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