Showing posts with label lunch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lunch. Show all posts

Monday, August 25, 2014

Sambar - Tamarind Stew with Vegetables

An authentic South Indian (SI) meal is like a melody that you can taste.

Music has a rhythm, a beat and a soul; a SI meal has colors, spices and texture.

Music is all about striking a chord in perfect harmony; a SI meal is all about striking the beautiful balance between different tastes (sweet, sour, hot, tangy, salty, bitter, pungent, astringent and etc.)

It is a king’s meal with rice being the king’s favorite minister. The three-course meal menu includes sambar rice, rasam rice (recipe here), yogurt rice with any choice of vegetable curry and of course, a dessert (Didn’t I tell you it is the perfect blend of so many flavors and tastes?)
Having said enough, here is the recipe for 'sambar' ( the first course of the meal) , which is translated as 'Tamarind Stew with vegetables'. It is a simple track with catchy beats. There are so many other beats to this stew that will soon be posted here.Until then, here is the most basic version of Sambar.Mix it with steamed white rice and enjoy the pride of South India.

Friday, August 15, 2014

Paneer Capsicum Briyani

                              


I'm pretty sure that everyone would miss their mother's cooking, especially when it comes to traditional veg briyani. Whenever I make briyani/pulao, I struggle to cook basmati rice at the right consistency. I found a secret way of cooking rice, let me share that with you in the steps ;). Paneer and capsicum makes a wonderful combination when cooked together and this recipe can be easily prepared when we have unexpected guests. Here comes my secret :) 

Monday, April 21, 2014

Minestrone Soup

Whenever we go to olive garden, we first order the minestrone soup with salad without even seeing the menu. I wasn't sure why we were crazy about this soup, then I understood that the aroma and the taste from the fresh veggies, beans, mild flavor of tomato and pasta cooked in the vegetable-broth was the reason. This soup can be taken as lunch or dinner portion with two slices of wheat or garlic bread toast, which will be filling. This soup will have an awesome taste when served hot!
                              

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Okra rice/Vendakkai sadam

Whenever I go to the grocery store to buy vegetables my eyes automatically starts to roam around in search of okra, as okra is one of my favorite vegetable. I usually make a curry, kootu, fry, more kuzhambu or sambar using okra but this time I wanted to make something different, so decided to make okra rice in my own style. 
                                 

Nutrition value of the okra 

  1. High in fiber
  2. Vitamin C
  3. Folate
  4. It has a high content of antioxidant.
  5. Good source of calcium and potassium. 

Ingredients 

Okra/vendakkai (cut into medium size)
1 lb
Onion (thin sliced)
1
Tomato ( fine chopped)
2
Basmati rice
1 ½ cup
Ginger garlic paste
1 tbsp
Red chilli powder
2 ½ tsp
Coriander powder
1 tsp
Turmeric powder
¼ tsp
Garam masala
1 tsp
Salt
As needed
Cilantro (fine chopped)
2tbsp
Oil : ghee
1:1tbsp

Method

Okra rice should be done in 3 steps.

Step: 1
  • Soak the basmati rice for 10-15 mins. Meanwhile boil water for cooking the basmati rice.
  • Once the water starts to boil, add salt to it and then add the soaked basmati rice. Cook until the rice boils nicely. 
  • When it starts to boil stop the flame and close the rice with the lid. Keep it aside for 10 mins. 
  • In the boiling water itself the rice will be cooked. After 10 mins drain the water from the rice completely. 
  • Then keep it aside.

Step: 2

  • In a skillet heat oil and add turmeric. When it starts to bubble add the okra to it and give a quick stir, wait for 5 mins.
  • Now add salt, 1 tsp of chilli powder and stir fry it with any equal interval until the okra are fried completely.
                              

Step: 3

  • In another kadai add oil:ghee wait till it gets hot, then add onion fry till it turns light golden brown color.
  • When onion turns color add ginger garlic paste, fry in medium flame until raw smell goes.
  • Then add tomato, along with it add salt, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and coriander powder mix well till the masala blends with tomato and onion. Wait until the tomato mushy and oozes out oil from the masala.
  • Now add cooked rice to it and mix it well. Wait until the masala gets absorbed by the rice. 
                                 

  • When masala coats with the rice nicely, add the fried okra to it and give it a quick stir. 
  • Finally add chopped cilantro to it. Now hot and yummy okra rice is ready to be served.
                              

  • Serve it hot with chips, any raita or it goes well with plain yogurt.  
                              

Tips

  • Choose the okra young while buying( how to find its young? if you break the tail end of the okra it should break crispy).
  • Don't cut the okra into thin slice, cut it into medium size. Because when you cook okra it should not break.
  • Remember the okra should be cooked completely before adding it into the rice mixture.  
  • You can also avoid first step and directly cook the basmati rice along with the masala itself.
                               



Check out our other rice recipe also cilantro-lime-rice
Linking this post to

Joybee, What's for Dinner?

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Cilantro-Lime Rice

I am so chuffed that you all liked my Veggie-Tofu recipe. As promised, here I am with the recipe for cilantro-lime rice. Usually at restaurants you find it as a side for any Mexican food or used as filler in burritos. 
This recipe is a huge hit in our family and there's more than 1 reason why we love it. 1) it's so quick to make  2) it's a flavor bomb.

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Aloo Paratha (Potato stuffed flatbread)


Potato is considered as universal favorite but not mine!! Until one day when I went to a dhaba with my friends, I ordered a big glass of lassi and my friends ordered aloo parathas. Hot aloo parathas were on the table but lassi took ages, I was so hungry that I couldn't resist taking a bite of paratha. That's it I fell in love and it became my most favorite punjabi dish ever!

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Green Gram Curry



green gram

Look who is getting calorie-conscious these days!! Fat is the 3 letter word I hate the most, a close second is gym. So when I was browsing
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