpeas are used for making the curry. Nowadays, puttu is made with other kinds of flour like wheat, ragi, health mix etc. The flour that I used here is chemba puttu podi or brown rice flour.
Recipe Courtesy: Annita's My Treasure...My Pleasure

Sunshine Award

Thanks to Soumya of Soumya's kitchen for sharing the Sunshine award with me. Soumya is a newcomer to the blogging world; she has a beautiful blog with lots of delicious non-vegetarian recipes.

I would like to pass this award to 15 fellow bloggers: Yummy team, Kairali sisters, Sarah, Nitha, Satya, Priya, Nithu, Mharo Priya, Aipi, Akila, Sree, Sangeetha, Lavanya, Santoshji and Vasavi

Fish Molee (Fish Stew in Coconut Milk)

 

Fish molee is a popular fish stew of Kerala where fish is cooked in coconut milk. There are variations in recipe from region to region. Usually lime juice and tomatoes are used as souring agent instead of kudampuli or malabar tamarind (gambooge).
 Recipe Courtesy: Malabar Spices

Thakkali / Tomato Rasam (A Tomato Soup)

Tomato rasam is a popular South Indian side dish served with rice. It could also be served as a starter soup.
Recipe Courtesy: Veena's Curry World


Aloo Capsicum (Potato Bell Pepper Fry)

Aloo Capsicum is a popular North Indian side dish served with rotis and chapathis. It is a very simple dish where potatoes and bell peppers are cooked and then stir-fried in oil with spices.
Recipe Courtesy: Preethi's online cookbook

Chembu Roast (Taro / Colocasia Roast)

Taro corms are edible in many ways, as an ingredient in curries, steam-cook, roast, fry or deep fry. This time I decided to roast it with lots of chilli powder. The taro that I got from the Indian grocery store here tasted a little bit different from the taro we used to get in Kerala; may be it's a different variety of taro!
Recipe courtesy: Food with a pinch of love
I used only taro here and avoided potatoes as suggested in the recipe. I'm sure it will taste even better with potatoes. Next time I'm going to try that.

Spicy Chicken Curry

There are numerous ways of making chicken curry. This is a basic spicy version which is very simple and easy to make.
Recipe courtesy: Niya's world