Tag Archives: Carrots

Vaalai Poo Varai

Today’s and tomorrow’s recipes are focused on the flower of the banana tree. In Tamil, the banana flower is called “vaalai poo.” The banana flower is considered to have medicinal value, particularly as it reduces sugar levels and possesses antioxidant properties. Given that the fruit and the tree plays an important role in Tamil cuisine and culture, the flower is also considered a special dish when cooked.

Vaalai Poo Varai/ Banana flower fry

Time taken: 30 mins

Serves 5

Vaalai Poo VaraiIngredients:

  • Vaalai Poo/ Banana flower – 1 cup, chopped
  • Carrot – ½ , chopped
  • Green capsicum or malu miris – 1 or green chillies – 2, chopped
  • Red chilli – 1, chopped
  • Onion – ¼ cup, chopped
  • Curry leaves – 1 sprig
  • Fennel seeds – 1 tsp
  • Low fat oil – 1 tbsp
  • Scraped coconut – 2 tbsp
  • Curry powder – 1 tsp
  • Salt, to taste

Method:

  1. Chop up the vaalai poo. Add some salt and keep aside.
  2. Chop up the carrot, green capsicum, red chilli and onion.
  3. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan and fry the fennel seeds and onion for a minute.
  4. Add the rest of the chopped ingredients and the curry leaves. Cover the pan and cook, for around 10 mins, on low heat.
  5. Stir in the freshly scraped coconut and curry powder and cook for another 2 mins, mixing the ingredients well, before removing pan from stove.
  6. Serve with rice.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Spicy Pumpkin Tart

Today’s recipe is a pumpkin-centric fusion recipe of my mother.

Spicy Pumpkin Tart

Time taken: 1 ¼ hours

Serves 4

Pumpkin tartIngredients:

  • Wheat flour – 1 cup
  • Vegetable margarine – ¼ cup + 2 tbsp (sauce/ cream)
  • Pumpkin – 1 cup, boiled and mashed
  • Carrot – ½ , boiled
  • Beans – 4, chopped
  • Guava – ½ large or 1 medium-sized, chopped
  • Leeks – ¼, chopped
  • Capsicum or malu miris – 1, chopped
  • Green chillies – 2, chopped
  • Onion – 1, chopped
  • Ginger – 1 tsp, chopped
  • Garlic – 1 tsp, chopped
  • Salt and Pepper, to taste
  • Vegetable stock – ½ tsp (optional)
  • Crushed chillies – 1 tsp (optional)
  • Low fat oil – 1 tbsp
  • Baking soda – ½ tsp
  • Tomatoes – chopped, for topping
  • Onion – chopped, for topping (optional)
  • Rosemary or mixed spice – 1 tsp
  • Water, as required

Method:

  1. Mix the flour, margarine, salt and a little water to make a dough. Knead to make it smooth and let the dough rest while making the tart filling.
  2. Heat a tbsp of oil in a pan and fry the ginger and garlic first for a couple of mins.
  3. Then, add the chopped onion followed by the chopped vegetables. Stir fry for a few mins.
  4. Finally, add the boiled pumpkin and carrot as well as the guava. Mix well and continue cooking for about 5 mins.
  5. Season with salt and pepper. Remove pan from stove.
  6. Heat 2 tbsp margarine in a saucepan over low heat.
  7. Add 2 tbsp flour and add ½ cup of water to the saucepan. Stir, for about 10 mins, until it thickens to a cream. Add salt and pepper, to taste, and optional ½ tsp vegetable stock and 1 tsp crushed chillies.
  8. Transfer the vegetable mixture from the pan to the saucepan. Stir.
  9. Add ½ tsp baking soda to the saucepan. Mix well before removing sauce pan from stove.
  10. Roll out the dough and line the pie tray with the dough.
  11. Fill the tart base with the vegetable filling.
  12. Top with chopped tomatoes and optional chopped onions. Sprinkle 1 tsp of rosemary or mixed spice.
  13. Bake the tart at 220⁰C/428⁰F for 30 mins.
  14. Slice and serve warm.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Patties

Today’s recipe is that of savoury patties, a regular tea-time snack made by my mother at home.

