Spiced Eggplant Roast - South Indian Style (Podi potta Kathrikai Curry)

This is the most common curry I make at home as my hubby is an eggplant-lover. Eggplant gets tastier when you fry them longer and this curry gets all its taste from the spice mix aka curry powder. The crunch of the toasted dals/lentils also plays an important role :) I also add drops of oil in steps and keep roasting until it is a bit crispy yet soft. This Eggplant Curry goes well with plain rice or with a clear soup like Garlic Rasam or Jeera Rasam.

Spicy Eggplant Roast - South Indian Style

You Need -

Eggplant - 1 pulpy (~250 g)
Onions - 2 medium (chopped)
Garlic pods - 3 (chopped)
Ginger - 1 inch piece (chopped fine)

Curry powder (Click to see how you can make it at home and store) - 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1/3 tsp
Red chilli powder / Paprika - 1 tsp (adjust to taste)
Salt - to taste (3/4 tsp)


Curry leaves - a few
Coriander leaves - a few

Tempering :

Oil - 2 tsp + 1 tbsp in drops
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 1 1/2 tsp
Channa Dal - 1 tbsp

How To -

 

This time, I will let the pictures do the talking :)

Here's the recipe at one shot:

• Take a frying pan/kadai, heat 2 tsp of oil and allow mustard seeds to splutter. 
• Then add Urad dal/Black gram dal and Channa dal/Bengal Gram dal (Oh, so mnay names for these lentils!!!) Fry till the color changes slightly reddish and enjoy the aroma :)
• Add finely chopped ginger and garlic. Fry for 2 minutes.
• Throw in some washed curry leaves and add onions. Let the onions soften a bit. I wait for the onions to turn a bit brown (not too much). 
• Meanwhile, chop the eggplant into big chunks (they shrink after cooking) and microwave for 3-5 minutes (according to the power of your device).
• Add almost cooked eggplant to the kadai and let the lentils get coated well. Take care not to mash the vegetable. 
• Add the spice powders - Curry powder (our star of this recipe), Turmeric and Red chilli powder. Add salt as required. Toss gently.
• You do not have to close the pan as you want them to get roasted well. Please add drops of oil around and toss at intervals of 3-5 minutes. Keep flame on Sim/Minimum.
• In about 15-20 minutes, it should get well-roasted. Generally, I let it sit around until I finish making rasam or dal.  
• Finally, garnish with fresh coriander leaves, chopped fine. 

Brinjal Curry - South Indian Style

Podi potta Kathrikai Curry

Absolutely yummy when mixed with plain rice or with Rasam

Spinach rice (Palak rice)

This is a variation from the usual Coriander rice or Mint/Pudina rice that's popular in the Indian kitchens. Here, spinach is blended with spices and mixed with rice and it's a really good way to make your kids include spinach in their diet. Make it richer by grinding coconut and cashewnuts with the spinach paste ...Wah!!!

This does not take more than 30 minutes to complete, so you can make this for a weekday dinner when you want something healthy, quick and filling! It's also ideal to pack in a lunchbox!

Spinach Rice

What You Need -

• Rice, preferably Basmati - 1.5 cups
• Spinach - 2 bunches
• Green chillies - 4 nos
• Onion, chopped - 1 big or 2 small  (Sambar onions (very small ones) taste better)
• Tomatoes - 3 (chopped)
• Coconut (grated) - 4 to 5 tbsp
• Cashewnuts - 12 + 6
• Home-made Curry powder - 1 1/2 tsp
• Biriyani leaf - 1
• Cinnamon - 1/2 stick, powdered
• Pulao powder - 1 tsp (optional)
• Salt - to taste
• Oil - 2 tsp
• Ghee - 1 tsp

How To -

• Cook spinach in boiling water and let cool. Strain off water.

• Make it into a paste by blending along with cashewnuts, coconut and curry powder.

• Take a kadai, fry biriyani leaf in oil and then add powdered cinnamon. Add pulao masala if you like.
• Add slit green chillies, chopped onions and fry for 3 mins. Then goes in the tomatoes.

• Mix in the prepared spinach paste to the kadai and cook until the raw smell vanishes.

