Spinach Molagootal

Hi all!
I’m back after being out of circulation for a couple of weeks. We had a wonderful (albeit a little hot and insanely hectic) time in India and before we knew it, an entire month had gone by in the blink of an eye! Since our return, lethargy coupled with zero motivation has been making it hard for me to post anything at all. I have been busy in the kitchen though.

A few days back, I made a molagootal following a recipe that I first came across on a blog a few years back, and it has since become one of my favorites. Sadly though, the blog has been silent for too long now.
I did not make too many changes to the original recipe.

Spinach Molagootal (adapted from Saffron Hut’s blog)
Ingredients:
2 cups frozen spinach
¼ tsp turmeric powder
Salt

1 tsp oil
2 tsp urad dal
1 tsp cumin
3-4 red chillies

¾ cup toor dal, cooked
3 Tbsp coconut

For seasoning:
1 Tbsp oil
½ tsp mustard seeds
½ tsp urad dal
A pinch of asafoetida
4-5 curry leaves
1-2 red chillies

Method:
Cook the frozen spinach along with turmeric and salt in ½ cup water. Blend to get a coarse paste. (I used my immersion blender.)

Heat oil in a small pan and roast the urad dal, red chillies and cumin seeds. Grind to a fine paste with the coconut.

Combine the spinach puree/paste, ground coconut-spice mixture and the cooked dal. Add a little bit of water. Cook and bring to a boil.

Heat the rest of the oil in the pan. Add all the ingredients for the seasoning. Pour the tempered oil over the molagootal.

Serve hot with rice.

This is being sent to Sra who is hosting the fourth edition of My Legume Love Affair.

Apple Gojju

I came across this recipe on Vani's blog and decided to put the apples I had to good use. This is a simple, quick and tasty gojju that goes really well with rice.

Ingredients:
2 small apples, diced (I used Granny Smith)
A small piece of tamarind, soaked in hot water and juice extracted
1 tiny piece of jaggery
1- ½ tsp sambar powder
1-2 tsp rice flour mixed in some cold water (to thicken the gojju a bit)
Salt to taste

For seasoning:
1 Tbsp oil
½ tsp mustard seeds
½ tsp fenugreek (methi) seeds
A pinch of asafoetida
½ tsp red chilli flakes
3-4 curry leaves

Method:
Heat the oil and temper it with the ingredients listed above

Add the chopped apples along with sambar powder. Mix well. Cover and cook till the apples are all soft and mushy, 7-8 minutes.

Add the tamarind extract and the jaggery along with a cup of water and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat to medium and add the rice flour dissolved in water. Cook for another 2-3 minutes till the gojju thickens.

Serve hot with rice.

Thank you for sharing your mother’s recipe, Vani!

Here’s another gojju, one with spring onions and tomatoes, from my archives. I love fruit-based curries/gravies like this apple gojju. This pineapple pulissery is another one of my favorites that my mother makes so well.

Chayote Squash Curry

Ingredients:
1 chayote squash, cubed
4-5 curry leaves
1 cup buttermilk

To be ground to a fine paste:
6-7 green chillies
3 Tbsp coconut
A small piece of ginger, grated

For seasoning:
1 Tbsp coconut oil
½ tsp mustard seeds
½ tsp fenugreek seeds
A pinch of asafoetida
Salt to taste


Method:
Cook the chayote squash cubes along with some curry leaves and salt in a little water till tender.

Add the ground mixture to this and cover and cook for about 5 -7 minutes.

Add the buttermilk and cook for another 2-3 minutes on very low heat.

Heat the oil and temper with the ingredients listed above. Serve hot with rice and pappad.

Vegetable Kurma

I came across Sia’s adapted version of a Panchranga Korma many months ago, and was inspired enough to make my own. As usual, I did not have even half the ingredients that the recipe called for, but wanted to make it anyway. So after much tweaking and substituting, this is how it was prepared. It was the perfect way to use up all the little bits and pieces of vegetables just lying around.

Ingredients:
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tsp garlic paste
½ tsp ginger paste
½ tsp red chilli powder
1 Tbsp Oil
Salt to taste

To be cooked in a little bit of water (reserve water for later use) till tender:
1 potato, peeled and cubed
10-15 baby carrots, chopped
½ cup french beans
¼ cup peas

Grind to a paste:
3 Tbsp coconut
1 cup coriander leaves (cilantro)
A handful of almonds (soaked in water for a few minutes)
5-6 green chillies

Method:
Heat the oil in a pan. Add the ginger-garlic paste followed by the onions. Sauté for 2 minutes.

