Soya Kheema Muttur Curry

I'm a vegetarian who loves eggs & dairy. So I like to call myself as a Ovo-lacto vegetarian (as defined by wiki). Now there are days when I jumped to being a vegan & tried very hard to maintain it too. Very soon I learnt that I could never do that so left it to woods. Life was easy being a vegetarian because we do have lots of supplements for meat products & also creates a perception that we are eating healthy.

Coming to the recipe I made a kheema mutter curry-replacing meat with soya chunks. It tasted awe some & was a good combo for roti.

Ingredients

1 Cup dry soya chunks/ meal maker

1 Cup green peas

1 Tbs Ginger garlic paste

1 Medium onion chopped

2 Medium ripe tomatoes chopped (Replacement for lemon juice)

1 Tbs cumin coriander powder

1 Tbs red chili powder (Adjust acc.)

3 Tbs sesame oil

1 Tsp garam masala powder

3 Tbs fresh coriander leaves

Salt 

Heat a big pot of water. Bring water to boil. To that add soya chunks & cook them for 5mins. Switch off heat & be careful while handling it. Filter the soya chunks & let them cool for some time. Now cut them in to small pieces which just looks like a mince of meat or a little larger than that is also fine.. Now the soya kheema is ready

Heat a wide pan with oil. To that add onions & fry them till they are light brown. Add ginger garlic paste & tomatoes to pan. Stir fry them & add then add soya kheema, peas, garam masala, salt, coriander leaves, cumin coriander & red chili powder. Sautee them for few seconds & to that add coconut cream along with ½ cup of water. Cook on low heat with closed lid for 10mins.

Mix well the ingredients & check if the peas are done. Cook on a low heat with lid open for 5mins & switch off heat.

Serve it warm & it's just yum. 
Check my other Blogging Marathon friends here.

Vegetarian Nadan Chicken Curry

We are in to the second week of Blogging Marathon & this week we are blogging on "Meatless Dishes". I went crazy with looking for recipes that might look something similar to the original recipe & here I decided to make "Nadan Chicken Curry" where in replacing chicken with potatoes. 

Recipe Courtesy:Swasthi of Indian Healthy Recipes

Ingredients

For gravy

½ Cup chopped onions

½ Cup chopped tomatoes

1 Tsp ginger garlic paste

½ Cup coconut milk

2 Tbs sesame oil

Salt

For marinating potatoes

1 Tbs yogurt

1 Tsp red chili powder

½ Tsp garam masala powder 

Pinch of turmeric

2 Large potatoes diced

For masala paste

1 Inch cinnamon

4 cloves

2 cardmon pods

1 Tsp black pepper powder

1 Tsp fennel seeds

1 & ½ Tbs coriander seeds

4 Red chili’s (adjust acc. to your taste)

For seasoning

1 Tbs mustard

½ Cup thinly sliced onions

Few curry leaves 

Marinating

Mix all the ingredients for marinating  & set aside for 30mins

Grounded masala

Dry roast all the ingredients under masala paste. Grind them with little water to make a smooth paste.

Heat a pan with oil. To that add onions & fry them to medium brown. To that add ginger garlic paste & tomatoes & sauté them.

To that add marinated potatoes & masala paste. Add the desired salt. I added a ½ cup water to adjust the moisture in curry. Cook with a lid for 10mins.

Now add the coconut cream & mix it well. Cook on low heat for 5mins & switch off heat.

Heat a pan with oil & to that add mustards, onions & curry leaves. Fry them for 2 mins. Add it to the curry. 

Serve it with Roti's, chapati's & paratha's. 

Paneer Mutter Sabji | Paneer Peas Curry

This is a easy to go recipe for busy mornings & lazy evenings. The pressure cook method reduces the minimum time to about 15 mins & also assured that it's done perfectly.

Ingredients

1 Medium onion diced

2 Tomatoes chopped

1/2 Cup green peas/mutter

10 Cubes paneer 

2 Cloves 

1 Elachi / Cardamon 

Small pies of Cinnamon

1 Tbs ginger garlic

1 Tsp red chili powder

1 Tsp garam masala

Pinch of turmeric

1 Tbs butter 

1/2 cup water 

1/2 Tsp mustard seeds

1 Tsp sugar (optional)

Pressure cooker

Heat a pressure cooker with butter. Add in mustard,cloves,cinnamon & elachi. Next add ginger garlic paste & onions. Fry that for 1min & next comes tomatoes & mutter. Top them with garam masala powder, turmeric, chili powder, salt & water.Close cooker with a lid & cook for 2 whistles.Switch off heat & allow it to cool for 5 mins.
Mean while fry paneer in a nonstick pan till lite crisp (that way you don't have to add some more oil to it).Now remove the lid of cooker & add paneer & sugar to it. Cook for 2 mins on low heat & switch off heat. 

Note : 
1. You can avoid frying paneer & save some time there. 
2. Adding sugar is totally to balance the taste. So it's optional. 

Chamadumpa Vepudu | Seppankizhangu Fry | Taro Root Fry | Arbi Sabji

Some dishes taste so good that you make them the same way 'n' number of times & still enjoy that as your first time.My mom makes this dish & I copied it from her. This is a easy & healthy style of enjoying this recipe.
Few days back I received a mail for this dish.