Patties

Time taken: 45 mins – 1 hour

Makes 14

PattiesIngredients:

  • Flour – 1 ½ cups
  • Potato – 2 tbsp, chopped
  • Carrot – 2 tbsp, chopped
  • Beans – 1 or 2, chopped
  • Green peas – 2 tbsp
  • Cabbage – 2 tbsp, shredded
  • Leeks – ½, chopped
  • Onion – ½ , chopped
  • Ginger – ½ “ piece, chopped
  • Garlic – 2 or 3 cloves, chopped
  • Celery – 1 sprig
  • Curry leaves – 1 sprig
  • Fennel seeds – 1 tsp
  • Curry powder – 2 tsp
  • Salt, to taste
  • Low fat oil, as required

Method:

  1. Mix 1 tbsp oil with the flour and salt and stir in ¼ cup of hot water, kneading into a dough. Divide into 14 balls. Brush with some oil.
  2. Boil the potato and mash it up. Add salt to the mashed potato.
  3. Boil the carrot, cabbage, beans and the green peas. Mash them up and add a little salt.
  4. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan and fry the onion, ginger and garlic for a couple of mins. Add the fennel seeds and curry leaves and stir.
  5. Add the mashed and chopped vegetables, except the potato, and the chopped leeks and celery to the pan. Add 2 tsp curry powder and stir fry for a few mins.
  6. Add the mashed and boiled potato to the pan. Mix well and continue frying for a few mins. Remove pan from stove and divide filling into 14 portions.
  7. Roll out each of the 14 balls of dough into circular shapes. Spoon the filling into the center of the circular dough. Fold the dough over the filling in a half-moon shape, by hand or using a patty mold.
  8. Heat the oil for deep-frying. Fry the patties, a few at a time, until they are golden brown all over.
  9. Transfer fried patties to a tray lined with grease absorbing paper.
  10. Serve hot.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Vegetable soup

Update (04/07/4014): I just came across the Soups with SS event being hosted by Sonal and Shruti through the delicious soupe au pistou post of Angie. I wanted to share the only soup recipe that I have posted on my blog to-date. It is a simple vegetable soup.

Today’s recipe is my mother’s recipe for her favourite soup which she makes almost on a weekly basis at home.

Vegetable soup:

Time taken: 40 mins

Serves 4

Vegetable soupIngredients:

  • Mysore dhal – ½ cup
  • Carrot – ½ cup, chopped
  • Cabbage – ½ cup, shredded
  • Potato – 1, small and chopped
  • Beans –  ¼ cup, chopped
  • Leeks – ¼ cup, chopped
  • Celery – piece (optional)
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • Garlic flakes – a big pinch
  • Vegetable cube – 1 (optional)
  • Lime juice – 1 tbsp (optional)
  • Water – 4 cups

Method:

  1. Clean and chop the vegetables and place them in a soup pot/ pan.
  2. Add 4 cups of water and cook the soup for about 20 mins.
  3. Remove from stove and let the soup cool a little.
  4. Transfer half the soup to a blender and blend. Return the blended soup to the soup pot.
  5. Add salt and pepper, to taste, and garlic flakes to the soup pot. Mix well. A vegetable cube can also be added, if you like. Cook for few mins and warm up the soup.
  6. Just before serving, add some optional lime juice.
  7. Serve with toasted bread.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

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Cabbage and carrot fry

Cabbage and carrot fry

Time taken: 25 mins

Serves 4

Cabbage and carrot fryIngredients:

  • Cabbage – 1 cup, shredded
  • Carrot – ½ cup, grated
  • Malu miris – ½
  • Onion – ½
  • Fennel – 1 tsp
  • Ginger – ½ “, chopped
  • Garlic – 2 or 3 cloves, chopped
  • Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
  • Scraped coconut – 1 tbsp
  • Crushed chillies – 1 tsp
  • Low fat oil – 1 tbsp

Method:

  1. Clean and wash the cabbage and add salt and turmeric to the shredded cabbage.
  2. Heat a tbsp oil in a pan and fry the chopped onion, ginger, garlic and fennel seeds for a couple of mins.
  3. Add the cabbage and carrot to the pan and stir fry for another 7 – 8 mins.
  4. Add the freshly scraped coconut, mixed with a pinch of turmeric, and crushed chillies. Stir fry for another 5 mins.
  5. Serve with rice.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Savoury vegan pie

The recipe I would like to share today is the recipe for a pie that my mother made recently. It was delicious and very filling and included lots of vegetables and even passion fruit and peanuts.

