Veg Kurma

I’ve had kurma before I got married, but I wasn’t particularly fond of it. What i had at restaurants always seemed like a bad mix of whatever vegetable added in going bad. And not to mention, the spiciness was very un-attractive.

That was however, before I had the kurma my mother-in-law made. I remember the first time I ate it. I was rather reluctant to even try, my past experieces not being good. And I wasn’t keen on saying that I didn’t like something she made, especially when everyone else was gung-ho about it. 🙂 So definitely it was a welcome surprise when i loved the kurma!! 😀

After a couple of attempts I’ve finally got it right, and so have decided to share it.

Ingredients:
1 cup dessicated fresh coconut
5 large green chillies
a large piece of ginger
3 medium potatoes
2 tomatoes
green peas
1 carrot
Optional vegetables: french beans, cauliflower
1 medium onion
3 tbsp Khus-khus
1tsp salt
Pinch of turmeric

Method:

• Boil all the vegetables and set aside. Partially mash only the potatoes. The potatoe should essentially be very tiny boiled pieces, and not a complete mash.
• Grind khus-khus into a fine powder
• Add onion, chilliwes, ginger and coconut, and grind to a fine paste. Add water as required.
• Chop the tomatoes and braize in 2 tblsp oil
• Once the tomatoes are softened, ass all the boiled vegetables and the coconut paste.
• Add salt to taste and turmeric
• Boil the vegetables till it becomes thick
• Add chopped coriander and curry leaves about 10 min before serving. So not mix, just drop it on top and cover with lid. This will give the kurma a very nice flavour.

You can have the kurma with rotis, puri or dosas.

Pancakes

While growing up, I’d always prefered continental foods to regular meals. So u could come up with any type of pasta, bread or pancake, and I’d be game. Put a traditional meal in front of me, and I was more llikely to claim I’ve a full stomach already!!
But pancakes, though a personal favourite, was one item i kept eating at hotels and friends’ places, but never made it at home. Somehow, I’d never found a recipe I wanted to try before.

So, on a whim, I decided to look up some cooking websites, and see if someone has posted an eggless pancake recipe. Again, most recipes insists on vanilla extract and baking powder, none of which were at home, and I had not mood to step out n buy them either.

Finally I found the one I’m about to share. Having made it, I can assure you that it definitely lives up to its reputation!! 🙂

Ingredients:
2 tblsp Flour (maida)
1-2 tsp sugar (as per taste)
a pinch of salt
dash of nutmeg (or cinnamon)
1 cup milk
1 tblsp melted butter

Method:

• Mix flour, salt, nutmeg, and sugar.
• Make a smooth batter by very gradually adding milk.
• Beat batter fully ten minutes, adding melted butter.

• Now this takes some serious effort. I’m not used to this, and ended up beating the batter for abt 5 minutes. Not enough to get fluffy pancakes.

Heat a skillet to medium heat.

Once the skillet has heated well, pour 1/2 cup batter. Do not spread the batter.

Let the batter bubble up slightly, and you can make out the edges becoming brown.

Gently flip over to the other side .

Once both sides have been nicely browned, take off the skillet.

An important thing I realized here is the desire to add oil to the skillet before pouring the batter. This is a fall-out of regularly making dosas. Also, most website advise to use a non-stick pan for making the pancakes. This is hardly necessary.

But please remember, a pancake is NOT a dosa. The pancake comes off the skillet quite easily without have to use oil.

Serve hot, with honey (my choice), maple syrup (traditional choice) or powdered sugar.

Mysore Bonda

I have always enjoyed the popular Mysore bonda while travelling through Andhra. It is a very popular snack, available restaurants and tiffin centers across South India.

On a recent visit to Hyderabad, my mother-in-law made some dough and gave it to me to take back home. It came quite well, and I was tempted to try the entire process on my own.

Ingredients:
1 cup sour curds
1 cup maida
1 cup rice flour
1 tsp salt

Additional ingredients:
Green chillies
Jeera (cumin seeds)

Method:

• Mix the curd, maida, rice flour and salt well.
• Make into a smooth, thick paste to avoid any clumps. If the resultant dough is a bit runny, add more four and maida.
• Set aside for upto 4 hour

To make the bonda:

• In a large wok, heat oild for deep frying. Be sure not to over heat the oil. The resultant bonda will get done outside, but would be raw inside.
• Chop green chillies and add along with jeera to the dough.
• Now take the dough into small balls with your hand, and drop into the oil gently.
• Keep turning over to ensure all sides of the bonda has nicely browned.
• Drain and set in a serving bowl.

Serve hot Mysore Bondas with pickle or coconut chutney.