Jackfruit, Carrot, Cauliflower and Potato Kurma ( Coconut Milk Gravy)

We made Turkey Berry Biryani and Vegetable Kurma last weekend. You can make coconut milk gravy or Kurma using any vegetables of your choice or even substitute the veggies with chicken or prawn. We had these vegetables left in the fridge, and weekends are the days we try to finish all the remaining vegetables or poultry in the fridge before restocking with fresh produces. It was a rich, creamy kurma with all the goodness of vegetables. I would say this one pot kurma can be eaten with rice, chapati, bread or biryani.

Jackfruit, Carrot, Cauliflower and Potato Kurma

INGREDIENTS: 

Unripe Jackfruit - 1 cup (cut into small chunks)

Carrots - 2

Potatoes - 4

Cauliflower florets - 2 cups

Kurma Paste:

Ginger - 2 inch piece

Garlic  - 10 cloves 

Grated coconut -  1 cup

Fennel seeds  - 1 teaspoon

Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon

Coriander seeds - 1 tablespoon

Black pepper - 1 teaspoon

Green chilies - 3

Dry red chilies - 3

Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon

Salt - to taste

To Temper:

Cinnamon - 1 stick

Cloves - 5

Star anise - 1

Fennel seeds - 1/2 teaspoon

Vegetable oil - 2 tablespoons

METHOD:

1. First, you need to cut the unripe jackfruit into bite size chunks and cook them in boiling hot water with little bit of salt. After the jackfruit have been cooked thoroughly, drain and keep a side. 

2. Boil the potatoes as well. 

3. Wash the cauliflower florets in hot salted water. Drain and keep that aside as well. 

4. Next, we are going to prepare Kurma Masala Paste. To begin with, we add a tablespoon of oil, and start adding all the ingredients under the 'KURMA PASTE' section. We fry them until slightly golden brown. Allow them to cool before grinding into smooth paste by adding some water.

5. Now, in the pan, add two tablespoons of oil, and start tempering all the ingredients given under the 'TO TEMPER' section.

6. Following that, add all the vegetables that have been chopped into bite size pieces. Sauté for a while and immediately add in the masala paste, and some hot water. Remember the Kurma paste has to be diluted with water because we are going to make a gravy.

7. Allow the gravy to cook well till the carrot and cauliflower are soften, and there isn't any raw masala paste smell. It should took approximately about 25 minutes. Lastly, before switching off the flame, give a lavish sprinkle of chopped coriander leaves. 

Thank you

Abby 

Idli Powder- Idli Podi

Idli powder or idli podi is a condiment that we take as a dip when we eat tosai or idli. The powder is mixed with good amount of gingerly oil or Indian cold pressed sesame oil. Do give a try and let me know your comment about it.

Idli Powder/ Idli Podi

INGREDIENTS: 

Urad dal - 1/4 cup

Channa dal - 1/8 cup

White sesame seeds - 2 teaspoons

Dry red chilies - 7 (reduce the chilies if you don't like spicy food)

Curry leaves - 2 handfuls

Asafoetida - 1 tsp

Salt - to taste

METHOD:

1. First, dry roast urad dal, channa dal and sesame seeds until aromatic and slightly brown in color.  

dry roasted channa dal, toor dal and sesame seeds

2. The dry red chilies and curry leaves have to be sun dried for longer shelf life and easier grinding process.

Sun dried dry red chilies, curry leaves and fried asafoetida pieces

3. Now, grind chilies, asafoetida and curry leaves until slightly coarse.

4. then, add in roasted urad dal, channa dal, sesame seeds and salt. Grind till it becomes slightly fine powder. Some prefer coarse powder and some like it fine. You can alter this according to your own preference.  

Thank you

Abby 

Chayote and Radish Dal - South Indian Vegetable Kootu

Chayote in English, Chow chow or Bangalore Brinjal in Tamil is a type of vegetable that has prickly or thorny skin that belongs to the gourd family along with melons and cucumbers. It in enriched in vitamin C and full of moisture content that work as a cooling agent just like the white radish. The current heatwave in Malaysia requires us to eat more vegetable with high water content so white radish and Chayote are pretty suitable with the climate that we are dealing with right now. This dish is rather like a soupy dal if diluted with more liquid and called dal curry if it is slightly thicker. Whatever the consistency,  the purpose is to fully utilize the vegetables and it has mild spice flavor. If you want to envelope more broth flavor to the curry, you may add quarter cup of chicken stock. You can improvise according to your level of creativity. 

