Fusion Gravy

Fusion Gravy

This is really a fusion dish. I mean, it has something from every cuisine. The black beans which are widely used in American foods, the hummus which is Mediterranean, pasta sauce from Italy and Indian spices! This is one of my creations and I am very satisfied with the result.

Paruppu Usili Curry

Paruppu Usili Curry

This curry is made in just 1 tbsp of oil! There are a couple of processes involved in making this curry. This can be eaten along with sambhar or rasam rice. It is a combination of green vegetables and lentils making it rich in protein and carbs. This is also a popular dish from South India. It is also served in weddings due to its popularity. It is a very simple dish but very tasty.
I made this curry today along with Paruppu Rasam. It is a good combination. Try it and let me know.

Tofu cooked with Sesame Seeds and Peanuts

Tofu cooked with Sesame Seeds and Peanuts

If you need to cook up a meal within fifteen minutes than this can be your go to recipe. Its super quick and super easy to make. Just toss them all together and your happy meal is ready. The peanuts and sesame seeds add the right amount of flavor to this dish and make it aromatic. This is also a no onion no garlic recipe. For those who don't prefer tofu can substitute it with paneer or potatoes. I have made stir fry before using tofu. You can check them here - Eggplant and Tofu Stir Fry in Hoisin Sauce and Sesame flavored grilled tofu and veggies .
This  tofu was lying in my freezer for sometime now. It's strips of marinated tofu. I had planned to add it in salads but never landed up using it.

Poricha Kootu (Vegetable and Lentils gravy)

Poricha Kootu (Vegetable and Lentils Gravy)

Everyone has a go to comfort food. I personally believe that we associate it with a childhood memory, something your mom or grand mom made, the specific aroma it generated or the flavor of their hands. It may not necessarily be an exotic dish, but just a regular meal. The memory associated with that particular dish makes it your comfort food.
Kootu is a very traditional South Indian dish. It is made with veggies and lentils and has a semi solid consistency. If you have ever had a friend from south or been to any wedding of theirs, you would have surely tasted this dish. Yes it is the same one! It is healthy as its made with veggies, its boiled and oil is only used for tempering. Only drawback is that it is to be enjoyed with regular steamed rice.

Chutney wale Cauliflower

Chutney wale Cauliflower

I love experimenting with leftovers. I feel they always bring out the true chef in you. It is in such scenarios where new dishes are invented. This is one easy recipe using leftover chutneys. After making Mysore Masala Dosa the other day, I had these two chutneys left over. I was thinking of a way to use them in my cooking. That is when I stumbled upon my idol - Tarla Dalal's recipe where she had made cauliflower sabzi using mint chutney. I loved the idea and decided to experiment as well. The sabzi gets a very strong flavor because of the green chutney. It is also very refreshing as it has mint and coriander leaves. The red chutney brings out the curry flavor in the dish. So thankfully this combo turned out good. I am positive that you can substitute cauliflower with any other vegetable. Do try this minty vegetable and not worry about leftovers anymore!

Spicy Bhindi/Okra

Spicy Bhindi/Okra 

Okra is popularly known as Ladyfinger or Bhindi. It is low in saturated fat, sodium and cholesterol. It is also a good source of protein, dietary fiber and vitamins. Thus making it a very healthy vegetable to add in our day to day diet. It can be made in many different ways and go well with any Indian bread or dal rice. They naturally tend to get sticky when you cut them or while cooking. Best way is to add yogurt or lime juice while cooking or use them as a marinate. One more thing to bear in  mind is that you must always cook it uncovered. This will help in drying the vegetable and help it get cooked. In this recipe, I have tried to give it a different twist by using mulagapudi in the marinade. Since it is already flavored with different spices and pulses, it add a unique taste to the sabzi. My mom used to always marinate it with yogurt and chilly powder. I read on another blog, the lady used mulagapudi to marinate the okra and made crisps out of them. Getting influenced by that, I decided to try my sabzi with this twist. Hope you like it too!

Sesame & Peanut flavored Capsicum Aloo

Sesame & Peanut flavored Capsicum Aloo

Capsicum Aloo is a tried and tested combination. So this time, I wanted to try some variation with this dish. It is just amazing how by just adding 1 or 2 ingredient, you can change the taste of  a dish! Both, me and my husband totally loved this new twist. He even told me to only make Capsicum Aloo this way going forward. :) Happy husband..happy wife!!

Mutter Paneer

Mutter Paneer

How many times have we all enjoyed this dish with a naan or roti. It is an evergreen recipe and loved by all. I am yet to come across someone who doesn't like paneer. One can do so many variations with it. It enhances the flavor of any dish. Green peas and Paneer make a great combo. If you have never tried this dish, then now is the time!

Eggplant and Capsicum Curry

Eggplant and Capsicum Curry

I never imagined that I could club eggplants and capsicum and make a curry with very minimum Indian spices. However when I read this recipe on the internet, I decided to give it a try. Lucky for me that my husband is very accommodating and loves to try new dishes. The real thing is - he is my guinea pig! I try all new recipes on him. In his defense, he eats them all. Coming back to this recipe, it is fairly simple to make and needs very few ingredients. Do make it t home..