Add the chilli powder followed by the ground paste and cook for 3-5 minutes.

Toss in the cooked vegetables along with the water (adjust according to consistency desired) that was used to cook them in.
Mix well and continue cooking on medium heat for 3-5 minutes to allow the flavors to come together.

Serve hot. We had this with garlic naan.

This goes to Srivalli for her Curry Mela.

Yellow for Bri

First, please do take a look at this post if you haven't seen it already. This one’s too important to have been missed.

Please contribute generously to help Bri and her family. Let us all keep her in our thoughts and prayers.


CLICK is a monthly theme-based photography contest hosted by Jugalbandi. This month’s theme is: YELLOW for Bri

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Mysore Rasam
I am home alone a lot these days and rarely feel like making something nice just for myself unless it’s blog-worthy. I usually make do with leftovers or store-bought frozen meals or even cereal (yes, sometimes I like to have it not just for breakfast, but for lunch and dinner too!). Today I felt like making something special for myself. I was going through my blog list of old favorites and came across Mika’s blog. I went through her archives and saw this recipe for Mysore rasam and decided that it just had to be tried out immediately. I make rasam frequently, but this was something I had only eaten at the typical South Indian hotels back home, and had never prepared before. So I got to work in my kitchen.
Ingredients:
3-4 Tbsp cooked toor dal (yellow pigeon peas)
1 ball of tamarind (lemon-sized), soaked in hot water and juice extracted
1 tomato, chopped
¼ tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste
For roasting and grinding to a paste:
1 Tbsp ghee (using oil just will not give you the same taste!)
2 tsp chana dal (split chickpeas)
1 tsp toor dal (yellow pigeon peas)
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp coriander seeds
6-7 black peppercorns
3-4 red chillies
3 Tbsp grated coconut
A big pinch of asafoetida

For seasoning:
1 Tbsp ghee
Cumin seeds
Mustard seeds

For garnshing:
Coriander leaves.

Method:
Cook the chopped tomato cubes in tamarind water to which turmeric powder and salt have been added.

In a small pan, roast the above mentioned ingredients in a bit of ghee. Cool and grind to a paste.

Add the ground paste and the cooked toor dal to the tomato-tamarind mixture. Adjust to the consistency you reqire by adding desired amounts of water.

Bring to a boil. Season with cumin and mustard seeds. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot.

I had this along with rice and

this koora.

Pineapple Pulissery (Pineapple in a yogurt and coconut gravy)

Pulissery is a sweet and sour yogurt based Kerala preparation that is regularly made at home. It has been one of my favorites since childhood. It can be made using a couple of different fruits. My mother makes the best pulissery ever, and she does it usually with ripe mangoes or pineapple. She does make it with plantains too, though I do not care much for that version.

This is how I make pineapple pulissery…
Ingredients:
1 20oz can of pineapple chunks, drained (Fresh would definitely be better and sweeter)
½ tsp turmeric powder
5-6 curry leaves

Salt
1 ½ cups yogurt, whipped nicely (Ideally, sour curd should be used. I used some yogurt that I had bought at the Indian store, but it still wasn’t sour enough.)

To be ground to a fine paste:
4-5 Tbsp grated coconut (I used frozen)
½ tsp cumin seeds
5-6 red chillies

For the seasoning:
1 Tbsp coconut oil
½ tsp mustard seeds
½ tsp fenugreek (methi) seeds
A pinch of asafoetida(hing)
2-3 red chillies
3-4 curry leaves

Method:
Cook the pineapple cubes along with some curry leaves, salt and turmeric powder in a little bit of water on medium heat till the pineapple pieces turn soft.

Add the ground paste of coconut, cumin and red chillies to the cooked pineapple and continue cooking for another 3-4 minutes.

Turn down the heat and add the yogurt. Mix well and turn off the heat. (This is important as the whole thing starts to curdle with too much heat…not a pretty sight!)

Heat the oil in a pan and add the ingredients for the seasoning. Add to
puliserry.

Serve with steaming hot rice,

thoran and pappadams.