Chow Chow, Plantain and Radish Dal (South Indian Tri-Vegetable Kootu)

INGREDIENTS: 

Chow chow - 1

White radish - 1

Medium sized red onion - 1

Channa dal or lentils  - 1/4 cup

Yellow moong dal - 1/4 cup

Water - 3 cups

Homemade Tiffin sambar powder -  1 tsp

Turmeric powder  - 1/4 tsp

Ghee - 1 tbsp

Salt - to taste

To Temper :

Mustard - 1 tsp

Urad dal- 1/2 tsp

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Dry red chilies - 2

Curry leaves - a sprig

Asafoetida  - 1/4 tsp

Vegetable oil - 2 tsp

METHOD:

1. First, rinse toor dal and channa dal three times until the water is clear and allow it to soak in the clean water for 10 minutes. 

2. Then, cook the drained dals with 3 cups of water by adding 1/4 tsp of salt and turmeric powder. Allow the dhal to cook until it's nice and soft, but not mushy. The dal has to be firm yet cooked properly. when cooking dhal, you may sometimes find your water boiling really high that it may come to the surface and start over flowing from the pot, so to avoid that, you may need to add half a teaspoon of vegetable oil. 

3. Now, heat a pan by adding two teaspoons of vegetable oil. When the oil is hot, add all the ingredients under the 'TO TEMPER' section. Allow the mustard to sputter, urad dal to become golden brown. 

4. After the tempering ingredients, now goes in chopped onion, diced chow chow and diced white radish. Chow chow and radish have to be peeled and cut in small chunks. Do be careful while handling chow chow vegetable as it can be full of tiny thorns. 

5. After sautéing the vegetables lightly for 5 minutes, goes in the cooked dal and the dal water as well. Give a quick stir. Let this dal curry to simmer on a low flame until all the vegetable are thoroughly cooked.  

6. The last stage before switching off the flame, add lavish tablespoon of ghee and a teaspoon of homemade tiffin sambar powder to elevate the flavor and aroma of this dish.

7. This dal curry compliments piping rice or chapati. Cooking this dal curry is a breeze and hassle free.

Thank you

Abby 

South Indian Fish Curry - Version 2

There are tons of delicious tasty fish curry recipes on the Internet. I like to keep my fish curry simple and easy and of course never compromise on the taste. Nobody wants to cook for a long time in the kitchen with lots of other works piled nowadays. This second version of South Indian fish curry doesn't require any coconut milk or chili powder. The spiciness comes from the green chilies and the homemade fish curry powder. I have given a link to Homemade fish curry powder that is an easy to do spice powder and a must in our kitchen because the flavor of fish curry will be only prominent and tasty with the use of it. I would never substitute that homemade fish curry powder with the store bought one as it will definitely ruin the authentic flavor of the curry. I know it is time consuming to prepare the spices and blend them into fine powder, but think of fresh, healthy ingredients that go into the powder that will create magic in your curry. It is just a matter of one day process, because I have only given a small batch recipe that you can prepare effortlessly. So. don't panic. Give a try and leave a comment. 

South Indian Fish Curry - Version 2

 INGREDIENTS:

Whiting/ Lady fish/ Kilanga Meen - 400g

Green chilies - 4 to 5 (reduce the number of chilies, if you don't like spicy food)

Curry leaves - a sprig

Medium sized tomato - 2

Medium sized red onion  - 1

Tamarind - small gooseberry size

Salt - to taste

To make paste :

Homemade fish curry powder - 4 tablespoons(follow this link for the curry powder)

https://abbylakshmi.blogspot.com/2021/02/homemade-south-indian-style-fish-curry.html   

Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Medium sized red onion  - 1

To Temper :

Fenugreek - 1/2 teaspoon

Fennel seeds - 1 teaspoon

Vegetable oil - 3 tablespoons

METHOD :

1. Here I have taken Whiting or Lady fish, but you can use any variety of fish. My mother has cleaned them and washed with salt, a tablespoon of rice flour and water. Since, they are small variety, we will keep them whole. The reason to use rice flour or any kind of flour in hand is to remove the fishy smell.    

