Aloo Palak Recipe | Potato Spinach Masala

The rare times when you actually pause and think you will realize that Life has gone a fast forward track much faster than you expected. That was what happened to me too. With kids having their holidays, we finally had our interiors done. Our relatives left after Konda’s birthday and Athamma went with them for a short trip.

So you can imagine the work that was meted on us. This brought back to force our thinking that no matter what, life goes on. A day passes off too quickly for us to even ponder much. We feared so much on how we handle so many things, yet we pass them as surely as the night dawns to give way to light.

I haven’t cooked much these past few days after my relatives left. I really had to get myself prepare the Ras Malai because of the challenge; else I know I may never have made it. I was happy having attempted it though. It tasted very good, well considering the fact that the paneer was hard. Well next time maybe, you can’t get everything prefect at the first attempt right.

We took the kids to a park nearby and spent almost 2 hours playing. It was my first time, whereas hubby dear had taken the kids many times to that place. Imagine visiting a park nearby that you are not familiar with and your kids show you the way! With a pang of remorse, I realized I may have missed lot of activities with the kids because I was busy doing other things.

But on the other hand, I felt happy seeing the merry my kids had in showing me the way through the park. Small happiness goes long way in mending the hurts you otherwise feel…

I know it’s been a while since I actually posted a recipe per se. So here’s a classic dish that Amma prepared the other day for us vegetarian. I really enjoyed eating this with Hot Chappati off the pan, that I can associate myself when I eat at parents home.

Aloo Palak | Potato Spinach Masala

Ingredients needed:

Potato - 150 gms / 2 big
Palak / Spinach - 2 bundles (1 cup paste)
Onions - 150 gms
Tomatoes - 150 gms
Ginger - Garlic paste - 1 tsp
Garam Masala - 3/4 tsp
Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder a pinch
Salt to taste
Oil - 1 tbsp
Sugar a pinch
Ghee to roast the potatoes

Method to prepare:

Wash and cook the palak leaves in little water for 5 minutes. Once its cool, grind to a fine paste and keep it aside.

Chop Onions, Tomatoes into fine pieces.
Peel and cube into inch sized potatos.

If you are using ghee, then heat in a non stick pan saute the potatoes till done. This should almost be a roast. Remove and keep aside.

In the same pan, heat 2 tsp of oil, add onions, fry till they are gold in colour and add ginger garlic paste. Fry for few mins.

Add the tomatoes, sauté well. If the tomatoes are very firm, add the salt right now to get them soft, else can be added in the end.

Add chilli pw, turmeric pw. cook well for 5 mins. Then add the palak paste. Bring to boil. Simmer for 5 mins or till the gravy is thick enough. Add the garam masala at this stage.

Just before switching it off, add the potato peices and cook it for 5 mints. Finally add sugar to retain the green colour of the spinach.

Serve with Rotis.

It was interesting to note how well aloo got paried with spinach. Though we normally make Palak Paneer, this was the first time we did with Potato. I thought the taste would be very similar but I was in for a surprise when I tasted it to be completely differently and at the same time very delicious. You should surely try this to know the difference!

Coriander Coconut Chutney | Kothimira Kobbari Pachadi

Chutneys or Pachadis are indispensable part of a breakfast, atleast in most South Indian families. I have always known Amma making either Peanut Chutney or Coconut Chutney every day of the week. Only later when we grew up that she ever tried other chutney varieties with tomatoes, onions etc. 

We love groundnut chutney/ Peanut chutney with anything or everything. Apart from this was the Coconut Chutney that was prepared frequently, because my brother liked only this. So Amma ended up prep it up with other interesting ingredients to bring variations to this. One such ingredient was adding fresh coriander to the coconut chutney.

Fresh Coirander adds such flavour the regular Coconut Chutney, plus this is a nice way to include the coriander in your diet.