A slice of pieSavoury vegan pie

Time taken:  1 ½ hours

Serves 6 or 8

Ingredients:

Base:

  • Wheat flour – 1 cup
  • Vegetable oil margarine – ¼ cup
  • Salt, to taste

Filling:

  • Green peas – ¾ cup
  • Carrot – ½ cup, chopped and grated
  • Tomatoes – ¾ cup
  • Cabbage – 2 tbsp, shredded
  • Potatoes – 1 or 2
  • Onion – ½
  • Chilli – 1
  • Crushed peanuts – 1 tbsp
  • Ginger – ½ or 1″, as per taste
  • Garlic – 3 or 4 cloves
  • Pepper and salt, to taste
  • Low fat oil (sunflower or canola) – 2 tbsp

Top layer:

  • Soya milk – 1 cup
  • Urad dhal/ Ulunthu flour – 2 tbsp
  • Wheat flour – 1 tbsp
  • Passion fruit – 1
  • Rosemary – 1 tsp
  • Sesame seeds – 1 tsp
  • Chilli or capsicum – 1
  • Onion – ¼
  • Salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

  1. Make the dough for the pie base by mixing the wheat flour, margarine and salt, to taste and kneading it. Let the dough rest while making the filling for the pie.
  2. Boil the tomatoes and mash them slightly. Boil the potatoes and cabbage.
  3. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan and fry the ginger and garlic. Then add the onion and crushed peanuts and fry for a few minutes.
  4. Add the slightly mashed, boiled tomatoes to the pan and then add the carrots followed by the green peas and finally the potatoes and cabbage.
  5. Add pepper and salt, to taste. Keep aside the vegetable filling.
  6. In a saucepan, heat the soya milk with 2 tbsp urad dhal and 1 tbsp wheat flour. Bring to a boil, adding salt and pepper, to taste.
  7. When the sauce begins to thicken, add the pulp of passion fruit to give the mix a tangy and fruity flavour.
  8. Take the pie pan and roll out the pie base, covering the pan.
  9. Spoon the vegetable filling on top of the pie base and level it smoothly across the pan.
  10. Pour the tangy batter-like sauce over the vegetable filling.
  11. Sprinkle chopped onion, capsicum or green chilli and the rosemary and sesame seeds over the sauce covering the pie.
  12. Bake for 30 – 40 mins at 220⁰C/ 428⁰F.
  13. Serve hot with some spicy chutney or sauce.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

‘Ayurvedic’ salad

Today, I will share what my mother calls her ‘Ayurvedic’ salad because of the vegetables she uses in it. This salad is particularly good for regulating your sugar and cholesterol levels. I like it because it is colourful and crunchy and combines a vegetable I don’t like so much – radish – in  a more appetising way.

‘Ayurvedic’ salad

Time taken: 5 – 10 mins

Serves 2

Ayurvedic salad

Ingredients:

  • Radish – 3 tbsp, grated
  • Bitter gourd – 2 tbsp, grated
  • Tomato – 2 tbsp, finely chopped
  • Onion – 3 tbsp, finely chopped
  • Carrot – 2 tbsp, grated
  • Coriander – a few leaves, for garnish
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • Lime juice, to taste

Method:

  1. Place the salad ingredients – grated radish, bitter gourd, carrot and the chopped onion and tomato – in a bowl.
  2. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Toss to combine.
  3. Garnish with coriander and drizzle some lime juice over the salad.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Veggie omelette

This is my mother’s version of a veggie omelette. It is spicy, crunchy and very filling.