Eggplant and Tofu stir fry in Hoisin Sauce

While I was growing up, there used to be a children's program on Doordarshan about all vegetables. Eggplant here was famously coined as the Baingan Raja. As children we would love watching this serial, however the true message of the serial was not followed by me. It spoke about how all the veggies are equally important and that we must eat them all. I never really found this Baingan Raja very tasty as a child. I was more in the Aloo camp. My mom however made this one particular gravy dish with baingan in it, which I loved. Unfortunately I never took the recipe from her. So now I just don't know how to replicate it, rather I don't wish to. Anyways coming back to this dish that I made today. As I was chopping, I was only reminiscing about my childhood memories with this particular vegetable. In the past I have tried some variations with eggplant, so today I wanted to surprise my husband with an unexpected dish. I researched on the internet and found some interesting dishes to make. This particular one had to be made in Hoisin sauce which of course I didn't have. Thanks to the internet, there was a way to make it at home with some ingredients as a substitute which luckily I did have. So I decided to combine my husband's two favorite items - Tofu and Eggplants and stir fry them in hoisin sauce. I don't think this dish can be had with our Indian roti so I served it with some brown rice. You can try brown bread as well.

Masaledaar Baingan

Masaledaar Baingan

This week during our grocery shopping we picked up 2 large eggplants. Since my husband enjoys this vegetable, I decided to make a dish with it. Eggplants are a very good source of dietary fiber, Vitamin B1 and copper. Although I am not a fan of this vegetable, I know my husband is and hence have made couple of dishes for him with baingan in it in the past. This time I wanted to try something different with it. I usually make Vangi bhaat or the south Indian style sabzi so this time I tried to give it a restaurant type flavor. Sharing the recipe with you.

Coriander Peas Paratha with Green Peas Masala

Coriander Peas Paratha with Green Peas Masala

I am sure you all relate to the feeling of coming back home from a lovely vacation and then not wanting to enter the kitchen at all to cook. Well, I was going through this emotion yesterday. Just got back from Key West and we were exhausted. We didn't do the groceries on our way back either. So I was left with very few options to cook a meal. So finally overcoming my laziness to cook, I entered the kitchen to figure out what to cook. Luckily there was still some cilantro and frozen peas in the fridge. So I decided to use these as my main ingredients. Thankfully, the meal turned out good and tasty.

Baby Corn Mushroom Peas Masala

Baby Corn Mushroom Peas Masala

Myself and my husband have been sick since last two weeks and have been surviving on khichdi, dal rice and rasam rice. We were both craving for some restaurant food. Since we didn't feel right to venture out for a meal, I decided to cook something for us restaurant style! I had two cans of baby corn. So I decided to make something with it. I am happy with the turnout and my husband is not complaining as well. No more bland food, at-least for today! :)

Parsley paneer mutter masala

Parsley Paneer Mutter Masala

This is your conventional paneer mutter masala recipe with a twist. I have added parsley in it. I wanted to experiment with it and see how it turns out. Parsley does add its unique taste to this dish and makes it different from the regular. So here is it..

Mutter Dhingri Masala

Mutter Dhingri Masala

As a family we love mushrooms! I keep looking for different recipes where I can use them. 

We were having some friends over for dinner the other day so I decided to make this delicious recipe which I have eaten at restaurants many times. I wanted to give this dish that same flavor & with lot of excitement I started preparing this dish.

Sesame flavored grilled tofu & veggies with brown rice

Sesame flavored grilled tofu & veggies with brown rice

My husband loves Tofu while I still prefer the non healthier version called paneer :). As I ransacked my refrigerator to cook up a meal for my hubby, my eyes fell upon this extra firm tofu. I usually make a vegetable with mushrooms, tofu & bell peppers to eat with roti, but this time I was in mood to try out something new. I remembered the new grill pan I had purchased awhile back & thought of making something using these 2. I then checked for some other ingredients that I thought would go well in this dish & finally did manage to cook up a healthy yet tasty meal for my hubby! :)

Lima Beans in Spinach gravy

Lima Beans in Spinach gravy

Few days ago, I tried Lima beans for the first time at a party. It was one of the ingredients in the Biryani. This is how I discovered this tasty legume. Google told me that its is also known as Butter Beans because of its starchy yet buttery texture. I decided to give it a try. My friend suggested a desi version to cook them & I decided to give that a twist in my own way! This is what I got.. :)

Soya Mushroom Subzi

Soya Mushroom Subzi

What do you do if have some random veggies in your fridge which have hardly been tried together before in my kitchen? After a seemingly long vacation, when I came back home & opened my fridge..there was not much in there. Grocery shopping was yet to be done so I decided to try to cook a dish with whatever I had at home. I was ready to risk my dinner! What did I have? There was some spinach, mushrooms,celery, onions, tomatoes, broccoli & some soya nuggets. I decided to mix them all :)

Rajma Palak

Rajma Palak

One of my experiments which turned out to be very tasty. It was a last minute twist I decided to make it this way than going the traditional way. I enjoyed the process & glad it turned out well. I jokingly told my husband that if it does not turn out well, he will have to finish it off, else we will share ;)

Peas Aloo Palak

Peas Aloo Palak

This sabzi is a quick fix when you are feeling lazy to chop any veggies ;) At least that is how I landed up making this recipe. Luckily it turned out good. Well, you cant get it wrong when you have potatoes in it!