Potatoes with Lemon

Among the umpteen ways of cooking potato, here is one which is our favorite. Not a typical ginger - garlic-garam masala type of curry but a simple one with minimum required ingredients thrown in. Cooked and mashed potatoes are drizzled with just enough lemon juice and lightly seasoned.

Ingredients: Six medium sized Potatoes (I had about 2 cups of mashed potatoes) 2 or 3 green chillies Juice of half a slice of lemon (or as needed) Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp Salt For seasoning - 2 Tbsp oil, 1 tsp of chana dal, 1 tsp mustard seeds, few curry leaves The cooking part: Peel the potatoes and chop into big chunks. Cook them adding the turmeric powder, in a pressure cooker or in a big pot with enough water till the potatoes are done. Using a blender or a mortar and pestle, mash the green chillies into a paste. Heat oil in a deep bottomed pan and add the seasoning ingredients. When chanadal starts to turn red and the mustard seeds start to pop, add the potatoes, green chili paste, salt and lemon juice to the pan. Mash the potatoes with the back of a ladle or a spoon a little bit and mix all the ingredients thoroughly. Taste and check whether if more lemon juice need to be added. Remember that the curry should not be very sour. Stirring once or twice, let it sit for about five minutes and then turn off the stove. Serve with hot rice and ghee or rotis. This goes to - A potato feast hosted by DK of Culinary Bazaar. Jihva - Lemon hosted by Coffee of The spice cafe. Ode to potatoes hosted by Sia of Monspoon Spice. Post a Comment

Dondakaya - Kobbari Koora

Crunchy dondakaya (tindora) and tender, fresh kobbari (coconut) come together in this scrumptious subzi. This is lot easier, less time consuming and healthier than the regular tindora fry. This is my mom's recipe and in this version, instead of frying, tindora are steamed and then seasoned.

Ingredients:
Chopped Tindora - 2 cups
Grated Coconut - 1/4 cup
Chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt
For popu /seasoning - 1 Tbsp of oil, 1 tsp each of mustard seeds & chanadal, few curry leaves, a little turmeric powder

Cooking:
Wash the tindora and chop the ends. Then cross wise, cut into thin circles. Take the chopped Tindora into a bowl or small vessel and sprinkle a little water (about a Tbsp). Place the tindora container in a pressure pan / cooker and cook till you hear two whistles. After the valve pressure is gone, remove the container. The tindora would be done not the mush way, but on a crisper side. Put the cooked tindora into a colander, to drain any water present.
Heat oil in a pan and add chanadal, mustard seeds, curryleaves, turmeric powder in that order. When chanadal start to turn red, add the steamed tindora, coconut, chili powder and salt and mix well. Let it sit for a couple of minutes on low flame and then turn off the stove.
Serve with hot rice and a spoon of ghee.

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Palakoora PulusuKoora

I am back. After my exciting trip to India and the after fervor associated to it ended considerably, I am back to my routine.
Though, I haven't had the time to go through the blogs, I know I have missed some wonderful posts from fellow bloggers and some amazing events during my absence. Time to catch up.

Coming to today's post, it's time for some pulusukoora, which my paternal grand mother used to cook regularly in her kitchen.
Simple and healthy greens adorn the center stage in this dish and only the basic ingredients needed to please the palate go along with it. I would say pulusukoora is real earthy and greens used in the dish would be at it's best.
Pulusukoora is usually prepared with gongura or thotakoora (amaranth leaves). I experimented with spinach and this worked equally good. Took me back down the memory lane.

Fresh Spinach
Ingredients required to prepare about a cup of pulusukoora:
A bunch of spinach / palakoora, washed thoroughly (I had about 5 cups of chopped spinach and stalks from a bunch)
1 or 2 small green chillies
1/2 tsp chili powder (or more or less depending upon the spiciness preferred)
About a tbsp of tamarind extract
Salt
And for seasoning - a tsp oil, a tsp of mustard seeds and a pinch of asafoetida

Cooking:
Chop the spinach leaves and green chillies fine. If the stalks of the bunch are tender, chop them fine as well. Put them in a thick bottomed vessel or deep bottomed pan with a tbsp of water and cook till the spinach is done. (That much of water is enough as pulusukoora has a thick consistency). It takes less than 10 minutes. Then add tamarind, chili powder and salt and let it cook for five more minutes. (Adjust the quantities if required). Mash the spinach with the back of the ladle while cooking. Heat the oil in a small pan and add mustard seeds and asafoetida. When the mustard seeds start to pop, remove and add it to the above spinach pulusukoora.
Traditionally, it is served as a side dish to rice and mudda pappu (plain dal) along with a spoon of ghee.

For microwave version, use a microwave safe bowl to cook spinach and proceed as above.

Palakoora Pulusukoora

This goes to MEC - Greens hosted by Srivalli of 'Cooking 4 all seasons'.

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