Veggie omelette

Veggie omelette

Time taken: 8 – 10 mins

Serves 2

Slice of veg omelette

Ingredients:

  • Egg – 1
  • Green peas – 2 tbsp
  • Chopped carrot – 2 tbsp
  • Chopped beans – 2 tbsp
  • Chopped potatoes – 2 tbsp
  • Chopped onion – 2 tbsp
  • Green chillies – 2, chopped
  • Salt – ½ tsp
  • Pepper – ½ tsp
  • Low fat oil – 1 tbsp

Method:

  1. Whisk the egg in a small bowl and add the chopped veggies and seasoning.
  2. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan and pour the egg and vegetable mixture onto the pan.
  3. Fry the omelette for a couple of minutes each side.
  4. Serve hot.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Vegetable coconut curry

Today’s recipe is a curry recipe of my mother that I really like. It is a simple and delicious curry.

Vegetable coconut curry or Vellai curry, as it is known in Tamil

Time taken: 20 – 25 mins

Serves 4

Vegetable curryIngredients:

  • Cauliflower – ½ cup, chopped
  • Potato – ½ cup, chopped
  • Green peas – ¼ cup
  • Carrot – ½ cup, chopped
  • Onion – ¼, chopped
  • Chilli – 1, chopped
  • Coconut milk – ¼ cup
  • Pepper – ½ tsp
  • Lime juice – 1 tsp, or more as per taste

Method:

  1. Heat 1 tsp oil and sauté the chopped onion and chilli for a minute in a pan.
  2. Then, add all the chopped vegetables to the pan along with 1 cup of water and cook the vegetables for 10 mins.
  3. Add the coconut milk to the pan and cook the curry for another 5 mins.
  4. Add the pepper and cook for a couple of minutes before removing from heat.
  5. Squeeze some fresh lime/ lemon juice over the vegetable curry and serve with rice.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Thosai with Sambhar

Today’s recipe is a meal that my mother often makes at home for dinner – Thosai with sambhar and sambal. This is a meal that can also be eaten at breakfast or lunch.

Thosai with Sambhar

(a) Thosai

Cooking time: 30 mins + soaking and fermenting time: 12 hours

Makes 20

Ingredients:

  • Raw rice – 1 cup
  • Ulunthu/ urad dal – 1 cup
  • Fenugreek – ¼ tsp
  • Curry leaves – 1 sprig
  • Onion – small piece, chopped
  • Cumin – 1 tsp
  • Pepper – 1 tsp
  • Turmeric – ½ tsp

Method:

  1. Soak the rice, dal and fenugreek for 6 hours.
  2. Drain the soaked mixture and wash it lightly.
  3. Put the mix in the blender together with the curry leaves, chopped onion and cumin, pepper and turmeric. Blend until the thosai batter has a consistency similar to that of pancake batter consistency.
  4. Transfer the batter to a bowl. Cover and let it ferment for another 6 hours.
  5. Add salt and mix before heating up the thosai pan or flat pan.
  6. Pour a large spoonful of batter and spread it out. Flip to the other side after a minute or two so that both sides are cooked well and have brownish tinges.
  7. Serve the thosai hot with sambhar and dried red chilli sambal.

(b) Sambhar

Cooking time: 30 mins

Serves 5 or 6

Ingredients:

  • Mysore dal – ½ cup
  • Brinjal – ½ cup, chopped
  • Beans – ½ cup, chopped
  • Carrot – ½ cup, chopped
  • Potato – 1 medium-sized, chopped
  • Pumpkin – ½ cup, chopped
  • Murungai Kai – ½ cup, chopped (optional)
  • Onion – ½, chopped
  • Curry leaves – 1 sprig
  • Tamarind extract – ¼ cup
  • Crushed chillies – 1 tsp
  • Cumin powder – 1 tsp
  • Coriander powder – 1 tsp
  • Pepper – ½ tsp
  • Garlic cloves – 2 or 3, crushed
  • Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
  • Coconut milk – ¼ cup
  • Salt, to taste

Method:

  1. Cook the vegetables, in a pan with 3 cups of water, for about 15 – 20 minutes on medium heat.
  2. Reduce heat and if water had dried up, add another ½ cup water.  Add the tamarind juice, mix well and cook for another 5 minutes.
  3. Add the crushed chillies, cumin, coriander and pepper powder, crushed garlic and turmeric powder to the pan. Mix well and cook for a few more minutes.
  4. Towards the end, add ¼ cup coconut milk. Cook for a few minutes before removing from heat.
  5. Serve sambhar with thosai or idli.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.