• Add cooked basmati rice and mix gently. Add salt.

• Garnish with ghee-roasted cashewnuts and fresh cilantro/coriander leaves.

Serve with Onion-Tomato Raitha and/or Chips/Vadam :)

Kovakkai/ Dondakaya/ Tindora/ Ivy-gourd Masala

Kovakkai is not my favorite vegetable but somehow felt like picking it up when I saw it after a long long time (never bought it even once as hubby darling detests it) at Mustafa last week. My mom makes kovakkai fry that tastes awesomely crispy,  however, that requires a lot of patience! Hence, I decided to use onions n tomatoes with spices to make it palatable to my hubby as well as save time for myself . It did taste wonderful with Garlic Rasam.

Kovakkai Masala/ Ivy gourd Masala

 
What I Used -

Ivy gourd / Kovakkai

Kovakkai / Ivy gourd - 500 g
Onions- 2 medium/big
Tomatoes - 2 big/medium
Ginger-Garlic paste - 1 tsp
Green chillies - 3 or 4
Turmeric powder / Haldi - 1/4 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Home-made Curry powder - 1.5 tsp
Garam masala/Pav Bhaji masala - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste

To Temper-

Oil - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Jeera / Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Curry leaves  - a few (optional)

How I Made It -

• Heat oil in a deep kadai and temper with mustard and jeera. Throw in some curry leaves if you like.
• Add chopped onions and fry until light-brown.
• Add ginger-garlic paste, fry for 3 mins.
• When the raw smell goes off, add chopped tomatoes. Alternatively, you can pour juice of 1 tomato and add the other one chopped.
• Slit each kovakkai into 4 height-wise and add to the kadai.

Slit tindora / kovakkai

• Add all the spice powders - curry powder, garam masala (or pav bhaji masala or channa masala, whichever is available), turmeric, red chilli powder and salt. 
• Add 1/2 cup water and close the pan with a lid. Allow the vegetable to cook on low-medium flame for 15 minutes.
• Mix them together so that the spices get incorporated with kovakkai giving it a better taste.
• You can either serve at this stage like a gravy or add 2 tsp of oil and let it get a bit crispy and dry after another 30 minutes.

As you might have guessed, I took the easy, first route . Garnish with coriander leaves.  Serve with Rice or Roti varieties.

Sending this to "Subzis for Rotis" event hosted by Tickling Palates

Colocasia Roast (Seppan kizhangu/ Arbi Fry)

Cheppan kizhangu is a root tuber belonging to the broader family of potatoes, yam, etc.  Roasting cooked colocasia with fine Indian spices is one of the bestest things I love to eat anyday anytime :) This is quite simple to make and one of the items that I make every now and then.

The technique to make it roasted without deep-frying it, is to refrigerate the cooked colocasia and make the dry curry the next morning. That way, you can prevent it from getting mashed, which could happen if you try to make it immediately after pressure-cooking the veggie.  This method was in fact discovered by serendipity!

Colorful!

What You Need -

Colocasia - 500 g
Red chilli powder - 3/4 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Home-made Curry powder - 1 tsp
Rice flour - for crispness - 2 tsp
Salt - to taste
Oil - 3 tsp

To temper -

Mustard seeds - 3/4 tsp
Urad dal - 3/4 tsp
Channa dal - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - to taste (optional)

How To -

• Pressure cook seppan kizhangu for 3 whistles and switch off. Over-cooking increases its softness and makes it mushy. 
• Peel off the skin and refrigerate them for atleast 3 hours. Usually, I cook it the previous night if I want to make the curry the next morning.
• Take a kadai, pour 2 tsp of oil and heat it. 
• Allow mustard seeds to splutter, then follows urad dal and channa dal. 
• Tear some curry leaves and add.
• Now, take out seppan kizhangu from your fridge and cut each piece into 2-3 pieces depending on its size. 
• Slip the cheppankizhangu pieces carefully and it's best if each piece is placed separately as one layer on a wide pan.
• Add the powders - turmeric powder, red chilli powder and curry powder.

