Our family-owned a big coconut groove back in my place which used to be bountiful. I remember the days my mom used to take me there every weekend promising to get me tender coconuts. While my mother watered and fertilized the groove with helpers, I will be lying down under a tree, and counting how many coconuts are there in each tree. She also had some planted around our house when I and my brother were born. She used to age them along with us as we grow. So we always had plenty of coconuts. My mother's dishes had coconut in them in some form. (grated, pasted, etc. ). Those are all distant dream now. Chickpea curry( Channa masala as we call it ) is one of the protein-rich curries which is loved by most. This is not only healthy but also tastes good and hence very popular amongst vegan dieters. Now wherever you go, be it the roadside truck or a fancy restaurant, the chickpea curry they serve is with onion, tomato, and masalas. However, my mom used to make a light version of the ...

Bottle Gourd is a summer vegetable. As we are getting close to summer, I see that the bottle gourd is stocked up in all Asian stores.  This versatile vegetable is full of water and minerals and considered one of the healthiest vegetables. This is well suited for diabetics and regulates blood pressure. Not only that, but there is also a multitude of recipes you can make with this gourd.  This gourd has a very bland taste and hence it goes well with other vegetables or sometimes, we add this in chicken or lamb curry. Here is one of the recipes using bottle gourd. Bottle gourd lentil curry (sorakkai/lauki channa dal curry) is a wholesome vegan dish high in protein and low in carbs preferred by dieters.  You can pair this with absolutely anything.  I prefer this lentil curry with rice. To the south Indian in me,  nothing may sound as heart-filling as rice and the lentil curry. I made rice and lentil curry together in my insta pot together and it took 20 minut...

Bombay Sambar is an instant and simple recipe that can be done in no time at all. This is an easy alternative to the tedious daal/sambar that a South Indian make. Even though it is simple, the taste is very rich and goes well with Idli(Rice cake), Dosa(Rice crepe), Flatbread(Chapathi), etc.  Here is the recipe Ingredients : Onion -1 in no  Tomato - 1 in no( big size) Green Chilli - 2 to 3  Salt - 1 tsp or as needed Oil - 1.5 tbsp  Chickpea /besan/gram flour/kadalai maavu - 2 tbsp  Cilantro/curry leaves - for garnishing  Mustard seeds or any other tadka for  tempering  Ginger garlic  paste - 1/2 tsp or 2 pods of garlic minced (optional) Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp or as needed Instructions :  Finely chop the onions, tomato; slit the green chili. You can use dried chili or chili powder according to the availability and taste  Heat the oil in a pan and add mustard seeds or any other type of tempering. Curry Leaves ...

This pepper chicken curry is a classic Indian recipe that is easy to make and less time-consuming. Without much ado, let us jump straight into the recipe. Coz, I am hungry and my curry is waiting to be emptied ... Serves - 2 ; Time - 30-40 minutes Ingredients : For the Spice mix  Fennel seeds - 1 tsp  Cumin seeds - 1 tsp  Pepper - 1 tsp  Dried  red chilli - 4 in no(medium sized)  cloves - 2 or 3  cinnamon - 1/4 of the stick or even lesser  Coriander seeds - 21/2 tbsp  poppy seeds - 1/2 tsp  Or  Garam masala or spice mix - 2 tsp Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp Coriander powder - 2 tbsp Pepper powder - 1 tsp For the Curry Chicken - 1  pound  Onion  - 1 large  Tomato - 1 large Ginger  garlic paste - 2 tsp  Salt - 1 tsp or as needed  Curry leaves/cilantro  Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp  Oil - 2 1/2 tbsp  Fennel seeds - 1/2 tsp ; bay leaf - 1 ; clove - 1 Instr...

It's January and the weather is pretty rough here. It is hitting 35 degrees F. In such cold weather, all I want to do every day is to eat something hot, watch tv and stay indoors. I got pretty bored of souping to combat this weather and  I badly missed the spicy kara/puli kulambu a sour curry that my mother used to make. Okay, that is sour and definitely spicy and hot... But I also need to include some nutrients in my meal(especially am after protein ).  I opened my fridge thinking to make some vegetable stew and that's when the pre-soaked brown chickpeas caught my attention. Tada, decided to make the traditional kadala curry from Kerala with the coconut paste and other spices. But, my mind was so obsessively filled with puli kulambu, that I ended up making this tangy chickpea curry Read on for the recipe details Ingredients :  Brown chickpeas - 1 cup soaked for a minimum of 8 hours   Shallots/pearl onion(small ones) - (8-10) or a medium sized onion...

Today I will share with you one of the famous south Indian delicacy - Karavad curry aka dried fish curry aka karuvadu kuzhambu. Being grown up in the proximities of a fisherman town, seafood is something which is abundant and nobody can say no to. We eat fish, prawns almost every day of the week. What will you do even then the fish, prawn is abundant?  Well.... actually it will not be abundant throughout seasons right. So some genius ancestors of ours found a way to sundry it with salt which naturally removes any moisture content and preserves it. Salt is a natural preservative. It is just like the sun-dried tomatoes concept in the West. By now you may be thinking, dried fish is no way near the taste of live fish.  And that's right. Well dried fish tastes even better and heavenly compared to live fish. What are you waiting for?  Try it yourself and see...... You can have it with steamed rice, steamed rice cake/idli, Rice Crepe/Rice pancake/Dosa, Poha,  Steam...

Who is not a fan of those Manchurian from Asian cuisines ??? Well, am not an exception too. I am a crazy big fan of those vegan & healthy protein and yet flavourful.  you can have it as a side/curry with rice/naan/flatbread or even with noodles. There was a period, I would go to an Indo Chinese shop and order tofu Manchurian even without looking at the menu. Well, not anymore. The recipe is pretty simple and I started making this delicious and yet healthy dish at home ever since I decoded the recipe. Here it is decoded for you too..... Ingredients : Extra-firm Tofu - 7oz /200 gms pack (Only extra firm will hold its shape) corn flour - 3 tbsp  Maida/All purpose flour - 1 tbsp  Chilli /Manchurian sauce - 2 tbsp  Sugar/Honey- 1 tbsp  Spring onion - 1 bunch  - cut/halved  Capsicum/bell pepper -1 in no  - cut into chunks - optional Onion - 1 in no (small in size) - cut into chunks - optional salt - as needed  Soy sauce - 3 t...