Ingredients Needed:

Fresh coconut - 1 cup
Fresh coriander leaves - 1 small bunch
Green chillies - 5
Fried gram - 50 gms
Tamarind - 1 inch
Water - 1/2 cup
Salt to taste

For tempering:

Mustard seeds, Urad dal - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 8-10
Oil - 1/2 tsp

Method to prepare:

Grate the fresh coconut or cut into small bits so that it is easy to grind them in the mixer.

Wash the coriander leaves and put it in a colander to get the water drain.

In a mixer, take all the ingredients except the seasoning items, pulse it to fine paste. Add water as required.

Remove to a bowl, heat a pan with oil, add the mustards and urad. When it starts spluttering add the curry leaves and immediately pour over the ground chutney.

Most times, we place the curry leaves on the chutney and pour the hot oil over the leaves. This way the leaves don't loose their freshness.

Serve with Dosa, Idlis.

Kindle Edition - Flavours from South Indian Kitchen from Cooking 4 all Seasons - eBook

Finally my eBook that I published way back in November, Flavours from South Indian Kitchen from Cooking 4 all Seasons is now available in Kindle version. It was most interesting to document the learning experiance while creating a Kindle book. Pratibha was always telling me that I should think about doing a Kindle version. When she told me I wasn't even aware of these editions.

One fine day while I was browsing I landed in a space that led me to create an account and got me into creating this within minutes. But the process of converting the regular book to suit the Kindle Application took sometime. With my limited knowledge of HTML coding I really had to struggle.

So I am extremely happy when I was finally able to upload a version that was suitable to the application. I would want to thank my readers and friends for their support that they extend.

If you have a Kindle, then you should get your copy from Amazon! Thank you for the support again and hope to talk about my printed cookbook soon.

Host list for Microwave Easy Cooking Event!

Things have been so hectic this past couple of weeks that I completely couldn't take up this favorite event of mine Microwave Easy Cooking, referred as the MEC. Plus added to the fact that my Microwave is not working, I haven't been able to make anything in it. Anyways plans on getting it back to working condition is underway.

Meanwhile I thought I will open up the calender for new sign ups. When I decided that I can't continue hosting this myself, I opened up to bloggers, and even had the entire 2010 fully booked. But to be more realistic, we planned only for 2009. 

 

 

So finally here I am with the calender free from June. I will be taking up August as a mandatory Anniversary party. But all other months are open.

Please leave a comment with your email id if you are willing to host this event on your blog for any of the months starting from June 2010.

I will mail you the details and other related things.

Seviyan Recipe for Birthday celebration | Sweet Vermicelli | Typical South Indian Style - 3

Tuesday's breakfast menu was Masala Dosa, Coriander Coconut Chutney, Amma's podi, Chinna vengai pachadi (Shallot Onions Chutney) and Seviyan.

I have already posted how we make Masala Dosa and Amma's Podi. Will be posting the other recipes soon.

The day was special to us as it was Konda's birthday. She celebrated her 9th birthday. The birthday girl was busy walking the ramp with the different dresses that she got from her Aunts and from us. She was also planning to dance to the tunes along with her cousins as it was couple of years back.

Since the kids wanted Pizza, I didn't plan for a special dinner. Special for the kids is anyways is the regular Paneer Butter Masala with Parottas, which I already made on Saturday. so decided that it was going to be just pizzas ordered in. Though I thought of taking a picture of the Paneer Pizza that we ordered, before I could even think about it, it disappeared!

Starting with the breakfast, I made the famous Masala Dosa of Tamil Nadu, where Potato masala is stuffed inside the dosa and served with a variety of Chutneys and Sambar. Potato Masala that I made was thick for it to be stuffed in. For a change I made Coriander Coconut Chutney, Onion Chutney along with Amma's podi. Our regular stock of Amma's podi got exhausted and I got a fresh batch made by Amma.

Keeping with our custom of making a sweet on birthdays, I was wondering what to make that will be enough to feed 12 people with couple of servings. Seviyan or Semiya Payasam came to mind. This is my favorite sweet when Amma makes. I don't make it so frequently and confirmed that my guests like this.

