Tomato Curry with Coconut milk

        

Tomato curry with coconut milk

This recipe is from Lakshmi Nair’s magic oven cookery books. I have modified the recipe a bit; I haven’t used garam masala as suggested in the original recipe but used few fresh curry leaves instead. It tasted great with rice.

Ingredients:-

Tomato – 4 medium ( I used 2 big beef tomatoes), cut each tomato into 6 pieces
Cumin seeds – 1/2 tsp
Fenugreek seeds – 1/2 tsp
Onion -1 medium, chopped long & thin
Ginger – a small piece, chopped
Garlic – 2 big cloves, chopped
Curry leaf – 2 sprigs
Red chilly powder – 11/2 tsp / to taste
Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder – 11/2 tsp
Coconut oil – 2 tbsp
Water – 11/4 cups
Coconut milk powder – 2 tbsp ( bit heaped)
Sugar – a generous pinch

Method:-

Heat the oil & splutter the cumin seeds, add the fenugreek seeds & fry.

Stir in the chopped onions, ginger, garlic & a sprig of curry leaves. Saute till the onion turns brown. Add all the masala powders & fry for a minute.

Add the tomatoes  & 1/2 tsp of salt; fry on medium high heat for 2 minutes. Add the water & bring to a boil. Check for salt & add more if needed. Cover cook on medium low heat for 7 minutes.

Mix the coconut milk powder with 1/8 cup of water & pour  this into the curry. Bring to a slow boil & cook for 2 minutes more. Finally add the remaining sprig of curry leaves, & sugar; remove from heat.

Keep covered so that the gravy will absorb the flavour of the curry leaf.

Mixed Pulses Kurma

          

This mixed pulses kurma tastes great when served with roti. The sweet taste of frozen green peas and the nutty taste of kidney beans and chickpeas blends well with the tomato-milk based spicy gravy.

Ingredients :-
Chickpeas – ½ cup
Red kidney beans / Rajma – ¾ cup
Frozen greenpeas – ½ cup
Onion – 1 cup, thinly chopped
Garlic cloves – 4 big
Ginger – 1 small piece
Tomato puree -1/2 cup
Coriander powder – 1 tbsp. heaped
Red chili powder – 1 tsp. /less
Turmeric powder – 1 tsp.
Garam masala powder – ½ tsp.
Kasoori methi – ¼ tsp.
Jeera powder – a pinch
Whole/low fat milk – 11/4 cup
Salt – as needed
Oil/Butter- 2 tbsp.

Method:-
Soak chickpeas and kidney beans for 8 hours. Cook in a pressure cooker adding 3 cups water and 1.5 tsp. salt. Simmer for 20 minutes after the first whistle. Open the cooker when the pressures completely subsides and cook on medium heat till water reduces considerably.

Heat oil/butter. Sauté onion, garlic and ginger.

When brown add coriander, red chili, turmeric and cumin powder and sauté for 1 minute. Add tomato puree and a little salt and stir fry till oil is visible.

Add the frozen peas and stir for 2 minutes till soft.Add the cooked and drained rajma and chickpeas. Add milk, salt, kasoori methi and garam masala. Let boil. Cook on medium low heat for 2-3 minutes.
Garnish with cilantro.

Kerala Sambar

          

Kerala Sambar

Kerala sambar is a mixed vegetable lentil soup served hot with rice, idli, dosa and vadas. It has many vegetables added to it .However, the basic process of making the sambar remains the same.

The process involves 4 steps:-
1.Cooking the toor dal and mashing it.
2.Preparing the sambar masala.
3.Cooking the vegetables with sambar masala and other spices.
4.Adding the mashed toor dal and asafoetida to the cooked veggies and boiling it for a couple of minutes more.

The following vegetables are usually added to the sambar
Ashguord
Brinjal
Pumpkin
Ladies finger
Carrot
Tindly
Beans
Guar beans
Snakeguord
Potato
Elephant yam / Suran
Taro
Plantain
Drumstick
You don’t need to have all these vegetables. Anything will do except bitterguord, beetroot etc.This is my favourite recipe for Sambar.

Ingredients:-
Toor Dal – 1/2 cup
Curry leaf – 1 sprig
Onion – 1 big (cut into 4)
Shallots – 8 big
Brinjal – 11/2 cup
Plantain – 1 cup
Carrot – ¼ cup
Red pumpkin – ¼ cup
Guar beans – ¼ cup
Snakeguord – ¼ cup
Drumstick – 1
Ashguord – ¼ cup
Ladiesfinger – ½ cup
( I have used 4 cups  of chopped vegetables)
Tomato – 1 big ( cut into half)
Green chillies slit – 4
Red chilly powder – 1 tsp
Turmeric powder – ½ tsp +1/4 tsp
Tamarind – a small gooseberry sized ball
Oil as needed
Salt as needed
Chopped coriander leaves – 2 tbsp
Asafoetida(Kaayam) – ¼ tsp
Jaggery – a small piece / as needed to balance all the flavours

For Sambar powder:-
Grated coconut – 2 tbsp
Coriander seeds – 2 tsp (heaped)
Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
Peepercorns- ½ tsp
Chana dal – 1 tsp
Methi seeds – ½ tsp
Urad dal split – ½ tsp
For Popping:-
Mustard Seeds – 1/2 tsp
Red chillies – 3
Curry Leaves – a sprig
Ghee – 1 tsp

Method:-
Soak tamarind in 1/4 cup of warm water, squeeze and strain the tamarind extract. Reserve.
Cook toor dal in a pressure cooker adding ¼ tsp turmeric powder, a sprig curry leaf and 2 tsp coconut oil. Simmer for 10 minutes after 1^st whistle. Mash the cooked dal and keep aside.




