Tag Archives: Potato

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.

Idiyappam with Sodhi

Idiyappam/ Idiyappa/ Stringhoppers with Kilanghu sodhi/ Ala hodhi is a food that is part of all the different cuisines of Sri Lanka. Everyone around the country either regularly or occasionally makes or buys stringhoppers. It is generally consumed for dinner or breakfast. While my mother has reduced making it as it is easier to buy them, she occasionally makes it when anyone at home is sick. It is considered lighter on the stomach and easily digestible.

Stringhoppers with Sodhi

Idiyappam/ Idiyappa/ Stringhoppers

Cooking time: 20 mins

Makes 10 – 12 stringhoppers

Stringhoppers

Ingredients:

  • Roasted rice flour – ½ cup
  • Steamed wheat flour – ½ cup
  • Salt, to taste
  • Water, as required

Method:

  1. Boil around 1½ cups of water and then cool it slightly for a couple of minutes so that it is still hot but not boiling hot.
  2. Mix the roasted rice flour, steamed wheat flour and some salt and add the hot water slowly, continuing to stir. The water needs to be carefully added so that there is not too much or too little but just enough to make it all come together as a dough and not stick to fingers when tested.
  3. Fill the stringhopper mould/ ural with some of the dough mix and squeeze out the string hoppers onto the stringhopper trays. There are stringhopper machines now that simplify this process.
  4. Place 5 or 6 trays, at a time, in the steamer and cook the stringhoppers for 5 mins.
  5. Serve stringhoppers with sodhi and any other curry.

Kilanghu Sodhi/ Ala Hodhi

Cooking time: 15 mins

Serves 3

Sodhi/ Hodhi

Ingredients:

  • Potato – 1
  • Chilli – 1
  • Onion – ¼
  • Curry leaves – 1 sprig
  • Coconut milk – 1 cup
  • Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
  • Pepper – ½ tsp
  • Salt, to taste

Method:

  1. Chop up the potato, chilli, onion and curry leaves and cook them in a pan with some water.
  2. Once the potato is cooked, add the coconut milk, turmeric, pepper and some salt, to taste.
  3. Bring the ‘sodhi’ to boil two or three times before removing from heat.
  4. Serve with the stringhoppers.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Stuffed Veggie Cutlet

The recipe I would like to share today is my mother’s stuffed vegetable cutlet recipe.

Stuffed Veggie Cutlet

Cooking time: 45 mins

Makes 5 – 6

Stuffed Veggie Cutlet

Ingredients:

  • Potatoes – 2, medium-sized
  • Carrot – 1, small
  • Green peas – 3 tbsp
  • Green chilli – 1
  • Onion – ½, medium-sized
  • Pepper  – 1 tsp
  • Fennel seeds – 1 tsp
  • Ginger – tiny piece
  • Garlic – 1 clove
  • Salt, to taste
  • Low fat oil – 1 tsp (for sauté) + for deep-frying (can be reused)
  • Wheat flour – ½ cup
  • Bread crumbs – 7 or 8 tsp

Method:

  1. Dry grind the pepper and fennel together and keep aside.
  2. Boil the potatoes and carrots separately.
  3. Peel the skin of the potatoes and mash them, adding some salt and the ground pepper and fennel mix. When they have been sufficiently mashed and mixed with the spices, make balls of mashed potato and keep aside.
  4. Mash the carrots separately and keep aside.
  5. Boil the green peas lightly, if not pre-cooked, and coarsely grind them a little so that they are half mashed.
  6. Heat a little oil in a pan. Add the chopped ginger, garlic and onion and sauté lightly.
  7. When the aroma begins to waft about, add the mashed carrot and coarsely ground green peas. Add salt and pepper and cook for a few minutes till they come together. Remove from heat.
  8. Make a batter by mixing the wheat flour with salt and adding water little by little, till reaches a pancake batter consistency.
  9. Take a potato ball and flatten it on your palm. Scoop up 1 – 1 ½ tsp of the carrot and peas mixture. Make the cutlets by covering the mixture with the edges of the potato patty like a dumpling.
  10. Dip the cutlets in the batter and roll it in the bread crumbs. Keep aside.
  11. Heat the oil for deep-frying. The oil should be enough to cover the potato balls.
  12. When the oil is ready, drop the batter coated stuffed potato balls in the pan and fry till they are browned on all sides.
  13. Serve the stuffed vegetable cutlets with tea.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Potato curry

(c) Potato curry

Cooking time – 20 mins

Serves 4 – 5 persons

Potato curry

Ingredients:

  • Potatoes – 2 large
  • Onion -1 medium sized
  • Fenugreek seeds – 1 tsp
  • Rampe leaf/ pandan
  • Curry leaves – 2 sprigs
  • Water – 2 cups
  • Non-fat milk – ½ cup + ¼ cup (optional) – Can substitute with coconut milk, if vegan
  • Curry powder – 2 tsp
  • Salt, to taste
  • Low fat oil (Canola or sunflower) – 1 tbsp

Method:

  1. Cut the potatoes into small chunks.
  2. Heat a little oil in a pan. Saute the fenugreek, onion, rampe and curry leaves for a few seconds.
  3. Add the potatoes to the pan, mix well and fry for about two minutes till there is a nice aroma of fried potatoes.
  4.  Add 2 cup of water and ½ cup of milk. Add the curry powder and salt to taste.
  5. Cook the curry for around 10 to 15 mins. When the liquid dries up, it can be removed from heat.
  6. If you like the curry in gravy, add the optional ¼ cup milk and cook a few minutes more before removing from heat.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.