Brinjal Rava Fry

For the last 2 weeks my kitchen is completely on the veggie regime and both of us are loving it for a change. There is actually so much to make in vegetarian food. So here is something new that I tried last week.Original recipe is by my colleague who bought this as side dish for lunch the other day.

Brinjal / Bhaigan or egg plant is something which is an easy to cook and highly nutritous vegetable.It is high in pottassium and calcium with apt amount of dietary fiber.

Sambar

Sambar..the first & foremost of all south Indian Dishes. It is again a " must have" in almost all festivities in the south. Every state and culture have a variant sambar recipe. Some like it more sweet, whereas others have it spicy with even ground fried coconut paste.

This dish is said to have an interesting origin. Many many years back when the Maratha's where ruling Tanjore under the King Sambhoji who was a great connosieur of food, he used to cook a dish with kokum which he got from Maharashtra. But once it so happened that there was delay in getting kokum for his favorite dish amti. The kitchen staff suggested that he use Tamarind instead which is used by locals for the sour taste.The chef king decided to try that and that was the origin of this new dish which got his name.

Soon this dish got popular in his kingdom and in nearby places ( who can refuse the King's recipe and still remain alive). In coastal areas where use of coconut was popular, spiced ground coconut paste was also added.

Aviyal

Its Onakalam again.. and time to make my fav dish..aviyal. Explained in english, its a concoction of many vegetables cooked in yoghurt with mildly flavored coconut..

Aviyal is said to have a very interesting origin. There are many stories which link it to royalty. Most commonly said is that it originated during Mahabharata when Bhima ( the strong man amongst the Pandavas) was working as a cook in a palace and while the king walked into the royal kitchen he saw lots of vegetables being left over. As the King did not like waste of any kind, he ordered all the remaining vegetables to be made into a dish..and our dear old Bhima cooked the veggies in some curd and coconut seasoning..& voila a new dish was born.

Interestingly the term " Aviyal " is used colloquially for variety or for mix and matches. There is even a Kerala rock band by this name in which there is a mix of various music genres.

I make aviyal for pretty much the same purpose - to use up left over veggies and also to because its one of the most tasty recipes for having a wide variety of greens..

Baby Potatoes with Spinach ( Parsi Dish)

I had this dish at a Parsi restaurant in Bangalore ( Daddy's Deli ) and loved it and decided to try it at home . It tasted quite like the one we ate.  This is how I went about it -

Ingredients

500 gms - Baby Potatoes ( also called Potato sprouts)
500 gms - Green spinach ( cut finely)
Red Chilli Powder - 2 tbsp
Onion - 1
Salt - to Taste
Oil - Cooking (1 Tbsp)
Mustard & Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp each
Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp

Boil the Baby potatoes, de-veil it and cut into 2. Cut Onion finely.
Splutter the mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Add the Onion and stir on low fire for about 3 mins. Add chilli powder, salt &  turmeric. Add spinach and stir for another 2 mins before adding the cut potatoes. Stir well till the spinach is well cooked.
Once the potatoes are boiled, it can be made pretty easily ( especially on work week days ) and serves as a good side dish along with roti's or even rice.

Gobi Manchurian

Gobi Manchurian is a very common vegetable dish in India. The good thing about this dish is that it is very adaptable and can be had in many ways, you can make it dry and have it for starters or in the evening especially if it is raining.. or have it as a curry along with noodles, or even modify it as soup..I like it best dry.
Manchuria is a region in north eastern China,I guess that is the only chinese connection this dish has. It is made to suit the indian palate and served in almost all kinds of restaurants.