Whiting/Lady Fish/Kilanga Meen

 

2. Next step is preparing fish masala paste. You will need one medium sized red onion, 4 tablespoons of homemade fish curry powder and turmeric powder. Blend all of them together with some water to form a thick paste. 

3. Heat up a pan, temper fenugreek and fennel seeds until slightly golden brown. 

4. Chuck in diced onion, green chilies and chopped tomatoes and a sprig of curry leaves. Stir all until onion is translucent and tomatoes are slightly mushy. At this stage, I like to add some salt to speed up the sautéing process.

Chopped tomatoes, diced onion and green chilies

5. Here, I have used small gooseberry size of tamarind and squeezed it in one cup of water to extract the juice. Strain the pulp and add the tamarind juice to a clay pot.

6. To the same clay pot, add the fish, masala paste and also tempered ingredients from the pan. So now, we are going to cook the fish curry in this clay pot. The rule of thumb for adding water is make sure your fish is completely submerged in that scrumptious curry pool. The curry should neither be too thick nor watery. Don't add too much of water or else it will become pool of water than curry. 

Tamarind juice, fish masala paste and fish

7. Close the lid while cooking the fish. This should be cooked on low flame for a good 15 minutes. If you further simmer it, then the fish will break. Once the fish is cooked, switch off the flame.

8. Serve hot with anything like rice or chapati. 

Thank you

Abby

Spicy Fish Curry with Coconut Milk - Version 1

Lip smacking, delicious spicy fish curry with coconut milk and Ciabatta bread or Baguette is match made in heaven. This is my way of making fish curry, but do apologize me for the fiery red look of the curry pool. I added 1 1/2 tablespoons of chili powder that gave such a deep red color. If you are not used to spicy food please skimp on the chili powder. 

Spicy Fish Curry with coconut milk- Version 1

 INGREDIENTS:

Fourfinger Thread Fin fish/ Ikan Senangin, Kaala Meen - 400g

Medium sized red onion  - 1

Green chilies - 3 

Curry leaves - a sprig

Medium sized tomato - 1

Lady fingers - 7

Tamarind - small gooseberry size

Coconut milk - 60 ml

Salt - to taste

To make paste :

Homemade fish curry powder - 2 tablespoons(follow this link for the curry powder)

https://abbylakshmi.blogspot.com/2021/02/homemade-south-indian-style-fish-curry.html   

Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Medium sized red onion  - 1

Red chili powder - 1/2 tablespoon or 1/4 tablespoons (I used 1 1/2 tablespoons, which I find to fiery so please adjust the chili powder to your spice level)

To Temper :

Fenugreek - 1/2 teaspoon

Fennel seeds - 1 teaspoon

Vegetable oil - 3 tablespoons

METHOD :

1. Here I have taken Fourfinger fish, but you can use any variety of fish. My mother has cut the fish into smaller chunks, and also cleaned them with salt, rice flour and water. The reason to use rice flour or any kind of flour in hand is to remove the fishy smell.     

2. Next step is preparing fish masala paste. You will need a medium sized red onion, 2 tablespoons of fish curry powder, turmeric powder and 1/2 tablespoon chili powder. Blend all of them together with some water to form thick paste. 

Fish masala paste

3. Heat up a pan, temper fenugreek and fennel seeds until slightly golden brown. 

4. Chuck in diced onion, green chilies and chopped tomato and a sprig of curry leaves. Stir all until onion is translucent and tomato is slightly mushy. At this stage, I like to add some salt to speed up the sautéing process.

Diced onion, chopped tomato, green chilies and the fish

5. I used small gooseberry size of tamarind and squeezed it in one cup of water to extract the juice. Strain the pulp and add the tamarind juice to a clay pot.

6. To the same clay pot, add the fish, fish masala paste and also tempered ingredients from the pan. So now, we are going to cook the fish curry in this clay pot. The rule of thumb for adding water is make sure your fish is completely submerged in that scrumptious curry pool. The curry should neither be too thick nor watery. 

7. Close the lid while cooking the fish. This should be cooked on low flame for a good 35 minutes. 

8. After that, fry whole lady fingers in 3 tablespoons of oil till they are a bit charred and wrinkled. Now, add them to the fish curry after cooking for 35 minutes along with some coconut milk. Cook this for further 5 minutes only.