As you got to use more milk to get that richness, I was contemplating on quantity of milk, I remembered the tin of condensed milk lying around. I had plans of making Eggless Chocolate Cake with it. But since my oven is not in a working condition, it will be a while for me to attempt it. I decided that the best way to use up the tin is to make the Seviyan.

Seviyan | Sweet Vermicelli

Condensed Milk - 400 gms (1 tin)
Vermicelli / Semiya - 2 cups (200 gms)
Whole Milk - 1 liter
Water - 3 -4 glasses
Sugar - 4 tsp
Cardamom powder - 2 pinches
Cashew nuts - handful
Raisins- handful
Ghee / Clarified Butter - 1 tbsp

Method to prepare:

In a pan, roast the nuts and raisins in ghee. Remove and in the same ghee add the vermicelli. Roast till they turn colour a bit.

In another pan, boil the milk. When the milk boils over and simmered for 10 minutes, add the roasted vermicelli and water. Cook in low flame till the seviyan is cooked. Ensure you don't over cook the seviyan.

At this stage add the sugar and cardamom powder. Continue cooking over low flame, when you check the semiya is cooked well. slowly add the condensed milk into the pan, stir well.

Finally add the roasted nuts and raisins.

Notes: Normally to give more richness to the Payasa, we may just add small quantity of condensed milk. But this is completely made with it. Hence it is extremely rich and very filling. You may dilute the proportion to suit your taste.

Another important thing to note is to ensure you don't over cook the vermicelli, since it has the tendency to absorb more milk and the porridge becomes very thick.

Reduce the quantity used for making for lesser number, this yielded me enough to serve app 10 - 12 people.

Check out how my kids had Mehendi done on their hands 




I hope you enjoyed my series on traditional South Indian Breakfasts. My relatives have left today, hopefully they enjoyed their stay. Do suggest if you want any more such series here.

Traditional Breakfast ~ Typical South Indian Style - 2

While Sunday was the typical Channa Masala with Puri, along with Sakkara Pongal, today was another typical South Indian Breakfast ~ soft as pillow pristine Idlis, Sambar (typically made for Idlis), Coconut Chutney, Idli Karam and Idli Podi.

The sambar that is made for Idli is different from the regular one. Will be posting the recipe soon. Idli Karam and Podi will be featured in the book.

Catch you soon with other recipes..enjoy your week ahead!

Traditional Breakfast ~ Typical South Indian Style

We woke up to an unexpected shower of rain! Last night we were so excited seeing signs of drizzling that came our way! We ran out trilled at the prospect of raining visiting us. Only to be greeted with a clear sky but a ground scantly covered with rain drops. It was hubby who with all excitement called out to me as if it was pouring! Well you can imagine the need of rains in our parts of the world. We tried taking deep breath to smell that exquisite smell you get to sense after a shower. Unfortunately we no longer live in a rustic place to experience that. It smelled more of oil and petrol reeked motors, zipping fast past us as we stood witnessing the beauty that was unfolding before us.

But then we had a surprise in the morning. Looked like it rained through the night and morning was so cool and wonderful. Hubby dear left to receive his sisters family.The train unexpectedly was delayed by an hour and by the time they came home, I was able to get the breakfast ready. 

Hubby dear was teasing Amma saying she will get upset if I usurped the show by making all the dishes myself. So he told me that I should be generous to let Amma make her signature Kesari Bath. Well I knew how much loves the way Amma makes it. Though my nieces and nephew love the way I make, I knew I can't stand a chance when competing with Amma. True to word, it tured out really awesome. Kids had a field day just eating that and nothing else!

Rest of the dishes I managed to make before our guests arrival.

Ven Pongal (What I made today was the way it is made normally in Tamil Nadu)
Groundnut Chutney ~ Andhra Special
Onion Sambar ~ Vengaya Sambar
Medu Vada
Kesari Bhath