Roast the grated coconut adding 1 tsp coconut oil till golden brown and keep aside. Roast together chana dal, urad dal, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, methi seeds and peppercorns in 1 tsp coconut oil for 2 minutes. Grind the roasted dal and spices along with the coconut adding little water to a smooth paste. This is the sambar masala.




Heat 1 tbsp coconut oil. Add onion, shallots and greenchillies. Sauté for a minute. Add all the veggies (except ladies finger) and sauté for a minute.



Transfer to a pressure cooker. Add the sambar masala, 13/4 cups water, ¼ cup tamarind extract, red chilly powder, turmeric powder and 2 tsp salt. Simmer for 5 minutes after 1^st whistle .Let the pressures completely subside before opening.

The cooked veggies

Cook the ladies finger separately with salt and water for 15 minutes.
Add the mashed dal, asafoetida powder, cooked ladies finger, ½ cup water, enough salt and jaggery to the cooked veggies. Let boil. Simmer for 5-10 minutes. Add the chopped cilantro and remove from heat.


 Heat ghee in a pan and allow mustard seeds to splutter. Add red chillies and curry leaves and fry for a minute. Now add the seasoning to the sambar and serve hot with steamed rice.

Rasam

      

Ingredients:-
Toor dal – 1/2 cup
Curry leaf – 3 sprigs
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Coconut oil – 1 tbsp + 1 tsp
Tamarind – a gooseberry sized ball
Water - 3 3/4  cups
Tomato - 2 numbers, big, each cut into 4 pieces
Salt as needed
Asafoetida – 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder -  3/4 tbsp
Powdered methi – 1/4 tsp
Garlic – 4 big cloves
Peppercorns – 11/2 tsp
Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
Dry red chilly – 1 number + 2 numbers
Ginger – 1 tsp, grated
Jaggery – a small piece/ as needed to balance the flavours
Cilantro – 2 tbsp ( also use the stems as they contain more flavour)
Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp

Method:-
Soak the tamarind ball in 1/4 cup of hot water for 30 minutes. Squeeze & strain the tamarind extract.
Cook the dal adding 11/4 cups of water, 1 tsp of coconut oil, 1 sprig curry leaf & 1/4 tsp turmeric powder in your pressure cooker. Simmer for 15 minutes after the first whistle. Add the tamarind extract, tomato pieces, 1 sprig of curry leaf, powdered methi, asafoetida powder, 3 3/4 cups of water & salt to the cooked dal; bring to a boil. Cover cook for 5 -10 minutes.

Crush the garlic cloves, ginger, peppercorns, cumin seeds & 1 dry red chilly using your mortar & pestle. Add this to the boiling rasam, mash the tomatoes with the back of your spoon. Add the coriander powder, powdered jaggery & bring to a final boil.

Strain this rasam & discard the residue. Heat 1 tbsp of coconut oil; splutter the mustard seeds, add 1 sprig of curry leaf & 2 dry red chillies. Pour this seasoning over the rasam. Garnish the rasam with the cilantro. Have this rasam hot.

Vegetable Charu curry

      

This is a stew like curry that goes well with Appam & Roti. What makes this cury  unique is the addition of cumin powder & generous use of whole spices. All stew & fish moli lovers please try this, you are sure to like this Vegetable Charu Curry.
Heat 2 tbsp of coconut oil, add 2 tsp of whole spices (3/4 tsp of fennel seeds, 1/4 tsp of peppercorns, 1 star aniseed, 1″ cinnamon stick, 4 cloves & 3 cardamom). When you get an aroma of the spices, add 2 medium onions (thinly sliced), 1/2″ piece of ginger (julienned), 2 big garlic cloves (julienned), 4 greenchillies (slit) & few curry leaves. Saute till the onions turn golden brown in color.
Add 2 tbsps of coriander powder, 1 tsp of pepper powder, 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder & 1/2 -3/4 tsp of cumin powder; fry on low heat for 2 minutes. Add 2 cups of randaampaal & bring to a boil.
Add 3 cups of veggies ( I had used potato, beans, carrot & cauliflower) & enough salt. Cover & cook on low heat for 20 – 25 minutes. Open the lid & slightly mash few of the cooked potato cubes to thicken up the gravy.
Finally add 1/2 cup of thick coconut milk & a few curry leaves, bring to a very slow boil & remove from heat.
We had this curry with Wheat flour Appam.