Other Kerala style preparations on this blog -
Vegetable Stew
Ulli Chutney (Onion Chutney)
Pazham Pori (Plantain Fritters)
Instant Dosa with Sambar and Chutney
Kaya Thoran( Raw Banana stir fry)
Kale Thoran (a stir fry with Kale)


This is being sent to Jyothsna of Currybazaar who is hosting RCI: Cuisine of Kerala.

The Eggs Factor

CLICK is a theme-based monthly food photography event started by Jai and Bee of Jugalbandi. The theme for October 2007 is the incredibly versatile and popular Egg.



Here are some of the shots that I clicked for the event…

...before deciding to pick this one as my entry.







This is how the eggs were used the next day...in a simple and delicious egg curry. The yolk was used to make an omelette.

Egg Curry

Ingredients:

5 hard-boiled eggs

5 medium onions, chopped

2 large tomatoes, chopped in large pieces

2 Tbsp tomato paste

3 tsp ginger-garlic paste

5-6 green chillies, chopped finely

1 ½ tsp coriander powder

1 tsp garam masala powder

Coriander leaves for garnishing

Salt to taste



For seasoning

1 Tbsp oil

1 tsp cumin seeds



Method:

Heat oil in a pan & add the cumin seeds. Next, add the ginger-garlic paste followed by the green chillies and chopped onions. Sauté till the onions turn transparent.



Add the chopped tomatoes and cover and cook till the tomatoes are done and turn mushy.



Allow this to cool for a bit & then blend the onion-tomato mixture well to get a smooth paste/sauce.



Return the mixture to the pan and allow it to simmer. Add the tomato paste (this gives it a nice red color which is not possible with tomatoes alone) and the spices and cover and cook for another 5 minutes making sure to stir in between. (Add water if you desire a thinner consistency.)





Make small slits in the hard-boiled eggs and drop into the gravy. Cover and cook for another 5- 7 minutes to allow all the flavors to blend in.



Turn off the heat and garnish with chopped coriander leaves.



Serve hot with rotis or rice.

Spring Onion and Tomato Gojju

Ever since Asha announced RCI: Karnataka, I have been wondering what to make. I googled a number of Karnataka recipes before finally deciding to settle for a gojju.

From what I understand, a gojju is a sweet-sour and spicy dish which is part of a traditional Kannadiga Oota (Kannadiga meal) and can be prepared using a variety of vegetables like eggplant, okra, tomato, pumpkin, onion, bitter gourd etc . It involves cooking the vegetable in a sweet and sour gravy which is prepared by using grated coconut, tamarind & jaggery. Generally, a gojju is prepared using just a single vegetable so that it imparts its own unique taste to the gojju.

I came across dozens of gojju recipes on the blogs of my fellow blogger friends before deciding to make a simple onion and tomato gojju. I adapted this recipe to suit my taste and I must say I was not at all disappointed with the outcome. I am going to make this regularly.
This is how I went about making this dish.

Ingredients:
1 large bunch of finely chopped spring onions/scallions/green onions
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
½ tsp chilli powder
2 tsp sambar powder (I used MTR)
2 marble-sized balls of tamarind soaked in warm water
1 big piece of jaggery
1 tsp rice flour (for thickening the gojju)
Salt to taste

For seasoning:
1 Tbsp oil
½ tsp mustard seeds
½ tsp skinned and split white lentils/ urad dal
A pinch of asafoetida/hing
3-4 curry leaves

To be dry-roasted:
½ tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp methi seeds
½ tsp coriander seeds
2 tsp split chickpeas/chana dal
2 tsp sesame seeds

To be ground to a smooth paste:
2 Tbsp coconut
Previously roasted ingredients

Method:
Heat oil and add all the ingredients for the seasoning followed by the spring onions. Sauté till the onions are soft and transparent, and then add the tomatoes and cover and cook till the tomatoes are done.

Add the chilli powder & sambar powder and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add the ground paste of the coconut and the roasted ingredients and cook for a few minutes.

Add the tamarind juice along with the jaggery and a cup of water and let the whole mixture come to a boil.

Prepare a paste of rice flour in some water and add this paste to the boiling mixture. Turn down the heat.

Simmer for 5-7 minutes till the gojju thickens.

Serve hot with rice.

This is being sent to Asha (Foodie’s Hope and Aroma), the host for RCI: Karnataka.
Thanks for hosting, Asha!