Chow Chow Kootu

Chow chow kootu can be eaten with white rice and ghee. It goes well as a side dish for sambar and rasam.

Ingredients:

• Chow chow – 2, peeled and diced
• Toor dal – 3/4 cup
• Tomato – 1, chopped
• Oil – 1 tbsp
• Mustard seeds – 1/4 tsp
• Channa dal – 1 tsp
• Curry leaves – 8
• Onion – 1/3 cup, finely chopped
• Green chili – 1, cut lengthwise
• Hing/ Asafotida – 4 pinches
• Turmeric powder – 1/8 tsp
• Sambar powder – 1 + 1/2 tsp
• Salt – as required
• Water – as required (optional)

Method:

• Cook chow chow in water with little salt until the chow chow is cooked. Test the chow chow with a fork. It should not loose its shape. It must be just cooked.

• Pressure cook toor dal and tomato together with water as required for 5-6 whistles.

• When the pressure is off, open the pressure cooker and mix well.
• Heat oil in a pan.
• Add mustard seeds and wait till it splutters.
• Add channa dal and wait till it turns golden brown.
• Add onion, curry leaves and green chili.

• Saute until the onion turns golden brown.

• Add the cooked dal and chow chow to it.

• Mix well.
• Add turmeric powder, hing, sambar powder and salt.

• Let it cook for few minutes.
• You can add water if required. I did not add since I made it as a side dish.
• Enjoy!

 

 

Okra / Ladies finger / Bhindi fry

The only time I cook okra is during the summer. This year we were blessed with a bountiful okra harvest. And lucky for me, everyone in my family loves it. Even Bheem. He loves to eat raw okra. P.S. Bheem is our yellow lab.

Ingredients:

• Oil – 2 tbsps, for seasoning(adjust)
• Mustard seeds – 1/4 tsp
• Onions – 1 small onion, chopped
• Curry leaves – 6
• Dry red chilli – 3 (optional)
• Okra – 5 cups, chopped
• Salt – to taste
• Chilli powder – 1 tsp (adjust according to taste)

Method:

• Heat oil in a pan.
• Add mustard seeds and wait till it splutters.
• Add onions, curry leaves and dry red chilli.
• Saute until the onions turn transparent.

• Add okra and little salt.

• Let the okra’s cook until the slime disappears. (the sticky stuff)

• Add chilli powder and salt to taste.
• Saute for 3 minutes.
• Turn off the heat and enjoy.

Mushroom Pepper Fry

This recipe is for all the bell pepper lovers. The stars of this dish are mushrooms and freshly ground pepper. It works well with chapathi/roti. I serve it with jeera rice and raita. The recipe below is similar to Pepper mutton fry recipe.

Ingredients:

• Oil – for sauteing
• Onion – 3/4 cup, diced
• Ginger garlic paste – using 1 inch ginger and 3 garlic cloves
• Green bell pepper – 1, diced
• White mushroom – 227grams/ 8 oz, chopped
• Salt – to taste
• Freshly ground Pepper powder – 1 tsp or more, adjust according to taste

Method:

• Heat oil in a wok.
• Add onions and saute until the onions turns lightly golden brown.

• Add ginger garlic paste and saute for 30 seconds.

• Add bell pepper and saute until the bell pepper is almost cooked. Do not over cook the bell pepper.
• Add 1 tsp of oil if it becomes too dry.

• Add mushroom and salt to taste. Do not over cook the mushrooms.

• When the mushroom is done, turn off the heat and add freshly ground pepper powder.

• Mix well and serve.

 

Potato Salad

This recipe is from food network.  A very good side dish to serve when you are grilling. My family loves the taste of mustard. So I add 4 tbsps of mustard to the potatoes. If you are not a fan of mustard, start with 1 tbsp.  Potato salad is usually served chilled.

Ingredients:

• Potato – little more than 1 lb( 3 cups), peeled and diced
• Salt – to taste
• Mayonnaise – 3/4 cup
• Buttermilk – 1/4 cup
• Dijon mustard – 1 tbsp to 2 tbsp
• Mustard – 1 tbsp to 2 tbsp (regular mustard that is used to serve hotdogs)
• Ground black pepper – 1/4 tsp
• Red onions – 1/2 cup, diced
• Fresh dill  – 1/2 cup,chopped

Method:

•  Place the diced potatoes in saucepan and cover it with water. Add salt.

• Turn on the heat and cook the potatoes until it can be pierced using a fork but still holds its shape.
• Drain the potatoes using a colander.

• Let the potatoes cool down a bit.
• In a bowl, whisk mayonnaise, buttermilk, Dijon mustard, mustard and ground pepper together until well combined.

• Transfer the potatoes to a bowl.
• Add chopped onion, chopped cilantro and mayo dressing .

• Mix gently.
• Refrigerate until ready to serve. Serve cold.

Quick Spicy Mushroom

The mushroom and chicken 65 masala are the stars of the show. I added a fistful of broken cashews while the onions were cooking. But my husband said that it tasted really good without the cashews. So let me know whether you like this dish with or without cashews.

Ingredients:

• Oil – for sauteing
• Onions – 3/4 cup chopped
• Curry leaves – 6
• Cashews – fistful of cashews, broken( optional), read notes above
• Mushrooms – 227grams/ 8 oz, chopped
• Chicken 65 masala – to taste
• Salt – to taste

Method:

• Heat oil in a wok.
• Add onions and curry leaves. Saute until the onions turn transparent.
• Add chicken 65 masala according to taste. Saute for few seconds.
• Add mushroom and salt to taste. Keep stirring at regular intervals.
• Turn off the heat when the mushrooms are cooked.