 

• Add salt.
• Keep flame on low-medium and let them get roasted well for about 15 minutes.
• Sprinkle some rice flour evenly over the pieces.
• Add another teaspoon of oil around the pieces.
• Turn the pieces over and let the other side get fried too. Another 15 minutes and your yummy colocasia roast is ready to be served :) Roasted on the outside and soft inside!

 

You can enjoy it with rice and sambar/rasam/curd.

Bindi Masala (Lady's finger / Okra Masala)

Okra (Lady's finger) is a powerhouse of nutrients, nearly 50% of which is soluble fiber. Soluble fiber helps to lower cholesterol,which reduces the risk of heart disease. The superior fiber found in okra helps to stabilize blood sugar as it curbs the rate at which sugar is absorbed from the intestinal tract. To retain its nutrients, lady's finger should be cooked as little as possible in low heat or lightly steamed.

This recipe is quite simple in that, we sauté the okra with onions, tomatoes, ginger-garlic-green chillies paste and spice it up with the best Indian spices. This is one of those "Under 30-minute" recipes.

There are different variations of bindi masala and I've once tried to stuff slit bindi with masala (spices) and then cook them in onion + tomato gravy. That's kinda time-consuming and oilier but this one is easier and healthier :)


What You Need -

Okra - about 25 of them
Onions - 2 medium
Tomatoes - 3 medium
Ginger - 1 " piece
Garlic - 3 pods
Green chillies - 3
Salt - to taste

Spices :

Garam masala - 1 tsp
Aamchur (Dry Mango powder) - 1 tsp
Amma's Home-made curry powder - 1 tsp

Tempering:

Oil - 3 tsp
Cumin seeds /Jeera - 1 tsp

How To -

• Wash and dry okra. Letting them dry is important so that their slimy tendency will be under disguise or atleast controlled :)
• Cut each into 3 or 4 pieces such that the length is around 1 inch.
• Take a kadai, heat some oil and add jeera. Allow them to splutter, then add the okra. 
• Stir fry for 5 minutes. You can add a little salt at this point.
• Keep it aside in a plate.

• In the same kadai, heat 2 tsp of oil and temper some jeera.
• Add chopped onions and fry them for a minute.
• Then, add ginger-garlic-green chillies paste.
• Fry till the raw smell goes away.

• Blend 2 tomatoes and extract juice from them. Chop the other tomato lengthwise to match with the okra. Add both of these to onions in the pan.
• Add remaining salt as required.
• The spices follow - garam masala, dry mango powder and curry powder. Cook well.

• Add the sautéd lady's finger to the onions + tomatoes mixture and toss them gently together. Cook for 5 more minutes and we're done! :)

Serve with any Indian bread. It also goes well with rice.

Home-made Curry Powder

This is pretty-much the secret to spice up even the simplest of recipes, say, dry potato fry, okra fry or eggplant fry. One can add this to all Indian gravies like kurmas and it definitely will make your dish more 'lively' :)

Home-made Curry Powder

It's very simple to make. I make (and store) this powder fortnightly to retain the freshness of the spices. Handy recipe I learnt from my mom!


Here's What You Need -

• Channa Dhaal (kadala paruppu) - 1 cup
• Dhania (Coriander seeds) - 1 cup
• Dried Red Chillies - 8 nos.
• Black Pepper corns (milagu) - 10 nos
• Curry leaves (karuveppilai)- 2 sticks (fresh or dried)
• Asafoetida / Hing- 3 drizzles  (or 1/2 tsp if you're gonna grate the solid block that looks like this). This gives a more authentic flavor than the powder store-bought.

Solid Asafoetida

How to make the Curry powder -

• Fry all the spices with 2 drops of oil until their color changes a few shades and you  get that nice aroma. Be careful not to blacken them, so keep the flame on 'medium'. 
• Allow it to cool and powder them together.

• Store in an air-tight container. You do not need to refrigerate this. 
• Feel free, get creative and add them to any curry you make.

Here are some of the recipes I use this curry powder in :

Colocasia Roast / Cheppankizhangu / Arbi Fry

Bindi / Lady's finger/ Okra Masala

The Versatile Tomato Thokku / Indian version of Salsa :)

Kovakkai / Tindora / Ivy-gourd masala

Eggplant Roast - South Indian Style

Sending this to DSM's Dry Spice Powders event