I would like to dedicate this dish to my Dubai family / friends because whenever there is talk about mango,they would talk about how they relished my mambazha kootan. I think it’s only once or twice they must have had it. Thank you all for the love you give me.

Now regarding this recipe its different from the normal way of preparing it. Normally you cook the mango pieces first then extract the juice , green chili and coconut are grinded together. My recipe is different, initially I stopped cooking the mango first because I felt the flavor of mango was lost since it was cooked twice,so just started adding the mango pulp. Now regarding the extra ingredients I fry and add it along green chili and coconut,I have been thinking hard to recollect but can’t remember when and how I started preparing the kootan this way. But one thing is for sure everyone who have tasted my mambazha kootan have liked it. I feel the addition of the extra ingredients not only adds to the flavor but the texture is also very creamy. So enjoy Mambazha kootan when fresh mangoes are available .

Ingredients
Mambazha / ripe mango —- 2
White pumpkin —  1 cup
Sour curd — 1 1/2 cup
Coconut —- 1 cup
Green chili — 2
Channa dal —- 1 tablespoon
Dry red chili — 2
Methi seeds —– 1/4 teaspoon
Turmeric powder — 1/2 teaspoon
Salt —– 1 1/2 teaspoon
Mustard seeds — 1 teaspoon
Coconut oil — 2 tablespoon
Few curry leaves.

Kathirikai is not a liked vegetable in many houses ,especially the children . Wanted to make the simple kathirikai interesting ,the result K^4 —- kathirikai kondai kadalai kootu. It’s a superb combination with any moru kootan ,rasam or even with chapathi.

Ingredients

Kathirikai / Brinjal — 250gms

Kondai kadalai — 1/4 cup

Tamarind —- small lemon size

Scrapped Coconut —- 1/4 cup

Raw rice. — 1 tablespoon

Urad dal —- 1 tablespoon

Cumin seeds — 1 teaspoon

Whole pepper. — 3/4 teaspoon

Mustard seeds — 1/2 teaspoon

Turmeric powder —- 1/2 teaspoon

Salt — 1 teaspoon

Coconut oil —- 1 tablespoon

A bunch of curry leaves.

Method

Soak the kondai kadalai for minimum 6 hours and pressure cook them. Cut the brinjal into small pieces and keep them immersed in water till you cook it to avoid discoloring . Soak the tamarind in an glass of water and remove its juice. Remove the brinjal from the water. Cook the brinjal in tamarind juice adding salt and turmeric. Meanwhile in a pan dry roast the pepper and cumin seeds ,keep aside . In the same pan dry roast the urad dal and raw rice till they change colour ,add the curry leaves,stir .when the curry leaves becomes dry remove from heat. Cool all the fried ingredients and powder them coarsely . Once the brinjal is cooked add the cooked kondai kadalai ,give it a stir and further cook for 2 minutes . Now add the grounded powder and cook for further 2 minutes . Put of the heat. Heat oil ,add the mustard seeds,when they crackle add the scrapped coconut and fry till they the coconut turns red in colour. Add this tempering to the kootu. K^4 is ready .

Have been wanting to make this halwa for quite some time, but didn’t try it because its time consuming. After much thought decided to try a little simple method. The end result was very yummy. Go ahead and try it.

Ingredients
Moongdal — 1 cup
Sugar —- 1 cup
Milk — 1 1/2 cup
Ghee — 4-5 tablespoons
Dry fruits — 1/2 cup
Gram flour — 1 tablespoon
Semolina — 1 tablespoon
Saffron — a pinch
Cardamom — 1/4 teaspoon

Method

Wash and rinse the moong dal, drain the water completely. Heat 2 tablespoon ghee in a pan and add the moong dal and fry them in medium heat. Fry till dal chances color. Remove the dal in a seive so that any extra ghee comes out. Cool the dal and powder them coarsely. Heat one spoon ghee and fry the dry fruits and keep aside. Now in the same ghee add the semolina and gram flour and fry for a minute in low heat.Now add the powdered moongdal and saute for 2 minutes. Put of the heat.Add the saffron to the milk and pour it to the dal mixture and simultaneously keep stirring. When everything mixes well add the sugar and mix well. Switch on the heat and keep stirring, add the remaining ghee. When you see the mixture leaving the sides and everything comes together, put of the heat, add the Cardomom powder, mix well. Your halwa is ready. Top up with dry fruits and enjoy warm Moongdal Halwa.

Gotsu is a side dish and never mentioned as gotsu but Pongal- Gotsu. It’s a simple dish, mixture of dal and vegetables but simply tastes awesome. It’s best with pongal but with any other tiffin it’s yummy.

Ingredients

Mixed vegetables (carrots,beans,peas,potatoes,red pumpkin )— 2 cups

Moong dal —-1/2 cup

Tamarind —small lemon size

Asafodita —1/4 teaspoon

Sambar powder — 1 teaspoon

Turmeric powder — 1/2 teaspoon

Jaggery — 1/2 teaspoon

Mustard seeds —- 1/2 teaspoon

Salt — 1 1/4 teaspoon

Sesame oil — 1 teaspoon.

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The simplest dish one could prepare. Varam arsi literally means only rice . Murungai ilai /drumstick leaves varam arsi adai is an age old recipe . Here again the twist is given by my grandmother ,instead of murungai ilai she added chopped Palak,the influence of Bombay. Choice is yours,whether it’s murungai ilai,palak and simply scrapped fresh coconut, once added the adai is irresistible.