Ingredient
9 Big taro root
4 Tbs oil
1Tsp mustard 
2 Tbs besan ( Senaga pindi)
2 Tsp chilli ( Adjust acc. to your taste)
Few curry leaves
Salt 

To start off cook the taro roots using a pressure cooker.If not you can boil them in a big vessel with water & can check with a knife if they are cooked or not.
Once cooked allow them to cool down & peel the skin off. Cut them in equal size thin pieces.

Heat a pan with 1tbs of oil then add mustard & curry leaves to it. Once the mustard starts jumping add the cut taro pieces to pan.Sprinkle besan on them while mixing carefully.

Cook it in a medium heat for 5mins.Then add 1tbs oil & mix it.

After 10mins the fry looks similar to this. Then sprinkle salt & chilli powder along with 1tbs oil.Mix them well.Fry them on low heat for another 10mins to get a crispy texture.

Scrambled Tofu Curry

Some days it's very hard for the day to pass on & I'm in a getting bored phase these days. Hubby being busy at office with work & him not even coming for lunch makes me a lone person whole day with doing nothing.

Coming to this curry I have to say it's a replacement to egg burji for vegetarians & vegans too.As you all know tofu is filled with protein so it won't be a bad idea to include it in our daily diet.

Ingredients
2 Cups of scrambled tofu
1 Cup chopped onions
2 Green chili's
1/4 Cup green peas
1 Tomato 
1 Tsp red chili powder
1 Tsp coriander cumin powder
Salt 
Cilantro for garnish
For seasoning 
1 Tsp mustard
1 Tsp jeera
1 Tbs oil

Making scrambled tofu:
Generally tofu is stored in water.In order to make it edible first we have to remove excess water out of it. So I generally cover tofu in a cheese cloth & place mortar on it or something heavy. Leave it for 20 mins so the excess water will be squeezed out. Later remove tofu from cheese cloth & scramble it. 

Heat a pan with oil to that add mustard & jeera.Add onion to pan when the mustard starts jumping. Fry them translucent and then add green chili's,peas & diced tomato to pan.Add salt to them & close pan with a lid. Allow it cook for 5mins & then add scrambled tofu to pan.

Saute it for 10mins till then tofu comes out spongy by loosing all the water to heat.Sprinkle some red chili & coriander cumin powder to pan & saute them for 3 more mins.Switch off heat & garnish it with cilantro. 

Note: 
1. Add some garlic for much more flavor. 
2. I used both green chili's & chili powder but you can avoid any of them to lessen the spiciness in curry. 

Tindora Curry

This is a simple & delicious recipe which goes well along with rasam.No doubt that the combo makes your tummy happy... :) 

Ingredients: 
3 cups sliced tindora
1 Tbs cumin coriander powder
2 Tbs coconut powder
1/2 tsp Chilli powder ( Adjust it acc. to your spice level)
1 Tsp mustard seeds
1 Tbs oil
2 Curry leaves
1&1/2 Tsp salt ( Adjust acc.)

Heat pan with oil. Add mustard seeds to it. Once they start jumping add curry leaves & tindora to pan. Sprinkle salt and close it with a lid. Allow it cook for 10 mins. ( In general Tindora takes a little more time to be cooked) Once the tindora is cooked well add chilli powder, cumin corriander powder & coconut powder to pan. Fry them for 5mins & switch off heat. 

Curry is ready to be served with rice.

Note: Add onions to curry for more flavor....

Carrot Cabbage Poriyal | Carrot Cabbage Stir Fry

Sometimes it takes very simple ingredients to blend into a tasteful recipe. This is one of those recipes which takes less time to cook & turns out yumm. I love trying cabbage with green beans,peas & carrots or even mixing all together. 

This month I was paired with Santosh Bangar of Santosh's Kitchen. She has lots of flavorful dishes & it was very hard for me to choose a single dish from them. I chose "Cabbage peas easy stire" & I did made some changes to it according to my taste.

Ingredients 

2 Cups chopped cabbage 

1 Cup chopped carrot

2 Green chilli's sliced in to half

2 Tbs curry powder

1 Tsp mustard seeds

1 Tsp jeera seeds

1 Tsp channa dal

1 Tsp urad dal 

2 Tbs oil

Salt

Curry leaves for flavor

Curry Powder
2 Tbs channa Dal 
2 Tbs urad Dal 
1 Tbs peanuts 
4 Red chilli's
Dry roast the above ingredients & allow them to cool.Grind them to a smooth powder.

Heat a pan with oil, channa & urad dal. Fry them till they turn light brown & add mustard, jeera to pan. Once the mustard starts jumping mix green chilli's & curry leaves to pan. Then mix cabbage,carrot & salt to pan.Close it with a lid & allow it to cook. Check carrots if they are cooked & then stir in curry powder.Cook for 5mins & switch off heat. 

Curry is ready to serve with rice or roti. 

 Note:

You can adjust the spiciness by removing green chili's.

I got a good critique from everyone who tasted it. So give it a try.. :)