9. Serve hot with anything like rice, chapati or Ciabatta bread or Baguette. Why not? 

Thank you

Abby

Homemade South Indian Style Fish Curry Powder

In the past when I was young, my mother used to grind all her spice powder in flour mill. The taste of homemade spice powder is really different from the store bought ones. She had had religiously bought the spices every six months, sun dried them, sent to the mill and brought them back home, allowed them to cool in open air before storing. The process was very lengthy, but the end result was really satisfying. As she grew older, she no longer had the same passion that once she cultivated. Therefore, it has been passed down to me as I am also quite fond of preparing homemade spice powder and pickles. I can be very happy that the ingredients that go into the end product are safe for our family consumption, and there is a sort satisfaction preparing something on your own. You will you are the master in your kitchen. Homemade South Indian Style Fish Curry Powder as the name implied is a must have curry powder in every Indian household. This powder is so versatile that you can use to make any seafood curry, vegetarian tamarind based curry and you can also add it to your stir fried vegetables.

Homemade South Indian Style Fish Curry Powder

INGREDIENTS:

Dry red chilies - 300g

Coriander seeds - 500g

Cumin - 25g

Black peppercorns - 25g

Fenugreek - 25g

Toor dal - 50g

Channa dal - 50g

Raw rice - 3 tablespoons

Fennel seeds - 3 tablespoons

METHOD :

1. Dry roast coriander seeds, black peppercorns, fenugreek, fennel seeds and cumin seeds individually one by one until they release the spice aroma and hot to touch.  

2. Fenugreek has to be dry roasted till it change deep brown color. That gives nice aroma.

3. The raw rice is dry roasted till slightly puffy. 

3. Dry red chilies has to be sun dried because they tend to get burned when fried in a pan. So, we want to retain the red color of the chilies, but allow them to crisp up so that the spice powder will have longer shelf life and easy to grind too. 

4. Next, dry roast all the dal varieties until golden brown.

6. Add all the roasted spices into a blender and grind well. Make sure the powder is fine. Let the powder cool before storing.

7. I would only grind small batches of spice powder because it will be still fresh and flavorful. 

7. Store in an air tight container and later refrigerate. 

6. We can use homemade fish curry powder to make spicy and tangy fish curry. 

Thank you

Abby

Sambar Powder

Being an Indian with typical taste bud can be sometimes labelled as 'PICKY OR CHOOSY' as we are so much accustomed to traditional way of preparing some of the Indian cuisines. It is always handed down from one generation to another. Growing up tasting mother's cooking that is always prepared with much love and care. She didn't mind choosing the best quality ingredients, hygienically preparing spice powder knowing that she would always use that in making sambar that compliments rice or chapati. The smell and aroma of Indian dishes are uplifted by the homemade spice powder, as this one has to be the best in my opinion. Do give a try, and let your sambar recipe be the number one too :)

  

Sambar Powder

INGREDIENTS:

Dry red chilies - 2 cups

Coriander seeds - 1 1/2 cups

Cumin - 2 tablespoons

Black peppercorns - 2 tablespoons

Fenugreek - 2 teaspoons

Toor dal - 3 tablespoons

Channa dal - 3 tablespoons

Urad dal - 3 tablespoons

Asafoetida - 1 teaspoon

METHOD :

1. Dry roast coriander seeds, black peppercorns, fenugreek, cumin seeds individually one by one until they release the spice aroma and hot to touch.  

2. Fenugreek has to be dry roasted till it change deep brown color. That gives nice aroma.

3. Dry red chilies has to be sun dried because they tend to get burned when fried in a pan. So, we want to retain the red color of the chilies, but allow them to crisp up so that the spice powder will have longer shelf life.

4. Next, dry roast all the dal varieties until golden brown.

6. Add asafoetida, all the roasted spices into a blender and grind well. Make sure the powder is fine. Let the powder cool before storing.

7. I would only grind small batches of spice powder because it will be still fresh and flavorful. 

7. Store in an air tight container and later refrigerate. 

6. We can use homemade sambar powder to make different varieties of sambar that go well with piping hot rice.

Thank you

Abby