Ingredients

Par boiled rice —-2cups

Palak —- a bunch

Salt —- 1 teaspoon

Sesame oil .

Method

Wash and soak rice for minimum 4 hours. Grind the rice into a thick paste. Wash and chop the palak . Mix the chopped Palak and salt to the rice batter. Heat a tawa,pour the adai batter ,spread it. Drizzle sesame oil all round the adai and allow it cook in low heat. Once cooked ,flip over and cook. Take it out from the tawa and enjoy hot adai with any pickle. I like a little sugar with all my tiffins,so had it with little sugar and avakai.

What’s a sizzler dish? A combination of cooked vegetables, flavored rice/ noodles, arranged in a hot iron/ sizzler plate and a particular sauce poured over it and when its comes to the table ,you have a sizzling sound with smoke. I like sizzler but without the sizzler plate I was hesitant to prepare it. But after much thought decided to make it without the sizzler plate. So here is my take on the dish. Note :- Since there are few preparations prior to making the actual dish,which is basically assembling, I have split the method into various steps. Its not difficult ,so prepare and enjoy Fusion Platter .

Ingredients
Rice — 1 cup
Panner cubes
Carrots,Capsicum,Baby corn,Onion
Mushroom,Tomato, cabbage
Mint leaves– handful
Garlic — 4
Tomato puree — 1/2 cup
Red chili sauce — 2 tablespoon
Corn flour — 1 tablespoon
Olive oil / butter — 4 tablespoon
Salt, pepper.

Method

Step 1:- To start, wash and cook rice with salt, spread them in a plate and allow them to cool. Wash all the vegetables and cut them in cubes. Cut the paneer. Wash and chop the mint leaves.( I grinded some leaves separately.) Mix corn flour to half an glass of water. Mix together tomato puree, red chili sauce,half an teaspoon of salt ,pepper to one glass of water .

Step 2:-Take a pan drizzle some olive oil,place the onion and capsicum ,sprinkle salt and pepper ,sauté and keep aside,repeat the same with other vegetables and paneer.

Step 3:- Heat 1 tablespoon oil,add half the chopped gralic, sauté . Now pour in the tomato puree mix and allow it to boil for two minutes ,now slowly add in the corn four mixture and keep stirring to get a thick sauce,keep it aside. Heat 1 tablespoon oil to the pan,add the remaining garlic ,sauté ,add the chopped mint, the mint water,mix everything together and allow to cook for a minute ,put of the heat. Now add the cooled rice and toss everything together .

Assembling :- Take a wide pan, spread the shredded cabbage ,arrange the vegetables ,place the rice. Switch on the heat, let the platter get warm,now pour in the sauce. You could add some butter around the vegetables . Put of the heat and enjoy!

Dudhi is a cooling vegetable and good in summer. Purchased dudhi after a long time with no idea what I will prepare with it. Two days back , when I published a recipe,my cousin messaged asking me for a recipe with vellarikka. With the lockdown no vellarikka available, I had only dudhi. So here’s a recipe with dudhi, which is similar to vellarikka. Try it out and let me know, I am sure it will taste the same as vellarikka.

Ingredients

Dudhi — 1 cup

Curd — 2 cups

Pomegranate — 1/4 cup

Green chili — 1

Cumin pwd — 1/4 teaspoon

Salt — 1/2 teaspoon.

Method

Peel the skin and remove the seeds from the center. Grate the dudhi. Add salt , 1/4 glass of water to the dudhi and cook for 5 minutes. Remove and strain the cooked dudhi to remove the excess water. Cool it. Whisk the curd to get a smooth texture. Now add the cooled dudhi, chopped green chili, pomegranate, cumin pwd, salt to the whisked curd, mix well. Enjoy this raita with pulav, parotha.

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Beetroot is a unique vegetable for its color and taste . Wanted to try something different with this vegetable, so made Kurma and it did surely turn out tasty!

Ingredients

Beetroot — 1 big
Onion — 1
Tomato — 1
Garlic — 2
Ginger– 1/2 inch
Green chili — 2
Coconut —- 2 tablespoon
Sauf — 1 teaspoon
Fried gram — 1 tablespoon
Gram masala — 1 1/2 teaspoon
Red chili pwd — 1/2 teaspoon
Turmeric — 1/2 teaspoon
Salt —- 1 1/4 teaspoon
Oil.

Method
Cut and cook beetroot. ( I cooked in microwave oven)Grind together onion, tomato, garlic, ginger and green chili. Separately grind coconut, sauf, fried gram adding half glass water into a smooth paste. Heat oil in a pan,add the tomato- onion paste and saute, after 2 minutes add the coconut masala,give it a stir.Now add the gram masala pwd,red chili pwd, turmeric pwd and salt. Further cook for 2 minutes. Add the cooked beetroot, mix well. Cover and cook till the masala and beetroot come together. Enjoy Beetroot kurma.

A simple dal.I have used three types of dal,easy and quick to make. Have steaming dal with jeera rice or chapati .

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Ingredients
Tuvar dal — 3/4 cup
Moong dal — 1/2 cup
Channa dal — 1/4 cup
Tomato —- 1
Green chili — 2
Ginger— small piece
Turmeric powder — 1/2 teaspoon
Red chili powder — 1/2 teaspoon
Asafoetida — 1/4 teaspoon
Salt —- 1 1/4 teaspoon
Mustard seeds — 1/2 teaspoon
Cumin seeds —- 3/4 teaspoon
Ghee —- 2 teaspoons
Juice of one lemon
Few curry and coriander leaves.